Scottish Winter Courses roundup. February 15

Course director 15-20th Feb: Nigel Hooker

I was working with Ed and Andrew on an Intro to Snow and Ice Climbing 5 day course, Lee and Nicholas were on an Improvers Snow and Ice course with Chris and Jamie. Andy Ravenhill was working with Val, a Russian now living in London, who got a very full on introductory week of Scottish Winter mountaineering. See Vals course details here

On Monday I headed into Stob Coire Nan Lochan and climbed a very snowy Dorsal Arete, the cloud clearing just as we got to the narrow ‘Dorsal fin’ so the exposure could be fully enjoyed, Chris, Lee & Nick climbed diagonal Route on Moonlight Gully Buttress on Ben Nevis. Val had an introduction to Axe, crampons etc from Andy en route to bagging both Munro’s on Buchaille Etive Beag.

On Tuesday Jamie and I took the climbers onto Ben Nevis to climb some of the low level Ice routes before the storm hit. It came in early just as we set off up the CIC hut icefalls. With movement needing to be timed between the gusts we were all glad to get to the top and shelter behind a large boulder and mutually decided to join the mass exodus of climbers from the Ben. Andy & Val ‘toughed it out’ on the North Ridge of Stob Ban reaching the Devil’s Ridge just as the winds hit and Val learnt what we mean when we talk about  ‘Full on Scottish!’

The climbers sheltered in the Ice Factor on Wednesday but were worked really hard to improve their movement skills on Ice and then on the rock wall with an emphasis on how this can be transferred to winter climbing on ice and mixed ground. Val and Andy headed further east to the classic mountaineering of Ben a’ Choarainn’s East Ridge where they found dense wet cloud rather than the heavy rain of Glencoe.

Over Wednesday night the temperature was supposed to drop but this didn’t happen, it was still warm and raining with soggy snow and thawing ice so the climbers headed east to the Northern Corries of the Cairngorms. With superb nerve and blue skies the plan worked although after the thaw the choice of climbs was limited to the easier gullies although Chris’s team did find decent ice still there on the Mirror Direct.

I climbed the Runnel but with the Right Hand Groove finish to add a bit of extra spice and climbing of just about grade 3 with Ed & Dave set the target of climbing well and smoothly putting into practice the skills coached at the Ice factor. We had hoped to get on the lower level ice routes on the Ben such as the Curtain or Waterfall Gully on the Friday but reports were that the ice had thinned out significantly, due to travel arrangements another short day plan was needed.

So, Friday was spent on the Zig Zags of Gearr Aonach looking winterising gear placements, building belays and the transfer from pitching to moving together that is characteristic many easier grade mountaineering style climbs in Scotland and further afield.

Heavy snow showers turned the terrain back into winter. Walking along the top of Gearr Aonach we got views into Stob Coire nan Lochan  where we could see there had been some avalanche activity. Andy took Val up Ben Nevis via Ledge route for a bit of an epic final day through deep fresh snow.

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