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Ski Descent of Mount Hood

Monday, June 24th, 2013

Timberline lodge

Portland, Oregon was the location for this year's CVPR conference which I was lucky enough to attend for work. Arriving on Friday afternoon and having Saturday free, I decided to go on a bit of an adventure. The most obvious objective from Portland is Mount Hood, the highest mountain in Oregon at 3,429 metres and one of the most climbed glaciated peaks in the world. It is usually climbed from the Timberline Lodge ski area. Timberline Lodge was used for the exterior shots of the Overlook Hotel in The Shining and is certainly an atmospheric place.

With no partner, the only option was to book a guide. Unfortunately, the guides for Mount Hood get booked up far in advance, especially on a Saturday. So looking for other options, I found an introduction to ski mountaineering course, also run on Mount Hood. The guy I spoke to said a descent from the summit of Mount Hood would only be possible with some experience of steep backcountry descents. When I met my guide John Mackinnon (ancestors from Skye – good stock for a mountain guide!) he was up for heading to the summit on the basis we could down climb if I didn't like the look of the descent.

Sulphur steaming out of the ground

After a leisurely start, we were at the top of the chairlifts for 9am. The first few hundred metres of ascent gave an opportunity to practice steep skinning technique (difficult where icy!) before we switched to crampons. Flat foot technique in ski boots is tricky but front pointing is brilliant as the boots are so rigid. Mount Hood is volcanic so once at the crater rim, sulphur spews from the ground giving a pretty grim smell. Combined with the altitude, the effect makes you pretty lightheaded!

The narrows on the final slopes to the summit

From the crater, the slopes to the summit are about 45 degree snow with a short icy gully to finish (lots of other steeper options are available to the right). The views from the summit were incredible with a perfect inversion and lots of the other cascades visible including Mount Jefferson, Mount Rainier and Three Sisters. We took 3 hours from the top of the chair lift to the summit but that was in perfect weather and on skis. It felt about the same as a typical munro in winter but with the added effect of altitude and as the whole peak is glaciated, potentially crevasses. The climb is no more than Scottish grade I.

Mount Hood summit

Now just the small matter of skiing back down! We put skis on and sideslipped the narrows at the top (I'm sure gnarlier skiers would have straight-lined it!) As soon as the first turn was out of the way, the perfect corn snow made for brilliant skiing.

About to make the first turn on the descent

John recommended an even steeper section (around 50 degrees) leading to the zig zag glacier. After lots more side slipping and some attempts at jump turns, we emerged onto the zig zag glacier to find acres and acres of untracked perfect snow. Miles of hero turns followed with the snow holding out all the way back to the car park.

The steepest part of the descent

What a brilliant way to spend midsummers day!

We skied from the summit to the point I took this photo!

Posted in Mountaineering, Ski-ing | No Comments »

A "Great End" to the winter season

Tuesday, March 26th, 2013

As the weather warmed up and the snow retreated I was preparing to hang up my axes until next year. The ever unpredicatble climate had other ideas however, and with another cold snap arriving the usual emails began to circulate with talk of a Wenesday bunk off for a raid on the lake district.

I met up with Rob, Paul and Peri at Scotch corner for a quick car swap (and bacon and egg bap in Peri's case) before heading off over the A66. Paul's tongue-in-cheek attemps to get a rise out of the UKC'ers didn't yield any good venue suggestions so we were forced to settle for Great End, the obvious choice as it's high, the right aspect and, being mid-week, shouldn't be as busy as it can be. Upon arriving at the crag (inexplicably late) we found half a dozen pairs on Central Gully so Peri and Rob headed for South-East Gully whilst Paul and I opted for Window Gully.Ice Pillar, pitch 2, South East Gully.

Jamie on pitch one of Window Gully.

The first ice we found was a little thin so we skirted round it on easy snow to gain the gully proper. We roped up and, as Paul had climbed the route a couple of months ago, I took the lead. A few metres of snow led to steeper ice so I popped a sling around a substantial looking ice pillar and set off with confidence. A couple of steps up and said ice pillar collapsed under my right boot. Slightly perturbed by this, and with no other gear in sight (I didn't much fancy placing my first ice screw in this rather unstable spot), I eased up a little higher to find a get out of jail free card: a two-inch crack poking out from under the blanket of ice. A quick fumble with a wire, and a couple of whacks with my hammer for good measure, saw my heart rate descending back from humming bird frequencies. With the help of an ice screw or two, the rest of the pitch went easily enough, save for a bulldog which, despite my hammering, decided it didn't much like the crack it was in and hurled itself back down the route.

After retreving the errant bulldog, Paul followed me up the pitch and lead through the next on a mixture of easy snow, rock and ice. Paul had borrowed a pair of Rob's mono-point crampons (who, wanting to keep his average up, had brought two pairs with him) which he described as "not so stable on snow, but great on mixed stuff", concluding "mono-points would be better if only you had two of them!"

Jamie starting out on the direct finish to Window Gully, with the Upper Icefall variant visible on right hand side.

Direct finish to Window Gully. Icefall variant visible on right hand side.

I joined Paul at the stance where we were faced with a choice: carry on up the direct finish, or take the Upper Icefall variant on the right hand side.

Rob on the ice pillar, pitch 2, South East Gully.

In the pressent conditions they looked of similar difficultly so we opted for the direct finish, in part because Paul had done the variant previously, but mostly because we would need to move the belay to the other side of the gully, which seemed like far too much faff for that time of day. The pitch went without too much trouble on mostly sound ice and we soon found ourselves on the top.

We got back to the base of the crag to find Rob and Peri sorting their gear, their concensus being that their route had been "interesting". All round a great end to the winter season…

… or is it…

Rob topping out on South East Gully.

Posted in Climbing, Mountaineering, Winter | No Comments »

Nant Peris Burns

Sunday, February 10th, 2013

A very popular meet to the excellent London MC hut just above the pub in Nant Peris saw a collection of new and old members venturing out onto the hills in interesting conditions. Mike M managed to squeeze a trip into his parental duties (congrats), Bob and Liz first hut meet and Chris and John (2nd meet- less beer more breakfast!) Gill were joined by some regulars. Should have been even more old timers there, but Annie, Donal and Richard R didn't like the idea of camping on the M62 overnight in the nasty weather (lightweights).

Paul and I had crammed into Jamies GTI convertible with suspect handbrake and petrol consumption of a jumbo jet (the ideal winter climbing car!) on Thursday night and scampered over to grab an extra day. Imagine our surprise when approaching Ogwen car park (it's free during the rebuilding) we heard Prof Karl Claxton in best plummy Radio 4 voice debating with some Frenchie (not our Leni and he didn't say knackerrrrrred once) on the Today programme. Abusive text duly sent, we headed up into Cwm Idwal to look at the stream (II/III). We were first there and chose to follow up the stream bed from where it crosses the path, not too well frozen to start, quite fun but slow. After about 200m (guess) it opens into an amphitheater and you follow a sequence of lovely ice falls on the right (some 15m high) up to a gully/ridge which leads onto the plateau. Jamie's first time on ice(?), new tools in his and Paul's hands it was a learning expereince and fun at that. We soloed most of it, I dropped a rope at one point.

Weather was mixed but we were getting wet as we headed down through the Devil's Kitchen whr ethe ice was spectacular with everything formed including the Devil's Appendix (wishing I was fitter as it's a dream route of mine and rarely in such good nick). We passed some people top roping The Curtain (IV,4)and chatted to a lad having a great time on The Screen (IV, 4). Paul and I decided to romp up this whilst many teams were on The Ramp (II/III), all of these start very close to the path. Jamie took loads of pix then retreated to the warmth of the car. The ice was soft and a bit wet amd easy to climb but not so good screws. I quickly ran out all 50m of rope (60m is MUCH BETTER!) and brought Paul up. We were soon back in the fug of the GTi and heading back to find Mike parked up and Bob & Liz out on the hill / tea shop.

Eventually most people turned up (no Pete B or aforementioned Yorkies). Sat was the laziest start I have ever known on a YAC meet with Pete B arriving at the hut whilst we were still getting up/breakfast! Bob, Liz and Mike headed for Moel Siabod, Jamie and Paul for Tryfan North Ridge and the rest of us for the Glyders (some complex car sharing was arranged).

The weather deteriorated during the day and team M.S. never quite summited, J&P summited but decided against Bristly Ridge and us walkers battled on but ultimately called short the day. We had some adventures at the Cantilever and navigating in poor conditions. John & Chris managed to blood their new shiny crampons while one of Dave D's 'poons decided to make a break for it and head for the scrap heap half way across the plateau — but we managed to recapture it. A good long snow slope meant axes out and we descended back to the valley before dark. The drying room was hard pressed that night but came up trumps.

A monster meal staring with a great soup from Jamie, haggis supper and enough apple pie and custard to keep Simon C quiete for ages (had he been there not running around overnight in the lakes (see his blog)) we also seem to have drunk quite a lot and laugh far too much for Liz on a full stomach!

Sunday was raining and most people headed home, a few did a walk around the quarries, 4 of us cleaned the hut and we all set off early.

Great trip, great hut, great place, great company – let's do it again !

Posted in Mountaineering, Weekend Meets, Winter | 1 Comment »

Crianlarich Christmas Meet

Tuesday, January 8th, 2013

27-31 December 2012, Ochils Mountaineering Club Hut, Crianlarich.

Members present: N Naylor, R Stone, P Stracchino, A Kitchener, S Perry, S Caldwell, C Elphick, A Gostling, P Evans.

The club enjoyed good weather during the previous three visits to this hut and unfortunately this good run came to an end in what was a wet and windy week.

Thursday

Rob and I set off from York very early and met up with Peri around midday at the Loch Lomond Visitor Centre. Our objective was to climb Ben Vane and we set off in reasonable weather with the summit in full view as we walked west up the Glen.

As we approached the summit it started to snow a little and the wind also increased making walking conditions quite difficult. On reaching the summit we decided to return by a different route and Rob, using his Winter ML training skills, led us safely off the mountain.

Friday
Very little activity on this day due to the cold and very wet weather. Anne , Peter, Carmen, Alan and Simeon ventured out for low level walks and returned very wet, the rest of us enjoyed the warmth and comfort of the recently built kitchen extension.

Saturday
Weather wise this was one of the best days of the meet and all of us with the exception of Anne and Peter headed of to the Ben Lawers range to climb Meall Corranaich and Meall a’ Choire Leith. Both summits were below cloud level and freezing level making it an enjoyable walk across the ridges between the summits, the strong winds however made it feel very cold. On one of the gentle snow covered slopes we had the added enjoyment of doing some glissading.

Peter and Annie did a MB circuit of the Ardgartan Peninsular. The route takes an anti clockwise circuit of the peninsular following forest tracks to a Coire Lochan, NNW on superb singletrack down into Lochgoilhead. From Lochgoilhead it was road, the B839, for a short distance then 5km plus of uphill in Gleann Mor then a similar distance down Glen Croe back to the car. 24 mile route.

Sunday
It was raining again in the morning and Rob, Alan, Simeon and me decided to have a short day climbing Meall Ghaordaidh. The rain turned to snow on reaching higher ground and the strength of the wind also increased. We battled our way through the head-on snow and wind to within 150m of the summit where the strength of the wind made it very difficult to progress further. At this point we decided the only option was to turn around and head back to the car and leave the summit for another day.
Peter and Annie did a MB tour of Glen Finglass, near Callandar. The route starts from the village of Brig o Turk. From the village hall take the road up to the reservoir, where the road forks it is important to go right and steeply uphill. The ride follows the east shore of the reservoir until part way along they turned right to follow Allt Gleann Meann on a track which circuits a hill call Moine nan Each. When they reached the snowline it became impossible to cycle, the snow was 6 inches deep in places. As they began a high level traverse a snow storm turned into a blizzard and Annie was drawn to ask Peter several times whether they were being sensible, Peters response, through frozen extremities, was to continue on only allowing Annie a brief moment to have a sandwich. Once at the top and a view, after some initial sliding downhill through snow they were rewarded with an excellent long downhill bumpy track. Once at the bottom of the down it was possible to fight the hot aches and warm up a bit before retracing our steps back to Brig o Turk. 15 mile route.
Simon and Carmen – Strong winds led to the cancellation of their Munro plans and instead they headed for Lochearnhead, intending to climb either or both of the two Corbetts Creag Mac Ranaich and Meall an t-Seallaidh. After a couple of abortive attempts to leave the village (the start of the route is off the edge of the map), we battled up Glen Kendrum through deep snow and strengthening winds, before admitting defeat when we reached the pass (600m). It was hard to stay upright, and cliffs downwind would have made it too dangerous to continue.

Monday (New Year’s Eve)
We awoke to torrential rain again. Alan and Simeon returned home on this day, and Rob and I decided to do so as well.
Peter and Annie did a scenic drive via the spectacular Falls of Dochart and the southern shore of Loch Tay to Aberfeldy. Whilst in the Bookshop in Aberfeldy, Annie found a leaflet about the Birks of Aberfeldy (Waterfalls) so in improving weather they went on a walk to look at them and given the recent rainfall they were spectacular.

Simon and Carmen remained at the hut and the forecast rain overnight took longer than predicted to subside. Trying to stay optimistic they headed for Ben Lawers anyway, and after sitting in the car for 15 minutes watching the rain, it eventually stopped and they set off at 11.15. The stream crossing on the nature trail was a raging torrent (the dam just upstream was overflowing) so they had a lengthy detour up the glen before they could cross. But their optimism paid off for once, and apart from a brief snow shower at the col, it stayed dry all day and they got to the summits of Bheinn Ghlas (twice) and Ben Lawers. Strong winds made going difficult between the two, but nowhere near as bad as the day before. On the return leg between Ben Lawers and Bhein Ghlas, the clouds lifted slightly, and they were treated to an hour of sunshine, the only sight of the sun during the whole trip.

That evening, the three Scots who were also staying helped make up for Simon Fox's absence, by going to bed before 10pm. The rest stayed the course by eating, drinking, and playing cards. Carmen proved to be pathologically incapable of cheating, even when playing Cheat, and Annie did some strange things with fruit.

Posted in Extended trips, Mountaineering, Walking, Winter | 1 Comment »

Cold enough for Great End!

Monday, December 17th, 2012

As conditions in the Lakes sounded awesome Rob and I headed out for a spot of winter climbing. We set our alarm clocks early and motored off to Seathwaite and a 'quick' amble up to Great End.

Arriving at the base of the crag around midday, we found a couple of other groups were on our plan A route – Central Gully (Grade II/III) – but decided to give it a go anyway. Even from the base the route looked to be in good condition so off we went soloing up to the amphitheatre. The ice on Left Hand route looked awesome, unfortunately the queue didn't! However, we joined the groups waiting to ascend and killed a little time having food, cups of tea, and chatting with the other groups (all of who seemed to have woken up at 4:00 am and trekked across from Northumberland – talk about hard core), while the ice cleared. When our turn came Rob lead the pitch in excellent style , I followed and the ice seemed solid. A quick ascent to a seat belay, followed by a further easy pitch, saw us to the summit of Great End.

The views from the top was fantastic and allowed us to see, just about, all of the major fells in Lakeland. A chilly wind and time ticking away necessitated a quick scamper down Cust's Gully (Grade I), an awkward chockstone in the middle of the down climb was negotiated by wriggling underneath on our bellies, thankfully Rob was waiting at the other side to capture the ignominious climbing manoeuvre.

Finally, we descend back to Seathwaite ending my first day of winter climbing on a graded route.

Posted in Climbing, Mountaineering, Winter | 1 Comment »

Snow and Sun in the Lakes

Tuesday, December 4th, 2012

After 2 w/e on the trot in Wales I decide closer to home was in order; so Jules and I headed for the Lakes with for a bit of walking and scrambling.

We booked a B&B at Herdwick Inn between Keswick and Penrith (good food and v.reasonable) for Sat night and parked up at Scales about 10.30, with the hills looking wonderful on the trip over. Heading for J's fav hill (Blencathra) and in a ticking mood (Wainwrights, though I don't have any of the books, nor have I read any!) we took in Souther Fell, the frozen bogs made walking a lot easier than usual – not surprisng given the biting wind. We spied a ridge and path on Bannerdale crags so descended, crossed the stream and went up via an easy route (grade 0.5 /1 depending on choice). This gave me an excuse to practice my short roping skills. Really rather nice quite way up that hill. We next headed to the middle of nowhere with an excellent view (Mungrisdale Common another WW tick) before heading up Blecncathra.

Arriving on top of Foule crag we put our crampons on and got axes out. At 3.30 we had less than an hour before dark, so we eschewed the summit and headed down Sharp Edge in wonderful snowy conditions. Jules isn't super confident on snow and ice but was very keen. I had the rope still coiled around my shoulders in case we needed it but careful footwork and taking our time meant we enjoyed a deserted mountain classic without much stress. At the end of the ridge we shed our cramps and headed down to the tarn where the paths proved much more dangerous. Keeping to the grass we avoided falling over (mostly) and were back at the car for 5 (about 20 mins after proper dark!)

We ate and drank far too much, followed by more eating in the morning, and deciced (eventually) on a sunny scramble on Nab crags at the south end of Thirlmere. Balking at the 7 quid parking we drove to Dunmail Raise and walked back the mile or so.

Again I short roped J up the Grade 2 route, which was toasty in the sun but chilly if we stopped too long. On top we had great views of the Helvellyn range, Skiddaw and our route of yesterday and some lovely quiet valleys closer to us. Descending the same route, practising down roping with some lowers/abseils and interesting sections. We de-cluttered had a coffee and wandered back across the valley.

Back at the car for 3.30 meant we could squeeze a little retail therapy in Keswick before the drive back in the dark, though neither of us wanted to leave the lakes when dressed up in her winter best.

Posted in Mountaineering, Scrambling, Walking, Winter | No Comments »

Some classics in the sun

Monday, July 25th, 2011

The unexpected arrival of a good weekend's weather forecast meant some last-minute changes of plans, so Carmen and I drove over to the Lakes on Saturday morning with the aim of getting to Great Gable the next day. Having pitched the tent we popped up to Honister for some afternoon climbing on Buckstone How, expecting to have to queue for a bit as the crag is a quick-drying suntrap with a 10 minute approach and several starred routes mainly from HS to HVS. But the place was deserted so we had our pick, and opted for Honister Wall (HS 4b **).

A minor classic on natural slate, with excellent climbing on each of the pitches (6 in the guidebook, we combined some and did it in 4). In the early days there was lots of loose rock around, but this has all gone in the intervening decades and so long as you stay on route it's as solid as any other mountain crag. We followed this with Groove One (VDiff) as it got a star in the old guide. We later found that this star has disappeared in the latest update, and with good reason! The second pitch is a fine groove, but to get there you have to wander up nasty unprotected vegetated ledges. Not recommended.

The next day we started early to avoid the expected crowds, and got to Tophet Wall (HS 4b ***) just before 10, to find we were the first team there. I led a long first pitch (guidebook pitches 1+2), and Carmen followed suit with a long 2nd pitch (guidebook pitches 3+4). Another pair arrived as we were part way up, but otherwise nobody else did the route all day. Weird. A truly great route, rightly considered one of the best in the country.

Next we wandered over to the Napes to see if anyone was climbing the Needle. They weren't, so we did. It's either got harder since I last did it about 12 years ago, or I've got worse, probably both! But we managed it, Carmen led Wasdale Crack to the shoulder, then I did the last short pitch to the summit. HS 4b *** but much of its quality comes from the history and the situation rather than the climbing per se. Again, we were followed by the pair from Tophet Wall, but nobody else on the route for the rest of the day. A handful of other teams doing other routes – Needle Ridge, Eagles Nest Direct, The Cayman – but overall very quiet for such a classic area on one of the only sunny weekends of the summer so far.

Still plenty of time left, we decided to finish with Needle Ridge (VDiff ***). We did this in 3 pitches, I began with the variation arete start to avoid the polish on the normal, excellent grippy rock but not much protection. Carmen took the long interesting central section, then I finished up the final groove, taking another variation on the right up excellent twin jamming cracks. A scramble along the rest of the ridge finished off yet another excellent route, much better than I was expecting after paying too much attention to exaggerated reports of polish. We'd carried our kit up the route so finished by walking over the summit of Great Gable, then via Green Gable back to Seathwaite.

A brilliant impromptu weekend!

More photos here.

Tags: Classic Rock, napes, sun
Posted in Climbing, Mountaineering, Weekend Meets | No Comments »

We're all Royalists now

Wednesday, May 11th, 2011

Just a week after Easter, and time for another 4-day weekend courtesy of the Windsors (God bless 'em). By popular request we were having a Spring meet in Wales – we usually go in the Autumn or winter when it's either raining or snowing, and there were lots of classic climbs and scrambles waiting for dry rock. The venue was the North London MC hut at Capel Curig – we've not been there before, but will definitely go again, an excellent little hut with good facilities, just lacking a drying room (but it never rains in North Wales so that's not a problem).

A few people arrived a day early, Simon & Debra making the most of the sunshine to do the Snowdon Horseshoe before the crowds arrived, Rob and Pete B making the least of the sunshine and spending a cold day ticking Classic Rock in the shade on Glyder Fach and Milestone Buttress.

On Friday, we found that nobody had remembered to pack any flags and bunting, so we were forced to head for the hills instead. Simon & Debra went for a walk up Cnicht; Angela walked up a few of the Carneddau; Rich and special guest star Jack began their long hard tick list with the two Suicide Wall routes at Idwal. Meanwhile the rest of us joined Rob in his Classic Rock tickathon and headed for Great Gully on Craig yr Ysfa.

This is the sort of route that makes for good pub stories and is generally enjoyed in hindsight if at all – 700 feet of vegetated gully, with a few chimney pitches, the sort of thing they used to do in the olde dayes when men had beards and women climbed in skirts. These routes are always graded VDiff.

Disappointingly, due to several weeks of dry weather, the moss and slime were notable mainly by their absence and we actually found ourselves liking some of it at the time. I wangled it so Dave D got to lead the infamous 'converging walls' chimney pitch (all classic gullies have one of those). He quickly saw sense and ran away, leaving Rob to save the day and huff and puff his way to the top. We all followed with varying degrees of grunt, as each person topped out they intoned the ritual phrase "VDiff my arse". The consensus seemed to be about VS but the original grade from 1910 is perhaps more suitable – "exceedingly difficult". After this the rest was relatively easy; even the Great Cave Pitch (all classic gullies have one of these as well) proved benign, despite my efforts to make it look desperate.

Rob now disappeared to a BMC Clubs Weekend leaving the rest of us free to do things that aren't in Classic Rock. Angela, Dave and Pete scrambled up Tryfan, Bristly Ridge, the Glyders, and Y Garn. Simon and Debra headed for Tryfan Bach to climb some Moderates, but due to regrading accidentally did three Diffs instead. Rich and Jack did a grand tour of the Dinorwig slate quarries where they climbed themselves into the ground notching up an impressive number of onsight E points each. Andrew and Karen walked up Cnicht.

Carmen and I chose the neglected West Face of Tryfan to avoid the easterly gales that were a feature of the weekend. We started with Columbyne (VDiff*), the crux of which was the wet scramble required to get to the start. The climb itself was a really good 5-pitch mountaineering route which managed to miss most of the heather, probably worth 2 stars. We'd planned to move on to a starred Severe next but the wind was somehow penetrating the mountain so opted for Flat Iron Ridge (Diff) instead. Owing to the omission of the phrase "traverse 30 feet leftwards" from the guidebook, we ended up doing a new route which after much thought I've christened "Flat Iron Ridge Direct". It's about Severe (so we might as well have done the good route instead) and was undoubtedly climbed 100 years ago by men in nailed boots. Finally we moved together up Notch Arete (Mod *), a fine rediscovery which must surely deserve at least 2 stars (it was highly praised in early guidebooks and then ignored for decades, presumably as it was deemed too easy to be any good). Although not as steep or continuous as the popular East face, Tryfan's west side is well worth a visit – and is guaranteed no queues.

Sunday. Sunny again, so no excuses for a rest. This time it was Simon & Debra's turn for Tryfan North Ridge/Bristly Ridge, while Andrew and Karen walked up Moel Siabod. Pete and Dave headed for Idwal where they did Charity, Lazarus Gully, Groove Above, Hope, and Lazarus. Rich and Jack went home via Gogarth for some more hard classics. And Carmen and I went for a look at Carreg Alltrem and the VS classics of Lightning Visit and Lavaredo. I was feeling a bit rubbish so bagged the easy pitches, which I made look hard. Carmen did the hard pitch of Lightning Visit, which she made look easy. We combined to wimp out of the hard 2nd pitch of Lavaredo, running away up the Severe slab of original Route instead. We'll be back to do it properly some day! Since it wasn't yet dark, we drove to Ogwen where we finished the day with Milestone Buttress Direct, which was polished to a sheen when I last did it in the 1990s, and is now even shinier. Still a classic though.

Next day Rob had finished with his course so he dragged Pete off to do some more Classic Rock ticking on the east face of Tryfan, where they tried but narrowly failed to be blown off the mountain by the gale force winds while climbing a couple of the classic ridge routes. Dave, Carmen and I went to Idwal, where we took advantage of the dry conditions to do Subwall Climb (HS 4b) which is normally dripping wet. I led the second (crux) pitch, which mostly involved standing around for hours reading the guidebook trying to work out where the route went while not thinking too much about my only runner, 10m below. A good MVS 4a. We finished up Faith West Finish which apparently is rarely climbed, though this hasn't always been the case judging by the polish.

It was now 3pm and we were due to meet the others at the hut at 5, so we decided that they'd be late anyway so there was time for another 5 pitch route. Faith (VDiff **) gave Dave the full set after his ascents of Hope and Charity the day before. An excellent route, nowhere hard but everywhere bold, surely worth 3 stars – and made even better by having the whole of Idwal Slabs to ourselves, everyone else having run off to sit in traffic jams.

A fantastic long weekend courtesy of the Royal Family. Next year the free holiday is due to the Diamond Jubilee. Is it too much to hope that Harry gets hitched in 2013? If you're reading this, Your Highness, sometime towards the end of May would be ideal…

More photos here.
Debra's photos here.

Tags: beards, bunting, Classic Rock, flags, sun
Posted in Climbing, Mountaineering, Scrambling, Walking, Weekend Meets | 2 Comments »

Manse Barn, Onich

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

The Manse Barn is a small hut, a bit cramped but next door to the Onich hotel which provided a second living room, otherwise known as a bar.

Jamie Brown, Simon Caldwell, Roy Crouch, Paul Davies, Carmen Elphick, Fliss Emery, Ann Gostling, Michael Marven, Tom Shepherd, Will Smith, Rob Stone, Peri Stracchino all made the trip north.

Friday
Will and Rob got up at 6am and were walking in by 7.15 heading for North Butress (IV, 4) on Buachaille Etive Mor – a classic winter line following a grade 3 scramble. They were still walking in by 9.30 having wandered around the hillside looking for the start! (for reference the Great Gully is a square cut gully with large red slabs where the path crosses it, previous gullies don’t reach the path or are scree slopes!) 4 great pitches of not-too-hard climbing with good gear and 5 abs back down felt like a proper mountaineering day out.

Roy, Tom, Fliss, Annie, Jamie, Michael, Peri and Paul headed up the Lost Valley with the aim of finding some decent slopes to play on. On the way up Fliss slipped crossing a stream and cracked her rib on a rock. She carried on up, but after a while decided it would be better to head down, accompanied by Annie and Michael. As the others headed higher, the snow got deeper and steeper, and more avalanche-prone. The weather was not promising, so after reaching about 900 m, they too turned round and headed down. Much snowball rolling took place on the descent with small balls growing cartoon-style as they rolled down the slope. This was followed by a long bum slide in soft snow.

Simon and Carmen did Golden Oldie (grade II) on Aonach Mor, taking 90 minutes or so to find the start. Climbed it in 10 pitches, whiteout on the summit, and the gondola had stopped running due to the wind/lack of visibility so they had an extra hour's walk down through the forest to end the day. Great fun!

Saturday
I blame modern technology for the short day on Saturday. Those with fancy internet enabled phones were able to download an updated weather forecast on Friday evening. This said that gale force winds and heavy snow were on the way. With this in mind we didn’t set the alarms and got up late. Looking out of the window, it appeared to have snowed a bit overnight, and the cloud was at about 700 metres. It didn’t appear too bad, but nobody wanted to venture too far or too high in case the predicted onslaught was late and caught us out. In the event, the weather was no worse than either of the other days, and we could have done more.

Will, Roy, Rob and Mike walked up to the Steall falls and jungle bashed up the side, while Fliss and Tom walked along the valley below. They then joined forces, via a wee river wade, for tea and cake in Fort William.

Peri, Paul and Jamie went over on the Corran Ferry, intending to do a scramble further down the coast, but while they were on the ferry they noticed what seemed like a really interesting horseshoe ridge opposite. They decided to do a recce on that instead, walking steeply up beside a waterfall to a hanging valley and then into the corrie and then up the ridge. They got as far as the snowline when clag and a minor snowstorm hit, so believing this to be the start of the forecast stormy weather they turned back. This turned out to be complete bollocks(TM), and by the time they arrived back at the bottom of the hill the day was dry again, which was rather annoying, but decision made they then headed to Fort Bill where they bumped into the others and Shopped for Victory.

Simon and Carmen ventured into the Lost Valley, where the valley floor was now carpeted in snow. But decided against going higher due to the approaching storm etc etc, you get the idea by now!

Sunday
Since Roy had been obviously disappointed at missing his Munros on Friday, Peri, Jamie and Paul decided to join him in his quest for Buchaille Etive Beag before heading back home. Conditions on the hill were excellent, deep snow, in perfect condition for walking, and just enough wind and whiteout up on the summit to make it feel a bit wild and exhilarating. They made it in excellent time, up and down by 2.30 pm even with time for pie and ribena breaks.

Carmen, Simon and Annie walked up Ben Vane (by Loch Lomond). A lot more snow than further north, so going was slow and Annie had an epic. They reached what was probably the summit but it was hard to be certain as visibility was well below 20m!

Will and Rob were up at 6am again and in a repeat of Friday were walking in at 7.15, this time to Stob Ban, east ridge of the north butress, about II/III ** depending on line. Another longer-than-expected walk in of about 2 hours and it was cold and windy at the gearing-up point. They choose to avoid most of the difficulties to make a mountaineering day of it soloing, Ueli Steck style in an hour, past another team pitching some harder options. A really, really good fun route and one to go back to and make life awkward. White out on top had them on a bearing and slopes aspects to reach the summit before descent on the normal route. Will wishes he took his goggles as he suffered in the wind.

Fliss, Tom and Michael went on a short walk up Beinn Bheag (opposite Buchaille Etive Mor), and then headed home.

Tags: white out
Posted in Climbing, Mountaineering, Walking, Weekend Meets, Winter | 3 Comments »

Carpe Diem!

Tuesday, August 17th, 2010

The forecasts for last weekend's weather were getting worse by the day and it seemed like yet another weekend of dodging the showers was on the cards. But on Friday, the predictions changed suddenly, with the main area of rain moving south where it belongs. Carmen's enthusiasm overwhelmed my inertia, so on Saturday morning we drove to the Lakes. It rained for much of the journey, even as close as Dunmail Raise, but as we approached Langdale the clouds cleared and we were rewarded with blue sky and sunshine (remember that?).

The rest of the afternoon was spent at Raven Crag (Walthwaite), just 15 minutes walk from the campsite in Chapel Stile. I'd hoped to climb the classic offwidth VS of Walthwaite Crack, but found that it had fallen down 4 years ago, but there was plenty still standing and we climbed Enterprize (VS 4c **), Route 2 (HS 4b,4b ***), Walthwaite Gully (VS 4b 4c **) and Route 1 (S 4a **).

The next day dawned even brighter, with a cloudless sky, so we decided to make the most of it and start on the Picco Harrison Integrale – a long link-up suggested in the guidebook of VD/S routes on Lower Scout, Upper Scout, White Ghyll lower, White Ghyll upper, Pavey Ark, and finally Harrison Stickle.

Lower Scout – Cub's Groove (VD *) horribly polished.
Upper Scout – Route 2 (VD ** 4 pitches) very pleasant, not much gear.
White Ghyll lower – Slip Knot (VS 4b *** 2 pitches) harder than planned, but it was on the tick-list and there was nobody on it! A welcome escape from the heat of the sun.
White Ghyll upper – The Slabs Route 2 (S 4a ** 3 pitches) I ran all 3 pitches into 1 due to failing to find the belays described in the guidebook! Carmen then added on the last pitch of The Slabs Route 1 to make up for it.

Due to the earlier choice of a VS we were now running short of time, and Carmen's feet were suffering, so we decided on Rake End Chimney (Diff ***) on Pavey Ark – a very traditional route! and only 2 main pitches. This wasted a good half an hour as I started off and then retreated as it was (a) very wet, and (b) not the sort of route to climb with a rucksack on!

It was obvious now that we wouldn't have time for the route on Harrison Stickle without risking an epic, so we chose Cook's Tour (VD ** 5 pitches) to finish the day. A strange route, 50% walking, not sure of its classic status. Though our impartiality may have been impaired by having been eaten by midges for the last 3 pitches!

A glorious descent in the evening light finished a long 11 hour day.

The rain's due to return tomorrow…