Western Scrambling

With last weekend’s forecast good for the SW and poor for the NE, Ann & John took the long Friday night drive to Roy Bridge with an eye on some easy mountain climbs. Forecasts being just that we awoke early on Saturday for the long approach to the NE Ridge of Aonach Beag, to find it shrouded in the only cloud around. A hasty change of plan got us under the clear skies of Ardgour for a route on the well-named Garbh Bheinn (rough hill). 

Pinnacle Ridge is the right skyline

An hour later we were at the base of Pinnacle Ridge, a grade 3S scramble. There is some uncertainty about what the S stands for in this system but some of the more printable ones are scary, serious and slimy. Still being geared up for our harder previous choice of route this didn’t bother us too much, but we were soon glad of it.

 

The lower section

The rock is very rough gneiss with lots of good holds, but in places there is a lot of exposure. Typically this seemed to be worst at the one part where the holds ran out at what the guidebook called an awkward move, which was an inelegant belly flop onto a ledge clutching handfuls of heather and loose soil. Difficulties soon eased and the rest of the ridge was very pleasant with straightforward but varied scrambling in a great situation. 

 

Upper, easier section

Nice slab to finish

As always the view from the summit was stunning in all directions, and we were slightly relived to see that Aonach Beag still had a cap of cloud, so good choice there.

Since it was still a bit early to call it quits on such a fine day we decided to complete the full round of the corrie, in itself a bit of a classic day out with two more Marylins to do. 

View west up Loch Sunart from the summit

On the steep pull up Beinn Bheag I was beginning to regret the choice given the heat and a pack weighed down with rock gear and a rope. Luckily Ann recognised the signs of brewing discontent and shut me up by producing a bag of Tangfastics. Sorted.

Wandering along to Beinn Bheag

The angle then eased and we had a pleasant tromp around to Sgorr Mhic Eacharna in what we realised was early evening light. Luckily the bogs were all dry and springy so the descent was fast and dry, and as a final highlight we found a nice stand of the increasingly rare lesser butterfly orchid.

 

Towards Glencoe from Sgorr Mhic Eacharna

Down Loch Linnhe to Lismore

Lesser butterfly orchid

Sunday brought more fine weather but sore legs confined us to a supposedly short day out in Glencoe. We went for Barn Wall Route on Aonach Dubh but ended up on who knows what, certainly not a grade 3 scramble. Lack of gear placements and increasing steepness led us to quit before things got silly, the first abseil retreat we’ve done for a very long time. And before you rush up there on a salvage mission, I still remember enough tricks to have not left any gear behind.

Glencoe

Reiff Meet

Not much text this time, just a quick round up of the meet to Reiff.

Saturday saw Denis, Richard, Mel and Lucy the dog tackle Ben Mor Coigach from the west. Much botanising was done, and Lucy returned duly worn out. Luigi and Manuela went climbing and although they had managed to blag a guidebook they didn't bother to use it, preferring instead to just climb lines they liked the look of. Despite the early morning clag John & Ann continued in their quest to get their climbing heads back on by doing the east-west traverse of Suilven from Inverkirkaig and were rewarded by clear conditions for most of the day. A dodgy "instant” BBQ threatened to spoil Saturday evening but Italian ingenuity won out and a fine and largely midge-free feast was enjoyed. Sadly Sunday was pretty much a washout with the promised rain arriving just in time for breakfast. 

The Summer Isles from near the campsite

Suilven beginning to clear

Eyeing up the ascent of Meall Beag at the eastern end

Looking back to the steep, exposed descent off Meall Beag

West to the summit of Suilven from Meall Meadhonach

Near the summit of Suilven

Fighting with the "instant" BBQ

 

Wot! No skis?

The Onich meet the weekend before last saw Ann & John trying to get our heads into gear for the summer. We decided on the traverse of Buachaille Etive Mor via the pleasant scramble of Curved Ridge.

Being the English Holiday Weekend and a good forecast we were up early to beat the crowds and were on the hill before 8. After the short walk-in past Lagangarbh and a lot of dredging the memory banks we duly arrived at the base of the route just in time for the cloud sheet to break up and the promised sun to come out. Having not done any real scrambling since An Teallach last May we took it very slowly until we got tuned into being on rock again. The first section was as I remembered, not very hard but no place for a slip. Enjoying the views of the Rannoch Wall (and wondering how I ever climbed on it) we made good progress to the upper section, which has some more technical moves but feels quite safe. 

Starting out...

Looking up to the Rannoch Wall

Route soon over we traversed around onto Crowberry Ridge and did the top section of that to finish on the Tower. A short easy scramble then got us to the main summit well before 11, so it was still almost deserted. 

Descending Crowberry Tower

Now the legwork began for the traverse of the three tops (I don’t hold with all this “revising” business). As always this was very pleasant, although looking towards Bidean we couldn’t help the nagging doubt that we had maybe quit the skis a week too soon. A few standing glissades on the way down had to do, complete with some largely unsuccessful but very amusing attempts at jump turns.

Time for walkies...

The southern two Tops, and Bidean back right looking temptingly snowy

A quick yomp down the Lairig Gartain got us back to the car nice and early, which allowed plenty of time for a celebratory stop at the Clachaig on the way back to the hut to catch up with the rest of the meet.

Out on a High

The cracking Easter Weekend gave John & Ann their final and greatest ski day of the season. Feeling a bit tired after the greater traverse of the Grey Corries the day before, we dug into the wallet for lift passes at Nevis Range. Gearing up we met ex-AMC members Dave and Catherine, who were enjoying kiddie freedom thanks to the grandparents. 

Bit of early morning piste action with Dave and Catherine

We had a few runs on piste with them just to get everything loosened up but it had been a chilly night and it was all a bit too icy. That made us set off earlier than planned for the trip over to Aonach Beag while the snow softened. Almost complete cover soon got us to the summit, and from there we headed east to have a look at Summit Gully. Never having skied into that corrie before, and never having used the new guidebook, we were a bit unsure of how the grades would look in reality.

 

East Face of Aonach Mor

View across to Ben Nevis

Looking down Summit Gully

Initially we had thought this might be a bit too hard, but looking down it in perfect snow conditions we decided to go for it. As it is east facing the sun had been on it for a few hours, leaving it soft with just a bit of crunchy left in it. The run fully lived up to its 3* rating and gave us our first real taste of steep Scottish off-piste.

 

Fantastic situation to ski in

Summit Gully goes down right from above Ann's head

As the angle eased we cut out right and did an excitingly icy traverse over to Stob an Cul Choire to get another run in. After a warm and sunny first lunch on the summit we tackled The Far Side. Nothing like as steep as the previous run, but very pleasant open skiing and we made it almost down to the Braveheart Chair. Despite it supposedly being closed it was working and really quiet, so we had a good few runs, again on fantastic snow, before traversing back round to the main ski area. This had softened nicely and it looked like everyone else had got bored as we virtually had it to ourselves. A full run from the summit to the bottom of the goose finished off one of our best ski days and seasons ever.

Proof that the Braveheart Chair does run

Easter Sizzler

The Easter Weekend camping Meet to Roybridge coincided with excellant warm sunny weather.

Judith and I decided to go off  and see if we could bag a new Munro for Judith.  So Saturday morning saw us parked at the top of the Coirechoille track.  From there we walked up to the bothy in Lairig Leacach where we had a mid morning cuppa.

From there we walked up the ridge to the summit of Stob Ban mainly avoiding any snow that was lying. Fantastic views opened up as we ascended.

We found the ascent fairly easy and with such a great sunny day we decided to carry on and go up the end Grey Corries - Stob Choire Claurigh.  Again the ascent from the south was mainly snow free and the sheltered slopes very hot for us after a long Scottish winter! We soon reached the top and finally a fairly Alpine environment ( and associated crowds).

Judith decided that some nav practice was in order so we went off the correct ridge. The views of The Ben, Aonachs and Grey Corrie ridge were almost as impressive as Judith getting the right compass bearing.

On the descent we met a pair of keen skiers heading for the bowls at the back of the Grey Corries ridge - a long walk for 5 minutes skiing.

We meet up with everyone else at the camp site and had a socialable evening around the tents, but a lack of evening sunshine meant a contingent headed to the Stromlossit.

Sunday saw Mark, Judith, Luigi, Bob, Jane, Stuart, Juliette and Melba head to the crags at Poildubh and the area around the Alp turned into a baking oven as the day progressed - not bad for Scotland in April.

Mark climbing Tear on SW Buttress - a lovely little HS.



We all climbed a number of routes with Judith providing dog walking services to keep Malba happy.

Stuart and Juliette on the classic HS Pine Wall.

The best of the bunch was probably Resurrection - very appropriate for Easter Sunday, seen below being led by Bob with Jane belaying.

We eventaully had to call it a day after being cooked just a bit too much and running out of water.


Mark

Beinn a Bhuird Triathlon

On Sunday Ann & John finally got out for a proper ski in the SE corrie of Beinn a Bhuird. Well skiing was the objective but most of the day was spent on bike or walking. We knew this was likely but sometimes you have to do these things, especially after a disappointingly damp and cloudy squelch around Lurchers the week before.

The approach cycle wasn’t encouraging, even the most reliable lines were thin, broken or just plain missing. Still, they were on the south slopes so we kept the faith and packed in up the easy angled path on the SW shoulder. At just over 700 m we popped out of shelter into the full force of the wind, making for very slow and difficult progress with skis on the back. 

Keeping the faith

Finally, skis on..

Approaching the South Top

Skis finally went on at about 850 m. Could have made it from 50 m lower, but only by descending to reach it which felt a bit pointless. With windage and weight off the back things felt much better, and we were finally skiing, albeit on grass for some of the time. As we turned towards the S top the wind really picked up – I’ve never seen airborne spring snow before, nor appreciated how much it stings. After both being blown over we made it to within 50 m of the cairn and hid behind a large boulder to get sorted for the descent. From what we could see under the cloud, there was more snow and it ran lower in the main Gorms. It would also have been just possible to ski to the summit with lots of zig-zagging and some (h)airy cornice following - definitely not a goer in that wind.

Within the first minute of the descent we were out of the wind and spindrift and into a different day. A fantastic run down the steepest part of the upper corrie was our reward, and being greedy we skinned back up for another go at it. The question now was how far would we get as the interesting lower section in the burn is hidden from above. The snow got a bit grippy below 900 m and finally ran out at about 800m just low enough to give us some fun on a narrow ribbon next to the steepest part of the burn. All that was left was the walk back to the bikes (with windage restored), and a very fast wind-assisted cycle out. Final score was a 6 hour day out with 20 mins of skiing. Was it worth it? Definitely! Was it the last ski of the season..? Who knows, where's that Biggin book?

more views of Liathach

Some further views of last weekend's traverse of Liathach

Phil and Linda ascending to the ridge

Stuart broke trail through the soft snow to the ridge

Roddy about to reach the ridge after a steep ascent.

After getting to the business part of the ridge - the pinnacles, the fun began...

Linda and Phil took the low route while Stuart took the more interesting line

The technical nature of the terrain led to queues on the ridge

Looking back to Ed and Scuz on the pinnacle section of the ridge

Once past the Pinnacles the only danger was to stay away from the corniced edge

Everyone made it back to the Invercroft Hut for a great meal and a few drinks in front of the fire.....