A rest day today

A day off today, well that was the theory but in practise the weather was ace so with my friend Andy we went along to Anoch Beag, using the chair lift and Quad chair at Nevis Range and climbed a couple of unclimbed lines. It was almost perfect weather with quite strong and cold winds, but in the sunshine it felt really good.
Above: the North Face of Aonach Beag
Above : Ben Nevis on the skyline in fantastic winter conditions!

Climbing down to our climbs!

Fresh snow and lots of it!

Above: Kathy probing the snow pack!
I had a good day on Cairngorm today and was on the hill with Kathy of SAIS fame and some other friends. Members of Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team (CMRT) were out braving the elements too as were many skiers and a few climbers. The weather was a bit miserable though ( character building one could call it!) with lots of fresh snow, especially above 800 metres with drifting. Cairngorm Mountain has good fresh snow on compacted runs although the wind exposed uplifts were closed today. Some lower runs closer to the car park have narrowed a bit. Many snow fences are still buried , the piste machine drivers are very busy and all in all the skiing will be superb.
(below: members of CMRT)

Winter ice-climbing- Scotland

Ice on the windscreen of our cars this morning in Newtonmore and climbing conditions in the Cairngorms are amazingly fine. Here are Max and Ross on Fiacaill Couloir which had lots of ice to climb and is generally in excellent condition. The recent melt freeze has striped some of the steeper buttress routes and this has made it easier to place runners. There remains tons of snow, and skiing on Cairngorm Mountain looks fantastic.

A gusty and rainy day

We walked in and went to the foot of our intended climb, but gusts were really strong and there was ice falling from any exposed rock above. The day was great for navigation practice!

Perfect neve for climbing today

Here is Maxine and Ross climbing their first winter climb. This is Spiral Gully an good grade 2 **, a long and fairly interesting climb on Fluted Buttress, Corie an t- Sneachda, Cairngorms.

Bucket stances, Stompers and Kleimheist's

The day started out very wet and windy on Cairngorm, at one point it snowed for a while. The wind changed direction and sunshine came in for the afternoon and all in all it was not such a bad day. Cairngorm Mountain had to close due to the high winds so we took the opportunity to work in the relative shelter of the Ciste Gully and covered lots of use full skills. Bucket Stances, Stompers and Klemheist's are terms you will come to know if you climb on snow and ice.
Above: Ross belays Max from buried T axe belay.
(Above) Max gives a demonstration of a Stomper or Standing-Axe belay.
Ross ascending fixed rope with Kleimheist friction knots.

Cairngorm Days

(Above) Jonathan with introductory ski-mountaineers on Cairngorm.
Below: Self- arrest, a use full and important skill, but it's better not to fall in the first place!

Sunday, new week, new people and our interesting life continues. This week at Team Ascent we have introductory ski touring and an introductory winter climbing course. The snow was well frozen this morning although it became quite soft by the end of the day. Climbs are getting done and ski touring conditions are excellent with continued outstandingly amazing snow cover. On Cairngorm Mountain the snow cover is amazing and there are no crows to contend with from Monday to Friday- it's superb.
Maxine and Ross on the summit of Cairngorm.