November 2008 Conditions Reports

30th November 2008

Another great day with a little more cloud but still cold, snowy and calm. All the hills are covered in very light, powdery snow making progress difficult whether you are walking or climbing. On Ben Nevis the major ridges are all feasible in these conditions but are slow and tough going. Ledge Route proved popular and there was a team on Castle Ridge. The gullies are full of snow but will be a bad idea until the snow thaws and refreezes. In Glencoe routes such as Dorsal Arete, Curved Ridge, Aonach Eagach, North Buttress will make for good climbing. But ice is forming rapidly, especially lower down where it has been colder. There is ice in Waterfall Gully, Gemini, The Shield and the really low streams like Sgurr Finnisg'aig, Eas Annie and others will be starting to freeze and Beinn Udlaidh will be worth checking out soon.

29th November 2008

It was a fantastic day today with light winds, snow down to sea level and sub-zero temperatures in the shade all day. Tomorrow will be the same and we are forecast a good accumulation of snow in the coming week.

28th November 2008

We've been having a good autumn so far, very encouraging for the winter to come. It's been generally cold and snowy with warmer spells in between. Last weekend there was fresh snowfall down to low levels (200m) which thawed back during the middle of the week leaving just the lines of snow behind the fences at Nevis Range ski area and in the major gullies. It started snowing again yesterday and this morning the snowline is down to 400m with heavy, slow moving snow showers all day. We are forecast a cold weekend with a few more snow showers and the sub-zero conditions on the tops will last for most of next week. Ice will be forming in the drainage lines and the buttresses will be covered in snow. However with little cloud cover there will be little riming of the cliffs. Looks like a good weekend to get out and about in the hills.

20th November 2008

Freezing levels have been above the tops this week with heavy rain on Monday and Wednesday. Tuesday and today were drier but the strong westerly wind has been with us all week. Working for the JSMTC in Ballachulish I've been running around the hills with five paras and a marine on a summer JSMEL training course ... I've just about managed to keep up with them despite their fast pace! Tomorrow will bring a big drop in the temperature with some snow showers. The N wind will stay for the weekend and the remaining snow that is filling some major gullies (Broad Gully, Number Three and Four Gullies etc.) will be boiler plate hard. We might also get some riming on the buttresses (due to the cloud) tomorrow so there might be some good mixed climbing conditions as well.

16th November 2008

The warm weather of the end of last week washed away the majority of snow but we still have large patches and lines in the gullies and high corries. Today we had much colder temperatures and it was sunny and dry. The remaining snow will be freezing in place and making a good base where we need it most. While we're waiting for the winter to arrive properly it's good to get out on the bikes to stay fit. However, the kids tend to get a bit distracted - check out the clip of Owen (5), Keir (11) and Sean (13) doing some outrageous jumps.

12th November 2008

We did get a big fall of snow which was blown into the gullies off a SW wind. In Glencoe, helping out on a filming job for Aldi, there was plenty of snow in patches down to 700m. Broad Gully is full and the boulder slope underneath well covered. It warmed up slightly and will be much warmer and wet over the next two days but there should still be some snow left in the gullies and high corries by the weekend.

10th November 2008
It's been a wild, wet and windy weekend. Snow was sitting on the hills down to 1000m on Saturday and the snowline came down to around 400m yesterday with heavy showers and strong winds. This morning is even more blustery with persistent rain falling as snow on the tops. 25mm of rain is forecast for today which could result in around 20cm of snowfall - fresh powder snow is one tenth water and nine tenths air so for any depth of rainfall we can get around ten times the depth of snow.

7th November 2008

After two big days of walking, today we just walked out back to the cars. Altogether a brilliant wee expedition into some wild and rugged hills.

6th November 2008

There was a bit of mist and a gentle breeze for our full day on the expedition. We headed over Meall Odhar Beag before returning along the sides of the hills and back to our campsite. Navigation was the focus of the day but group leadership and campcraft are also important parts of the sylabus. Another evening of night navigation was spent in very nice conditions, dry and with one or two stars out.

5th November 2008

The snow melted away during Monday and Tuesday so by this morning we were back to rusty orange and red hills. There is still a fair amount of snow in the Cairngorms so, working for Pete Hill, I took my Summer ML Assessment candidates to Meal Odhar Mor, west of Loch Shiel. It was a beautiful sunny day with stunning views and brilliant Autumn light. After walking in to our camp site looking down over Loch Shiel we went out to do some navigating in the dark, a real rest in these rugged hills.

2nd November 2008

Days like today are rare in November and should be made the most of. Warm sunshine, crisp air, pristine snow and amazing colours in the hills made it a brilliant day to be out in the hills. Christine, Davie and I went for a walk up the North Ridge of Stob Ban in the Mamores. Where the snow was in the shade and had been walked on it was compacted and icy so we wore the crampons on the steep, scrambling section going up to the North Top of Stob Ban. There were also a couple of firm patches of snow so Christine and Davie were able to practice how to use their crampons on the way up to the top. After a Forfar Bridie on top we carried on around to the Devil's Ridge and up to Sgurr a'Mhaim. This is a very narrow and exposed section of ridge with a really tricky step at the narrowest bit. We made it up Sgurr a'Mhaim though to see the brilliant light on Ben Nevis from the afternoon sun before facing the unrelenting walk down back to the Lower Falls in Glen Nevis. A fantastic day out.

31st October 2008

The good, cold weather is continuing and ice is forming. 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.

28th October 2008

Snow fell gently down to sea level today with far lighter winds making it a very pleasant, cold day. The hills are reasonably well covered with around 15cm of dry snow above 600m and it's due to stay cold and calm for the rest of the week. At the very least this weather will cool down the hills so the next fall of snow is more likely to stay around and just now it's a great opportunity to warm up for the winter.