Winter Climbing in Scotland

December 5, 2008 on 1:43 pm | In Outdoor Climbing | 1 Comment

So far the autumn has been cold and snowy, a brilliant start to the winter and lots of winter climbing has been done even though we are still only in early December. 

It’s been persistently cold again this week with some more snowfall. Yesterday was perfectly clear and sunny for much of the day before a front brought snowfall overnight down to a couple of hundred metres above sea level. In Glencoe today it was very heavy going digging a trail up to Stob Coire nan Lochan but Kenny, Guy and I were rewarded with a very wintry buttress with no-one else around. We climbed Tilt, a VI,7 route that is very sustained and has some fantastic positions. The turf was well frozen and, although not rimed up, there was snow stuck to even the steepest rocks.

Unfortunately there wasn’t quite enough snowfall on Aonach Mor for Nevis Range to open up for skiing at the weekend but there is a very good coverage everywhere now. The snow has been gently blown over N and E facing slopes and there are some cornices over the crags. Temperatures will rise over the weekend, consolidating the snow but not melting very much above 500m before colder conditions return again next week. It’s a fantastic start to the winter!

Mike Pescod
http://www.abacusmountaineering.com
Mountain Guide and Instructor with a passion for the hills. Scottish winter climbing is my favourite but scrambling, rock climbing, walking and ice climbing here and in the Alps are pretty good too!