Lochaber – Winter 2013

Ben Nevis & Carn Mor Dearg

This year’s extended winter may have put spring very much on hold, but the persistent high pressure and lack of frontal weather has produced some stunning conditions in the Scottish mountains.   I was lucky to experience these at first hand last week with Paresh who enjoyed his first time in our winter mountains in conditions far removed from his native Mumbai!

Challenging Conditions on Aonach Mor

We took the Nevis Range gondola and chairlift to 920m, well above the snowline, in order to maximise our time in the white stuff.  The temperatures up here – as for much of the northern UK – have been sub-zero for weeks now and the ground is well frozen.  Crampons (or skis!) were required immediately as was all the thermal and windproof clothing we had with us to ward off the biting easterly wind. 

Ice Cliffs on Aonach Mor

The summit plateau of Aonach Mor was in cloud which greatly facilitated Paresh’s first attempt at mountain navigation.  This he executed with great aplomb, utilising his newly-gained map-reading, compass bearing and pacing skills to locate what few navigation features there are up there to help locate the diminutive summit cairn of Aonach Mor (1221m; little ridge).

Aonach Mor

He then used map, compass and timing to find the narrow neck of ground that leads to the summit pyramid of Aonach Beag (1234m; big ridge).  Still in cloud, this mountain’s summit cairn is always buried under deep snow in winter and you just keep walking up until the ground starts to descend in order to claim the summit!

The Mamores From Aonach Beag

At this point, however, all the cloud was swept away revealing miles of expansive winter mountain landscape that simply took your breath away.  Thirty two photographs later (you can’t take too many), we retraced our steps back down to the neck and across Aonach Mor, now bereft of most of the hardy skiers we had shared the mountain with earlier in the day. 

The Grey Corries From Aonach Beag

Some stunning views across the Great Glen accompanied our descent to the gondola station with Paresh bravely nursing aching limbs to arrive just 10 mins before the last gondola.  The prospect of walking down the mountain was just too traumatic to contemplate!

The Loch Lochy Hills 

The next day, we wandered up Glen Nevis to see the impressive spectacle of Steall waterfall only to find it surprisingly silent and cloaked in ice - as most things are up here just now!  Still, it was a pleasant day to round off one of the most memorable visits to this part of the world – an early contender for highlight of the year.  

A Frozen Steall Waterfall; Glen Nevis

Check out my plans for the coming season at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/summer/summer.htm