ICE HANGING ON......

It was a very quiet day in The Ciste Corrie on Ben Nevis. The temperature was well above freezing on the tops today, walking in it was down to base layers. Anooj and I had the place to ourselves it seemed. Still plenty of ice around so perfect for Anooj to perfect his crampon technique and we also did some steep ground and a few simple snow belays. The CIC Cascades and even the Curtain were still in an icy condition, but that could well be the last time we'll see them this winter. It's a shame there is a warm spell this week with all the ice around, but don't give up as the end of the week it looks like cooling down again. We got a soaking on the way out and a lot of hopeful folk were heading up to the CIC as we were walking out this afternoon.

AONACH MOR

Anooj is with me for the next two days, wanting to gain some winter rope work skills to take him onto more adventurous days out in the mountains. We headed up onto a windy  Aonach Mor but with plenty of  bright spells too. A lot of snow has been and still is being blown around on the SW winds. Plenty of windslab around so big part of the day was avalanche awareness as well as all the rope work. We found some excellent stretches of neve on windswept slopes too.  Plenty of snow still down to very low levels and hard work still if there hasn't already been a kind soul who's broken trail for you! Anooj had previously been up an high altitude Bolivian summit but he admitted today that the Scottish mountains are something else, indeed! 

SNOW SHOEING SCOTLAND

The  winds eased and the snow stopped snowing today after the weekends big dump of snow. I dug out the snowshoes and gave them a outing up Carn Mor Dearg today. With snow down to 100m and some big drifts it was never going to be a stroll and indeed the first 500m was really hard going, the snow too soft and damp so not much use but above this height I found some big patches of wind slab which were just compacted enough to be perfect for the big footed beasts. A mixture of terrain, one minute good wind slab next snow drifts then neve along the ridge. There were a few snow showers lingering this morning and eventually the sun peeped out and some clearing of the tops but the Ben's last 300m was always in the cloud. Beautiful light on the way down as the sun tried to poke a few more patches of blue. 

SNOW, SNOW,SNOW!

A full day of snow today, down to sea level by the end of the day. Liz and I went up onto Carn Mor Dearg, it was Liz's first taste of winter walking but unfortunately there was hardly a view all day, what a shame for this magnificent view point of the North face of Ben Nevis. There was a strong SE lower down the hill but was just a light wind on the actual summit so not too unpleasant. Lots of windblown areas for cramponing. By the time we returned there was at least 4 inches of snow down at the top carpark, Allt a' Mhuillin. The trees were looking very Christmasy again, unfortunately both our cameras had run out of battery, must have been chilly then? Snow forecast right through the night and into most of tomorrow. Winter is certainly not over!

WILD AND SNOWY

Another wild, and snowy day on the hills. Today Cintia and Eduardo over from far flung Brazil were out with me and wanted to experience The Scottish hills in winter, which they certainly did. We walked up to the CIC hut and then over to Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe. It was gusting to around 40-50mph just at 600m and with constant snow showers through out the day, well probably just constant snow. There was a lot of graupel being blown around, even to lower levels. We ended up at The Ben Nevis Inn for some well earned refreshment. Earlier on we passed by a group of 6 at c.400m at 3.10pm planning on going up to the summit of The Ben, half of them shod in approach shoes, no axes and not much else either, character building?

 

FRESH SNOWFALL

Overnight snowfall and more on the way next few day. Some wild winds thrown in so should be good winter conditions again to take is into April. High avalanche forecast so careful route planning a must! 

FROZEN

What a difference a day makes. The lower overnight temperatures froze up the snowpack brilliantly. Today it was crampons on anything white. It was a rare occasion for me to get out on my own so I took a wander up Observatory Gully for some pics. The light the last few days has been superb with cloud and temperature inversions, low cloud today gave way to pockets of big blue skies and beautiful light around the tops of the mountain. There was a lot of teams out climbing today. Many folk out on Indicator Wall, Point Five Gully, Gardyloo Gully, Tower Scoop and some late starters on Tower Ridge. The winters not over yet!

MOONLIGHT GULLY & NO.5 GULLY, BEN NEVIS

George and I headed onto the North Face of The Ben today with no real set agenda for the day, bar climbing something! We headed into the Ciste Corrie and decided on Moonlight Gully. A nice quiet grade II gully between No.5 Gully and Trident Buttress. We had the place to ourselves. It was a bit claggy in the morning with low cloud but as we got near the top the sun started to peep out now and again. There is a dramatic finish to the route has it connects into to No.5 Gully by a lovely traverse. We headed easily up No.5 Gully with just an awkward cornice exit and onto the plateau to be treated to a late afternoon cloud inversion. A good day out and still plenty of routes to be had this winter. 

BEN NEVIS

Melissa and Tom had their first taste of Scottish winter hillwalking today on Ben Nevis. The forecasted high winds today didn't materialise, the rest of the weather forecast was about right, sunshine early morning gave way to high cloud by mid day. We went up the Red Burn and had a wander around the rim of the North Face with clear views most of the way round to the summit. Snow was firm in the Red Burn with the overnight low temperatures. Quite a few climbers about today.

HINTS OF SPRING ON SGURR A' GHUISACHAN

It was a gloriously sunny day with blue skies throughout the day. Karen and I took the scenic West Highland train line to Glenfinnan and went up one of my favourite mountains, Sgurr a' Ghuisacan. There was snow above 800m, some frozen from the overnight low temperatures. Fantastic views over to the Ben and Isle of Mull. Spring isn't far away, then again we still have at least 4 weeks of winter!

COLDER! SNOWING!

Thankfully a much cooler day today and a few snow showers down to 600m. Today we headed up into the Gardyloo Gully area on Ben Nevis with some more steep ground and avalanche awareness. John, Seamus and Bob got a chance to perfect their cramponing technique in the harder snow. There was some avalanche debris coming out from the gully. The was some big spindrift coming down Zero and point five gullies with a couple of teams in zero. We had some nice bright spells too. Welcome back to winter!

CREAG MEAGAIDH, EASY GULLY (OR MUSHY GULLY)

It was another rather wet and windy day again, but spirits lifted with a slightly cooler day. The next two days I  have John, Seamus and Bob from Holme Valley Mountain Rescue Team, Yorkshire on a winter skills. We headed over to Creag Meagaidh in the hope of a slightly drier day but in the end we had precipitation pretty much all day! The cloud base was high and above 800m the rain turned to wet snow. After some basic walking with axe techniques we went up Easy Gully on The Post Face for a bit of steeper ground. There were a team just heading up Stag Horn Gully which looked rather grassy lower down. Another team were just ahead of us in the gully so pretty quiet.Last Post was running with water though the ice was holding on. A much better day in prospect tomorrow with much colder conditions, hooray!