Get in touch for Winter Courses 2011-12

As another summer passes by, it's time to look forward to this coming winter (not forgetting some autumnal rock climbing!), and with temperatures today on the summit of Ben Nevis just above freezing, it won't be long until the first snows arrive.  The past two winters have been fantastic, with some great early season conditions, so fingers crossed for a third.

Please do get in touch at applegateken@gmail.com or 07799 863068 if you are interested in developing your experience in the winter mountains this coming season.  I am based in Fort William throughout the year.
 
Prices per day start from: £160 for 1 person, £180 for 2 people, £200 for 3 people.

Book Review: Skye Scrambles by Noel Williams

I've just finished writing a book review for Mountaineering Council of Scotland's quarterly publication, The Scottish Mountaineer.

The Isle of Skye unquestionably boasts some of the finest scrambling and climbing opportunities in the UK, and for many mountaineers, the traverse of the spectacular Cuillin Ridge, arcing 12km and providing some of the most dramatic and challenging mountainous terrain in the UK is a life long ambition.  However, it’s not just the Cuillin Ridge that draws mountaineers and walkers, as numerous outings, of high quality, can be found across the island, which is quite useful, given the notoriously changeable Hebridean weather.

The eagerly awaited second edition of Skye Scrambles, published by the SMC is finally in the shops, and just a brief flick through the pages, was enough to convince me that this guidebook is an absolute must for anyone with a mountaineering interest in the area.  The most striking feature of this guidebook must be the hand drawn topos, as for the first time that I’m aware of, the drawings are now in full colour, showing intricate detail through careful hill-shading, providing information that even photos can not always offer.  Whilst predominantly a scrambling guidebook, a healthy selection of easier climbs and walks have also been included, giving the reader plenty of options in almost any weather condition, and as with all SMC guidebooks, inspiring chapters on geology, history and environment are included, all of which can easily enhance one’s experience of mountaineering on Skye.

The second edition of Skye Scrambles fell into my hands only a couple of days before a planned working visit to Skye, provided me with the ideal opportunity to put the guidebook through it’s paces.  During four days on Skye, I covered the following: West Ridge and Pinnacle Ridge of Sgùrr Nan Gillean, Direct Route up the East Ridge and down King’s Cave Chimney of Am Basteir, and the majority of the Ridge Traverse, starting at Gars-bheinn and descending after Sgùrr a’ Mhadaidh, and can honestly say that this new guidebook helped me to no end, particularly the chapter that describes the Cuillin Ridge Traverse, which includes clear yet simple descriptions and perhaps more useful, well annotated and simplified maps.  If the rest of the guidebook is this useable, which I’m absolutely certain it is, then a new benchmark for scrambling guidebooks has been set.

So, if you want help fathoming out the most complex and spectacular mountain range in the UK, you know what to do.

A fine day on Curved Ridge, Glencoe

Today I was working for West Coast Mountain Guides.  I was out with Bill and Mike who were keen to either climb Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis or Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor in Glencoe.  With the weather not looking fantastic, the decision was made to head to Glencoe and climb the classic Curved Ridge.  As we pulled into the lay-by by the SMC's Lagangarbh Hut, it was steadily raining, so donning waterproofs, we headed up towards Coire Na Tulaich, before veering off eastwards and round towards Rannoch Wall and Curved Ridge.

Not long into the approach, the rain eased, and despite weather forecasts, failed to materialise for the remainder of the day.  The scrambling on Curved ridge is great, with good, continuous clean rock and plenty of opportunity to build quick belays, either by placing gear or by using one of the numerous spikes on the route.  As we drew level with the base of the impressive Rannoch Wall, we chatted briefly to a team, about to start up the classic VDiff, Agag's Groove.

We reached the top of Curved Ridge, and the summit of Stob Dearg (the first of the Buachaille Etive Mor summits) in good time, before making our way round to the top of Coire Na Tualaich, and descending via the screes and broken ground down into the coire.  Bill and Mike were also keen to learn a few key scrambling skills such as building quick yet safe belays, using both natural anchors such as spikes and threads, and with placed protection such as cams and nuts, so we ventured off the descent path to one of the many outcrops that scatter the coire.  On the final leg of our descent, we heard the distant rumble of thunder, and again the rain fell, hopefully after the team on Agag's Groove had topped out!

Bill and Mike on Curved Ridge, with Rannoch Wall on the left

In the clouds: Green Gully, Ben Nevis

Tower Ridge and No. 2 Gully area this morning

A second day working for West Coast Mountain Guides, with Ashley and Dimitri, saw us back up Ben Nevis.  The freezing level had dropped though the night, and it felt markedly cooler this morning, even down at sea level.  It's the first time in a while that the freezing levels have really dropped, which was certainly long overdue.  Ashley and Dimitri found yesterday's climb adventurous, but quite straight forward, and so wanted something slightly more challenging today.  We headed back up to Coire Na Ciste, an hour ahead of yesterday, to find the mountain much quieter.  There were only 4 teams gearing up beneath Trident Buttresses, two of whom were heading up to Glover's Chimney, one to have a look at Thompson's Route and one to head up Number 3 Gully Buttress.  The Cascade up by No. 2 Gully is looking good, as is quite a bit of the ice in that area. Green Gully did have a team on it already, they must have had an early start as they were at least half way up the route at 9am.

Dimitri and Ashley at a belay

Most of the climbing in Green Gully at the moment is at grade III, with a couple of steps of IV, and the snow and ice was in great condition, particularly on the crux pitch and on the direct finish.  Both Ashley and Dimitri were suitably challenged today, and did well for their third Scottish winter climb.  On topping out, we were greeted by fresh winds building rime on the exposed rock, which is certainly very promising.  The snow had really firmed up down to about 800m, and with winter looking to return with a vengeance this week, climbing conditions will improve in the long term.

Descending the Red Burn in the clouds.

A Grand Day Out: East Ridge, Stob Ban

At the moment, two friends from Spain have come over, in the hope of bagging their first Scottish winter climbs!  Luckily, I'm fresh out of MIC Training, and was keen to give Fabien and Jorge a flavoursome taste of Scottish winter climbing, whilst using them as guinea pigs, or Conejillo de Indias!  I didn't think they would have any objections!  It wasn't easy to pick a route which fulfilled all the criteria of being an ideal intro route, providing big adventure, whilst being safe given the high avalanche risk, forcasted by the SAIS for Lochaber and Glencoe.  It was in the eleventh hour that I decided to try the 'East Ridge II/III' of Stob Ban in the Mamores.  Route choice was again absolutely critical, and the East Ridge on the North Buttress seemed to tick all the boxes: a ridge, east facing, safe approach over low angled slopes, safe descent and potential for adventure.

Fabien and Jorge enjoying themselves

I've not climbed on Stob Ban before, and I've no idea why really, as the East Ridge was great!  It has quite a mountaineering feel, with some varied climbing, from snowy ridges to short technical steps, and has great gear and belays all the way.  Route finding didn't seem to be too tricky, with it being a case of following your nose, although I'm sure many variations at the grade are possible.   Conditions on route could not really have been better, with bomber turf, solid neve, and not too much loose snow.

Fabien and Jorge tackling one of the trickier steps

We opted to descend by going over the summit of Stob Ban at 999m, and then follow the ridge east to then head north back down the Allt Coire a'Mhusgain.  Fabien and Jorge are both keen sport climbers, so fitness and physical ability were not going to pose too much of an issue, but I'm sure they'll both sleep well tonight!  There were other teams on the route, how many exactly, I've no idea, as we were the first team, and only saw two other teams.

All clad in yellow, on the summit of Stob Ban, 999m

Careful pickings: North Buttress of Buachaille Etive Mor, Glencoe

Choice of route today was absolutely essential, given the high avalanche risk on the mountains.  John, James, Alex and I decided to play it safe, and chose to head to Buachaille Etive Mor in Glencoe to climb 'North Buttress (West Route) IV,4'.  Mike Pescod's new guidebook 'Winter Climbs Ben Nevis and Glencoe', published by Cicerone, suggests that once established on the route, that it is safe from avalanches.  It has to be stressed that this does not include the approach, which could be prone to avalanches, particularly due to the angle of some of the slopes.

A stag, standing proud, with North Buttress in the background

Alex waving from the top of pitch one

The route, which is made up of a series of chimneys and grooves, provided some great climbing, although quite bit of clearing was required today to find those buried hooks and gear placements!  Belays are all big blocks, which meant that we could abseil back down the route from the top of the difficulties to beyond the start, in four abseils.   The winds were strong southerlies, although wrapped around the northern end of the mountain, transporting a lot of loose snow from east to west, and also throwing quite a bit of spindrift down the route!  Windslab was forming on the approach, particularly on the western side of the broad ridge as the day progressed, but we were able to stick to the exposed rocks, turf and lower angled slopes to ensure a safe descent. It was a social day, with four of us out, and we did come across another team starting up, just as we finished our last abseil.

John having just thrutched his way up
the difficulties of pitch two

MIC Training, Day 4: Aonach Dubh and Stob Coire Nan Lochan

What a wet day!  Heavy rain was falling at all levels today, saturating the snow pack, and blackening the buttresses, and a fair bit of existing snow and ice was quickly making it's way out to sea.  All was not lost however, far from it.  With the rain due to stay all day, we had a day of mountaineering, scrambling up a slush covered 'Dinner Time Buttress II', on the west face of Aonach Dubh, along up to the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, and down 'Dorsal Arete II,3'.  The focus of the day was dealing with more mountaineering terrain, where straight forward pitching would be both unnecessary and very time consuming.  The decent of Dorsal Arete enabled us to look at the tricky business of managing two clients down steep and technical ground, whilst using various belays to keep everyone safe.

Tim and Dave on the damp descent of Dorsal Arete

Signs of avalanche activity were present, with quite a bit of debris at the base of Forked Gully.  There was a surprising amount of ice on Dorsal Arete, and with the forcasted refreeze tonight, the snowpack should firm up well, and provide very good climbing conditions for the next few days.  There will be a slight rise in temperatures on Friday, but existing ice on the higher crags should be in great nick.  We only saw one other team today, who had climbed 'Ordinary Route IV,5' on the Summit Buttress of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, who seemed to have had a good day, despite the rain.  Another productive, but somewhat damp day!

MIC Training, Day 2: Stob Coire Nan Lochan, Glencoe

Overnight, there was a lot of fresh snow, down to about 300m.  This had fallen on all slope aspects, meaning that there was probably little wind through the night, and therefore hadn't created much new wind slab.  However, with the forecast suggesting an increase in wind strength throughout the day, particularly from the west, wind slab would be steadily building on the leeward slopes, so those facing east, but also lead to cross loading, filling in gullies and depressions on other aspects too, especially those perpendicular to the wind directions, so in the case of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, northerly facing gullies, of which there are quite a number.

Snow being transported from west to east,
looking out toward Aonach Dubh

Day two of the MIC Training course was spent focusing primarily on personal climbing, but also with thought on efficiently guiding two clients up a route, making the most of the limited time windows of opportunity in which to teach winter climbing.  Rusty, Tim and I climbed 'Ordinary Route IV,5' on the Summit Buttress of Stob Coire Nan Lochan, which proved to be an excellent mixed route, throwing in a fair share of tricky steps and great situations in amongst quite a complex crag.  The turf was all pretty frozen, and asides from the odd patch of rotten ice, the climbing was all pretty secure.  As forecasted, the winds did start transporting the snow onto the crags, and whilst not a problem on the route, meant that descent down the various gullies became more serious, and therefore no longer an option so we ended up descending the ridge joining the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan to Aonach Dubh.

Late afternoon views to the southern slopes of the Aonach Eagach

A very productive day, with again, a wealth of new tips and techniques practised and discussed.   A busy day in Stob Coire Nan Lochan with other teams out on Innuendo, Twisting Groves, Twisting Gully and Dorsal Arete. Tomorrow, the winds are forecasted to be north westerly, and overall, with the freezing levels at around 600m for most of the day, conditions should be great.  Care should however be taken based upon the SAIS forecasts.

The Wild North West: Glen Sheil & Torridon

Back in 2004, I took my first steps on steeper snow and ice, on an introductory winter climbing course with Martin Moran, and I remember it well, with days out on the rugged mountains of Liathach, Meall Gorm, Fuar Tholl and Sgurr an Lochain.  Since then, despite numerous promises to myself, I have only spent a very small amount of time up in the north west, so decided to start doing something about it.  I had the opportunity to join the same course that I had been a participant on 6 years previous, with the aim of picking up tips and techniques required to instruct and coach winter climbing in an adventurous yet efficient and safe manner.

Looking out towards Beinn Dearg and Loch Maree

Tuesday was spent on 'Way-up Gully I' in the magnificent Coire Dubh Mor (translates as 'Big Black Coirre'), on one of the finest ridges on the UK mainland, Liathach.  This corrie is home to some of the great ice lines of the North West, including 'Poacher's Fall V,5', 'Salmon's Leap VI,6' and 'Umbrella Falls V,5'.  I had climbed Umbrella Falls quite a few years ago, arguably having bitten off a little more than my climbing partner, Andy, and I could chew back then!  We did finish the climb, albeit in the dark, and made it down safely, but we both certainly learnt a thing or two that day!  I digress, so back to 2011, we ascended Way-Up Gully, and continued to the summit of the most easterly Munro of Liathach, Spidean a'Choire Leith, to then descend 'South Gully I'. The upper slopes on the south side had been scoured, leaving quite a hard icey surface, fortunately lower down, below 700m or so, it was much easier going with the softer snow.  The ice lines today were a long way from being complete, with only the thinnest of smears of ice highlighting where the various lines of thick, dribbling ice should be.  These routes all require snow lying above to feed the ice through cycles of melt/freeze, and fortunately, despite there being very little snow above the lines on Tuesday, this will have changed over the course of the week! 

Descending a very snowy Forcan Ridge

Wednesday saw a later start, in the hope of making the most of a reasonable weather window.  To a large degree, this worked, as despite a wet start, making our way up to a grade I gully on the north side of the 'Forcan Ridge II' in the Munro lined valley of Glen Sheil, we topped out and descended the ridge in much calmer conditions.  Snow fell heavily throughout the middle of the day, and was settling down to 600m.  Rivers and streams remained in spate!  Throughout the day, the risk of thunderstorms was present, due to a mass of warm air being forced upwards by an incoming wedge of cold air. More info here: Causes of Thunderstorms.  Later that evening, Glencarron was treated to a display of forked lighting, the booming of thunder and the threat of power cuts.

Tricky down climbing on The Traverse of A'Chioch, Beinn Bhan

Thursday morning brought an early start, due to the promises of foul weather hitting the west coast of the UK mid afternoon.  The team today headed up onto Beinn Bhan, a magnificent Corbett, with its six dramatic NE facing coires, the majority of which containing a fine array of classic mixed and ice climbs, on some of the continuously steep cliffs in the UK.  The aim for the day was to climb one of the most adventurous grade IIs in the area, 'The Traverse of A'Chioch II'.  The route starts on the dividing ridge between Coire na Feola and Coire na Poite, and is more than just a straight forward climb, involving some down climbing, traversing and exposure to reach the final four pitches.  We were lucky to have blue skies, light winds and great views for the first few hours of the day, but on topping out, it was clear that things were changing, rapidly!  Some of the wildest weather I've experienced came through once we had finished, bringing with it torrential rain, storm force winds, and high up, a lot of fresh snow.  I'm sure the early start, and hence early finish was very much appreciated by all.


Whilst this stormy weather renders the hills almost out of bounds for the time being, in the long run, it will only lead to improved climbing conditions for the winter ahead, so long as its not perpetual!  Nevis Range is closed today, and looking out the window, I can't say that I'd be too inspired to head out today.  I shall be on my MIC Training this coming week with Plas Y Brenin, fingers crossed for slightly better weather!

An exploratory day on Pinnacle Buttress, Ben Nevis

An absolutely amazing day out on Ben Nevis today, with clear blue skies and no wind.  It doesn't get any better!  Mike, Scott and I didn't have any concrete plans when we met up this morning, but by the time we had reached the car park, we had decided to head up to the lesser climbed area of Pinnacle Buttress on the eastern side of Tower Ridge.  On the approach, the snow had firmed up after a substantial thaw and good re-freeze, making travel around Coire Na Ciste pretty straight forward.  There was some avalanche debris at the base of No. 2 Gully and The Trident Buttresses.
 

Mike venturing up pitch 1.

Mike led the first pitch of 'Pinnacle Buttress Direct V,5', which sported some good snow-ice, but also some patches of very brittle hard ice.  An interesting mixed move right finished off a great intro pitch.  Mike had spotted a corner which may or may not have been climbed before, so Scott led us to the base of the corner.  I took over the lead, and found the 'possibly climbed before' corner quite bold, but with good ice and turf, the pitch felt reasonably secure.  The crux was a steepening at about two thirds height, which was fortunately well protected by an awkward to place thread.  Mike's next lead was pretty uneventful, up easy snow slopes, so he then led the final pitch to the top of the Great Tower.  Again, a variety in the quality of ice made the pitch quite tricky, particularly an awkward move right over a very thinly iced up slab with very small features for feet.  This brought us out onto the Great Tower, just before Tower Gap, and with the sunshine on the plateau looking so appealing, we finished up Tower Ridge.


It was a pretty quiet day on Ben Nevis, with teams on 'Glover's Chimney III,4', 'Green Gully IV,4', 'Hadrian's Wall Direct V,5' , 'Moonwalker IV,3', 'Garadh Gully' and numerous teams going up and down 'Number 4 Gully I'. The crags of Coire Na Ciste look a lot blacker than those on the eat face of Aonach Mor, but I did hear of some mixed action on some of the modern test pieces taking place today.  The higher buttresses will provide some good mixed climbing, but it does look like the ice lines will be getting a lot of attention over the next few days.
 

Dramatic scenery on the top pitch.

It seems that we weren't the only ones to have been climbing on Pinnacle Buttress of the Tower recently: first ascent of 'Goodfellas VII,8'

A route less travelled: The Groove Climb, Ben Nevis

Scott tackling pitch 1 of The Groove Climb.  

If there was a freeze last night, it must have been very brief, as today the snow was quite soft and freezing levels had risen to around 1100m, and with an evident thaw in process, Scott and I decided to head up high again.  The cloud base was at around 700m as we entered Coire Na Ciste (again), and visibility was down to about 100m.  With far less climbers about, and with the cloud in, Ben Nevis took on a very different feel to yesterday.

We ended up retracing our footsteps from yesterday, to seek out a somewhat obsure, yet one starred climb called 'The Groove Climb V,6', which was only a few metres to the left of yesterday's 'Slab Climb'.  The routes aren't fantastically imaginatively named here!  Despite it's short 70m length, the route manages to squeeze in a number of obstacles, the first being loose, unconsolidated snow on the steep and sustained first pitch, which Scott led well, particularly as the gear wasn't great, and then quite a strenuous, but safe, pull out of a very tight cave/belay up and over the capping chockstone, onto easier ground above, which I led.  A long traverse leftwards brought us to a huge spike, from which we were able to abseil down (60m), and down climb back to the packs.

Guy and John were on 'Slab Climb' and then 'Wendigo IV,4', other teams on 'Zero Gully V,4', 'Hadrian's Wall Direct V,5', 'Number 2 Gully Buttress III', 'Green Gully IV,4' and 'Thompson's Route IV,4'.  The forecast is again for the freezing levels to be above the summit, but all the mentioned routes should be ok, however there will be an increased risk of avalanches with the increase in temperature and precipitation, so care is needed.

One to come back to: Slab Climb, Ben Nevis

This morning, the path up the Allt a' Mhuillin, to the CIC Hut was perhaps the busiest I've ever seen it.  Strung out along 4km, I counted 20 headtorches, everyone with heads down, heading to their own adventures on the impressive crags on the north face of Ben Nevis.  Scott and I also had our own adventure in mind, to try 'Slab Climb VI,7' on South Trident Buttress, in Coire Na Ciste.

Scott leading pitch 1 of Slab Climb, Ben Nevis

Scott led the first pitch well, managing the ropes well in order to protect me on a tricky, and slightly insecure down climb of a few meters.  I then took over the lead, to attempt the crux pitch.  From the belay, the crux pitch is a soaring slab of 40m, riddled with small overlaps, small ledges and two parallel cracks running vertically.  I hooked my way carefully up, constantly searching for cracks suitable to place gear, but everything seemed to be flared, iced up, or too thin.  After about 8m of climbing, I finally uncovered a bit of tat around the tiniest of chockstones, and thankfully clipped it, deciding that this, as my first tech 7, might be a little too bold today.  We abseiled off, promising to come back another day to try this route. The guidebook does suggest that the route is reasonably well protected and best climbed early season under powder, making me think that it's best without ice lined cracks.  You live and learn!

The temperatures at 900m were just above freezing, due to a temperature inversion (temperature increasing with height), so the snow became wetter as the day progressed, and the top layer of wind slab came away easier as the day progressed.  It's due a freeze tonight which will help consolidate this.  Many of the Ben Nevis classics were climbed today including 'Point 5 Gully V,5', 'Green Gully IV,3', 'Gargoyle Wall VI,6', Darth Vader VII,7', North East Buttress 'IV,4' and 'Glover's Chimney III,4'

The winter season so far…

I thought it was about time to get a blog up and running, and to kick things off, here is a brief summary of my winter so far.  The season got off to a good start, despite a fruitless walk into Observatory Gully back in November, to find ‘Observatory Ridge IV,4′ in poor condition, the following day proved to be much more successful, with a trip over to The Cairngorms to climb ‘Original Summer Route IV,5′.  The route gave three reasonably sustained pitches of mixed climbing, which led to a convenient abseil back into ‘Aladdin’s Couloir’.

The following weekend, I teamed up with Guy Stevens with the intention of climbing ‘Gargoyle Wall VI,6′ high up on Number 3 Gully Buttress on Ben Nevis.  Many other teams had similar plans, so we decided to have a go at ‘Darth Vader VII,7′ instead.  Guy led the middle two crux pitches well, despite a particularly strenuous crux out of the cave of the second belay.  I then proceeded to lead the slightly bold top pitch to top out close to Number 3 Gully.

Crux pitch of Tower Face of the Comb

The following weekend, Tony Shepherd and I headed back up into Coire Na Ciste on Ben Nevis to have a look at ‘Tower Face of the Comb VI,6′, a route which had been on Tony’s ticklist for sometime.  According to the SMC Winter Climbs Guidebook, it’s one of the best mixed routes on the mountain, Tony was certainly in agreement.  The going was quite tough, with a lot of fresh powder on the route, but fortunately the gear was reasonable and with a bit of clearing, the crux pitch did reveal some good hooks.  All in all, one of the best routes I’ve climbed.

A solo of ‘Raeburn’s Easy Route II’ saw the end of 2010, conditions were far from ideal due to a substantial thaw.  Scott Kirkhope and I then wandered route to Tower Gully to have a look at the higher crags on the mountain.  ‘Smith’s Route V,5′ and the routes on Indicator Wall were far from climbable.  ‘Hadrian’s Wall Direct V,5′ was complete but very, very thin.

The 2nd of January saw Scott, Hannah and I heading into Creag Meagaidh to see what the Post Face had to offer.  A few other teams had similar plans, so we opted for ‘South Post Direct V,4′.  The ice was quite hard and brittle, which meant the various icefalls on the route were quite hard for the grade.  We felt it to be more like V,5 given the conditions.

The most recent climb this season was ‘Scabbard Chimney V,6′ on Summit Buttress, Stob Coire Nan Lochain in Glencoe.  The route had been on both mine and Scott’s ticklist for a while, so it was great to walk into the coire to see that we were going to have the route to ourselves.  It was a glorious day, with little wind, and we made quick work of the three pitches to finish just above the crux pitch, and abseiled off in one 60m ab.  The crux pitch, although short, was quite technical, so it was quite handy to find three in-situ pegs to protect the 18m of climbing.

Since then, the weather has deteriorated, with high temperatures and rain.  The forecast does suggest cooler and more stable weather for this coming week, so let’s hope that this materialises!