A good weekend ahead of us!

High pressure is forecast for the weekend, which means clear skies and deep freezing at night. As luck would have it, I am on holiday from Saturday onwards and intend to make maximum use of my time!

Not all doom and gloom

(No photos from today as my camera is still on the blink.)

The weather in the Glen is still extremely mild, but the rapid thawing seems to have slowed somewhat: there are still ice runnels left on the Upper Tier of Aonach Dubh, although virtually all the ice has gone from the lower two tiers. Needless to say, all ice at this altitude is going to be disintegrating.

I headed up into the Bidean coire again to give me a fighting chance of getting above the freezing level. From 850m to 1000m the snow was disgusting mush, exhausting to break trail through. All around me, icefalls were disintegrating. Central Gully on Stob Coire nam Beith was falling down as I watched. At the base of Collie's Pinnacle on the Bidean main cliff, the icicles were dripping and everything was very very damp. The start to Central Gully was very dodgy indeed.

The good news is that the snow is starting to consolidate well and avalanche risk has dropped, although clearly things are a bit soggy until you get up high.

I decided to head to the Gangway area again, for the maximum chance of getting high enough. Above 1000m things started to freeze again and the ice was in prime condition, with a fantastic toffee-like consistency. Turf was also frozen.

Three chimneys had caught my eye on our visit last week. The leftmost one looks relatively easy but needed more ice. I climbed most of the central one, which was in excellent mixed condition. It involved a nifty set of traversing/mantelshelf moves to overcome the lower crux, which was a set of heavily iced bulges. I liked the look of the upper crux rather less: a 3m high vertical wall right at the top of the gully, with poorer ice than the steps lower down. I made a tentative go at it but was not bold enough to climb it by myself in the conditions. My estimate for the grade of this gully is either III or possibly III,4 (although allowances should be made for its short length). Looks like the upper step in the narrows is tech. 4 in an exposed position, which is partially why I didn't commit to it as this is my maximum leading grade with a rope on!

The rightmost chimney is the shortest and easiest. Grade II ice climbing leads within about 15m to an icy bulge and corner, some 3m in height. An ungainly struggle ensued as I hung from my ice axes and tried to wedge my crampons in the corner, while simultaneously belly-flopping over the top of the ice bulge! Great fun, and a nice little move of tech. 4 in a non-serious situation, which is why I have graded this chimney II/III.

I finished up the regular line of the Gangway. The summit of Bidean nam Bian was a raging whiteout, with thick ice covering everything and very disorienting conditions. I navigated down the West Ridge mostly using my knowledge of the mountain (I know that ridge pretty well by now!) Care was required to avoid the gigantic cornices which are starting to overhang the North Face couloirs. Some of the cornices overhang by over four metres already.

As I reached the col between Bidean West Peak and Stob Coire nam Beith, I noticed the small gully cutting up the centre of the upper South East Face. This gully caught my eye last year, but it's in no guidebooks and is quite small--only about 60m in height. The ascent was a pure delight. Basic snow climbing up an ever-narrowing ice runnel between impressive buttresses of rock, leading to a short steeper step and a corniced exit. The gully was like a scaled-down version of the big Nevis gullies. I can't find out what it's called, but it must have been climbed before as it's easily accessed from the ridge. My name of preference would be Miniature Gully, Grade I/II.

I descended via Coire nam Bheithach, which is now a safer descent thanks to the snow having settled down. The upper snowfield was even complete enough to glissade, saving me much tedious work.

Some forecasts predict a cold snap towards the end of the week, which will bring the gullies into good condition rapidly, if it appears! Unfortunately we will need more snow before the lower buttress routes come back into condition.

Thaw

The forecast thaw is here--slightly more serious than I had expected, but ultimately good for conditions. The West Face of Aonach Dubh is looking completely stripped, and the snowline has gone up by about a hundred metres to about 800. There would probably have been mixed routes in condition on the Upper Tier yesterday; no chance of that now!

Weather is blustery and very mild, with a probable freezing level somewhere near the summit of Bidean, so I have decided to give mountaineering a miss for today. Even without the thaw, the galeforce winds overnight will have increased avalanche risk yet again.

Vast amounts of snow

Today dawned bright and frosty; sadly I have been stuck at work all day, but James conducted a traverse of Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamhach. He reports vast quantities of powder snow sticking to every mountain face and crag. Cornices are building, and rime is thick at many elevations. However, the weather is changing: a new airflow from the SW is going to bring warm air in tomorrow which will bring the freezing level up.

The air outside is already warmer than it was this morning. This slow thaw is exactly what we need to consolidate the snow in the long term, but of course in the short term it's not so good!

Getting out on the hill tomorrow (possibly to test my new Tricouni-nailed boots) so will write a full report when I get back. I am thinking about climbing the big ridge that comes down from Bidean West Peak, as it has no recorded ascents.

A great day in Coire nan Lochan

Today Jack and I headed up to Coire nan Lochan to see what was in condition. We were looking for avalanche-safe mixed routes, grade II to IV. Unfortunately Jack was not feeling at his best, due to a bout of cold and generally not being on good form; he decided to turn back when we reached the coire floor.

It was an unbelievably good day, with perfectly clear skies, deep frost, and no winds at all: the sort of day every winter mountaineer dreams about, and every now and again we are blessed. I observed an avalanche cone at the foot of Forked Gully, and decided that all the gullies would probably not be a good plan in these conditions. Therefore I headed up Dorsal Arete, an uncomplicated but excellent Grade II which is often in condition and a safe bet when avalanches threaten other routes.

Dorsal Arete was in surprisingly good nick. Climbers yesterday had exposed some of the lower layers of snow and turf, which meant that the track up the ridge was frozen solid in many places, with hard turf and lovely neve. In other spots it was very powdery. I climbed swiftly, and when I topped out I decided that the day was so good I wanted to do another route!

Firstly I descended some nondescript mixed ground towards the face that contains the route Pearly Gates. I found the first pitch of this steep snow route to be in excellent condition, with frozen turf and solid snow. However, upon reaching the crux step I found the turf (much thicker here) to be poorly frozen, and the snow powdery, so I climbed back down.

I then climbed the large easy buttress to the left of Boomerang Gully. This route is not named, but provides a pleasant, avalanche-safe ridge route at around Grade I/II. On the way up, I investigated a section of Boomerang Arete, and found the turf to be only superficially frozen where it poked through the snow.

I topped out--for the second time!--to be greeted by one of the most spectacular sunsets I have ever seen in Glen Coe.

Conditions-wise, avalanche risk is still high in the gullies, with two separate layers of windslab separated by softer snow. This entire mass is resting on thawing grains (insulated from the cold by the snow above). Clearly, such a snow structure is unstable; I dug several test pits, which all failed dramatically.

Where turf was exposed to the open air, it tended to be frozen hard, but where insulated by snow it was generally unfrozen. There are dribbles of ice everywhere but they don't amount to much yet, except lower down in the coire, where the streams are beginning to form decent amounts of ice. The top third of the crags was well-rimed. The major ridgelines used by walkers are now consolidating well, thanks to a mixture of traffic, sun during the day, and deep cold at night; for this reason crampons should be carried by winter walkers on the high mountains, at least until the weather changes!

A thaw and re-freeze seems to be on its way, so let's hope that helps with consolidation. At the moment, the skies remain clear and it is -3 Celsius at glen level.

Photos from today

Bidean nam Bian conditions

Today James and I visited the highest coire of Bidean nam Bian to investigate conditions. We discovered frozen turf from about 400m up, patches of hard neve from 600, but only from around 800m was the snow cover continuous. The quality of the snow decreased somewhat with height, as the higher snow has had less of a chance to consolidate.

There is a strong wind blowing from the North at the moment, which is depositing inches-thick windslab all over the place--even on Northerly slopes in some cases, as we discovered today. I would estimate the avalanche danger to be at around Category 4 at the moment. I must emphasise that until consolidation takes place, this buildup of windslab is going to present a significant danger to all mountain travellers. We witnessed the remains of a small avalanche in a cone at the foot of Central Gully, and avalanches are going to be more and more frequent on certain slopes until things settle down. I would estimate the head of Coire nam Beithach (the normal route up Bidean from the Clachaig) to be particularly dangerous just now.

To avoid the windslab, we stuck right to the foot of the cliffs on the way up to our route, where re-frozen meltwater had improved the snow drastically. We were also sheltered from any avalanches from above. However. the centre of the great couloir looked highly loaded and I would not have liked my chances in the middle of it today.

In general, we found the snow to be a totally mixed bag, with areas of hard neve, much windslab, and also regions of loose powder.

In terms of ice, the crags are looking white and ice is starting to build up everywhere. Turf is frozen solid where exposed to the Polar winds, but where buried it was found to be only partially frozen on this mountain. Nevertheless, I expect a lot of the harder mixed routes are in prime condition, and we saw a team heading towards Crypt Route or Flake Route.

Our 'Gangway' up the cliff (as our chosen route was called) was pleasant and short-lived, with spectacular views into the depths of Central Gully. As a Grade II we found it quite easy and I would recommend it as a suitable beginner's route. We topped out onto the summit of Bidean to bitingly cold winds, instantly freezing all moisture on our persons. My hair froze into a tangle of ice that rattled as I moved, and as usual ice formed on the insides of my sleeves (I was wearing my ancient windshirt, aka 'The Death Smock' today).

The descent down the North Ridge of Bidean was uneventful, although we did observe soft snow aretes and cornices starting to form.

All in all, a fantastic day on the hill, even if we did have to get up at silly-o'clock to squeeze the climb in before a shift behind the bar! Conditions are surprisingly good for the time of year, and with a bit of luck all this snow will provide a base to build on for the rest of the season.

Photos from today

This IS it

Unfortunately I am at work today, so unable to get out on the hill myself, but this morning my brother James made a quick visit to Coire nan Lochan. He reported hard-frozen snow at the coire floor, and large accumulations plastering all the cliffs. I do not know what condition the snow is currently in higher than the coire floor level. Yesterday it was reported to be wet mush on Dorsal Arete, but there has been a short sharp freeze overnight, which will at the very least have formed a hard crust.

The weather is forecast to get increasingly cold over the coming few days, with largely clear skies, so conditions can only improve in the short term. I am hoping to get out on the hill every day from tomorrow until Wednesday, if all goes to plan, so I should very shortly have plenty to report!

The photos above indicate the sheer amount of snow that has fallen over the last week. It goes without saying that the gullies will be very dangerous until some serious consolidation has taken place.

Photos (C) James Roddie 2009