This week I'm working on an Introduction to Climbing course for Adventure Peaks on the west coast of Scotland. With the thaw still in process after a night of heavy rain we decided to use the White Corries ski area lifts to get us up to 675m with the minimum of effort. In the end the day turned out fine and we had stunning views to the Ben and across Rannoch Mor.
From the basics of crampon and ice axe use we swiftly moved on to pitching from snow anchors and abseiling from snow bollards. The brisk westerly eased as the day progressed and there were plenty of ptarmigan around to keep us entertained.
The temperature at 800m was below freezing which gave us a reasonable snow pack to play with. On a north easterly slope there was an icy crust which sometimes held body weight. We found plenty of patches of soft windslab in sheltered hollows and it looked like there had been some small sloughs on some steep slopes further around to the east. However all seemed stable on our slopes (NE). Other groups reported a cornice collapse close to the summit of Meall a' Bhuiridh.
