Adventure Blog Scotland | Land

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!

Early Winter Climbing on Ben Nevis

November 3, 2008 on 11:05 am | In Outdoor Climbing, Hillwalking, Uncategorized | No Comments

The good, cold weather has been with us for a week now and ice is forming. It’s been a great early start to the winter and plenty of climbing has been done by those ready and able to jump on the crags.

Donald and I had a day out on Ben Nevis today and we were surprised at how much ice there is in the drainage lines. It was very wet before it went cold and it has been cold now for a week so gullies such as Point Five Gully and Green Gully, and drainage lines such as Waterfall Gully and The Curtain all have a reasonable amount of ice in them.

The highest crags were well rimed up as well so we went up North Gully on Creag Coire na Ciste to reach the very steep wall above. We climbed a groove / chimney between Place Your Bets and North Gully Left Branch which was quite hard at the start (VII,8) but eased off to give great chimney climbing and a through route to escape onto the plateau. There was a peg and some tat under the through route so it might have been climbed before - if anyone knows please get in touch.

A Day at Dunkeld

July 27, 2007 on 1:25 pm | In Outdoor Climbing | No Comments

I managed to squeeze in a day’s climbing at Craig a Barns by Dunkeld last weekend. The sun was shining and the rock was warm to touch - perfect for climbing. It’s been a wee while since I last climbed though so I wasn’t on the best form. My problem is simple - I spend too much time watching climbing films which have been submitted to the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival (I have the final say on which films are selected) when I should be out there climbing. It’s doubly bad as I regularly watch Dave MacLeod or Niall McNair on film, easing their way up E7s and harder - then I get onto the rock, look at much easier climbs and think - you mean I need to climb that??!!

Anyway, we had a good day out, caught a bit of sun and didn’t have any falls, so we went home happy. And again I find myself promising to get down to Alien Rock every week, and to grab every opportunity to get out on the rock while the summer lasts. I’ll keep you posted.

Stevie Christie
http://www.wildernessscotland.com
Director of Wilderness Scotland & also of the Edinburgh Mountain Film Festival. Into most mountain sports, esp mountain biking, walking, climbing and sea-kayaking.