Intro Snow and Ice
This past week, working alongside Rudders, we ran an intro winter climbing course for Plas Y Brenin up here in Scotland. The weather started perfect and went on a sliding scale so we opted to make the most while we could…
We started with a Cold Climbs classic, the Curtain and its neighbour Curtain Rail. Day 2 saw us in Stob Coire nan Lochan to climb Twisting Grooves. With all the wild storms and whiteout on the day we kept the rope on to descend the ridge back to the coire floor because of multiple cornices and flat light. Dave climbed Raeburn’s Route. We took a short walk to the 1st platform below the NE Buttress on the Ben and climbed a rarely formed Newbigging’s Far Right route on soft ice while Dave climbed on the Douglas Boulder. We had similar conditions next day on the sure bet of N Buttress on the Buachaille in the ‘Coe….soft ice but still holding together and fun albeit with damp gloves.
Day 5 arrived with rain to the tops, tired legs and massive avalanches….we visited the indoor ice wall at Kinlochleven and got pumped. Thanks to Dave for the great input and Colin, Richard, Phil and Colin for being super keen!