NORTHERN CORRIES BRAERIACH

Great snow for glissading down the northern slopes of Braeriach

Loch Coire an Lochain, with plenty avalanche debris
 

Looking west to Sgor Gaoithe

5 minutes of clear views and sun, after I got down!

Early morning shafts of sun in Aviemore were a bit of a false hope but Braeriach it was today. It was very mild on the bike-in to Glen Einich and then rain showers off and on through out the day with wet snow above 1000m. The snow up the northern flanks was great for walking and no crampons required. There as been snow loss up at the boulder area near Loch Coire an Lochain but the lochan itself is still iced. One of the loneliest spots in the Cairngorms and a lovely place for solitude with only the ptarmigan for company. There is a big avalanche crown wall running just below the crags here from a recent slab avalanche which can just be seen on my photo. A great glissade all the way down the northern slopes on the way back. The cloudbase stuck at around 1000m most of the day, that was until I got back to the bike when the tops cleared for 5 minutes! Looks like a cold spell coming at the end of the week so it should all freeze up nicely again.

A SUNNY SPRING SNOW DAY

Digging

Skiing

Walking

Sliding

Stopping

It was a lovely sunny morning in The Cairngorms for a change. Still high winds on the summits but blue skies and sunshine made for a nice morning to be out on the hill. Laurie & I were in Coire Laoigh Mor today. Laurie starts his Winter Mountain Leader assessment tomorrow and he wanted to go over a few areas of the syllabus in final preparation. Some avalanche test pits, sliding with and without the ice axe and a few bits of rope work amongst other skills. Gill and her ski mountaineering group from The Lodge stopped by for a chat before venturing into the winds.

UNEXPECTED DAY ON MEALL A' BHUACAILLE

Cairngorms from near the summit

Loch Morlich

Sadly Stephen had come down with a bug and was unable to continue with his second day of winter skills with me today. It was an unexpected day off so Karen and I had a nice walk over Meall a' Bhuachaille and on to Craigowrie. This was the first weekend day that Karen and I have had a day out for a long while as it's been such a busy winter for me, especially weekends. It was another wild, windy day and mild temperatures but only blustery at lower altitudes. The main Cairngorm plateau was shrouded in cloud a lot of the time.

WELCOME BACK WINDY WEATHER, I HAVEN'T MISSED YOU!

Soft snow on the side of the Fiacaill Ridge

Spot Jacob's Ladder

Stephen on some steeper ground

Two folk descending Alladin's Couloir, was it really that windy on the tops then?

A deserted Coire an t-sneachda, cloud above the tops in the afternoon

Ptarmigan out numbering people today

It was very strong winds and mild weather with freezing levels above the summits and gusts of 90mph. Stephen is out with me for two days, building on his winter skills he gained on an intro to winter walking with Glenmore Lodge last month. We headed into the SW winds and found some shelter on the eastern aspect of the Fiacaill Ridge. The winds were tolerable so we continued further into a very quiet Coire an t-sneachda where there were more ptarmigan than people. The clouds lifted and it dried up in the afternoon. Slightly colder conditions for tomorrow so hopefully the snow pack will start to freeze up again

WINTER SKILLS COIRE AN T-SNEACHCDA

Terry enjoying the winter environment

Bruce climbing on the north face of Cornice Chunk

 

Not much action here

Nearing the top of Windy Col

Two folk climbed Alladin's Mirror today 

Looking into Alladin's Couloir

Father & son team Terry and Bruce were out with me today for some winter skills. The last time we were out together which was just before Christmas we were blown over and pelted by ice at 500m. It was a completely different experience today. Light winds and  milder. It stayed dry all day and the cloud lifted above the tops at times. We walked into Coire an t-sneachda and went through some axe and crampon technique near the start of Alladin's Couloir which was looking tempting with an excellent cover of snow but still with threatening cornices at the top, despite a route through on the right. Our chosen route for a journey was up to Windy Col, passing by the now well photographed and documented chunk of cornice from a recent  collapse below the area between Mess of Pottage and Alladin's Couloir. Pretty amazing, wouldn't have liked to been passing here when this came trundling down the coire floor.We had to do it - climb it and get the obligatory photo. The plateau area still has ice despite the milder temperatures. An excellent effort from Terry on his first outing in winter

STOB COIRE NAN LOCHAIN, ALPINE WEATHER AND CONDITIONS

Folk heading up Broad Gully, SCNL

Amazing depth of snow down to 700m

Mick with new  SHARP crampons, essential today!

More big and beautiful cornices

Don't trip here!

Tram lines in the deep snow up to SCNL

An even better Alpine day in Glencoe today. It was just Mick with me again as poor Mike was still unwell. It was virtually wall to wall sunshine, very warm and truly Alpine conditions. Soft snow where the sun had hit it but the ridge onto Stob Coire Nan Lochain was extremely icy, I mentioned to Mick that one slip here and we'd be in The Clachaig in no time! It was one of those days to savour and you could have been forgiven you were in another country. Surprisingly not many folk out today. Sheer magic! A great 3 days with the guys who had two days of complete contrast from the first day on Aonach Mor, two sides of a Scottish winter.

WELCOME BACK ALPINE WEATHER, I'VE MISSED YOU!

East face Stob Ban

Mick on the ridge

Long fracture lines

This one will go soon!

And there's more!

The beautiful north ridge of Stob Ban, Ben Nevis in the background

Mick keen for Munro number two in the late afternoon

Beautiful early evening descent off Mullach Nan Coirean

 Today it was glorious weather. Sunny spells became widespread by afternoon. Mick and I headed up to Stob Ban, unfortunately Mike wasn't feeling too good today. We reached Stob Ban early afternoon and the good weather and fab views were enough for Mick to be persuaded for another Munro summit of Mullach Nan Coirean. Wesavoured the glorious views and sunshine until dusk, reaching Mullach's summit after 5pm. The snow was mostly soft, harder and icy above 900m. Some amazing cornices about and some ready to topple soon! A wonderful day, welcome back sunny skies. More sun and fun tomorrow.

WINTER SKILLS, AONACH MOR

Good hard snow on The Nid for boot technique

Another cold snow shower

Axe arrests and glissades to the café at Nevis Range

Mike & Mick are with me for 3 days of winter mountain fun. We kicked off today with a nice gondola ride up on Aonach Mor and straight into the snow, and wind but  this eased during the day and the cloud also lifted along with the snow showers petering out. We found some good hard snow higher up on The Nid to go through boot and axe technique. Then we were in the cloud and cold wind for cramponing. We decided heading into the strong, cold wind and snow showers wasn't so pleasant so we traversed over to the west and descended back to the cafe with some ice axe arresting and glissading.

WINTER SKILLS/BEN NEVIS MOVIE

Just been sent a wee GoPro movie from last weekends winter skills/ Ben Nevis course with clients Mark & Brett. Thanks Mark. Looking very wet and wild tomorrow but into next week high pressure, low winds and even some sunshine! :)

BIKING UP CARN BAN MOR, GLENFESHIE

Looking over to Coire Gorm on the excellent path up to Carn Ban Mor

Upper Glenfeshie and Coire Garbhlach just visible

A great ride down, Monadh Liath in the distance

A milder day but looking even milder and very wet this coming Saturday so I suspect a lot of big white stuff will be falling down off the hills. No bad thing really, we need a  thaw and next week is looking like the most settled period this winter with forecasted high pressure for several days, we will see. I set off today for just a shortish bike ride up Glenfeshie but before I knew it I was biking up the excellent path toward Carn Ban Mor at 1052m, as you do. It's probably too good a path now it's had a lot of work done to it, with lots of drainage channels it makes for a 'technical' ride down, but fantastic. I got up to the snowline before the rain came on and not exactly being  equipped for the hill I thought it made sense to head down. Off west again tomorrow for 3 days work over on The Ben and Lochaber area.

BEN NEVIS, SUN AND SPINDRIFT

Enjoying the sun, just above the Red Burn crossing. Note the cornice in the background mountain path

Taking a steeper route up the hill

Nice views

Looking across to 'The zig-zags' of 'summer'

Mark & Brett enjoying the winter sun

The summit shelter and the crux climb

The top!

A different story on the descent

After yesterday's winter skills Brett & Mark were skilled up for Ben Nevis today. The guys were keen for the Carn Mor Dearg Arete route onto The Ben but with a deteriorating weather forecast we decided on a more direct route. We headed from the north face carpark up to the Red burn and took the western lip of The Red Burn direct to the plateau. Anyone contemplating getting up to the summit without axe or crampons would be in for a surprise at the moment. The section of the Mountain Track where it crosses The Red Burn is well banked up and sporting a nice cornice running all the way up the Red Burn. We took an adventurous line on the western edge of the Burn which as been scoured and so gave good hard, icy snow higher up. We enjoyed lovely sunshine for over an hour but then the cloud rolled in and it was into the white room from 1100m to the summit. Another mountain day of pacing across white out terrain for me! After Mark climbed the roof of the summit shelter we descended in windy and snowy conditions which was rather different from the way up! The guys certainly got to see a different side of Ben Nevis, they were up last summer in the 25 degree heat wave of a July day!