Blog Backlog & Bla Bheinn footpath funding success.
Sorry about the radio silence but blogging is the lowest priority when life gets hectic I’m afraid. Last week the weather improved drastically and I enjoyed getting out 7 days out of 8.
Back to hot rock fun at Elgol; ye ha!
They were all great outings but highlights included finally placing an icescrew (1st time in the Cuillin this winter), meeting a couple of Italian guides at the Pinn who were up as guests of Al Todd (who skied the Great Stone Shoot this year) and a couple of hot days on the wonderful cliffs at Elgol (see videos on the Skye Guides Mountaineering Face Book page- I’ve put a selection of galleries below from most days.
Italian joy on the Pinn
Conditions have warmed up considerably but you’ll see great quantities of snow on the northern Cuillin (Pinnacle Ridge gallery below) which I would guess will be with us until about late May. Elsewhere the only serious quantities are leading up to An Dorus and a small amount left in the Great Stone Shoot (pic in Italian invasion gallery).
Biggest news of the week was the successful campaign to win £24k of funding to help with the much needed improvements to the Bla Bheinn (Blaven) footpath. Considerd by many as having the finest views in Scotland Bla Bheinn probably attracts more visitors than any other peak in the Black Cuillin.
Skye’s Bla Bheinn path repair project has won EOCA’s Alpine category – securing us £24k funding for path repairs! Huge thanks to all who voted.
In the office enquiries and bookings flooded in as folk realised that Easter and Spring holidays are fast approaching.
Elgol Day 1-
The annual Belgian student outing around Coire na Creiche & Glen Brittle beach-
4/5 Gully approach to Pinnacle Ridge- spot the ice screw pic!-
Italian invasion at the Pinn-
Even hotter day at Elgol-
Wild day in the washing machine! 24th March
Deceptively fine looking weather!
Plans to tackle Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean had to be rapidly changed yesterday as the wind picked up in strength far earlier than predicted; huge plumes of snow shot into the sky from the cols between each pinnacle.
Line of 2/3 gully shown
The logical theory was to stay in the lee of the hill which did work for us but not without other “added interest”. Our plan was to ascend 2nd/3rd Gully and then abseil off rather than get hit by the wind. Not many action photos of the climbing because taking the cameras out would have killed them pretty fast!
Approaching the foot of the gully I found myself stood on the “bank” of a river of spindrift and graupel (see blog from January 2012). Handily it gave a clear view of the hard snow beneath which made the climbing far easier, to a point! The first steepening provided a 4 metre cold shower experience until I was able to get my head above the surface once more.
Abseiling the first cold shower!
Belaying from a snow bollard I brought Dave & Cat up and mooted a retreat; this got the silence treatment so off I headed for my next shower. This one really was bracing and the power was turned up from an invisible source way above.
Propping up the snow bollard
The hard snow was in excellent condition though and the climbing finished up a short vertical step to reach the shelter of a huge chockstone. A snow cone from an internal snow shower had to be negotiated before finally droping into the deep dry, windless cave beyond.
Inside the washing machine
Cat and Dave joined me for a relaxed lunch here before setting up our escape abseils which went nicely to plan.
Looking back into the cave
The gusts on the wlk out were some of the fiercest I’ve known; very glad not to be on anything narrow but even 20m to the gorge felt too close.
Wild winds
One final note is to repeat that 2nd 3rd Gully is not grade II as suggested by the guidebook. Even when banked out very well like it is now there is some pretty demnding looking climbing above the cave!
Proper Cold at last. 22 March
Our great quantities of snow have been frustratingly soft for axe placements all winter but the hard freeze after this weeks thaw has finally given us the hard neve needed to climb some steeper routes. Hopefully a week of fun ahead!
Great day out today but very demanding and serious conditions which is the price to pay for harder snow. We started up Broad Gully then onto Sgurr a Bhasteir. Normally a simple grade I winter route the gully held some steeper sections but mainly a lack of any opportunity to rest the burning calves. Fresh snow drifted on top was thought provoking but our front points were able to bite through.
The NE Ridge of Sgurr a Bhasteir is also a simple grade I route in both summer and winter ordinarily but sections of hard snow out above the yawning void of the north face heightened concentration & tension about as high as the lactic acid in the legs.
The reward for all this graft was an immaculate horizontal crest of snow leading into Bealach na Lice and stunning views all around.
The obligatory bumslide was a mix of slow powder and ice sections that positively gave you a warm butt as the speed built up; not recommended anywhere apart from the gentlest of slopes at the minute!
In fact the icy conditions warrant a severe health warning not only in action but also when planning your route; I would certainly hesitate before planning to descend something like the Great Stone Shoot even with all the kit just now because of the combo of hard snow with deep pockets of powder.
Enjoy the pics-
South Buttress Gully, soggy but satisfying. 12th March.
Yesterday I was hopeful that South Buttress Gully (guidebook grade II but consensus is now III) would still be a good climbing option despite the current thaw. Once we could see into the line I was happy to go for it because the technical steps looked almost completely banked out.
Looking up the line the toughest move was the final wee dark section.
The snow slopes were fine but sadly the “ice” was only good enough for a single placement. Luckily the right wall has just enough hand & foot holds to get up without ice so we were able to snatch a good winter climb against the odds.
Luca taking to the right wall past the crux.
And a nervy “will it collapse?” moment pulling back into the snow.
Will taking a well-earned dram of Talisker on the way out.
An Caisteal climb & traverse 11 March.
Too tired to write much but here’s some of the shots from todays superb outing-
Last rise to An Caisteal with Bruach na Frithe behind
First Pinn of the year!
Rachel suggested a look at the Pinn would float her boat last week and I nearly baulked. Luckily a weekend of warm rain hasn’t stripped the Main Cuillin Ridge but has left the Pinn nearly snow free. Crampons & axe were uneccesary precautions but couldn’t begin to spoil the pleasure of a delightful warm reunion with me old mucker Mr Pinn.
The Pinn was just a cherry on the cake of a superb alpine outing though. We hit hard snow at under 600m mark and enjoyed perfect consistency right to the summit of Sgurr Dearg.
The sun started to do its damage soon after midday but even this was pretty limited with a keen breeze keeping things cool up there.
Time for a Traverse before things break down Thursday evening and I’d suggest seriously contemplating some head-torch time to make good time on the harder snow. You’ll touch rocks at the toe of An Stac for the first time proper and increasingly after that but noty enough to loose crampons from what I saw.
SHould be some clues in the gallery photos-
Latest Cuillin map by Harveys review.
The fantastic Harvey Cuillin map has had an upgrade with
- Tougher but lighter paper.
- Updated map corrections to footpaths in particular.
- Crags from the SMC guidebook “Skye the Cuillin” all now marked and indexed.
It is well known by Cuillin regulars that the Ordanance Survey maps covering these mountains are close to useless for fine navigation; indeed there are many copies of the old 1930’s SMC map still being used in preference!
Although any map has limitations in such intricate, steep and rocky terrain Harveys went a very long way to improve the situation when they first produced their Skye The Cuillin sheet over 10 years ago.
Why the maps are so much clearer is due to a broad combination of skills and techniques developed originally from producing very accurate orienteering maps. The 1:12,500 enlargement of the Cuillin Ridge very much resembles these fine navigation tools. 15m contour intervals and shading to highlight the ridge crest are just the base canvas for features, many of which are pure rock. Clever restriction of rock features seems to be the key to removing a lot of the clutter that the OS maps suffer from.
Index of crags listed in SMC guidebook, marked with orange numbers at the toe of each cliff. NB. footpath now marked close to Banachdaich summit.
Getting the crags marked was actually a project I started way back in 2003 when I was first asked to write the SMC guidebook. A key problem I had found had been locating the cliffs, let alone the climbs. Harvey Maps were very accommodating and anyone with previous copies of the map will find the index of crags as I envisaged it back then. 55 crags from those early stages of planning eventually ended up as a total of 98!
I’ve thoroughly enjoyed helping Harvey Maps; there are always small tweaks and doing a new run annually keeps this realistic. There is now a very good representation of just how far into the mountains it is possible to follow the footpaths. Check out those on Bla bheinn, Gillean & Banachdaich in particular.
The 1:25,000 side covers the massive area from Broadford north to Sligachan and South to Elgol in superb detail as well, making it a great tool for exploring closer to home.
It’s no White Wedding today, 4th March
White Wedding must be one of the best lines of climbing in the Cuillin but it has proved elusive to any second ascent ever since the legendary winter of 1986 (Mick Fowler and Vic Saunders popped up it the day after doing Waterpipe, South Gully & Icicle Factory!) I’ve been to the foot twice before but each time found there to be nothing but a thin glaze of ice in the lowest section. Studying the photo from this Sunday (below) I realised that there was actually a bulging line continuously to the start.
White Wedding is the prominent vertical line.
With a reasonable forecast Ally, Beads and I headed up into the mist early this morning with as much hope as optimisim. Wet snow lay low down and running water wasn’t what we had ordered. The situation improved markedly in the final approach however and a familiar mixture of excitement and fear crept over me as we kitted up.
Last few deep steps on approaching the climb.
Things started reasonably with firm snow but the limitations of this soon became apparent on the first small bulge as axes ripped through under any pressure. The next 15m was laid back and led to a very encouraging long blade peg before approaching what looked like the steepest step on the whole long first pitch. Sweeping ice and snow off the rocks with bare hands wasn’t a great sign but more cracks for gear was a good consolation for now having totally soaked gloves (thank goodness for the Dachsteins!).
In the thick of it! The black sections at my feet are where I’d desperately scratched around for hooks for the axes; I eventually reached an anchor below the prominent black triangle way above.
Tenuous best describes the next 15m; single placements gave me just enough to delicately step up further (than I should) and one even held me as both feet collapsed. Backing off was definitely not an option and patience was finally rewarded with 5m of good placements in some well iced snow and a fairly good spike anchor.
Looking down from my high point
My firm snow ran out immediately above and a further 30m of nerve-wracking porridge climbing lay ahead; the decision to back off was a no brainer. Such a shame; a hard frost would set this lot like concrete and possibly even be as easy as the grade IV that it is recorded as.
The north-west face of Sgurr a Ghreadaidh as we departed
The guys were in excellent spirits despite getting cold on the belay; apparently something to do with relief! Plenty of laughter on the way down but a real determination to return if we can (please!) get a proper blast of Arctic air before this all snow melts away.
Great company and craic; what its all about
Back to incredible Cuillin conditions; 2 & 3 March.
Clach Glas from the Great Prow
It would appear that Skye stayed at least as cold on the tops as the rest of Scotland over the past weekend which I hadn’t anticipated myself. One guy made a fantastic effort on a full Traverse starting by Pinnacle Ridge on Friday, bivvying at Glaic Moire and finally being defeated by winds & blizzards at Mhicchoinnich. He reported near perfect snow conditions with little harder than grade III.
I can certainly confiorm this after 2 excellent days out with Andy & Nick Burton.
Forked Pinnacle Ridge above Glen Sligachan
Winter and Cuillin virgins they coped very well in the howling gales on Banachdaich yesterday and definitely got the luck they deserved with a Traverse of Blaven Today. Out agin in the morning so I’ll just include a gallery below.-
Creag an Dubh Loch; a climb at last! 28th Feb.
The Dubh Loch with the crag and avalanche debris visible behind.
Desperate times make for desperate measures; with no serious climbing having been done since new year’s day a photo of fat ice at the Dubh Loch was enough to entice me into the huge drive to Ballater, 5am start, cycle and deep soft snow approach. It is a very beautiful part of the Highlands and the rewards soon started as the sun rose.
Sadly the lower half of the crag had lost a lot of ice in the past week but Robin came up with a plan.
A scary snowy approach over steep vegetation took us to the foot of The Last Oasis.
Our line
I took the first pitch with instructions to break right to block belays below the thinly iced rib.
Looking up from the foot of the pitched climbing after the scary approach.
Robin then took the helm, had a few words with himself on the initial thin steep slabs and finally sounded happier once the 3rd screw was placed without going down to rock. Classically I found the climbing far steeper than it had looked from below!
Thin starting moves on the new pitch; Sword of Damocles icicle behind!
A drippy ice grotto after 35m gave a good screw belay but an intimidating step round the corner to reach the start of the Sword of Damocles final pitch.
Panorama experiment to show the drop below!
The excitement continued with a cornice to finish-
and then a huge great avalanche down the face 100m to the right of where we’d been climbing; gulp. This was the final straw in deciding not to stash our kit for a return battle next day but, in a winter where any climbing has been hard to come by the day was a great result. A waist deep battle through soggy drifts confirmed we’d made the right decision & we were both completely ****ered by the time we reached the bikes.
If anyone is particularly taken by the colour and design of Robin’s climbing sack he would love to hear from you; I’ve certainly never seen such a magnificent hue of blue……. 😉
Skiing and Snowboarding in Fionn Choire
Half way up. We made it about as far as where the cloud is sitting in the corrie.
Time for a change of hobby with all this soft snow. Angus and I loaded ourselves up and headed up into Fionn Choire at the northern end of the Cuillin. Going under foot wasn’t too deep and slow but the extra weight and wind catching the “sails” gave burning thighs.
Angus getting into the groove
No real action photos but some great videos of Angus boarding on Face Book; start here- https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=249402578571438&saved
I’m not looking forward to videos of my inept skiing leakiing onto the net but I got down in one piece, managed to put in a few turns and can’t wait to do it again.
South Skye p4/5 shinty victory, 12th February.
Huge congratulations to South Skye A team for winning the p4/5 tournament tonight. It’s the second year in a row that they’ve beaten arch rivals Portree A to the trophy but has nothing to do with their lucky shirts 😉
Back- Aaron, Nuan, Lachlan (captain) Front- Nathan, Ollie, Calum
The guys won every match in the league stages, semi-final and very high quality final. Spectators and players nervously glanced at the clock as South End desperately defended their early goal before captain Lachlan Macpherson made space for himself cleverly before rifling home in the dying seconds.
Aaron throws arms in the air as the final hooter sounds.
Really well done to South End B as well who won 2, drew one and only lost to Portree A. The play-off against Portree, for the semi-final draw, was a marathon that went to extra time and then golden goal before their tournament was finally over.
James giving it welly in the mamoth play-off against Portree C
Gillean Traverse; a full-on experience. 10th Feb
Approaching the summit of Sgurr nan Gillean today
Chris is off for an expedition to Greenland in April and in serious training mode. Before spending the last 2 days with me he’d been climbing in Glen Coe for a week; his last day meant it was time to brace ourselves for some serious hard work.
With an improved forecast traversing Sgurr nan Gillean was the aim. Trying to decide whether Coir’ a’ Bhasteir or the Tourist Route would be less arduous was near enough 50:50 so we plummed for the more direct approach by the West Ridge. In the end the snow wasn’t too bad, rarely more than knee deep and we made it to the foot of the West ridge in about 2.5 hours.
Squeezing through The Window; I was surprised it wasn’t blocked.
The rest of the day was more than ample reward for our efforts- a 50m pitch up an incredibly banked out Tooth Chimney even had some nice ice. The ridge above was like something out of Narnia with dramatic sculptures of rounded snow and star-bursts of rime ice on the few rocks left exposed.
The summit cairn and narrow crest of the Tourist Route ahead resembled a weird cross between an anaconda and a beluga whale, intimidating as hell but far easier than in summer thank goodness.
Summit Cairn and top of the Tourist Route
A quick abseil was followed by a 100m traverse across steeep terrain that, again, proved far easier than its summer equivlant.
Abseiling down the Tourist Route
Normally the best line follows the ridge down for another 300m or so before cutting northward back towards Sligachan but so much wonderful deep snow was too good to miss. Everything apart from helmets was put into the sacks and, with Sochi in mind, we competed for the bumsliding gold medal. So fantastic were conditions that we ended up with possibly a new Skye record covering just under a kilometre and losing 300m of height in about 5 minutes! Who needs skis?
Line showing our olympic bumslide
Some of you may have noticed the quality of pictures has dropped dramatically recently. Sadly a common problem with my wonderful Lumix is that the focus motor goes; new one arriving tomorrow so hopefully back to getting some decent shots again soon. The forecast is finally looking cold & promising!
Great Gully, Blaven. 9th Feb
Another challenging day of weather was rewarded by a great stomp up great Gully on Blaven, amazing snow formations on top and yet more bum-sliding.
Uphill surfing with Clach Glas behind
On the ascent the snow was deep enough that we didn’t need crampons or axes but only awkward in the bottom few hundred feet.
Great outing “snatched from the jaws of rugby temptation”. 8th Feb
Yesterday morning Chris, Nathan and I sat in Glen Brittle watching horizontal plumes of powder ripping off the ridges above us. The afternoon promised even fiercer winds and the temptation to run straight to the pub was strong. Being a bit early for this we steeled ourselves for a bracing wander as far as the winds and deep powder snow would allow us. The decision was rewarded with great snow conditions, hardly a breath of wind until we topped out and an excellent climb. The rugby match results were well worth missing!
Starting out on the Thuilm-Mhadaidh Ridge
Despite yet more heavy snow fall there was very little depth on top of the consolidated layers so progress was rapid. The exception to this was the best bum-slide of the year so far as we shot 500ft down from An Dorus in a matter of seconds.
Chris and I disappearing down the bumslide.
The motto is never write a day off but thats a lot easier said than done with some of the weather we’ve been getting so far this winter!
Enjoy the gallery-
Mega-snow show continues; 6th Feb.
Our white world with the Red Cuillin horeshoe behind.
Yet more large quantities of snow have fallen over the past few days and I got a tip-off to avoid swimming in the corries.
Half-way up the NE Ridge (grade I)
Approaching by a ridge somewhat limits objectives but the NE ridge of Sgurr a’ Bhasteir is a firm favourite because it scours and goes, er, firm quicker than most.
Pinnacle Ridge looking loaded.
What took me by surpise was the narrowness and size of the crest as we traversed into bealach na Lice. It was serious enough that I wanted to be roped up which somewhat surprised Graham & Peter. I may be getting soft but spying the boundary between the banked powder on either side was proving impossible. The drops may be less but this was a mini Rochefort Arete and Peter pointed out that the Alps normally have a trench of footsteps showing the best way!
Our mini-Rochefort Arete
At the head of Fionn Choire the drifts are now building up into huge bulging humps that must be rising 3 or 4 metres above the rocks. Huge fins of rime ice point out to the south-west and the summit cairn of Bruach na Frithe is nearly buried completely.
This fin was over half a metre long. They grow into the prevailing wind.
The knee-deep snow as we dropped down Fionn Choire just exaggerated my thought that I wish I had got skis; it would have been perfect right down to 1000ft!
Cuillin Ridge crest in full winter garb
The weather finally settled down a wee bit in the middle of last week, enough for Ally and I to get out and see what all this wild weather has produced. Very impressive indeed!
Ally abseiling down from Bealach Thormaid
We opted for a broad open gully line that finishes near the sumit of Sgurr na Banachdaich. The line traverses out almost horizontally for 100m from just below the Bealach Thormaid on the Coruisk side. A short, 30m, steeper section leads up into a broad finishing bowl and the summit above. It was short and sweet giving 4 pitches and grade II for the steep section in the conditions we found.
High above Coruisk after the steep section.
I scrambled up the same line a couple of years ago in snow-free conditions. In summer it is often taken by mistake by climbers heading north along the Ridge so we’ve called it False Gully. Hopefully, in time, this will raise awareness of its presence as a false trail for future parties.
Wild & wonderful on Banachdaich, 27 January.
Traversing benath the Central top of Banachdaich.
A wild and stormy start to the day was supposed to clear by 10am but nobody told the Cuillin weather gods. However, despite the appalling weather, snow conditions underfoot were very good. The fresh snow still had a lot of damp in it and should harden readily if we can get a freeze before the next thaw. I’d even go so far as to suggest a Winter Traverse might be possible.
Nearing 3rd top of Banachdaich
Its the first time that I’ve ever had my group shelter out “in anger”; providing shelter to add extra layers and eat a good quantity before pushing on to the top. We would only have managed a quick bite in that weather otherwise. It was a no brainer to whip it out again when we reached the top and needed to put the crampons and harnesses on. Although we carry them every day its only in extremis that this piece of kit really proves its worth.
From the summit we traversed the ridge southward to Bealach na Banachdaich. Fresh snow had only drifted up to about a foot or so deep and I knew it was lying mainly straight onto rock (this end of the crest was virtually snow-free by Tuesday last week) so had very few worries about it breaking away.
With little sign of improvement we decided against ascending to look at the Pinn and fought our way down into the stinging hailstones. Again we were lucky with underfoot conditions, ditched crampons early and slid our way down deep banks of fluffy white-stuff:-)
3rd Pinnacle of Gillean, 25 January
Conditions on Pinnacle Ridge yesterday were absolutely excellent but very serious at the same time. We put crampons on at the foot of 1st/2nd Gully and had great neve from then onwards.
Topping out of 1st / 2nd Gully
Sadly squeezing any routes in between the storms this month is a frantic business. Our attempt on Pinnacle Ridge was cut short but climbing the 3rd Pinnacle on its own felt like a a very full-on adventure.
A broad streak of thick snow ran straight to the top of the 3rd Pinnacle and we reached it in 2 50m pitches.
2 long pitches took us up the continuos line of snow from left to the very top.
The abseil from the top nearly reached the col below but not quite so a hanging belay had to be excavated.
Hanging belay on 3rd Pinnacle
The traverse out onto Knight’s Peak is always exposed and knarly with a swing into the void for both leaders and seconds a distinct possiblity.
Spacewalking out onto the 4th Pinnacle
With time against us and softer snow on the changed aspect we decided to run away with an abseil down to the east. A particularly black cloud engulfed us soon after, lashed us with hail that created a beautiful waterfall effect as they slooshed down the steep faces above.
Waterfalls of hailstones
As it was we finished in the dark so twas a sound decision. Hopefully back for the full ascent tomorrow if these winds calm down!
Winter Climbing Meet 2014 photos and links.
16 of us met in the Glen Brittle Memorial Hut last weekend for the annual Skye winter meet. The weather gods were gathering payback from us for such stonking conditions in 2013 but enthusiasm got everyone out still to build up an appetite for food and beers.
Romain gives instructions on how to fondue and raclette- Over 5kg of cheese was consumed!
Friday was excellent and all 7 of the early arrivers headed to the snowy north end. Dave and John climbed North-west Face Route (II) on Gillean, Romain and Steve the NW Ridge of Bruach na Frithe
while Ian, Dave and I found some ice on Running on Numpty (II) on the flank of Sgurr a’ Bhasteir.
Dave and Ian after climbing Running on Numpty
Dave went back to Bruach na Frithe with Nicola the next day and won again, the only team to brave the showers and they won with a 360 panorama from the top. Link to dave Bowdlers shots- https://plus.google.com/photos/103884480644177632031/albums/5970627149310564129
Other activities included walks out to Macleod’s Maidens & Glamaig. Some great dry-tooling was found just along from the beach and further out towards Ruabh Dunain and Lucy Janni and I climbed onto the Cioch for a sword fight.
Lucy leading Slab Corner up to the Cioch
Romain’s videos- http://youtu.be/WbhbMYzGu7I
Romain’s photos- https://skydrive.live.com/?cid=7CD9146C44E3A670&id=7CD9146C44E3A670%212328&v=3&authkey=%21AAKu0MCarsqnP9U
Great conditions for Eag Dubh and the Ridge crest
Temperatures dropped overnight and left us a good thicknes of snow from about 650m today. I did worry about avalanches but snow pits showed a very old layer with 2 or 3 fresher layers resonably well bonded above.
The clouds clung thinly to the Ridge almsot all day but parted frequently enough to let us appreciate the grandeur of our surroundings.
Clach Glas Blaven Traverse 13th Jan.
Mega ridge crest
Long way down!
Topping out of the final chimney in a blizzard
Enjoy the few extras in the gallery; more to followw from the boys.
Recording new routes. 8 Jan
Richard Hines of St Andrews Uni MC saw reports of our new years day route on Scottishwinter.com and contacted Simon Richardson to say his team had climbed the same gully back in 2012. This isn’t a surprise given how accessible and obvious the line is and doesn’t remove any of the enjoyment Jim and I had climbing it.
Picture from the actual first ascent in January 2012.
The incident highlights 2 sides of the guide-book writer’s job.
Non-recording of routes is something I was, and many others are, guilty of. Some people choose deliberately not to record but the majority, like St AUMC, just assume that such obvious lines have been climbed before. This may well be the case but recording your ascent (unless you know it has been climbed before) gives a description and hopefully inspiration to others in the future. Particularly useful for winter routes where conditions can vary enormously. If it has been recorded before it should come out in the process of writing and editing the next guidebook.
Digital photography and websites have the potential to make the guidebook writer’s job far easier. This is a perfect example where Richard recognised the gully from my photo and I can confirm this from his shot (above). All cleared up in a week. Trying to decipher descriptions of routes climbed in the past involved analysing descriptions, interpreting scribbled diagrams and a fair amount of intuition/guesswork. The lesson and request is PLEASE do take a picture of where your climb is located. Any more detailed photos may also be useful.
Congratulations to StAUMC; any thoughts on a name?
A Torridonian Treat; 4th January 2014
Jim, Merrissa and I ended the week on a high with an ascent of Liathach over on the mainland. On Friday night we braved wild weather just to drive the 70 miles and then a 10 minute walk to the Ling Hut in the dark and driving rain. Next morning little seemed to have changed by 8am but the forecast came right just before 9.
Archive photo of the SMC Ling hut with Liathach behind; our route gained the crest at the right edge and traversed to the obvious high point called Spidean a’ Choire Leith (1055m)
The ascent is quite possibly the fiercest anywhere in the UK, rising from 30m above sea-level to 833m in little over a kilometre.We put crampons on at about 700m and it was obvious our descent was going to be concentrated.
Along the crest the snow was immaculate with just a small amount of give in a uniform covering.
Roped together we wandered for the next hour in an almost dream-like manner with amazing light on the views all around.
From the summit the ridge still stretched away into the distance but a lack of time and light meant we reluctantly had to turn heel and begin our descent.Luckily a direct slope back into Coire Liath Mhor gave a good fast start to this stage. A lip of rock below made us do a short abseil before traversing back towards our original path.
I realised it had been over 10 years since my last pilgramage to Torridon; this left me with mixed feelings of embarressment but mainly joy at rediscovering the hills I used to know so well. Liathach is 2nd only to Ben Nevis for mainland mountains I have climbed on. It won’t be long before I’m back again.
New year and a new route. 1st Jan 2014
See post on 8 Jan for update on this.
New year’s day was the only one with easterly winds forecast so Jim and I decided to head for a section of the Ridge and hopefully a view of the Pinn.
Avoiding the wind in Coire na Banachdaich a nice wee gully leading directly up winked at me. I convinced myself (and Jim) it would be a brief bit of added excitement and our limited kit would suffice with a bit of improvisation. I was right but only just-
Whillans would have been proud of my pebble-wedging that made prussic loops into runners before the final vertical wall of powder. Our 480cm sling was used and recycled for all 3 belays and Jim only had to do one of the cruxes just on gloves & feet to reach the axes dangling above ;-).
Jim bridged wide on the crux
Ignoring all the improvisation the climbing was excellent with a mix of hooks, bridging and ice placements. The final 10m section will always be steep and a bit bold. Overall I’d say 100m of one star grade IV,5 with no name yet.
Above we found superb neve running right to the top of Sgurr Dearg. The Pinn looked fearsome and the views were magnificent throughout all 360 degrees.
The top of the West Ridge gave a final 20 mins of concentrated footwork then a gentle stroll back down before nightfall. It is really amazing to already have over an extra hour of evening light to play with already compared to pre-xmas outings.
2 Climbers on Sgurr nan Gillean way to the north of us.
Hogmanay fun; 31st December
Jim & I were on the verge of aborting today because of the rain and winds. Returning to base the red Cuillin peaks all around were suddenly clear and highly attractive with a warm cuppa in hand!
2 minutes back down the road we set off past the waterfall with the long snowfields on the North Face of Garbh-bheinn. These turned out to be very fine with crampons needed pretty much from the first patches of snow at 500m. 1000ft and an hour later we’d explored some exciting buttress terrain as well as the easy gully features to reach the summit.
Looking down on the north face of Garbh-bheinn as we descended
Windows soon appeared through the mist as we descended. Golden light reflected off the sea at Camasunary. Gradually views into the main Cuillin appeared with mists being turned pink by the setting sun behind.
Looking good on the Ridge, 29th December
Beautiful calm day today for some Cuillin exploration.
Early clouds dispersed to leave us magnificent views up to the Coire Lagan peaks.
Sgurr Mhiccoinnich
The kids all enjoyed the boulders while waiting for the rest of us to catch up.
I love the light at this time of year with the subtle hues of dawn pretty much blending in with the sunset.
Rum & Eigg silouetted in the mid-winter sun
Climbers will be interested in the conditions and potential fun just now; below is my report for UKClimbing. I’ve put a zoomed picture of the top of Sgurr Dearg and the In Pinn immediately below.
“The heavy snows have been stripped out right up to 700m but, above this, serious quantities are still plastering all rocks. With temperatures up to 7 degrees or so yesterday it is very likely to have thawed to the tops and is now solidifying nicely.
Worth an attempt on a Traverse if we can get a settled period of weather but I can’t spot that window myself.
Not much ice visible and all but the steepest mixed lines likely to be swamped. Not sure it is cold enough for the plastered snow to be much use.”
West flank of Dearg summit plastered in deep snow; I would expect lots of rock showing through after a thaw normally.
Gallery-
Bruach na Frithe Blizzards, 19th December
Ben has been dealt more than his fair share of weather for his course but enthusiasm and attitude has given us a couple of excellent days.
Yesterday we avoided the wind down on the beach at the Braes with a refresher session on gear placements and retrieving abseil ropes. We finished with a great bit of fun dry-tooling up a greasy steep corner.
With nearly zero friction for the feet it was a fight to the top but great lesson (for both of us!) in trusting thin placements.
This morning winds dropped to gale force instead of storm force so we headed past the Fairy Pools toward the Spur of Sgurr an Fheadian. It looked very dry and unlikely we would need crampons so we gambled instead on heading higher, hoping that the wind gods would be kind.
A tail-wind up the Tairnilear stone shoot was most welcome.
A good coating of ice covered almost every rock for the final 100m of ascent and crampons were a definite good move.
Peace from the wind over the crest of the Ridge was made even better by the subtle colours out towards Blaven and beyond.
Snow started falling as we set off and everything turned white very soon after but the wind was steady more than gusting and we made good progress, reaching the top in about 2 hours.
Midst of the heavy snow shower
The descent down Fionn Choire was another matter as we were battered from every direction, slapped by walls of spindrift and pelted by hail that felt more like lead shot; strangely no pics;-)
Our route went from the V-notch leftward to Bruach na Frithe.
Enjoy the gallery-
Conditions update & forecast at 17th December.
Sunlit smattering on Glamaig on Monday (16th) morningHarvey’s Cuillin map updates 2014.
Anyone unfamiliar with the Harvey SKYE THE CUILLIN map should treat themselves to a copy this xmas. The 1:25,000 scale map covers a huge area from Broadford, up to Sligachan, Carbost, Glen Brittle and right across to Elgol. But it is the 1:12,500 enlargement of the Main Ridge makes it the only map of any real use to climbers and walkers wanting to explore the Ridge.
It’s been an enjoyable task this week helping Peter Child at Harvey Maps with updates for the reprint in January. The project has been ongoing for quite a few years now; they reprint just about annually so map corrections can be easily added.
Paths
This year I suggested that some of the larger trails higher in the Cuillin could justify being added becuase they are comparatively easy to follow in good visibility. Pete was then able to double-check the ideas with aerial shots and produce an accurate end result that should aid a huge number of visitors.
Sgurr na Banachdaich is well recognised as the easiest Cuillin Munro to attain and the route has become well enough pronounced on the ground to mark it nearly to the summit.
Cliff numbering correlation with the SMC Guidebook
Correlating the SMC “SKYE THE CUILLIN” guidebook with the “SKYE THE CUILLIN” map has been the other major task.
Photodiagram of the northern Cuillin seen from Sligachan; crags in red circles.
The 1:12,500 enlargement orientated for viewing the northern Cuillin from Sligachan; crag numbers in red.
There are a total of 98 different crags from the book now all marked as close to the start of the climbing as possible. Previous editions of the map have, since 2004, had 55 crags marked; don’t worry these are all in the right place and match the map index. Fifty-five was the number of crags I thought the Cuillin had at the early stages of writing the guidebook. It was another 7 years before we went to print but the end result, particularly with these latest Harveys updates, means that climbers have a hugely increased chance of identifying and navigating to the cliffs they want to climb.
Signed copies of the Cuillin Guidebook can still be bought direct from us if you want another Christmas present!
Skye Trail
The most noticeable change on the 1:25,000 side is the addition of a section of The Skye Trail. Harveys also sell a map specific to the Skye Trail.
2 variations are marked in the Cuillin section for the more adventurous including a traverse of Bla Bheinn down to Camasunary and a detour into Coruisk via the Bad Step.
New materials
The 2014 map will also be the first made of the new generation of tough polyethylene that is both more waterproof but also far more resistant to tearing. Great news for all, including our guides who carry their valuable copies every day through all sorts of weather.
Finally I’d recommend browsing the Harvey maps website for a fascinating insight into how modern, high quality mapping is being done. Enjoy:-)
