Cairngorm conditions improving...

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More snow on the Ben

Digging snow holes just above the CIC Hut

For the second day of our course with Limerick University we opted to head up towards the CIC Hut below the north face of Ben Nevis. The weather forecast was particularly bad with the predicted strong winds and falling snow creating the potential for white out conditions. There was also a very significant avalanche risk on north through east facing slopes above 800m to deal with. However the weather turned out to be a lot better than anyone dared hope for and we spent a very pleasant day exploring the area around the base of the Douglas Boulder. Again we saw no evidence of any avalanche activity but teams in Glen Nevis reported a big slide on the approach to the Ring of Steele.

The rise and fall in temperature overnight had created a non weight bearing crust on the snow which made getting around hard work but this icy crust had also formed over the slabs above the CIC hut giving a great improvised surface on which to practice crampon technique. The second part of the day was spent looking at emergency snow shelters and snow holes in the large drifts that had formed in the stream bed.

There's a lot of snow being moved around at the moment meaning route choice is critical in the higher corries. Most tracks were getting filled in within the hour so there's also plenty of trail breaking to be done. Ice was starting to form on the Ben and many of the mixed routes looked like they were coming into condition although much of the buried turf will still be unfrozen. Elsewhere in Lochaber James Thacker managed to climb Ordinary Route (IV 5) in Stob Coire Nan Lochan after a roundabout approach to avoid the buried windslab.

North East Buttress area

The Douglas Boulder with a group from Abacus building belays at the base.

Carn Dearg, Ben Nevis

Emerging from a snow hole for the walk back down - into the wind!

Aonach Mor Avalanche

Bucket seat and buried axe belay

This week I've been joined by regulars Jude & Sue for an introduction to winter mountaineering. With plenty of scrambling and walking experience behind them and big plans for the future we opted for a technical skills day up on Aonach Mor to give them a good foundation for the rest of the week. All the ice was buried under plenty of new snow so the crampons stayed in the rucksacks but we were able to look at kicking steps, ice axe arrest, bucket seats, ice axe belays, abseiling and emergency shelters.

The wind increased throughout the day leading to some significant loading on the slopes around the Nid. During a introduction to avalanche avoidance in a safe location a shovel tap test triggered a 40' by 20' slab avalanche around us which was a useful teaching aid if a little dramatic. The slab was around 3" deep and comprised of soft windslab which had been laid down in the last hour. At the time we were investigating a weak layer of grapnel approximately a foot down. There's a lot going on in the current snowpack. Further around the ridge there had been a significant cornice collapse with a big debris pile covering an area of approximately 100m by 60m with some blocks fridge size. With full on white out conditions developing we headed down early for a debrief over coffee and cake!

South African abseil off a snow bollard

Keeping control of the ropes as the weather comes in!

Perfect conditions to run away for a coffee!

Dry Tooling & Snow Holes.

Dry tooling under the Ballachulish Bridge.

With the surrounding hills still in a very unstable condition we opted to stay low and look at some more advanced techniques and skills in winter mountaineering and climbing. We spent the morning dry tooling on the Ballachulish Bridge crag which provided a great challenge and some huge improvements in technique. This afternoon we drove up into Glencoe and looked in more depth at snow anchors and winter ropework. The final job for the day was to build at four person snow hole with only our axes! However the snow was in perfect condition for digging and in a very short space of time we had a very comfortable abode. Today I was working for Adventure Peaks.

The avalanche risk is as high as it's been for many years, across almost the full spectrum of slope aspects. At 300m in Glencoe the week surface hoar layer was still evident beneath approximately 60cm of soft windslab. Despite the improvement in weather over the weekend the snow pack is going to remain very unstable for some time. Approaches and exits to climbs will be particularly at risk. Some days it just pays to drink coffee and come back to fight another day.

Digging a snow hole in Glencoe.