Le Ben Nevis

Seduced by the forecast of wind, snow, rain and sleet we headed North for a final trip. The mild weather of the previous week meant that only Ben Nevis was worth considering for a trip; having seen some photos taken 2 days previously we decided there would be enough ice to justify the trip and that it should refreeze nicely on Sunday night.

After the usual long, but uneventful journey we pitched up in the North face car park to indulge in a spot of vagrancy before Monday's activities. Monday dawned bright and clear and we headed up the track feeling optimistic that the night would have done it's work and the ice would be in good condition. Sure enough high up there was a reasonable amount of good quality ice at the top of Coire na Ciste, Ad wanted to lead the Cascade and I was keen to follow some technical 5 ice to see how it compared to technical 5 mixed. It seemed to take an age to reach the bottom of the route, however, once we were there a comforting rock belay and the stimulating view of the ice meant that our travails were quickly forgotten. Ad led the pitch smoothly (apart from the odd axe slippage) and soon it was my turn to follow. The start was ok but then it steepened, steepened again and stayed steep for a full 40 metres. A good lead! I was bushed at the top and I was only seconding.















Ad leading the Cascade, grade IV (5).






Following a day's rest, on the Wednesday we looked at the forecast of wet snow and strong winds and decided that North East Buttress would provide a suitably challenging day out. This time we were joined by Pete, who had just led his first grade IV on the Monday. The day dawned suitably foul and damp.









Nice weather..........










Near the CiC hut we met snow, which steadily increased in depth as we rounded the base of the first platform. Staring upwards into the sharp snow showers we struggled to discern the sloping ledge which led to the First Platform. After some upward wandering we managed to locate the ledge and soloed along it to the start of the route proper. Examining the ground ahead, we decided to move together until it got hard.













Approaching the 1st platform







The route was quite intricate and yet natural in the line it took, never hard but always interesting. Following some excellent icy mixed climbing we reached the Second platform snowfield whereupon I insisted on having a turn at leading. It was most enjoyable to be out in front and finding the route. After a while I was running short on gear, a final chossy ice bulge barred access to a crack and belay. I dug out a runner and after some trying found decent placements to pull over the bulge and access the belay. Soon after we arrived at the infamous mantrap. It was hard, but short and well protected and we got over it without much bother. The 40ft corner provided a final superb pitch before some wading along an easy arete led to the plateau in a whiteout.

40 ft corner, well banked with ice and snow.

Cairngorm capers

Mess of Pottage on Sunday

This weekend, with the large amount of fresh snow on the West coast, we decided to head East to the Cairngorms. On Saturday we made an ascent of Pygmy ridge. We started very early as the freezing level was due to rise to 1200m during the day, sure enough it did and by the time we topped out the snow was softening. However, the route looked wintery and was really excellent.

The initial forecast for Sunday was somewhat better, colder but drier too. We considered going to Hells Lum, however, upon arrival at the car park there were many dark, threatening clouds and a strong wind was blowing. We changed plans and headed into Coire an-t Schnecda again. This turned out to be a good idea as the weather rapidly worsened and walking out proved a big enough challenge without having to cross the plateau. After some debate about route choice we settled on the Haston Line, which, whilst not a major classic looked like it would be a relatively quick and easy mixed route. Pitch 1 was fine, standard grade 3. The second steep bit in the corner was largely soft snow with some thin, new ice. This made for a hard challenge for a few moves with not that great gear as I'd left the size of cam which would have protected it perfectly. Under the conditions it was harder than Pygmy Ridge, so possibly tech 5.

Jon trying the crux of the Haston Line in nice weather. I led this bit and found it quite tricky.

Jon following the crux pitch on the Haston Line.

In terms of conditions, sunday had some thin ice and a lot of soft snow on the buttresses. Open slopes were scoured and lee areas had some deep drifts. Mirror direct was iced but the quality of the ice was variable when we poked it on Saturday.

Raven Crag Gully

A quick note from earlier in February when winter was living up to the description. I might sue the last 2 weeks on the grounds of how crap and mild they have been.

Jon, Simon and myself headed to the Lakes to seek out some classic routes that are rarely in condition. On the saturday we passed any number of people heading up to queue on Great End and drop ice on each other's heads and headed round Borrowdale to investigate the classic Raven Crag Gully. I had previously gone to the bottom of this route in 2005 to find it a mass of chandeliers and big wet gaps in the ice; hopefully this time things would be different...

Simon leading pitch 1.

Fortunately, this time there was a little more ice than previously. The ice was a curious mixture of good ice, weak chandeliers and onion skin. Onion skin is formed by snow falling on the water as it freezes (I think), it makes nice steps but also has the nasty habit of giving way suddenly when stood upon it.

After waiting for a whole 20 minutes Simon had dispatched the first pitch and I got to lead pitch 2. This was thinly iced and out of balance at the start, it definitely felt harder than the 3 or 4 grade IVs I'd done previously so I was well pleased to get it done.

After some easier stuff the final main pitch was upon us; it looked superb. Sadly it was Jon's turn, not mine, a fact I was glad of when dealing with the very thin top out!

Hart Crag Icefalls

Making the most of the last of the cold weather, Adrian and I headed to the Lakes. We, rather optimistically, hoped to find Black Crag Icefall still complete. A 5.30 start from Ali's floor and a sweaty rush up the hill saw us beneath the icefall, which sadly had a number of gaps in it. We then headed up to Hart Crag at a more leisurly pace, via a solo up Houndshope Beck.

Naughty soloing at the start of Hart Crag Icefalls.

The ice on Hart crag was fat and chewy, so we set about climbing it as fast as we could before the thaw ate it all. By 2pm the thaw was well underway, but we had climbed 350m of good ice at grades III and IV and were knackered so didn't mind going home.

Adrian leading a grade IV pitch.

Easy routes

As the title says, I've been catching up on some hiking and easy classics the last few months. My favourite was Bracket and Slab on Gimmer Crag. Here's a photo.

Amazing climbing in the Lakes

Well, the best venue in England and Wales for rock action lived up to its billing again. I went for 5 days, Phil was with us for the 1st 3 and we were joined by Paul for the last 3 (don't worry, I can count, we were all 3 together on the middle day.

Day 1 Phil and I went to Black Crag on Pike o Blisco, Id not been before and we did 10 nice lines to HVS.
Day 2, we felt like something a little larger so opted for White Gill in Langdale. This was a crag I'd wanted to visit for ages, especially to do the classic Slip Knot. I'd heard the first pitch was amazing so I kindly offered Phil the second, crux pitch in order to lead the amazing wall pitch, which was as lovely to climb as I had heard. This was Phil's 1st VS lead, a good one I thought. We also did Inferno, which had some really cool back and foot moves through the overlap on pitch 2. Go do it people! On the left is the amazing wall pitch, with another chap on it.

Day 3, we all went to the Castle Rock of Triermain to do the classic Zig Zag. Phil led the first crux pitch and sketched wildly up it, nearly falling from a point where he would have decked. He did the crux moves in fine style smearing blood everywhere as per usual. I lowered off after this pitch as my arm was playing up. Later we did some excellent 1 pitch routes on the South Crag.

Day 4 was amazing, we visited Grey Crag in Buttermere and did 4 excellent climbs, Paul got to lead Dexter Wall, which felt hard enough on the second, good alpine training anyway as we finished with a pleasant walk along the ridge to Scarth Gap.

Day 5 we tried new routing on Harrison Stickle after promising each other a short walk in! Glory hunting and ambition got the better of our sore legs. After a pitch and a half our 'new line' degenerated into scrambling so we contented ourselves with the classic and unfrequented Harristikorner/Spillikin Ridge above the Dungeon ravine. Nice!

And with that, my arm is tired! Hopefully better for Almscliffe on Sunday.

Lots of good climbing!

That's right, lots of good climbing has been achieved in the last few weeks culminating in a lead of a short E1 at Bell Hagg, the Brig. Here's a picture. I've just done the crux at the start. These routes are about 9m high and are traditionally soloed but some of them are worth a lead. No doubt all the old school climbers from the 70s are shaking their heads in disbelief, but I had a fun time. Ad then led Hyde's Mantleshelf, a pleasant route at the end of the cliff.