Abacus Mountain Guides
  • Home
  • Adventures
    • Ben Nevis >
      • Ben Nevis Winter Ascent
      • Ben Nevis Mountain Track
      • Coire Leis
      • CMD Arete
      • Ledge Route
      • Tower Ridge
      • Events and Challenges
    • Provident Sailing & Hill Walking
    • Summer Guiding >
      • Ring of Steall
      • Glen Coe Walks
      • Curved Ridge
      • Aonach Eagach
      • Rock Climbing
      • Sea Stack Odyssey
      • Private Guiding
    • Skye and the Cuillin Ridge >
      • Cuillin Ridge Traverse
      • Cuillin Munro Bagging
      • Inaccessible Pinnacle
    • Winter Guiding >
      • Winter Walking >
        • Winter Skills Courses
        • Guided Winter Walking
      • Winter Climbing >
        • Intro to Winter Climbing
        • Classic Winter Mountaineering
        • Winter Climbing Progression
        • Classic Winter Climbing
        • Guided Winter Climbing
        • Performance Winter Climbing Workshop
      • Skiing >
        • Intro to Ski Touring
        • Scottish Steep Skiing
        • Ropework for Skiers
      • Avalanche Awareness
      • Women's Winter Festival
      • Fort William Mountain Festival Workshops
      • Winter Resources
    • Mountain Leader Courses
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About
  • Sustainability
  • Booking
  • Partners
  • Covid-19

Classic Winter Mountaineering

6/1/2022

0 Comments

 
Picture
There is a wonderful world of single ice axe mountaineering to enjoy here in the Outdoor Capital of the UK. Our first Classic Winter Mountaineering week has coincided with a rapid return to cold and snowy conditions after a big thaw at the weekend. Rupert and Tom have been enjoying some excellent days out with our mountaineering and climbing instructor Dave, and a useful but less comfortable day out today in the rain!
Picture
Ledge Route on Ben Nevis was a perfect start to the week. The drop in temperature on Sunday night and during Monday was remarkable, and there was ice and a little snow on the rocks by the time the team got there. Ledge Route has an awkward rock slab low down on the climb that had enough ice to make it difficult, but not enough ice to be useful for climbing. The tricky theme continued for the rest of the way up the ridge as well. A little snow on the rocks covered the hand and foot holds but was not useful for climbing at all. Despite all this the team got up the route very well and descended Number Four Gully back down into Coire na Ciste, looking at ways to safeguard descents with the rope.
Picture
Tuesday was a bit more windy and cloudy so the team went to climb Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor, a fantastic, long route that stays well sheltered from the wind most of the time. As well as climbing these routes, Rupert and Tom are keen to learn the ropes, the techniques and skills for future winter mountaineering. Dave has been teaching them all sorts of useful things to take them from winter walkers to winter mountaineers.
Picture
When the weather is good and there is fresh snow on the ground, there is nothing better than a traverse of an t'Aonach Eagach in Glen Coe. Standing proud above the glen and reaching down the length if it, the Aonach Eagach is a mountaineering must do. It is several kilometres long, committing, exposed and brilliant. Being able to move sufficiently quickly whilst also making sure it is safe enough is the balancing act you need to do, just as much as balancing act along the narrow crest of the ridge. 
Picture
So, after three superb days of burly wintry goodness, today was a different kind of day altogether. Heavy rain, snow above 900m and very strong winds battered Scotland. The west coast does seems to enjoy the worst of the storms and we need the storms to bring the snow and pack it into the gullies and corries, as well as the rapidly changing temperatures needed to consolidate the snow and hold it in place. We do need to endure the January storms, but enduring them is not much fun sometimes. So, Dave and the guys spent a very useful day learning more about avalanches and how to avoid them, and in doing some more technical ropework in Glen Nevis when it brightened up a bit this afternoon.
Picture
And Glen Nevis is on the cards for the team tomorrow as well. Stob Ban, a beautiful pointy peak in the Mamores, is most likely where the team will finish the week, enjoying the East Ridge of North Buttress and traversing the summit. We have another Classic Winter Mountaineering trip in the spring (11th to 15th April) when the conditions will be very different. It will be interesting to see how the two weeks will compare, one at the start of the winter and one at the very end, but equally good in different ways.
Picture
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Mike Pescod
    mountain guide.

    Self reliance is a fundamental principle of mountaineering. By participating we accept this and take responsibility for the decisions we make. These blog posts and conditions reports are intended to help you make good decisions. They do not remove the need for you to make your own judgements when out in the hills.

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015

    Picture

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed


Picture
Jottnar
info@abacusmountainguides.com
+44 (0) 1397 703563
  • Home
  • Adventures
    • Ben Nevis >
      • Ben Nevis Winter Ascent
      • Ben Nevis Mountain Track
      • Coire Leis
      • CMD Arete
      • Ledge Route
      • Tower Ridge
      • Events and Challenges
    • Provident Sailing & Hill Walking
    • Summer Guiding >
      • Ring of Steall
      • Glen Coe Walks
      • Curved Ridge
      • Aonach Eagach
      • Rock Climbing
      • Sea Stack Odyssey
      • Private Guiding
    • Skye and the Cuillin Ridge >
      • Cuillin Ridge Traverse
      • Cuillin Munro Bagging
      • Inaccessible Pinnacle
    • Winter Guiding >
      • Winter Walking >
        • Winter Skills Courses
        • Guided Winter Walking
      • Winter Climbing >
        • Intro to Winter Climbing
        • Classic Winter Mountaineering
        • Winter Climbing Progression
        • Classic Winter Climbing
        • Guided Winter Climbing
        • Performance Winter Climbing Workshop
      • Skiing >
        • Intro to Ski Touring
        • Scottish Steep Skiing
        • Ropework for Skiers
      • Avalanche Awareness
      • Women's Winter Festival
      • Fort William Mountain Festival Workshops
      • Winter Resources
    • Mountain Leader Courses
  • Blog
  • Contact
  • About
  • Sustainability
  • Booking
  • Partners
  • Covid-19