Aonach Mor

Today I headed up the gondola to Aonach Mor. Again the weather was fantastic, blue skies, little wind, no need for any waterproof shell layers! There were many groups out climbing (not sure which routes though, a new crag for me - bit busy for my liking), we abseiled down Easy Gully and traversed the very hard snow slopes across to the Ribbed Walls. We were unsure of what we climbed, something between Temperance Union Blues and White Shark (we think). The route was about grade 3 and we completed it in 3 pitches, with Matt taking the first and last and me sending the second. Gillian was more than happy to second up the route. Plenty to go for at the moment.

South Gully, Ben Nevis

Today was perfect! The weather was amazing, not once did I get cold and never too hot. I met Barbara this morning, knowing she had never winter climbed, or even worn crampons outside, we walked up to The Ben. With many parities scattered around Creag Coire na Ciste we headed up towards number 3 gully and then decided to climb South Gully (III). I had never climbed this route, the ice was very good and firm all the way to the top, some of the pitches are quite run out but the belays are good once you find them. Saw outer parties on Thompson's route, Green Gully, Number 3 Gully, Good Friday climb, Central Gully Right-hand, Comb Gully, Glover's Chimney. After we topped out we walked up to the summit (thanks to the guys for the tea, flapjack, chocolate bars and mint cake!) After the summit we walked down to Number 4 gully, down climbed this, looking at crampon work with Big Al and headed back to the MacDonald's Hotel for dinner. Great day out!

Beinn Udlaidh

As we have had some good cold weather over the past few days, Lorenzo and I decided not to go hill walking but to head up into the East Sector of Coire Daimh on Beinn Udlaidh. Conditions were looking good as the track up to the coire was like an ice rink, the ground was totally frozen and there was loads of ice on the ground. As we got to the crag, there was ice leaking out of almost every possible point. We only had a couple of hours, so we left the rack and ropes at home and moved lightweight and fast. I climbed Land of Make Believe (II), then Quartzvein Scoop (IV,4) and finished on Sunshine Gully (III). So 3 routes in 2 hours was great fun. Lorenzo climbed Quartzvine Scoop and Sunshine Gully. We met Kenny, John and AN Other climbing Sunshine Gully and Ice Crew, climbers on Peter Pan Direct and Cut-throat. Gary and Tom from Nevis Sport were also enjoying the good conditions on Quartzvein Scoop and South Gully of the Black Wall. Its a great venue for a couple of hours.

Friday 5th December

Last night I drove out to the Cairngorm's for a days climbing today, however this morning Will and I were unable to get the car up the road to the ski station due to the snow that had fallen over night and into the morning. We returned at 8.30 and the snow gate was now closed with a tail of cars trying to get up. We turned around, picked up Rosie and went for a walk around Loch Morlich then headed into Aviemore for a hot chocolate. Not climbing but a nice walk with good company. Oh and mind the police officers with the speed cameras in Roy Bridge!! Ruined the day a wee bit!

Thursday 4th December

Today Kenny, Mike and I took turns wading up into Stob Coire nan Lochan. The approach was somewhat slowed down with the vast amounts of snow that had fallen over the last few days. However this resulted into an empty crag, obviously no-one else fancied wading up the hill to get a route in. The crag was in good condition, good frozen turf, lots of snow on the ledges, although not rimed up there was good snow cover throughout. We climbed Tilt, which gets VI,7 and is very sustained. Kenny led up the first 40m pitch which had some very good moves throughout, Mike linked the 2nd and 3rd and Kenny finished the last 2 pitches together to get us to the top. There was good interest on every pitch and lots of involving climbing all the way to the top. We descended down Broad Gully and waded back to the car. A great day out.