Hot Rock !

Its been a while since my last post ...

After a less than profitable week in Scotland, I returned for one last long week-end and finally managed to eek out some good grade IV lines on the Ben - my first proper ice climbs on the holy mountain and confidence givers for the future, pity winter is now over for me, despite the weather continuing to play silly devils with a cold blast in early April ...

For me the focus is now on summer rock and to that end we sneaked in an Easter week trip to Southern France with free accommodation courtesy of some friends of ours who now own two properties out there.  We were based in Rasigueres, near the climbing areas of Tautavel and Vingrau and despite slightly variable weather and not a little over indulgence in wine (with a Vinyard cave literally on the doorstep it would have been rude not to !), we managed 3 days of relatively warm, sunny climbing and a day of Via Ferrata - just what the doctor ordered  :-)

Lovely day at the Gorge

The location we used was a beautiful gorge known as the Gouley-Rous, which also offers great options for cooling down in the hot summer months :-)
The grades are always interesting - I generally find that routes on the continent climb a little harder for a given grade and Tautavel is no exception, plus the element of uncertainty with the French subdividing grades at both 4 and 5 into a,b,c unlike UK where we only seem to start at 6 for some reason.

Chris back down to earth

However, this wasn't purely about personal climbing, I was also providing tuition, assistance and putting up ropes for a number of novice climbers in our group, including our friend's 13 year old son who had never climbed outside before, so I got some good practice for my instructing skills, which was a nice bonus.  We even managed to get Dave (Chris's Dad) on the Via Ferrata, which he thoroughly enjoyed despite starting with some trepidation.

So all in all, a great trip which will hopefully set me up nicely for a bumper summer of climbing, new PB grades, completing my qualifying climbs for MIA and getting some outdoor ML days in.

The search for winter - pt 2

Following an unsatisfying 2 hrs on more rotten ice at Kinlochleven, I made the decision to concentrate on mountain days for my ML so we headed to Glenshiel and the south ridge. After a good couple of hours up the ridge to Creag Mhiam we emerged onto the summit and ferocious side winds and wind chill. I cud see that the ridge narrowed to an exposed rocky scramble just prior to the next peak which didn't look good as Julie was already struggling to keep on her feet. We battled on in the hope that as we rounded the corrie the wind may have lessened or changed direction but as we got close I could see it wouldn't and took the decision to retreat at that point - disappointing but the right decision and we were treated to the sight of a couple of ptarmigan in full winter plumage and a small herd of red deer on the descent. The week then finished off back at Glencoe with a circuit of the Ballachullish horseshoe via school house ridge - a solo effort this, as Julie had by now succumbed to a cold - and I was treated to the best weather of the week, great viz, sunshine and moderate winds and a really satisfying day out with a range of conditions underfoot including a couple of spicy bits on the ascent ridge :-) I'm back up in Scotland next week-end with some mates from the Alps last year and predictably the conditions look very unpromising so watch this space for part 3 !

Desperately Seeking Winter !

Feb half term means the annual pilgrimage to Scotland for a feast of winter climbing & mountaineering ( my other half is a teacher) only this year it's turned out to be an extreme diet :-( MWIS led me to believe that snodoniacmigth be good Saturday so we turned left instead of right and headed off to Cwm Cneiffion confident of some decent conditions higher up - wrong ! A significantly warmer day than forecast on Friday and a warm Saturday meant that we all we got was a battle up tower slabs on rotten ice and sugary snow. The long trip north was tackled Sunday via a shower stop chez nous, to an overnight on the corrie cas car park and waking up to warm, windy and claggy conditions. Feeling less than inspired we decamped to cafe Mambo to plan a long day on Tuesday - a tour of the Meggy 'massif' being the eventual choice with the hope of spotting some 'in' routes for Wednesday. Poor viz and very store winds on the plateau ensured this was a mountain day in the true sense - I had to literally drag Julie through one col. We had a bit of fun checking out he snow holes and igloo at the window before bum sliding down into the corrie and spotting a few climbers and some promising ice. Hope at last ? Not really - a couple of conversations with descending climbers elicited phrases such as soggy, gloopy, variable, rotten, soft snow etc. And a temp in the corrie of 1C didn't offer much hope of improvement. So after a long walk out and Buick conflab we headed to Fort William for a proper campsite with showers, toilets and everything ;-) I'm now sitting in Nevissport along with other climbers 'without a cause' as conditions here seem to be 'challenging' as well, pondering a trip to Kinlochleven to climb in the fridge ... c'est la vie :-(

With the weather Gods looking like they would play games again at the week-end (which they did) and on a promise for Saturday from an unreliable partner likely to cry off (which he did !) I took a day off work and hot footed it up to Wasdale to meet Graeme, a mate from the Alps last year.  He could only get PM off so we got started late and decided to go for a route on Scafell Shamrock, imaginatively called 'Direct'. After a good couple of pitches, including my first of the winter on a vertical ice cascade, we lost daylight and worked our way up & off via an easier gully and then down via Lords Rake and back to the car at 8PM ... a proper day out :-)

Looks like their were routes done in Cwm Cneifion on Saturday which was my intended target, but overall things still not great in Snowdonia from what I read.

Now saying my prayers for next week-end when I have a week booked off for Scotland !

Situation for week-end looking uncertain at moment.  Its been cold, which should be good but unfortunately little consolidation of the snow pack reported and the ice still in the early stages.  Still 2 days to go so fingers crossed ... but current predictions indicate it will warm up considerably on Saturday with freezing level going above the summits.  If this is short lived this could be a good thing, but the picture is unclear at the moment.
I fancy a day out on Friday but struggling for partners at the moment - may go and do some skiing and  ski-touring at Helvellyn/Raise; conditions at the LDSC ski tow look excellent !

Mission accomplished and a Sunday bonus

The plan for Saturday was accomplished pretty much to the letter in sunny, snowy conditions and for once very little wind on the glyderau. The snow made for a nice walk but was not much to write home about from a climbing perspective - a thin crust with sugary crystals underneath. A couple of souls were trying to flounder up the lower reaches of banana gully but they never appeared at the top so hopefully they thought better of it before it got serious. We encountered (as usual) a smattering of walkers, badly equipped and inexperienced for the conditions, trying to get down Y Garn after coming up the Devils Kitchen, and gave what guidance we could. It was slightly strange turning right instead of left at the top, but made for an interesting day on new ground and allowed us to check out Cwm Coch ( no giggling please !) for future climbing.

After a comfortable night in the beloved 'A' team camper, Sundays weather was not at all enticing. Sleet and poor viz led to a fairly lazy breakfast and numerous cups of tea, before I finally managed to overcome the lure of a kit shop expedition ! Julie was somewhat less inspired, so agreed to pick me up at the Pen y Gywrd, allowing me to do a 1 way trek over the glyderau. Despite poor voz and near blizzard like conditions on top, I thoroughly enjoyed myself and gave my nav skills a good test, which they just about passed! Freezing level was about 550M and the snow collecting quite quickly - between ankle and knee deep and upto thigh deep in the odd spot. Now we just need a properly cold week and things could be properly on for next week-end :-)

My first post ! Well, another week stuck in the office is over and I can get excited about getting out there !

I've been watching the weather like a hawk as usual, and it looks promising for some pleasant, winter feeling conditions - if not proper winter climbing conditions - though it did seem to be warmer than predicted last night.

The embryonic plan this week is to hot foot it to the Glyders and see what it is like. Assuming it is as expected we'll probably head up Y Garn, have a nosy around Cwm Clyd and then carry on to Foel Goch to recce Cwm Coch.