December 2008 Conditions Reports

30th December 2008

With no wind or cloud on the tops it was another perfect day today. Abib and I climbed Point Five Gully along with two other teams, one of which went up the left hand finish. It's not exactly banked out but it's all in very good icy condition and is already quite stepped from the number of ascents it's had over the last few days. Smith's Route was climbed today as well with quite a harrowing pitch in the middle by the sound of it! The major gullies are all quite easy just now with little cornices and steps all the way up them. The snow is rock hard though so any slips will be very dramatic! In fact the ground everywhere is frozen solid so it is quite heavy going especially in descent. Not that I'm complaining!

29th December 2008

It was a bit busier today on Ben Nevis and Abib and I decided not to join the queue for Point Five Gully so we went back down and round Douglas Boulder to Coire na Ciste. Green Gully had a few teams in it along with Glovers Chimney, South Gully and the big grade I gullies so Abib and I went for Thompson's Route. This is a fantastic icy mixed route on the right side of Number Three Gully Buttress. The chimney low down is tricky and not so well protected but after that there is plenty of protection and great climbing right up the front of the buttress. Number Three Gully Buttress ordinary route was climbed today as well but it is quite rocky in the upper half. Donald, Duncan and Catherine found the path round Buachaille Etive Mor to be very icy and ice is forming in Great Gully. They climbed Curved Ridge for a nice rocky scramble. The weather looks settled dry and cold for another week and there are many climbs up to grade IV and a couple of V's in good condition.

28th December 2008

Santa left us another present - fantastic climbing conditions on Ben Nevis! Jenny, Eric and I headed up Ben Nevis today where we found all the snow to be solid, icy neve and lots of ice in the gullies and grooves. As nobody else was there we climbed Green Gully in brilliant conditions. It's not banked out so there was more climbing than usual but the snow and ice that was there was mostly perfect. Also it is bone dry and a very pleasant temperature to be climbing in. The snow and ice is dry so even our gloves were dry at the top. If that wasn't enough we were treated to a great sunset as well before descending Number Four Gully. Glovers Chimney and South Gully, Creag Coire na Ciste were climbed by Kenny and Joe and Donald took Catherine and Duncan up Number Two Gully which has a couple of icy sections. Comb Gully, Thompsons Route, The central gullies of Creag Coire na Ciste and many others look good too. Point Five Gully had a few teams in it (moving quite slowly), Observatory Ridge was climbed on dry rock and Good Friday Climb was also climbed. The good weather is due to last for several more days so we should be able to enjoy brilliant early season ice climbing for a while yet! Click the picture below for a bigger version.

26th December 2008
After a few days of warm and soggy weather it dried up yesterday and has started to cool down. The snow in the corries and gullies will be freezing hard and the next few days will be brilliant and sunny. We ventured out for a walk at Achnacarry from where we could see lots of ice still left on the highest routes on Ben Nevis. Point Five Gully, Hadrian's Wall and many others still have plenty of ice on them although we could not see whether or not they are complete. I am out on the 28th, 29th and 30th with the intention of climbing steep ice so come back and see what we've been up to.

22nd December 2008

Another day of very wet weather yesterday made it impossible for Donald, Rafa and Jaime to get in to Stob Ban. The rain combined with the snow melt meant all the streams and rivers were in spate and crossing some of them was impossible. Today was far calmer but warm and cloudy with some drizzle. It's difficult to say how much ice is left due to the cloud but some of it has certainly been washed away. Donald took Rafa and Jaime up Ledge Route which they shared with Alan Kimber and his team. Plenty of snow is still on the route and some sizeable avalanche debris in Number Five Gully was a result of the thaw yesterday. High pressure over the festive period will give us stable but not very cold weather. However if the clouds go away we might start getting frosts again and the remaining snow and ice could provide some excellent climbing. In the meantime it's all a bit soggy!

20th December 2008

The torrential rain and violent winds of yesterday were replaced by mostly dry, cold and calm conditions today. The snow had frozen well and there is lots of ice in all the big classics. Point Five Gully is looking very fat and there is ice forming in the Minus Gullies, Orion Face, Hadrians Wall Direct and Sickle, Observatory Buttress, Indicator Wall, Smiths Route, Compression Crack and Boomers Requiem. Many grade III and IV routes are looking good - the Central Gullies and South Gully on Creag Coire na Ciste especially. Donald climbed with Rafa and Jaime and I climbed with Scott on Tower Ridge where the rocks were verglased from the Little Tower all the way to the top and the cracks were full of ice. However the snow was fantastic icy neve and we made a quick ascent in the good conditions. It's hard to say what the ice in Point Five Gully will be like - it could be bomber or it could be cruddy. However with another stormy day tomorrow with rain and strong winds overnight followed by colder temperatures during the day it could be well on the way to being toffy ice. Fingers crossed!

18th December 2008
Yesterday, heavy rain washed away some more snow below 1000m but above it was falling as snow. Today was just as windy and after a warm start the temperature dropped throughout the day. In Stob Coire nan Lochain there is snow in the coire and the major gullies - Boomerang, Broad, NC, North and some left in SC but the steep sections are back to rock. We had a couple of hours of snow falling down to 500m this afternoon that put down 10cm in the coire. The top of Dorsal Arete was plastered in the fresh snow by the time Rafa, Jaime and I got there and the old snow underneath was starting to firm up. We had a fantastic slide down Broad Gully on the fresh soft snow and it was surprising how much had collected so quickly. The turf was mostly soft but there were one or two bits of ice, especially where the old snow had been compacted by being walked on. Looks like tomorrow will be a wild day and the mixed theme will continue over the weekend with further falls of snow and strong winds.

16th December 2008

The burns were all in spate first thing this morning as the front had done its worst over night. By 11am it had dried up mostly but was still about 7 celcius warmer than yesterday! We took our team from Welbeck College up the Zig Zags in Glencoe to keep out of the wind and find some fun scrambling. In Coire nan Lochain much of the snow survived the thaw and the major gullies are still full with patches of snow still down to about 600m. The buttresses were black today but yesterday they were very snowy and white when Andy Turner and Ian Parnell climbed The Duel. This testpiece of Cubby's has only had a couple of ascents and must have been a real battle in the wind and wild weather yesterday. Also Dave MacLeod was new routing on Sunday in the Mamores, the day after the Tooling Competition, coming away with a serious climb of grade VIII or IX.

15th December 2008

With rain due to come in from the west we headed to the Cairngorms today. It was a goggles day with sharp icy particles being blasted into our faces on the way in to Coire an t'Sneachda. The wind was knocking us backwards and made doing anything other than just coping quite challenging! Some teams did make it to the climbs and all the big gullies were bust plus some of the buttress routes which were very well rimed. It's all very well frozen with a reasonable cover of snow that was forming good areas of wind slab today. The west coast was wet by the time we drove back and the rain will last through till lunchtime tomorrow.

14th December 2008

Heavy snow yesterday in the east had mostly fizzled out by the time it reached the west coast. We got a light dusting but no more. Today, the first of three days of winter skills with Welbeck College, was cloudy and slowly warmed up during the day but was mosty dry. We found a great corrie in Glen Roy with a short walk in and good patches of old snow to look at walking and kicking steps in winter boots, ice axe use and self arrest, and crampon use. It wasn't freezing at 800m but there were a couple of snow showers. A reasonable day tomorrow but warm at all levels with heavy rain forecast for Tuesday will give us a good thaw.

13th December 2008

A good day for the final event of the Scottish Tooling Series 2008 held at The Ice Factor. The routes were set by Donald King with a range of bouldering qualifiers followed by the finals on the big wall. Fiona Murray was the top woman and Dave MacLeod breezed up the mens final route followed by the win in the super-final, head to head against an impressively strong Tony Stone. Unfortunately my camera batteries ran out so I've no footage of Dave in action but it was a lesson in precision and strength, definitely worth seeing. The whole series has been a real success in promoting the sport and getting more people to have a go. Take a look on the Glenmore Lodge website for the final series results and look out next year for the next series.

11th December 2008

The weather fronts hung off the west coast all day alowing Priya and I to go around the Carn Mor Dearg Arete in great weather. A bitter frost this morning stayed in the glens all day and summit temperatures were well below freezing. The ridge was well covered in snow and the views across on to Ben Nevis were superb until some most rolled over. As the sun set in the late afternoon the mist turned orange as we walked down. There is lots of ice forming on Ben Nevis - Waterfall Gully, Gemini, The Curtain and Garadh Gully all have a reasonable amount on them and Point Five Gully looks just about possible to climb. There is more ice lower down as watercourses freeze up and there was plenty of traffic at Beinn Udlaidh today. Captain Hook, Quartzvein Scoop and many other pure ice routes have been climbed there. We're forecast very strong S winds and more snow tomorrow and Saturday morning with sub-zero conditions above 600m throughout the weekend. Wrap up warm! Click on the picture below to see the full size version.

10th December 2008

9th December 2008

The thaw reached its peak in the very small hours of Monday morning, rising to only just above zero on Aonach Mor at 1130m. It cooled down rapidly yesterday and today has been even colder with fresh snowfall off occasional showers sitting on the hills down to 400m. There are many patches of old snow giving quite a reasonable coverage in the corries and gullies, most of which will be freezing solid now. A great day is forecast for tomorrow (unfortunately I will be doing a geology workshop with Lochaber Geopark) but I will be out on the CMD Arete on Thursday.

7th December 2008
After a sustained cold and snowy period we now have the first thaw for a week and a half. The freezing level is at the top of Ben Nevis today and we have drizzle and low cloud cover. The snow will be getting saturated but not melted away so when it refreezes again during tomorrow we should get a good cover of firm snow over much of the hills.
It's a good time to look back on an excellent start to the winter; just have a look at the number of hard routes that have been done already. Blair Fyffe and Tony Stone made a very early season ascent of The Secret on 2nd November, the third ascent overall. Rich Cross and Andy Benson climbed Sioux Wall (VIII,8) on 29th November and Heidbanger Direct (FWA) on 1st December, two grade VIII routes and one first ascent in three days! Ian Parnell and Andy Benson made the FWA of Devastation (VII,8) and Donald and I had a great time on a short climb (VII,8) on Creag Coire na Ciste. This is just a selection of what's been happening on Ben Nevis which is turning into a mixed climbing destination as well as the best place for ice climbing! Many other routes of all grades have been climbed at all levels including some that are rarely ever in condition. With the covering of snow we now have acting as a base for the rest of the winter, things are looking good!

4th December 2008

It's been persistently cold 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!