Mountaineering Course - Scotland

I just had a great 3 days out running a Mountaineering course for Highpoint at www.mountainguides.co.uk  

We had a day on Ledge Route during a slight thaw on Saturday but with good weather.  On Sunday we had a skills day in Coire na Tulaich avoiding the worst of the wind and fresh snow.  The day brought many of the steep routes of the area into great condition.  Day 3 had us in Lochan on Dorsal arete and we had a great day out with the crags in superb condition! 

Ledge Route

Coire na Tulaich

Stob Coire nan Lochan, Dorsal arete

SCNL and The Buachaille 07/08 - 02 - 13

Many routes are in great condition currently, the snow a few days ago has started to settle now and many routes have tracks in as well.  Lots of the lower ice on the Ben is good, The Curtain, CIC Cascades, Compressor Cracks etc etc...  I was in Lochan yesterday which was in great mixed condition on all but the steeper routes despite a snowy approach.  We climbed Central Buttress Ordinary Route IV/4 *** which was in brilliant mixed condition, old snow coming through with a little ice and bomber turf.  The Scabbard saw some ascents also.  Today we went to the Buachaille and did Curved Ridge III *** which was also in great condition with good old snow coming through and all the rock snowed up from word go, full winter for sure but with great weather all day.  Crowberry Gully saw a number of ascents today also but was said to be a little thin in places...

I have been out with Ben and Neil who were keen to get on some mixed yesterday and to do some leading today with some 'Alpine' rope work thrown in also.  We also looked over retreat options/set-up and ice threads.  Thanks for a great couple of days!

Central Buttress Ordinary IV/4 ***, Lochan. 07-02-13

Curved Ridge III ***, The Buachaille.  08-02-13

Good snow on the descent into Coire na Tualich

Lakes Skills Course 02/03-02-13

Great Winter Skills course this weekend, perfect cold sunny day on Saturday and more unsettled and warmer today but still good.  Thawing up high today but with cold due and some snow things could come good again!  Easy gullies will have been great on Saturday with bomber snow, reasonable snow cover still on Swirral Edge today...

 View towards Ullswater

Scenic ice axe arrest practice

 Ice axe arrest video, get that adze under your shoulder!

 Good snow rake from Brown Cove up to the start of the difficulties on Swirral Edge today

Brown Cove today, better coverage in the Red Tarn area

Mark was also out on Saturday with Ivan and Leo for a Winter Walking day and had a great day out in perfect conditions...

E-Climb Products

I have just linked up with E-Climb and look forward to using the awesome looking products from this innovative company.

E-Climb products are available on-line and are already well recognised in Europe.  Their products however are perfectly suited to the UK and Scottish winter market.  As well as a selection of ice axes and ice screws they also make some great looking, and very Scottish, protection.  The 'Icepider' resembles other hammer in hooks we see on many a Scottish mixed rack but is really well thought out with and extended clipping point and retrieval eye that can be 'stein pulled' out with the tool.

The Icepider

Another example is the 'Klauo' ice screw, a super short screw with an extended anchor point.  The screws all have replaceable tips as well which is a great idea and will be welcome as bottoming out screws is a fairly regular issue on the ice we tend to climb over here...

 Replaceable screw tips and the stubby Klauo ice screw

The re-usable ripper quick draw also looks cool and is one of the many innovative ideas they have included in their product range.

Re-usable ripper 

Thanks to E-Climb for the great set of equipment they have sent me through.

As well as screws they have sent me some Cryo M and P axes, great as a working axe and for all aspects of winter climbing and Alpinism, and some Cryo Pro axes, the most technical tool in their range and aimed at high end ice and dry-tooling.  The Cryo Pro will be great for steeper UK mixed climbing and a small hammer can be added to protect the tools for hammering in gear.

                    Cryo Pro and M axes                    Removable hammer

My first impressions having had 2 days working with the Cryo M and P axes is of the absolute quality of these axes, the build is perfection!  They felt amazing on both ice and mixed, well weighted and balanced and the finish and look definitely catches the eye, I can honestly say these are the nicest tools of their category I've used.

The Cryo M and P tools, first test was the Cairngorms this weekend

Looking forward now to trying the Cryo Pro's, I am certain these will be top performers on steeper mixed routes.  Another notable thing about the kit is how easily adjusted everything is, all the parts can be easily replaced or changed for different types of climbing.

E-Climb offer great value for awesome kit, have a look at their site here -   http://www.e-climb.net/es/

Cairngorms 27-01-13

Yesterday I was back into Coire an t-Sneachda with Ivan on the 2nd day of his 'Intro to Winter Climbing' course.  Having climbed a mixed route on Saturday we were keen to try and include some ice on Sunday.  We headed for the Mirror Direct IV / 4** which was in great condition.  The ice was good and gave us a chance to look at ice technique and protection.  Ivan also explored his technical limit on the steep ice!

We headed up and climbed one of the variation finishes on the buttress at the top of Aladdins Couloir at about III / 4 which gave a great finish and a bit more mixed climbing.  The day was much better than forecast and was actually really nice most of the day though the wind did go wild in the afternoon with fairly full on gusts, one flattening us both on the plateau.  It felt as though it was still freezing at the crag for most of the day however this seems set to change with the incoming weather....  A brief rise in temperatures on Saturday night stripped some of the lower rock but will have helped the pockets of slab that were present consolidate a bit.

Thanks to Ivan for another great course and welcoming the full Scottish experience!

 Aladdins Buttress

 The Mirror Direct IV / 4**

Cairngorms 26-01-13

Great day in the Corries today, surprisingly little snow about after yesterdays storm... some wind-slab to watch for all the same!

I was out with Ivan for his first taste of winter climbing so we headed for Invernookie III / 4*** which gave a great day out and was in really good condition.

Plenty of others out and lots of routes getting ascents...

Wasdale Ice Climbing Video 25-01-13

Steve Ashworth made a short video of Wasdale Screes ice climbing yesterday.

Follow the link -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMzQrDI_M24

Wasdale Screes 24-01-13

Steve and I went around to Wasdale Screes today to have a look at the 'Cold Climbs' classic and rarely formed right-hand branch V / 4 *** of Central Gully.  The gully approach was holding ice but was thin in places with dubious ice requiring a lot of care.  The right-hand branch itself was however in great condition and gave some brilliant classic ice in a great position above Wastwater.

We stopped on the way up the gully to climb a great looking pillar of ice on the side wall which was climbable in one pitch and was really good.

Wasdale Screes, Right-Hand branch can be seen clearly in the centre of the photo

Right-Hand branch V / 4***

The side wall ice pillar, not sure if this has been climbed?