JUST ANOTHER BLUE SKY DAY AGAIN

Yet again we were blessed with blue skies here in The Highlands. There was a stiff NE breeze today blowing a lot of loose snow around. I went up the un-frequented North ridge of Meall a' Chaorainn which is a minor top of the Munro Mullach nan Coirean, the ridge and even lower slopes on here are now much easier walking with a lot of snow blown off.  From here it is wonderful ridge walking to Stob Ban with fantastic views all the way round. West was best again, Glencoe had some high cloud and the hills to the SW never had the sun we had today. Another cold day but very pleasent even with the winds to add a bit of atmosphere. Looks like we may get some more snow by Tuesday, staying cold for some time yet.

THE EDGE OF WONDERLAND

Yet another fantastic clear skies day in The Highlands. With very low temperatures but virtually no breeze today so it felt very pleasent. A day for the Carn Mor Dearg Arete onto Ben Nevis, this was probably the finest weather and snow conditions I've had whilst traversing this wonderful Alpine like ridge in winter. Above 1000m the snow on the ridges is now excellent, most of the soft, wind-slabby snow has been blown off and the arete has superb hard snow. The final slopes from the abseil post is well scoured and haed snow too. Very quiet on the hill today with only  a couple of guys behind me today and just a small handful of folk on the summit. Days like these don't come often, grab 'em while you can!

GO WEST

A fantastic day in the West today, I took the train to Inverailort and went along the beautiful Rois-Bheinn Ridge which includes the summits of An Stac, Rois-Bheinn,Sgurr na Ba Glaise and Druim Fiaclach. Guaranteed to see no one, I never have done every time along here! Apart from the superb ridge the views out to Skye, Rum and the Small Isles are some of the best. Blue skies all along the West apart right out over the Western Isles. It was virtually crampons from the train station with water ice along the tracks and paths to the open hill. I thought the ridges may have been scoured from previous days winds, I was wrong! Still a lot of windslab to wade through, but with views like this you need some hardship! Missed the 4.30pm train by 10 mins so it was a 90min wait in the local hotel, spare a thought for some folk, the hotel has had no water for two weeks has the burn is frozen, had to settle for beer, hardships again.

CARN MOR DEARG

David and I went onto Carn Mor Dearg today. David had previously been up the Pony track on Ben Nevis, in Summer. So this was a complete contrast for him today, seeing The Ben's North face and in winter. After a clear start the cloud descended by early afternoon and the visability became poor near the summit with a very cold breeze on the tops. Temperatures were again below freezing at all levels although it was actually raining back down at the carpark. The tops are well scoured and excellent cramponing terrain now. The windslab has a braekable crust now, in places but still poorly bonded and needs a thaw/freeze.

AWAY FROM IT ALL

Yet another benign, cold and lovely day in the West Highlands. Paddy and I headed over to the quiet hills around Sgurr Inse near the Grey Corries today. Paddy was brushing up on his navigation skills prior to his Winter ML assessment in March. We also covered some axe arresting and avalanche awareness again. Even at the low altitudes of 500m we found plenty of windslab especially on Westerly aspects. We were out numbered today by those monarchs of the hills, red deer which seemed to be in abundance around every corner. 

NEW YEAR, OLD TRICKS

Paddy, a return client, was out with me today on a two day Winter Mountain Leader refresher. Paddy is taking his Winter ML assessment in March. Today we covered movement on steep ground and setting up various belays. The only gear that can be used on the WML assessment are a rope, sling and Karibiner. We headed up to the area just to the North of Castle Ridge on Ben Nevis. It was another sub zero temperature day on the hill although the sea level temperatures did get a little above freezing, don't think I've chewed on so many rock hard chockie bars over the last three weeks. On the walk up to the crags there is quite obvious pockets of winslab around, would be nice to get some freeze/thaw conditions, during the day we also covered avalanche awareness & assessment. Lots of wonderful looking ice on the crags where we where . This is a lovely wee area, away from the crowds and not too far a walk in from The North Face carpark. Weather was great today, the clouds soon lifted by mid morning and clear skies, light winds by afternoon. Cold conditions still around for some time yet, the path up from the NF carpark through the tree plantation is fast becoming a good luge run.

LAST BLAST

Winds had eased down considerably today and far more pleasent to be on the hills. Laurence and I headed over to Glencoe and Stob Coire nan Lochan, over the wind scoured ridges which are now great for cramponing in the old frozen snow. The East ridge of Stob Coire nan  Lochan is a very nice way to the summit with a rocky ridge and well scoured snow so far better progress up the mountain. As always in Glencoe we were not alone on the hill today, lots of folk out enjoying the last day of 2009.

Happy New Year and  have lots of enjoyable and safe  mounatin journeys in 2010

WILD & WINDY BEN

Thre was a strong, cold Easterly wind today shifting a lot of the loose snow around the hills. Matt & Holly were celebrating Matt's Birthday today with a walk up Ben Nevis. They picked a good day despite it being tough walking in the strong, cold wind and deep drifted snow. It was actually only around 20mph winds on the plateau, the stronger, gustier and more spindrift winds were lower down the hill. We had the summit to ourselves and the walking became easier on the wind scoured plateau area. Lower down I spotted ptarmigan right on the pony track, something you will NEVER see in the summer season with all the crowds up and down there. Sadly there were 2 climbers avalanched on the North Face today, we heared the helicopters buzzing around most of the afternoon.