climbing adventures in Scotland and abroad
Climbing on powder-choked crags was very much the theme during the first week of January, with plenty of snow falling and no thaw-freeze cycles to provide any consolidation. Despite the inevitability of a day of excavation, Andy and I plumbed … Read More »
The first routes of the season had been climbed at the start of November and despite the conditions getting better and better, prior commitments, injury and illness had prevented me from getting out to capitalise on them. With relentless social … Read More »
Last week a sudden change to cold and snowy weather born on easterlies meant deep powder rapidly swamped much of the highlands. With windslab building on north and westerly aspects and many mixed routes buried in unconsolidated snow, big ridges … Read More »
People have been out enjoying good early season winter climbing conditions since the start of November, but a few days of thaw put an abrupt stop to that until this weekend. Temperatures dropped sharply mid week and snow showers on … Read More »
Sitting at my desk while high pressure brought a week of great weather and climbing conditions to the west coast was torture! Luckily the high was forecast to stay put for the weekend, so it was two relieved climbers who … Read More »
The West Buttress (IV, 4) rematch was on! Conditions were good, the forecast excellent and schemes were hatched – we would arrive on Thursday night, blitz Beinn Eighe Friday and enjoy two leisurely days of Liathach ice over the weekend. … Read More »
A prolonged thaw followed by a few days of stormy weather meant options for winter climbing last weekend were going to be relatively limited. Figuring that the north east facing coire of Lochnagar would have at least accumulated some snow … Read More »
Keen as we were to get our season kicked off, it was great to see fresh snow, cold temperatures and a perfect forecast coinciding nicely to give a weekend of mixed climbing action! Being high and exposed, Coire an Lochain in the Northern … Read More »
The start of May usually coincides with mine and Debs’ annual pilgrimage to the wild coires of Beinn a’Bhuird. This majestic mountain is one of Scotland’s most remote and along with it’s neighbour, Ben Avon, constitutes an eastern outlier of … Read More »
The cliffs of Ben Nevis and some of the surrounding peaks are currently in fantastic condition for ice climbing, with many of the classic lines well formed thanks to the gentle freeze-thaw cycles they have experienced. After cancelling our planned … Read More »