marmotte.co.uk

Lairig Ghru

2010-02-07T20:42:00.004Z

I was out this afternoon with one of Ron's Talisman Adventurous Training groups. We headed out into the Lairig Ghru and around Castle Hill for navigation and skills practice in mild temperatures, light wind and visibility that was none too bad for a cloudy day.

Coire an t-Sneachda

2010-02-03T15:37:00.005Z

A short day out today so Alan and I went in to Coire an t-Sneachda to see all that we didn't see yesterday and we got lots of opportunities for photos and cramponing on the flat ice at the back of the coire.
There were climbers on Hidden Chimney, Central Gully, Spiral, Patey's Route and lots on Mirror Direct and more. It all looked stunning! Ron was out with Mark on Jacob's Edge and Hidden Chimney, more here.

My trusty laptop is still not playing so I'm slowly getting the hang of vista for uploading pictures...! Technology is obviously not my forte!

Goat Track Gully

2010-02-02T20:03:00.003Z

Alan and I followed Ron and Mark up Goat Track Gully today. We went up to the right of the buttress initially over the steep, icy step then back into the gully and up with the wind increasing as we climbed up. Great neve and ice and the rock was plastered with rime ice.
By the time we reached the plateau, we had snow showers and cloud giving white out conditions.
Thanks to Ron for digging out the belays!

More snow fun

2010-02-01T21:57:00.003Z

Alan and I went to some huge snow drifts to dig out some belays and visit the snowholes dug out the other day by Notts Uni MPS. There was a cold wind today though we did see some occasional glimpses of blue skies.
Photos to follow when I find out which pc they are on! My usual laptop for working on my blog has crashed...aargh!

Emergency shelters, a bit of ropework and some crevasses

2010-01-30T20:33:00.004Z

Today Fergus and I went out with the Notts Uni MPS group to a great spot for digging emergency snow shelters. We were very sheltered from the wind and even had blue skies in the afternoon. The snow was so good we all got a bit carried away with the digging and design so ended up creating the Munro Pineapple Society luxury snow shelter estate! After just a short time digging we had snow shelters accommodating two, three and four people.

After a very comfortable lunch in the snow shelters we went out to have a look at some basic ropework and then went off on a journey to explore the crevasses above where past cornices had collapsed and refrozen, even giving the opportunity for some natural emergency shelters though I would have to be convinced that the temperatures were going to remain cold before I spent the night out in them!

Ron and Jonathon headed towards Coire an-Sneachda with their groups and more from Ron here at the Talisman Blog

Winter skills, huskies, reindeer and mountain hares

2010-01-29T21:00:00.003Z

Fergus and I were out today with Nottingham University Munro Pineapple Society mountaineering club for Talisman Mountaineering Activities.

A heavy snow shower shut the ski road just as were were trying to head up so we walked up from Glenmore then they opened the road again! The weather was better than we expected with surprisingly light winds in Coire na Ciste and great snow for step kicking, cutting, ice axe braking and a walk back over towards the ski road on wind scoured slopes which were good for getting used to using crampons.

In addition to all this we had the huskies racing past at Glenmore, the reindeer herd came along to have a curious look at us whilst we were step cutting and a mountain hare bounded past us on our walk back to Coire na Ciste. We walked back along the closed link road which has huge drifts at least shoulder high and also some steep and well frozen snow slopes to play with!

More snow tomorrow!

La Grave

2010-01-24T17:11:00.009Z

There was a lot less snow in La Grave than Aviemore when we arrived but some mixed weather in the first week gave some more snowy days then our second week was good with more mild temperatures and some lovely, plastic ice.
We climbed most days and the first photo shows Caturgeas which was too busy on the first day we went there so we went back again but earlier to be at the front of the queue. As we abseiled down at around 1pm, there were at least twelve other climbers there and ice and spindrift avalanches were coming down with increasing regularity as the sun hit the upper slopes of this south facing route.
The next photos shows Saut de la Pucelle, the rather grand waterfall just below La Grave and Valseuses, a steep pillar of ice which I found just a bit too intimidating. Another time hopefully!
After that, Goulotte d'Astarothe, Goulotte de Muretouse and Cagade gave us two great days out as did Le Pylone on our last day when Ron decided to lead one huge 60 m pitch up the steep side! Another great day.
I had one day skiing at Les Deux Alpes with Ian and we just had to stop in the sun for the obligatory chocolate chaud.
Back in Aviemore and most of the snow has been shifted or has melted from the village though many gutters are now lying in gardens including mine! So I'm now looking forward to finding how things are out on Cairngorm.

La Grave

2010-01-07T20:47:00.002Z

Off to La Grave for some ice climbing and skiing not that there is not enough snow here! Maybe by the time we get back the eight foot long icicles might have dropped off my roof hopefully not taking the guttering with them!

2010-01-06T19:41:00.007Z

Heaps of snow again in Aviemore so we went in search of a place to look at snow anchors and some ice climbing. We walked in along the old A9 in deep snow and had to crawl under the trees that have succumbed to the weight of the snow. It was quite fun to see the Talisman Basecamp motorhome blanketed by snow with some interesting looking cornices hanging off the roof!

Our slope for looking at snow anchors had a lot of soft snow but showed how they could work well if created properly and also how easily, in very soft, fresh snow, they could fail!

After that we found some ice for a bit if mixed climbing - steep ice, rock and soft snow all made for an entertaining climb for everyone.

More from Ron here especially about how difficult it currently is to just to get back home!

Micro navigation and cross country skiing

2010-01-05T20:24:00.004Z

Today the forecast of heavy snow made us think again about our plans to climb so instead I went out to look at winter micro navigation this morning with Steve, Matt, Dan, Gareth and Chad. By lunch-time, it was snowing heavily and cars were having a bit of difficulty getting up the Glenmore Road and the snow gates at the bottom of the ski road had been closed. We hired cross country skis and picked out a route around Loch Morlich through the trees and across part of the loch itself.

Even the Loch Morlich ducks had a coating of snow!

This evening Aviemore is quite cut-off as the A9 is closed at Drumochter and Daviot so it's not possible to go north or south. The train has also been off due to the derailment at Carrbridge and then the bad weather.

Snow and ice

2010-01-04T19:55:00.003Z

I was helping out Ron today with the mountaineering course as we looked at techniques for moving safely up and down on steeper ground - all sorts of belays using ice, boulders, trees and the snow and different methods of abseiling.

Chad's picture of Dan shows the ice well and more photos from Ron here
Still more snow forecast and the icicles hanging from my roof are now six foot long and growing daily!

Trail breaking, snow shelters, snow and more snow!

2010-01-03T17:16:00.006Z

Today we set off again away from the ski area and the Northern Corries to find a good slope for ice axe braking and after a good bit of sliding about packing down the snow, we had our slope. After that we headed uphill through the trees along snowy trails with a big team effort at trail breaking to find somewhere we could dig snow shelters and look at the snow in more detail - interesting cornices, drifts and windslab.
The snow was rather too deep and soft for crampons but we put them on to experience just how important it is to clear off the packed in snow from the base of the boot to make sure the crampons fit properly and also how easy it is to lose things in the deep, soft snow. It was starting to snow again as we headed back to Aviemore.
I forgot to take my camera today - bother! One of Ron's pictures above and a couple from Chad.

Deep drifts and lots of queues

2010-01-02T19:43:00.002Z

The first day of the Talisman New Year winter mounatineering course and traffic queues on the ski road through Glenmore meant we turned back at Loch Morlich to find an alternative location a bit nearer to home. We waded and swam through deep drifts to reach our summit in a brief spell of sunshine. Chad, Matt, Stepehen, Gareth and I then returned to Aviemore to meet up with Dan who had been diverted to Edinburgh airport yesterday when Inverness was closed. After a chat about winter kit and a look at crampon fitting, we're all set for another day out tomorrow.

Happy New Year!

Aberfeldy and more snow

2009-12-30T23:37:00.004Z

I was down at Aberfeldy today working with Stuart Johnston climbmts.co.uk and the Edinburgh Tiso Winter Skills course. With so much snow about we had lots of discussion about snow whilst we practised useful skills for winter hillwalking.
Back to Aviemore to find that a quite abit of snow had fallen and it had drifted over the main roads as I drove back.

Coire an t-Sneachda

2009-12-28T22:04:00.010Z

We went into Coire an t-Sneachda today on a good but long trail which made the walking much easier than yesterday. The track goes down towards the stepping stones but don't cross over (unless you want to head towards the Fiacaill Ridge which is where the track looked liked it was heading) as the track then follows the stream up towards Coire an t-Sneachda. Step out of the trail and the snow is at least knee deep!

We were looking for a good place to look at emergency shelters, snow, some basic abseils off snow bollards and more snow! The moraine ridge was perfect.

Today we had views towards the climbs and could see some climbers heading up Aladdin's Couloir, Mirror Direct, Aladdin's Mirror perhaps towards Pygmy Ridge, Red Gully and Goat Track Gully.

The ski area was very busy today and we were lucky to get into the Coire na Ciste car park at nine thirty this morning. The skiing and snowboarding did look fantastic!

More about Talisman Activities and more from Ron here.

Ron is out with Richard, James, Nick and Steve tomorrow to find some steep ground to look at technical climbing skills. I'm off to Edinburgh for the day!

Coire Chais and a brief visit up to the plateau

2009-12-27T19:33:00.002Z

I waded thorugh the snowdrifts into Coire Chais with Ron's Talisman Activities Christmas Mountaineering group, James, Nick, Richard and Steve. We didn't see much except lots of snow as it was very low cloud so no visibility but a great opportunity to look at picking out safe routes in snowy terrain and lots of navigation too.

We did make it up the ridge to Point 1141, our high point for the day.

Central Crack Route, Coire an Lochain

2009-12-13T17:14:00.007Z

Yet another fantastic day on Cairngorm. I could get used to all this good weather and great climbing conditions!

Ron and I walked into Coire an Lochain to climb Central Crack Route. After the initial struggle up the tricky start and then a squashy kind of squeeze up the next little slot, we were onto good neve all the way to the top and no cornice.

Lots of folk were out enjoying the climbing and there were queues at the popular routes such as Milky Way and Ewen Buttress.

The Message

2009-12-11T19:10:00.007Z

Another fantastic day at Cairngorm!

Ron and I walked in through the ski area for a change of scenery and dropped down into Coire an t-Sneachda by way of the moraine ridge. Great snow for the crampons and nice, easy walking.

We headed towards the Message and nobody else was climbing on it so it was our route for the day. Lots of folk on all sorts of routes including Honeypot, The Haston Line, Grooved Rib and so much more.

The neve on the route was so good that Ron was halfway up the first pitch before he knew it! So we stopped, sorted ourselves out and up and away. Getting good gear placements was made a bit tricky by the iced up cracks especially on the second (crux) pitch.

This was the first time I had done away with the leashes on my axes except on really easy stuff and used spring leashes instead to stop me worrying about dropping dropping them. To begin with I thought, oh oh, I don't like this but after the next few moves I was won over and decided that it is so much less faff and my hands didn't get as cold as they usually do.

Spiral and Goat Track Gullies

2009-12-10T21:29:00.005Z

Fantastic weather today on Cairngorm and great to be out playing in the snow for the first time this winter!
We romped up Spiral Gully then down the Goat Track to find a little bit of ice then up Goat Track Gully for a pleasant walk out under a beautiful glowing sky.
Pictures from Ron and heaps more about conditions here http://www.talisman-activities.co.uk/blog/2009/12/good-climbing-conditions-in-cairngorms.html

Costa Blanca climbing

2009-11-30T19:24:00.005Z

Sunshine, blue skies and very pleasant temperatures for three whole weeks!
Ron and I climbed Espolon Central and Aristotoles on Puig Campana, Via Gene on Cabezon de Oro and we did lots of cragging at the nearby Echo Valley and the not so near but lovely crag at Montesa. Ian joined us for a week for his first visit to Spain so we did some sightseeing around Calpe and Guadalest and he discovered that the Ponoch via ferrata was a bit too steep for him so he took lots of video clips and photos as Ron and I climbed up.
Espolon Central has been on our "hit list" of routes to do for a while but this was the first time we have had such reliably good weather. It's a great route though the descent is quite long and I certainly wouldn't like to descend in the dark.
Aristotoles was another fun mountain route with straight forward and enjoyable climbing leading up to the top of an awesome pillar. The abseil descent down the main face as described in some topos is not good as we found out when we reached a ledge at the end of the second abseil. A bit of rope was tied around a two inch thick tree that didn't seem particulary well attached to the ground so we dug around and got a good flake to use so we were able to do another abseil down to a bigger tree with tat and our last abseil. We have since found out that it is possible to abseil down on the other side (towards Espolon Central) to a notch and another abseil into the gully and a walk/scramble back to the start of the route.
Echo Valley was just five minutes drive from our apartment so it was the place we went to most for cragging. A new section has been bolted by the Orange House, Echo 1.5, which gives a range of routes on rough rock and it's a good place to go for short cragging sessions at enjoyable grades.
We discovered the cragging at Montesa on this trip and had a couple of trips there to enjoy the steep, juggy climbing. Another crag that we visited was the upper crag at Abdet but we found the rock was loose and crumbly so the climbing was not particularly enjoyable. Perhaps it's an aquired taste! We also explored the routes on the Ponoch with a view to going back another time to climb Flor de Lune. Via Valenciannos seemed to have an awful lot more vegetation on the lower pitches than we expected so we decided to give it a miss this time!
Photos to follow.

Coire an t-Sneachda

2009-11-05T17:10:00.003Z

I went for a wander into Coire an t-Sneachda this afternoon to see just how wintry things are looking. It was very misty and damp with occasional breaks in the cloud so not too good for taking photos.

2009-10-22T20:47:00.002+01:00

I was down at Ratho on Monday with my Mum, Lawson, Ruth, James, Clare and Cameron as they all wanted to try some climbing. Ron and I belayed to give them all a few chances on various routes then all finished off with some bouldering. Our group covered a great range in ages from 12 to 75 years old!

My Mum had never climbed before so she was really pleased to get so high up on the wall (3rd photo).

Ron and I then went back again on Tuesday for some climbing for ourselves and had great fun on the longer lead routes. Inverness wall is going to feel rather short in comparison!

Crystal Ridge and Quartzvein Edge

2009-10-17T23:42:00.009+01:00

A good weather forecast made us think about getting out and about somewhere so we packed lightweight camping and scrambling gear and headed off to the less visited areas of Cairngorm.
We walked up to Ben MacDui and found it was rather colder than we had thought it would be and the rime ice on the grass confirmed our thoughts!
Still. we went down into Coire Sputan Dearg by Glissade Gully and scrambled up Crystal Ridge enjoying the fun rock though the grassy exit proved to be the most worriesome bit of the route,
Loch Etchachan gave us a great camping spot and a chance to try out Ron's single skin bivvi tent.

The morning gave a sharp frost but after a few cups of tea, we were away scrambling on Creagan Choire Etchachan and Quartsvein Edge. Great fun and a good walk out by Loch Avon and Coire Raibert to finish off the trip.

Blog updates

2009-09-09T11:52:00.004+01:00

As I've added in so many posts, just a few show up on the first page. To see more from this summer, click on the links on the right for July, August and September.
There are lots of stories still to come and now I am back home with a slightly more reliable internet connection, I hope to get all my climbing diary on my blog soon.

Logique Flue and Briancon – Friday 14th August

2009-09-07T12:16:00.006+01:00

This was to be the last route of our trip to Ailefroide and it was the one I fell off! I clipped the last bolt on the first pitch and the next point was the belay but my left foot slipped, I fell and oops, my ankle hit off an edge as I came to a halt. No way was I going up again so down was the only option. Ron and the French guys climbing alongside helped out getting me back down and they were really good in collecting all our extenders and handing them into the guides bureau so we could collect them later. Big thanks to them for that and for their help in getting me back down to the road.
So we had a trip to Briancon and an experience of French hospitals and I ended up with crutches and a splint for my ankle and no prospect of climbing for the next wee while!
Though I must add that Chamonix is such a great place to hobble about in as I was able to do the walking up bits and enjoy cable car descents!
We ended our trip with the climb of the Via Corda Alpina which I wasn't too sure my ankle would be up to but it was and it was a good positive thing to end our summer trip on after what had happened in Ailefroide.
Spain next!