Ordinary Route (Summit Buttresss), Stob Coire nan Lochain

Summit Buttress, Stob Coire nan Lochain

With a promising forecast, and a keen Gareth, I took a day off and headed over to Fort William on Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning saw us toiling up the zig-zags to Stobbers, which was far less arduous than I remembered from a year ago - must be stronger! The coire was resplendent in the clear air and covered with a thick blanket of powder. It would have been a fantastic day for skiing, with Broad Gully looking ripe for some fresh tracks. Gaz set off on the first pitch which followed innocuous looking snowy ramps, but it soon became apparent that progress was going to be slow as the line followed grooved slabs buried in unconsolidated snow. Following this pitch proved to be a pretty draining experience, as solid axe placements were hard won in the soft stuff and my kick-steps constantly collapsed. Kudos to Gaz as this was insecure and run-out climbing. Arriving at the belay I'd lost my sense of humour completely. As Marshall had spent nearly 3 hours on the first pitch, I figured he was clearly enjoying and savouring the lead, so I was happy for him to press on. At the next belay it was getting late, so with the meat of the route in the bag we traversed off into Boomerang Gully. Back down the track, a pint in the Clachaig, a delicious piece of haddock in Callendar, and home to Edinburgh, having learned a little more about Scottish winter climbing.

Aeolus calls the shots...

Got up at 4:30am for a lift up to the Cairngorms with Russell and Steve. Met Marshall at the Coire Cas car park, where the car rocked in a wind far stronger than that forecast. Turned tail and went for breakfast in Aviemore. Went back to Coire Cas for another look, and walked a short way in towards Coire an t'Sneachda before sacking it off in a wind that was recorded at 132mph on the plateau. Frustrating!

Bowden

Went down to Bowden for the first time in a while. Was keen to get straight on Overhanging Crack, but after a few throws had to accept defeat, bloodied of hand and bruised of ego. Must tape up next time to delay the invitable loss of skin, and buy enough time to get established in the jamming crack. The enthusiastic crowd of onlookers then dispersed, seemingly satisfied that the hype surrounding this route remains undiminished! After doing Main Wall with Viv, sociable bouldering ensued, with a circus of ineptitude travelling between problems and establishing ever lower 'highpoints'. One interesting development was Konnie's Polish Direct to Y Front, but needless to say, it didn't lead anywhere.

Viv concentrating on not making the long move on Transformer (V3) with gnomes Konnie and Gaz rapt in admiration.

Two myths exploded

So far in my as yet short driving career, I'd hadn't really been able to see myself being involved in an accident. Not from arrogance, just a sense that it is statistically unlikely, coupled with the fact that driving a car sensibly isn't all that hard. Accelerating out of a bend past Dalwhinnie early on Sunday morning, I came to realise how it can all go badly wrong very quickly. Hitting a patch of frozen slush, the back end came round suddenly before the car performed a graceful double pirouette. Fortunately the trajectory of this ice dance was straight down the middle of the road and we came to rest in the snowy embankment. Cue nervous giggling all round.

The object of the day was a trip to ski at Nevis Range with Grant and Adam, and here I had a second new insight... Based on an experience of a day at Glenshee a few years back, I'd decided that Scottish skiing is crap - an expensive waste of time and not worth the effort. On this day, the busy pistes were reminiscent of the opening scene of Saving Private Ryan as bodies lurched and limbs flailed, with skiers competing to fall down the metres wide strip of brown snow in the worst possible style. So it was a pleasant surprise to have a really enjoyable day at Nevis Range. Of course the weather was awful, with rain all day, but on the plus side it seemed the forecast had deterred the crowds. The thaw conditions had left the snow waterlogged, but there was enough of it on the ground and the pistes were all well put together. Once the quad chair opened, solving Ad's problems with riding the drag on his board, we got some good turns in, doing laps on a piste of floury wind-packed powder.

Snow joy again

Another vist to the crucible of psyche, Banff Crescent this weekend; but again, sadly came home empty-handed. Gaz and I decided to take a look at the East face of Aonach Mor and were in the first gondola car on Sunday morning. Unfortunately the higher lifts were closed leaving a long slog up the hill in fairly grim conditions, passing the tent of some masochists camping under the top chairlift station! With the chairlift wind sock twitching horizontally east like an excitable carrot, snow was blowing across the hill in the steady westerly, and towards the top Gaz's footprints were filling in before I reached them. This made me wonder how wind-loaded the East face would be, and after gearing up at the cabin, we found the top of Easy Gully had a sizeable cornice and appeared to be full of unconsolidated powder. A team ponder ensued for a short time and we had a bit of a dig around, before deciding the avalanche risk was too high and so bailing. I was quite sore to walk away without bagging a route again but it felt like the right decision and Gaz seemed to agree. The word from Blair today was that there is debris from a number of sizeable slides below the crag, so i guess we made a good call!

G. Marshall, aspirant hard man.

Endless Gritstone Possibilities

After a visit to the dentist I drove over the Snake to Stanage, stopping off to take pictures of the rather scary sluice by the Ladybower dam...
Walking under the crag from High Neb to Stanage End, I was inspired by the wealth of fantastic looking lines to climb on an area of the crag I hadn't seen before - definately a place for multiple return visits. Although the rock looked fantastic in the crisp dry air, it was a little too cold over there for prolonged climbing with ice forming over the top of the crag...
After getting wooden fingers soloing a short VS I beat a retreat to the Buckstone and enjoyed a great circuit on magnetic rock around the Plantation before the sun dropped.

Next day at Burbage North it was even colder, with more moisture in the air and rime on the boulders making the valley was a pretty dank and unfriendly place. Didn't get much done and slipped painfully off Banana Finger Direct before making a hasty retreat to the warm blowers in the car.

Close to the sublime

The north face of Ben Nevis was an awe-inspiring sight today.

A Golden Eagle high above Observatory Buttress

Number 3 gully with Konnie & Sam on Gargoyle Wall (VI) and a team on Darth Vader (VIII)

The final pitch of Gargoyle Wall.

Otters