Himlung Himal research...

Scottish Winter Mountaineering & Climbing courses

Learning to lead on Golden Oldie (II) on the West Face of Aonach Mor

A few photos to whet the appetite for the forthcoming Scottish winter season. I'll be working my 9th season running winter mountaineering and climbing courses from Fort William and Aviemore. Please get in touch if you fancy a wee adventure...

Enjoying the delights of a bucket seat belay!

Bad weather arriving on the Cairngorm plateau

The 4 star Curved Ridge (II) in Glencoe

Digging snow holes on a character building day!

Steep mixed climbing on Fingers Ridge (IV 4) in Coire an t-Sneachda

Ski mountaineering on Ben Nevis prior to a 1300m descent

 Topping out on Green Gable in the Lake District

Enjoying the sunshine on a classic mountaineering day

Curved Ridge (II) under heavy snow conditions and a blue sky

The stunning Smith's Route (V 5) on Ben Nevis

Descending to Fort William after a big day on the Ben

Perfect conditions on Dow Crag

 Enjoying warm dry rock!

Today I was out on a sunny Dow Crag helping Stuart prepare for a forthcoming trip to Ama Dablam with Adventure Peaks. The brief for today was a bit of everything - scrambling, hard climbing, exposure, abseiling & fixed line practice. We began with a quick ascent of C Ordinary Route (D) looking at efficient movement skills and trust in the climbing system. A comfortable solo down Easy Terrace and we geared up at the foot of the classic Eliminate A (VS 4c). This was two grades harder than Stuart had ever attempted before but similar in standard to the crux Yellow Tower on Ama although you do get the assistance of a well anchored fixed line to haul on as well!. I strung the first two pitches together to give a sustained 35m pitch of 4b climbing which provided a good challenge for Stuart. From the belay we then escaped back to our bags with a multi pitch abseil. The final hour of the day was spent looking at fixed line systems in the broken ground at the base of the crag before a pleasant walk out in the evening sunshine. Next stop Nepal!

An exposed stance on C Ordinary Route

Fixed Lines on Zig Zags

  

 Jenny ready for the north ridge of Everest

  

 Practicing passing other climbers on the fixed lines

The scar from the recent large rock fall on the Zig Zags

Another view of the Zig Zags rock fall

North Face of Ben Nevis without O2!

  

Sarah descending an icy step

This week I'm working with Sarah & Jenny to help with their final preparations for their Adventure Peaks Everest expedition. With a strong easterly wind still whipping over the tops we opted to stay low and focus on climbing and descending fixed lines. The North side of Everest has around 10,000m of line stretching from just above ABC to the summit so having a simple, efficient and safe system is essential. My preferred method is detailed here. The area below the CIC Cascades offers a number of small grade II steps on rock and ice which are perfect for this sort of training. Throughout the day we were able to ascend and descend over 500m in a maelstrom of spindrift. Above us the main CIC Cascade was complete but thin and hollow. However there was plenty of activity on the ice lines to the right hand side

 Ascending the ice apron below the main CIC Cascade

 

 Jenny passing an anchor on an icy step

 

 Sarah ensuring she stays attached while passing an anchor

 Jenny sheltering from the spindrift behind the main CIC Cascade

 

 Sarah approaching the CIC Cascade