February Fun, Sun, Soft Snow, Alpine Club

Jo enjoying superb sun soaked skiing on the back of Cairngorm, as good as it gets

The sun has been out, it was starting to get a little repetitive the constant strong South Easterlies but the wind has been dropping and some spectacular days in the mountains. There is some great cover in the mountains at the moment and the Cairngorms in particular is extremely snowy at the moment giving perhaps much better skiing than climbing at the moment. The Northern Corrie's are pretty buried a the moment. Jacobs ladder has all but merged into the slope at the moment. There are some threatening looking cornices to above many areas both East and West. 

Mountaineering skills course with the Austrian Alpine Club in South Gully, Stob Ban

We had an excellent week delivering some winter courses for the Austrian Alpine Club in Glencoe. Numerous teams out making for a busy week on the hill. Teams where either on winter skills or mountaineering courses. Plenty of learning throughout Glencoe and Ben Nevis. Some great weather to end the week to with some sunny cold days perfect for putting skills into practice. Various things ticked off during the week, rope - work, avalanche awareness and proficient movement with crampons and axe all while ticking Munro tops and routes like Ledge Route on Ben Nevis, Broad and Hourglass Gully in Glencoe. I think once the course was done a team headed out to tick off the classic Aonach Eagach on a bright and sunny winters day putting the course straight into practice. 

Menaka enjoying a superb sunny day for learning some winter mountaineering skills in the Northern Cairngorms

Our skills courses have also been out and enjoying the conditions both in the Cairngorms and on the West Coast. I was out with Menaka on a skills day in the Cairngorms and with a sunny forecast we went straight up to the tops to learn skills in the sun. The snow cover was very impressive perhaps the most I have seen in the Cairngorms for many years. We went up to 1141 via the Fiachaill Coire Cas which has become a rounded snowy ridge with not a rock in sight and carried on over Cairngorm to deliver some training in Ciste Mhearad which seemed almost glacial with a huge curling cornice hanging in the heart of it. We stuck out on the side getting things covered and taking in the views across the plateau to Bynack Mor and Loch Avon. The weather station looks almost Patagonian with huge rime feathers splaying out the door all but sealed in for the moment. 

Skinning across a white platau in the Cairngorms

Jo and I managed a ski tour taking advantage of some superb ski conditions. Currently if your not out of bed at about 3am then you probably wont get a parking spot at Cairngorm mountain however we managed to get a spot at the Sugar Bowl and with a short skin to the ski areas picked up a touring ticket which allows two lifts to the top. Quite a handy ticket very common in the Alps at ski areas to offer a Ski Randonee ticket that gives you a boost. We headed over the top and perhaps took one of the nicest runs I have had in a long time on perfect snow down off Cairngorm and Coire Raibert then back up to Sneachtdha back over the top and out via a well filled in Ciste Gully. A perfect Scottish ski day. Often the hill looks great but once on it it can often not be great. This both looked great and was great skiing

Wild and remote North West, Jo heading in towards Sgurr Mor in the Fannics

Jo and I also had an explore in the Fannics and area which I haven’t been much into beyond doing the tops. We wanted to head into a crag which forms quite a bit of ice and had a few almost cascade style routes. Planty of ice had formed in there but the one complete line was also very steep, perhaps a bit to steep for me on the day. We found other areas of ice including a nice gully but couldn’t quite get into it due to a large area of windslab. We actually triggered a little stuff on the way out so Im quite glad we opted not to try the slope into the gully, although small I think quite a bit would have poured out. In the description it mentions coming in by bike which I would highly recommend as it a long walk on a track in heavy boots. 

Plenty of snow for training in Ciste Mhearad in the Cairngorms

We are now mid season in terms of courses and still have plenty more coming up. Jo recently delivered a Nevis skills and summit which on reflection contained some valuable lessons. She turned back shortly after the Red Burn. Bad vibes on the condition of the snow where felt, people sometimes talk about this as being bad energy that leaves an uncomfortable gut feeling, the signs where there with small stuffs and slides in the Red Burn and also on the Mountain Track. As it turned out the Red Burn saw a significant avalanche later that day or evening. No one involved but a reminder that even if it mentally the Mountain Track seems quite a safe route those hazards are there. Also that this is much more of a winter than the previous ones and perhaps those skills learnt in the last couple of winters have much more of a point to them. 

Vast amounts of snow over the Mess of Potage, the corner of the Opening Break just visible

Conditions at the moment are very snowy and should have us well set for the later part of the winter. The weekend looks like a rise in freezing levels but then possibly some more snow and fluctuating freezing levels. This will for a period perhaps over the weekend make some areas quite unstable and also bring some fairly large cornices down. This could be quite useful in settling down the conditions in the Northern Corries which have vast amounts of snow in them. The Mess of Potage and Jacobs ladder seem to have all but vanished under a lot of snow. Watch out over the weekend though as the snow stabilises in the long run the short term with some warming may make things pretty hazardous with things falling under their own saturated weight. 

High on the Fiachaill Col getting to grips with the winter mountains