New Year on Skye

After Boxing Day we left for the Isle of Skye. A group of 24 of our friends from caving had arranged to celebrate the New Year together at the Flora MacDonald hostel.

After the day spent driving up, we arrived late in the evening; and after catching up with the people who’d already arrived, we hit the sack.

The next day I went for a walk with a few others around the Elgol peninsula, a pleasant low-land walk with the Cuillin Ridge and Bla Bheinn for a backdrop. On the beach we found an interesting whale spine. Towards the end of the day we came across a bothy with a lovely, large window with a great view over the blue waters of the bay.

The following day a group of us headed out for some scrambling on the south-edge ridge of Glamaig – choosing our route to hopefully avoid the worst of the forecasted wind. With the heavy rain overnight we had to cross a number of swollen streams and made our way through boggy valley to reach the saddle. From here we scrambled up onto the ridge. On the ridge we weren’t as sheltered from the weather so decided to retreat back the way we’d come. On our descent we noticed that the wind seemed to have changed direction and was now coming from the east, which seemed odd. Continuing on, and with the cloud clearer slightly we were able to see that we’d been turned around in the fog and were about to descend the wrong side of the ridge; oops! After actually consulting the map and compass this time, we made a correction and descended the other side, down a few long scree slopes to the valley floor and back to the cars.

The day after a group of us headed for Ord, and a short coastal walk to see some ruins marked on the OS map. They turned out to be much more interesting than we’d anticipated. Still obviously a castle, and with a bridge over a moat (although missing the floor).

In the afternoon we took another short walk to the Point of Sleat, on the peninsula we were staying on. Our path took us past a lovely beach, with crystal clear waters. Although the lighthouse was particularly uninspiring, just a metal frame.

On New Years Eve we ventured further north to the Talisker distillery, unfortunately it’s a particularly busy tourist attraction and all of the tours were booked up. Instead we headed to Talisker Bay, an interesting black, stony beach with waterfalls plunging off the cliffs surrounding it.

In the evening we had our own Scotch whisky tasting, which bottles provided by various people and tasting notes downloaded from the internet. Before welcoming in 2019 with our relatively low-key celebrations.

Winter Mountaineering Skills

After new year on the Isle of Skye with our caving friends, some of us stayed up in Scotland for 5 days of winter mountaineering skills booked with Abacus mountain guides.

Our idea was to start with basic skills (for me the winter noob) move onto mountaineering skills and rope work before finishing the course with some proper climbing. Due to instructor student ratios decreasing for the more advanced days we would drop in/out of the relevant sessions for each of us.

Unfortunately for us the snow, which had been on the summits, before Christmas had all but melted during a few warm days over the Christmas period. So although as we drove down to Fort William in -2°C this only refroze the small smattering of snow left above 900m.

We arrived in Fort William did some last minute gear shopping then headed to the "HGV wasteland" to park up overnight. We had a sociable van-quet and turned in early.

Apparently the conditions were not ideal to learn basic winter skills and Mike from Abacus joined us for the day such that our guide Dave could take the guys up Tower Gulley whilst Mike lead us up Number 4 Gulley where Oli refreshed her crampon skills and I used crampons for the first time.

After a ride up to the guide’s north face car park (which cuts out half an hour of up hill walking). We walked up to the CIC hut together before splitting into our groups. Oli and I followed Mike over some scree slopes until we were at the base of Number 3 Gulley. Here we practised walking across a snow field by cutting steps with our ice axes. Next we put our crampons on and practice walking up and down the slope facing up or down hill or sideways like a crab. We learnt how to cut ledges to stand on comfortably & safely and how to make steps with crampons.

After this practice we walked across to Number 4 Gulley, had a discussion about avalanche risk then ascended with Mike short roping us. At the top of the gully which seemed alarmingly steep when we looked back down it, we bumped into the other group who had just been to the summit.

Instead of heading straight down with them we decided to also bag the summit and were treated with a broken spectre and a cloud inversion. 

We then headed down the main track and caught up with the guys. At the lower car park we were surprisingly greeted with a film crew. They had come to interview Mike for a piece on mountain safety following two recent accidents on Ben Nevis. The piece aired on BBC News a few days later with us featured uploading our rucksacks from the van in the background — so I assume we must had looked moderately competent.

The next day, with our guide Dave, we tackled Ledge Route which is a ridge on the north face of Ben Nevis. Here we practised some rope work in pairs and learnt the difference between short roping (being walked along like a dog), death roping (being tied to one another but not to the mountain) and moving together (like death roping except being attached to the mountain). There was no proper snow on Ledge Route but the large quantity of rime (ice) meant we got to use our crampons.

After successfully making it to the top of Ledge Route we rejoined the main track and had another plod back down to the car park. Oli said she’d read somewhere that the main route to the summit of Ben Nevis is the most dull mountain climb in the UK. Having done it a number of times now, I agree that the unchangeable zigzag path often enshrouded with cloud is very same-y. In addition the added slippy ice down to 700m really didn't add to the knee-wrecking descent.

That evening we went to the leisure centre in Fort William for a shower. Annoyingly after half of us paid £3 each for showers we found out if we waited an hour we could have participated in "happy hour" where you can swim, sauna and shower for £1!

For our third guided day we moved to Glencoe with the hope of more snow. The night before we had found a popular overnight parking spot within walking distance of the Clachaig Inn. After a morning toilet run to the visitor centre we met Dave at the Three Sister’s car park. We worked on some more rope work by climbing the zigzags up to the summit of Stob Corie nan Lochan. There wasn't any snow but again the rime meant crampons were handy near the top. I had a go at leading Chris in our moving together pair and even placed a couple of pieces of gear under Dave's supervision.

Dave did find us a Gulley to descend which had some icy snow still clinging on. With me on short rope we made our descent. Conveniently other people had been down the gully and left handy bucket seats and ledges carved out which we could use for handy resting places as it turns out climbing down a steep slope in crampons is hard work on your calves.

At the bottom of the snow we skidded down the scree slope and headed back to the vans. That evening we had a few drinks in the vans and Edd left us (as he still has a job). The following day Chris and Olly had Dave to themselves to do some more technical scrambling.

Oli and I went for a scenic drive through the Glencoe pass and popped our heads in at the ski centre to assess their shower and water facilities. We then headed to Glen Etive for a walk, there is a famous house here which is where some of the James Bond film Skyfall was filmed. We found somewhere to park and had a meander down the river, the bog factor was quite high but we were rewarded by spotting a stag sitting on the opposite side the river bank. it obviously didn't care that we were there because we watched it  wade across the river to our side and walk into the distance. In afternoon we headed to Fort William for swim & sauna happy hour and to pick up some food and fuel.

The weather was predicted to be terrible the following day and with the lack of snow we decided to use our last day with Dave at the ice factor which is a indoor ice climbing wall in Kinlockleven.

In pairs we had a two hour session on the wall, Dave gave us some useful hints and tips like instead of using energy hitting an ice axe in, occasionally it's possible to just slot it into a hole already made by someone else. Additionally it's possible in chimneys to use your hands as well as axe's. 

I really enjoyed the ice climbing and quite fancy doing more of it, which of course requires buying even more shiny gear. Dave also gave us some tips on our indoor climbing and I had a lesson in how to lead climb. I was especially pleased with myself as I lead a grade 5 which is only a couple of grades lower than I can top rope. 

With the weather improved the following day but with still a lack of snow we opted for a gentle walking day up Stob Dubh. We relished being in the sunshine and seeing our shadows for the first day in a while. At the summit there were a couple of friendly ravens, I always forget how big they are until you see them up close. Unfortunately for Oli these were healthy ravens and she didn't get to live out her childhood dream of nursing one back to health.

That evening after a few pints in the Clachaig Inn Oli and Chris decided to climb the Aonach Eagach ridge the next day. I was a little worried about how long it would take compared to number of daylight hours as once on the ridge your are committed to finishing it. So instead Olly and I did everyone's laundry in Fort William and went to happy hour at the leisure centre.  That evening we made a group decision to run away north and do some caving whilst we waited for the winter climbing conditions to improve.

Overall I think I got the most out of our guided days being completely new to winter mountaineering, as we were unlucky with the lack of winter. However hopefully we will get some snow in the upcoming weeks. 

Caving in Scotland

With the weather not very conducive to winter mountaineering we decided to head further north and sample some of the caving Scotland has to offer. We left Glen Coe, picking up some supplies in Fort William, and stopping briefly at the Commando Memorial at Spean Bridge.

Then we set off for Applecross, on the west coast of the Scottish mainland overlooking Raasay. The weather was fairly miserable and as we travelled across the mountain pass the fog descended. After a little bit of searching we found somewhere to park up for the night; overlooking Applecross bay and a short distance from the pub. We headed to the lovely local pub, with a roaring fire, for a slap up meal and a few local beers.

The next morning we were up early for a trip down Liar’s Sink (survey). It was only discovered recently in 2016, when some dry weather allowed the entrance to be dug out, revealing 600m of cave passage. It was a worthy trip, with some pretty formations and an interesting traverse towards the end to bypass the waterfall.

Next we headed towards the Grampian Caving Club Hut in Elphin, just north of Ullapool. We took the scenic route, along the North Coast 500 route, which although overcast and occasionally wet still offered some lovely views.

Unfortunately the boiler at the caving hut was broken, so no hot showers! We made do with a pan shower heated over the wood stove. It was nice to be indoors for a few days, and to be able to sit and cook in the warm.

One of the days we took a trip into Rana Hole, a good sporting trip with impressive cave at the far end.

We spent another day with a morning hike up Glas Bheinn; up and down the same route. It was a cold, blowy day with some fantastic views as the cloud lifted. In the afternoon we took the long way back, driving along the coast past golden beaches.

And then it snowed. Anya and Oli built some snowmen in the morning, but then we packed up and left for the Cairngorms hoping to catch some winter climbs in condition.

Climbing in the Cairngorms

After a few days in the far north we woke up to two inches of snow at the Grampian caving hut. This was our indicator to pack up and run back south for hopefully some winter climbing in the Cairngorms, but not until after we had built a couple of snow men. 

Oli wasn’t super keen to go to the Cairngorms, she describes them as more rounded bumps than actual proper spiky mountains. However, below are a few fun facts about the Cairngorms:

• The Cairngorms is the largest national park in the UK, twice the size of the Lake District national park and bigger than Luxembourg.

• It contains four out of the top five highest mountains in the UK.

• The park contains 25% of Scotland’s native woodland.

• The national park covers 2% of the UKs land mass but 25% of the UKs most threatened species are found there including capercaillie, pine marten, osprey, Scottish wildcat, golden eagle, red squirrel, snow bunting, lapwing, crested tit, dotterel and black grouse.

• The aspen trees support some of the UKs rarest and most threatened lichens.

We arrived a few hours later and parked in a woodland car park. We were a little disappointed that the 2 inches of snow we had in Elphin appeared not to have fallen over most of where we drove through and there was only a small smattering of snow in the Cairngorms. However when we got up in the morning it appeared the snow had followed us!

The first route we had planned to do was the Fiacaill Ridge. We headed up the path and after a few misdirections we started up broad section of the ridge. We met a few other groups roping up for the steep section and had to do some waiting around before we set off “moving together”. It was here I should have put an extra layer on as I soon started to get very cold, but I decided I couldn’t take all the mountaineering coils and coats off. We started climbing along the steep sections but I quickly managed to work myself into a panic as I had started blindly following the rope and came to what seemed an impossible overhanging section. After a couple of failed attempts and wailing to Olly that I couldn’t climb it, I eventually realised that if I took two steps backwards there was and obvious step up that everyone else had taken. 

We carried along the ridge but I soon discovered I didn’t really like “moving together” as I was always left at the back and didn’t get to sociably chat at belay points. We ended waiting around again whilst we did some route finding at what looked like an impossible rock face. At this point I decided I was way out of my depth and didn’t want to climb the impossible looking rock face. Luckily this could be avoided by walking around the side. We then waited at the top for Oli and Chris in our bothy bag where I discovered that cucumber is a terrible winter mountaineering food as it freezes and you get an ice cream headache eating it.

There was a white out on top of the plateau but some good navigation by Chris lead us safely back down to the ski centre with a stop off on the way for Chris to demonstrate, then us to practice some ice axe arrests.

That evening we discovered a car park near-ish to the Pine Marten bar and stopped in for a few drinks whilst we planned the next days activities. I wanted to step down the climbing and with high winds forecast but clear skies we opted for a walk up to the Cairngorm summit.

The next morning we arrived at the ski centre car park and Oli asks me if we saw the reindeer being walked down the road. We hadn’t! And we didn’t see the reindeer in the lower car park the day previously either. Oli is just lucky in seeing all the wildlife. It was super windy but I got to try out my new snow goggles. We made it to the summit and were just in time to see the weather station pop out to take it’s measurements. Despite the strong winds it was pretty clear and we got some good views across the plateau.

It was Friday night and the Pine Marten bar was a little busier, however the 50 mountain rescue people had vacated by the time we arrived. The conditions were meant to be good the following day and we planned to attempt another day climbing this time in Coire an t-scheada.

We had a minor panic when we woke up and couldn't open the van door as it had frozen shut in the night. Luckily with managed to signal to Chris who could give it a good pull from the outside. Once freed, we drove to the ski car park and found every climber in Scotland had arrived to make the most of the first good weather Saturday of the year. On the way in to the Coire we spotted climbers on every face including queues for the routes we had planned to do. 

We began to debate whether we wanted to queue and whether the conditions were any good (due to lack of freeze thaw). However we concluded to join the queue as it appeared to have reduced to just one pair.  

We kitted up, headed up the snow slope to the start of the climb but quickly realised we actually we're pair numbers 3 and 4 of the queue. After a bit of a wait Olly set off. This time we climbed traditionally and I enjoyed the climb considerably more. Luckily the other pairs in front of us split off onto different routes and soon we were first in the queue.

I could hear the conversation of another group below us, the leader had got to the first belay point and was incredibly happy as this was the hardest winter climb he had lead. His happiness was quickly curtailed by his partner bellowing up that he had slipped and snapped his front tooth off. Seems like we were having a much better day.

We got to the top of our route with only minor route finding issues and were treated with stunning views including a distant cloud inversion.

It was great to see lots of people out enjoying the amazing weather. Back at the car park we decided to head into Aviemore to get Olly some power for his laptop so that we could complete our Indian visas.  

The previous day we had tried and failed due to the specific file sizes/types the application required. To add insult to injury we had just hit our allocated 3 hours free parking in Aldi car park when we noticed we had a flat tyre. Luckily a nice guy lent us a pump so we pumped up and limped to a free car park.

We then got out the van manual and managed to locate the jack and locking wheel nut. We struggled to loosen the wheel nuts especially the anti-theft one. After going back to the manual and scoffing at the seemingly obvious instructions on how to loosen nuts we actually followed them and succeeded in loosing all but the anti-theft  one. Roll on 1.5 hours and the AA man arrived. We did feel slightly better as he had to get out the extra long torque wrench to remove it. The good thing about living in your vehicle is that you can cook dinner and sit in bed whilst you wait.

After our stunning weather day it was predicted to be a bit windier with some snow. We picked a crag which would be sheltered from the wind. Unfortunately you had to descend onto crag which meant accurate navigation was needed to prevent us accidentally walking off the cliff edge. Due to the limited visibility in the snow we chose to walk on a single bearing for 1.4km. As I was the only person wearing contact lenses rather than glasses I was the allocated eyes. I was pretty pleased that we were only 10m off over the whole distance.

The scariest part of the day for me was climbing down the snow gully to get to the start of the climbs. This was called the "easy route" however the steps appeared to have been kicked in by a giraffe and the snow was worryingly unconsolidated. I wasn't helped by another experienced group descending above us and knock large chunks of snow on me.

I was going to wimp out half way down but the idea of going back up was just as bad. Oli shouted to me that I was almost at the bottom so I decided to keep going. We weren't near the bottom but apparently she really thought we were and she wasn't tricking me.  Also turns out there is a huge drop from the crag to the valley but it was shrouded in mist, which was probably good for me.

At the bottom we looked at the PDF guide and found our route. Olly started but quickly called down that it seemed a little hard. We then found that some other climbers 100m to our right thought they were doing the same route. Turns out we were in the wrong place so after some tricky down climbing for Olly we moved over and got in the queue. 

The climb was quite pleasant and we even had some clear views for a while. I had borrowed Chris's walking axe so I had a pair. It was good fun hitting axes into stuff but the problem with walking axes is my hands would slide off the ends. 

That evening Oli and Chris decided to go for a moonlit walk around Glenmore Lodge. I joined them as I was sure if I didn't they would see some can can dancing reindeer. There were not reindeer but we did see the biggest shooting star I have ever seen!

Strong winds were predicted for the following day so we had a late start and hung around at the visitor centre. We caved in and had a full Scottish breakfast which was delicious and even caught a glimpse of a red squirrel on a bird feeder. 

Oli and Chris were staying longer but it was time for us to head down to South Wales for the Wealden Cave and Mine Society annual dinner.