Summits & Shelters

We have had a bit of variety with the weather over the last two days of our winter skills course here in Scotland. Yesterday we headed to Glen Nevis and climbed Stob Ban on bullet hard neve with light winds and cold temperatures. Today the freezing level has temporarily risen to 1200m and the winds have picked up to gale force. We avoided the summit winds today by refreshing avalanche avoidance skills and looking at companion rescue before a session on emergency and planned snow shelters. It all felt a bit more Scottish today and the forecast snow and cold weather looks good for the weekend. 

Winter Skills - Ben Nevis

For the second day of our winter skills course the boys and I headed up Ben Nevis today. As we climbed we enjoyed some lovely views through wispy clouds with a slight inversion. As we got higher we lost all visibility which was great to experience what the summits are often like in Scotland in winter! The snow was well frozen all day which gave lots of good crampon mileage but meant the red burn bum slide was not really a goer! 

Winter Skills Week

I have been joined for the week by Al, Al, Al, Matt, Tyler and Ed (who I keep calling Al) for a 5 day winter skills course here in Scotland. We headed upto Aonach Nid today and enjoyed some bullet hard neve after a good overnight freeze. We covered the essential winter skills of axe and crampons and enjoyed a dry day with some patches of sunshine - a beautiful day in the mountains.

Stob Coire Nan Lochain

The boys and I headed to Glen Coe for the second day of our winter skills weekend. We had a great day traversing the mountain from East to West and there is good snow cover in the Coire. We put into practise the skills covered yesterday and learnt some new ones on our journey. Teams were climbing on each of the main gully lines and reported good, if soft conditions.

Scottish Winter Skills

I am back in Scotland now for 2 weeks and have been joined for this weekend by Adam, Declan, Paul, Colin, John and Mike for a winter skills weekend. We headed to Aonach Mor for our first day looking at axe and crampon skills as well as avalanche avoidance. The snow pack has softened over the last 2 days with a rise in temperatures whilst the buttresses are all black. Some fresh snow and a re-freeze would be nice but conditions are ideal for winter skills. 

Black Ladders

I headed out with Baggy today to the Black Ladders on the Carneddau. The icefalls at the foot of the crag are impressive and we had a good pitch each up the ice at the foot of Central Gully (IV, 4). After a couple of mixed pitches we broke off right and climbed some IV (5) ground to the top of the crag. A great, adventurous day out. 

Search Dog Training

Skye and I have have been out with SARDA Wales this weekend. It has been a stunning weekend here in Snowdonia with cold crisp days, the odd snow flurry and snow capped mountains. We spent the weekend working the dogs either side of Snowdon much to Skyes delight.

Vanishing Gully, Ben Nevis

Vanishing Gully

Teams on Orion Direct, Hadrians Wall Direct and Point Five

Descending Tower Ridge

Ben Nevis Blues

Bryn and I headed back onto the Ben today and enjoyed another amazing day, this time with blue skies and sunshine to compliment the great ice. We climbed Vanishing Gully (V, 5), descended the lower half of Tower Ridge and climbed Faulty Towers (II) before soaking up the sunshine and the atmosphere. It was pretty busy today with several teams on each of the big lines, word has spread!  

Orion Direct, Ben Nevis

I have headed up to Scotland for a couple of days climbing with my friend Bryn. I had heard rumours that the ice on the Ben was fat, and it is! We walked in with an open mind and with teams on Point Five and Zero Gully we jumped on Orion Direct (V,5). The route gives 450m of continuously interesting climbing and today was in superb condition, a great day out.

Central Trinity & Crib Goch

It has been a stunning day here in Snowdonia. I took the dog for a walk this morning and headed up Central Trinity on Snowdon, enjoying bomber neve and then traversed Crib Goch under wonderful blue skies. Check out the video.

Rjukan Video

Here is a collection of video and photos from a brilliant week in Rjukan last week.

Norway Ice Week

This week has been spent in the Ice Climbing mecca of Rjukan for our annual water ice climbing course. The instructional team was made up of Huw Gilbert, Mark “Baggy” Richards, Alec Roberts and myself and we were joined by Sue, Andy, Paul, Brett, Martin and Mick. Its has been an amazing week of blue skies, consistently cold temperatures (around -12c each day) and fat ice. Between us we visited a whole host of venues, having a single pitch day at Ozzimosis on the first day and then multi pitch routes throughout the rest of the week. With 4 instructors we were able to tailor the routes each day to match the aspirations of the team and so climbed from WI2 to WI5 and the ice has been the best I have seen it in the 4 years that I have been visiting Rjukan. 

An amazing week, climbing hard and smiling hard, cheers all. 

Snowshoe Expedition Video