Cairngorms - A Winter Reprise

The Northern Corries From Loch Morlich

Some pretty pics to illustrate this winter's stubborn refusal to relinquish it's icy grip on the mountains and allow spring to take over!

Lairig Ghru From Whitewell

Braeriach From Rothiemurchus

Loch an Eilein 

Cairn Gorm

Check out my plans for this coming year at: http://www.hillways.co.uk.htm

Glen Nevis & Gulvain

Gulvain

The 3 Musketeers opened their 2014 Munro count in trying conditions this weekend.  This is hardly surprising, given the extent that winter has exerted itself upon the Scottish mountains this year.

Glen Nevis

Ben Nevis & Steall Meadow

We had originally planned to do the Glenfinnan Munros (Sgùrr nan Coireachan & Sgùrr Thuilm) on Saturday, but a wild and windy forecast of 100kt winds soon put paid to that.  We sought refuge in upper Glen Nevis, a first visit for Jennifer & Matt, where the hurricane-force winds left us alone to admire the majestic beauty of the place.

Steall Bridge

The sound of a turbulent Water of Nevis - in full spate as it thundered through the Nevis Gorge – enhanced the relative tranquillity of Steall meadow which appeals in any weather.  The 3-cable bridge was safely traversed (in some style, it has to be said) as we positioned ourselves for a close-up view of the UK’s most impressive waterfall – in full voice after all the rain and a healthy dose of snow-melt!

Steall Waterfall

It is an unfortunate inevitability that I only see this place when the weather is bad enough to preclude a visit to the high tops.  Nevertheless, it is still an impressive mountain amphitheatre and never disappoints.

Gulvain

Sunday saw more benign conditions so we returned to Plan A, joined by Doctor Jon, for an attempt at that awkward and insular Munro, Gulvain.

Upper Glen Fionnlighe

The 7Km walk up Glen Fionnlighe was a splish-splosh sort of affair.  The track that leads all the way to the foot of the mountain is solid enough, but it can get pretty cratered and puddled after prolonged rain, particularly in it’s upper reaches.  Preparing ourselves for the impending climb, our spirits were greatly lifted by the sight of a golden eagle circling above us – close to where I saw one on my last visit! 

Gulvain's South Top

Stunning though it was to see, the majestic raptor could do nothing to ease the brutish 700m climb up unrelenting (wet) grassy slopes that is required to attain the summit ridge.  It’s official: Gulvain does not get easier with return visits!  Fortunately, a sustained thaw during the preceding 36hrs had pushed the snowline well up the mountain and we didn’t need the crampons until we reached the intermediate spot height of 855m.  This, the first of 3 distinct tops on the upper mountain, heralds the end of the continuous climbing and opens up the summit ridge.  The summit itself is also visible from here.

The Summit From the South Top

We shared the ridge with a couple of ptarmigan as we battled with the awkward crosswind up on to Gulvain’s South Top (961m; and home to an Ordnance Survey trig point)!  From here, it is one Km of quality ridge-walking linked by a 100m descent  and 120m re-ascent in order to attain the final summit: Gulvain (987m; filthy or noisy hill).  Today, the summit cairn was completely buried and it was a cold, wind-swept place so we lingered not!

The Summit Cairn - When Not Buried In Snow!

The return (as it generally is with Gulvain) was back exactly the same way, the hardest bit being trying to remain upright on the steep and slippery wet grassy lower slopes of the mountain.  We all failed at that one!  The eagle was still there, and so was the long, rough, wet track that led, after a hard 7hrs 40mins day, back to the waiting car.

Check out my plans for this coming winter at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/winter-hillwalking.htm

More Winter Fun in Lochaber

Chris Looking All Winter-Like and Brave!

Chris was looking for a short ‘winter adventure’ to get away from the flatlands of Suffolk.  This very snowy Scottish winter of 2014 duly obliged!

Aonach Mor

Day 1 saw us hopping on the Nevis Range gondola and Quad chairlift to get high up the mountain quickly and make the most of the snow.  Whilst the near-absence of wind made for relatively comfortable conditions (for a change), thick cloud enveloped the mountain.  The combination of cloud and snow resulted in classic ‘white-out’ conditions all day and maximum visibility away from the gondola top station was only 5m!  This did, however, give us excellent conditions for practising winter navigation and I even had to resort to throwing snowballs at times just to see where the ground was!

Frozen, Half-Buried Ski Hut on Aonach Mor

The calm conditions allowed me to demonstrate some winter belays in relative comfort, but the soft snow made the ice axe arrest demonstration extremely challenging!  I’d love to have some more photos to show you, but you might as well look at some blank sheets of white paper if you want to see what it was really like!

Frozen, Half-Buried Ski Lift on Aonach Mor

Great stuff though, and a memorable experience bumbling around all day with absolutely nothing to see except our feet!

Ben Nevis – Allt a’ Mhuilinn Path

Ben Nevis & Coire Leis

Rather than repeat the previous day’s white-out wanderings, we elected to stay low and see something!  The NE Face of Ben Nevis is looking particularly impressive just now so we decided to take a close – but safe - look at this impressive piece of UK mountain architecture.

Carn Dearg

We parked at the helpfully-placed North Face car park at Torlundy and climbed up the excellent path through the trees, breaking out into open ground at 270m.  Here, the path meets the Allt a’ Mhuilinn and follows the course of this swift-flowing mountain burn all the way up into Coire Leis.  On our right, there was much evidence of recent avalanche activity on the flanks of Carn Dearg and in the usual avalanche traps below The Castle.  On the left, uniformly steep snow slopes led up onto a cloud-covered Carn Mor Dearg.

  

Coire na Ciste

We met the snow at just over 300m, a deal lower than the previous day, and it got progressively thicker as we climbed towards the CIC hut.  We picked up an uncomfortably cold katabatic headwind just below the hut and quickly sought refuge below a sheltering rock at about 720m from which to survey the wintery scene.

Looking Up No 5 Gulley, Carn Dearg

From here we were able to see high up into Coire na Ciste and observe a number of climbing parties tackling the various cliffs and gulleys that lead up on to the summit plateau.  It can’t have been much fun for those awaiting their turn to climb with that cold, biting wind scything down the cliff face!  No such heroics for us though.  We admired their fortitude, had some lunch and promptly returned back the way we had come!  This path is well worth taking if you want to get up close and personal to Ben Nevis’ pre-eminent feature and see another side of the mountain than that offered by the more traditional Tourist route.

 Chris Determined to Enjoy His Morning Coffee!

   

Check out my plans for this coming winter at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/winter-hillwalking.htm

Ben Nevis – A Winter Ascent 2014

Looking South Across Glen Nevis

The inspiration to try something different often leads to new, and unexpected,  experiences.  And so it was for Donal, Kevin and Sean, three of Ireland’s finest, who decided it would be a great idea to initiate their nascent mountaineering careers with a full-on winter ascent of the highest mountain in the land!  Not that they regretted it for one moment, as it proved to be both memorable and enjoyable – as well as successful!

Heading Up

Their efforts were all the more impressive given that they didn’t reach their previous night’s accommodation until 2AM having driven up from London in a Fiat 500!  Still, they were in fine form as we set off up the tourist track from Achintee on a dry, windless but overcast morning. 

Approaching the Snow Line!

We crossed the snow-line at 500m just below the saddle and a frozen Lochan Meall an t-Suidhe.  Any prospects of a trouble-free conventional ascent up the zig-zags were dealt a terminal blow when we reached the Red Burn.  Weeks of unrelenting snow fall and high winds have created a snow wall that effectively blocks the way ahead, at least for hillwalkers.  The only option was to investigate an alternative route up the left-hand side of the line of the Red Burn - the burn itself is currently buried under several feet of snow!  It was crampons from here on in.

High on the Ben Looking West

Whilst this route offered a more direct way to the summit plateau, it was also a good bit steeper than the route taken by the zig-zags.  Nevertheless, it all balances out in the end and after 90mins of fairy unrelenting steep snow, we intercepted the normal route at the top of the zig-zags.  From here, all but the last 3 of the stone pillars that mark the way to the summit are completely buried so it was back to old days of following a compass bearing in limited visibility to the turning point at the top of Gardyloo Gulley and then on to the summit itself.

The Summit Emergency Shelter Encased in Rime Ice

Here, the ruined observatory was completely buried and both the emergency shelter and the summit trig point were at snow level, their supporting plinths of rock being hidden under layers of snow and rime ice.  

The Summit

There was a brief hint of a clearance in the clouds, but it didn’t last and we were soon re-immersed in mist.  The wind was mercifully light.

Afternoon Light

One final advantage of all the snow cover was it enabled us to take a much more direct route down, rather than be tied to the twists and turns of the tourist track.  Consequently, we made it back to the car in just 2hrs, enjoying some afternoon sunshine and stunning views along the way.       

Meall an t-Suidhe & its Frozen Lochan

  

Check out my plans for this coming winter at: http://www.hillways.co.uk/winter-hillwalking.htm