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.

Wild Wild West: Gearr Aonach, Glencoe

Sheltered scrambling on the Zig Zags

If the winds in Glencoe had been anything close to those in Fort William during the early hours of today, I think today would have turned out quite different.  Instead, David, Jackie and I enjoyed a relatively pleasant day in Glencoe.  Today I was working for Hughes Mountaineering, along with Campbell, Andy and John.

As we pulled up in Glencoe, I don't think anyone anticipated on staying out as long as we eventually did, but soon after we had left that car, the weather cleared and even showed some blue skies!  The winds were still quite fresh, and with strong gusts forecasted, staying low was essential.  David and Jackie had quite a bit of experience both at home (Ireland) and abroad, and were keen to experience an adventurous walking day, but were fully aware that the weather could easily curtail plans.  Other members of their party were heading up to climb on Far Eastern Buttress on the East Face of Aonach Dubh, so I chose to head up the Zig Zags, onto Gearr Aonach then traverse into Coire Nan Lochan.  As we tucked ourselves behind the northern buttress of Gearr Aonach, the weather eased, and along with clear views, made for a very enjoyable ascent of the Zig Zags.  Crampons were definitely not required for the scramble, as most the ledges were just covered in soft, saturated graupel. Once on Gearr Aonach, we battled a few squalls, but again, in between the squalls, we had great views across to the Aonach Eagach and to the summit of Stob Coire Nan Lochan.  We could also make out the various teams climbing on Far Eastern Buttress.

After being battered by the wind a few times, we decided to traverse into Coire Nan Lochan and make our way down to the car.  Overall, it had been a great day and we'd lasted a good 7 hours.

Just before one of the squalls on Gearr Aonach

Seconds later!

Stob Coire nan Lochan, laden with snow

Far Eastern Buttress, Aonach Dubh

Jam packed day: Intro to Winter Day 1, Aonach Mor

Analysing the snow pack to increase avalanche awareness

Today was the first day of a two day Intro to Winter Mountains weekend for Tom, Ed and Rob.  The three lads had flown up from the south coast to get away from the gently rolling land of the South Downs, and have their first experience of Scottish winter.  Weather On-line provide a real-time reading for the temperature and wind speed for the summit of Aonach Mor, along with data from the previous 18 hrs.  This useful data gives a true picture of what is happening on the mountain, so whilst I was relatively sheltered in the lee of Loch Eil this morning, I found out that Aonach Mor was receiving the full brunt of the strong 50 mph southerly winds and so the gondola would therefore not be running.  The winds were due to ease as the day progressed, so I opted to head up Aonach Mor, in the hope that the gondola would run later in the day.

Beautiful rime ice on the fence posts,
indicating the recent wind direction

The walk up from the Nevis Range Car Park to the top station wasn't bad at all, and took just over an hour, and there were a fair few other teams making the steady walk up with similar plans.  Tom, Ed and Rob all had a fair bit of experience in the mountains in summer conditions, so were able to adapt well to the winter environment, turning their hands well to moving on snow and ice, ice axe arresting, cramponning and understanding avalanches.  We covered some steeper ground to gain the Nid Ridge, where we saw some fantastic rime ice and very pronounced raised footprints, the latter of which shows snow transportation and therefore suggest the building of windslab and associated avalanche risks.  From the cairn of the Nid Ridge, we also came across a brocken spectre, blue skies and it was also reassuring to see the ski area open, and more importantly, the gondola running!

So quite a packed day, with a variety of conditions, a lot of information and new skills for the three lads.  We're out again tomorrow, for a bit of a mountain journey. 

Rimed raised footprints towards the summit of Aonach Mor, an indicator of snow transportation