New Glencoe mountaineering blog

I'm not reviving this blog for the time being--it's just too much effort juggling my job and climbing with writing as well, sadly--but for those of you who found my conditions reports from the mountains useful, I have set up a new blog to share information about the Scottish mountains.

It will feature regular reports from Glencoe with a focus on snow and ice conditions, reported to the best of my ability. Here is the link:

http://glencoemountaineer.blogspot.com/

Cheers all, and enjoy one of the best Scottish winter mountaineering seasons we have had for many a year. Safe climbing.

Blog closed - for the time being!

Just a quick note to say that I am still alive and well, and have not fallen off a mountain! However I seem to have fallen out of the habit of writing for the blog, probably because my novel is also on hiatus at the moment (that's what happens when you're so far away from all the archives you need for research material!) I'm going to get on top of it again, but for the time being I am very busy with winter climbing, as we have had snow on the mountains for over a month, with only brief thaws.

So it is possible I may revive the blog at some point in the future, but for the time being this is my last entry.

Enjoy the mountains! It's going to be a great winter season.

Winter conditions persist!

Glencoe conditions:
Temperatures rising steadily. A lot of snow still evident on northerly slopes above 850m, but the snowline is much higher than this on southerly slopes. When the sun is out everything is melting below about 900-950m. Above 1000m things were still frozen hard yesterday although I am certain the freezing level will continue to go up. Snow at high levels is starting to consolidate and the rime is becoming very thick. In any case today is another calm and sunny day, so make the most of the glorious early-season winter walking and climbing conditions!

Yesterday before work Isi and I went for a quick dash up Bidean nam Bian by the direct route up Coire nam Beithach. As Isi had not used ice axe and crampons in anger for a while we planned an easy route, an out-and-back excursion up Bidean's West Ridge, but what a day it proved to be! At first I thought that the snow would be awful up top, as it was thinning and melting in the coire, but once on the ridge the accumulations were still there and the rime ice was thick on the rocks.

Better still, the views were phenomenal. We could see all the way over to Schiehallion, the Cairngorms, and the Arrochar Alps. With such clear air even I (with my damned short-sightedness!) could make out individual gullies in the Northern Corries on the far horizon. What an amazing day to be in the mountains.

The ridge also proved a delight to climb (I had only ever descended this way before), with a few optional moments of Grade I climbing thrown in just for the fun of it. And for the second time in three days, I got to see the breath-taking view from the summit of Bidean nam Bian, highest mountain in Argyll and the crowning jewel of Glencoe.

Plenty of others were up enjoying the superb conditions, including a team of climbers who had done something in Coire nan Lochan. By the standards of the past few weeks, a group of seven on the summit seemed positively busy!

The snow is still sticking around for the time being, with a lot still visible on Stob Coire nan Lochan this morning, and even the icefalls on Aonach Dubh are still complete. However within the next few days the snow will almost certainly melt, leaving only a few patches before we revert to normal weather, ie. wind and rain! It has been an amazing couple of weeks, though, with some superbly memorable days in the mountains thanks to the early-season conditions.

Winter climbing

Glencoe conditions:
Yesterday the snow was down to about 600m and well-frozen just after dawn. As the sun rose the freezing level went up the hill, with icefalls exposed to sunlight melting rapidly. Northerly-facing slopes that remained in the shade stayed frozen well into the day. Snow conditions above 1000m were partially consolidated, with significant accumulations and several inches of rime ice in places. North-facing scrambles and climbs at high altitude are likely to be full-on mixed climbs until they melt. Considerable amounts of water ice in places. Today the temperature is set to steadily rise.

My day yesterday was nothing short of brilliant! As Rachael was in Ediburgh, I planned a solo climb up the Grade II ridge of Sron na Lairig, an Alpine-style excursion to the summit of Stob Coire Sgreamhach. I anticipated the most difficult section of the ridge to be a dry rock climb below the snowline. However, when I got to the hard slab I found it to be completely iced up: a full-on mixed climb. I attempted to climb the awkward groove left of the slab, but it was too thinly iced to be of any use for crampons, but too slippery to be climbable without them. In the end I gave up and turned the difficulties to the right, climbing a short ice gully instead.

The upper crux finally stumped me. This rock tower is unavoidable and is the key to accessing the easier ridge crest above. The exposed entry pitch features highly sloping holds that would be fine in summer, but when covered in ice and climbed in crampons, made it a difficult proposition. If I had brought my ice hammer as well, and had a mate belaying me from above, it would probably have been fine but I have learned not to take risks when climbing alone!

Luckily the ridge was still escapable from this point, so I made a long rising traverse to the right across avalanche-prone snow slopes to the base of a north-facing gully. The gully didn't have a huge amount of snow build-up but luckily the exposed turf was frozen hard, so was an enjoyable and easy little climb (classic Grade I terrain). I topped out to the most amazing views I have ever seen, stretching across Glen Etive towards Starav, with the sun shining on the loch far below.

My continuation took me over Stob Coire Sgreamhach, and down to the deep col of Bealach Dearg, where I got a peek of a winter climb I did in the 06/07 season coming up from the Lost Valley. It looked rather hard, and I'm currently debating whether it can possibly have been Grade II! In any case I swiftly climbed the impressive ridge up to the high summit of Bidean nam Bian, and at last got to see the view from that peak for the first time. It was a humbling experience.

The day was rounded off by a quick traverse of Stob Coire nam Beith, a descent into the corrie, and a pint of Black Cuillin in the pub. Perfick!

Conditions improve!

Weather in the glen:
Significant snow cover above 700m, with a dusting right the way down into the valley. Freezing level about 400m but it's fluctuating a fair bit. Reports of significant riming, frozen snow and waist-deep drifts on the summits. Lots of winter ascents being done (no winter climbing that I know of, but peaks are being climbed by their normal routes).

At the moment the weather is so clear, sunny and calm that the snow-capped mountains are displayed at their very best: shining and free from cloud, full of winter splendour even though the valley is very autumnal at the moment. Thanks in part to our beer festival at the Clachaig, and in part to the excellent early-season winter conditions, the number of walkers in the glen is increasing.

Writing is also going tolerably well at the moment. I've temporarily given up rewriting old scenes. My task was to replace the character of George Trevelyan with Sandy Mackay, a change forced upon me by a historical discrepancy. I had not realised what a mammoth task it is to replace even a minor character. Trevelyan only featured in three or four scenes but his personality is radically different to Mackay's, meaning that the interaction with the main characters, and ultimately the outcome of the scenes, are radically different. It was starting to get very tedious forcing my hand every five minutes to make sure that the overall plot wasn't affected.

The main difference is simple: Trevelyan was more of an 'awe-struck newbie'; Mackay is more assertive, more sure of himself, less easily impressed. He is also Scottish and a very experienced mountain walker. These minor differences are playing havoc with the plot on a low level!

I decided to start writing some new material before I got annoyed with the whole thing. I am now working on the scene where Geoffrey comes home to Trinity after his eventful weekend in the Lake District, in which he met John Robinson, O.G.Jones, W.P.Haskett-Smith and the Abraham Brothers for the first time. During the course of this weekend Edward Crowley changed his name to Aleister and had a minor nervous breakdown. I feel a bit sorry for poor Aleister at the moment: an awful lot has happened to him in a short space of time. He has been the victim of a betrayal by a friend, he's had a gun pointed at him, and he's been arrested by the Proctors and warned that if he does not mend his ways he will be sent down. He has also been evicted from his rooms at the Tobacconist's for unruly behaviour.

The upshot of all this is that Aleister greets Geoffrey by smashing a vase over his head (a case of mistaken identity). This is the point in the book where Geoffrey and Aleister begin to part ways, and will lead in a chapter or so to the famed incident where Geoffrey gives Aleister a 'black eye and a jolly good thrashing'. By the climax of the book they are confirmed enemies.

So the jolly, adventurous spirit of excitement in the first part of the book has now given way to a bleaker overall tone, with feuds between friends, the threat of the Proctors, and other factors shaping the personalities of Aleister and Geoffrey yet further. The main outcome is that Aleister is going to lose his grip on reality and become dangerous, and Geoffrey is going to become much more mature very quickly.

Progress is being made, but it's coming slowly!

A wild weekend

Weather in the glen:
Squally. Winds light between showers and cloud occasionally clearing, but the showers that hit a couple of times every hour are big and mean, with torrential rain/hail and temporarily galeforce winds. Still not an ideal day to be out on the hills.

The weather was consistently bad throughout yesterday, with most of the walkers in the glen abandoning their plans in early afternoon and trudging back to the Clachaig, very wet! On this wash-out of a weekend my friends in the UEA Fell and Mountaineering Club are walking in the Peak District; I hope things were not too bad for them down there.

Also all over the news is the OMM disaster. For the first time in its history, the Original Mountain Marathon was cancelled yesterday, with hundreds of mountain racers taking shelter in extreme conditions on the mountains. Fourteen are still unaccounted for although I am confident they will be found safe and well. Despite the media uproar about 'irresponsible' runners, everyone participating in the event was adequately equipped and experienced. That said, however, pitching a tent in the kind of conditions on the mountains this weekend is not an easy task.

The debate is currently raging about how this will affect mountaineering in the UK, with some claiming that the public is going to become very unfriendly towards mountain-goers (the over-used phrase 'nanny state' has already been bandied about). Personally I don't think this will make the slightest bit of difference. Everyone will have forgotten about it in a few days, when the media latches onto some new story; and in any case, public opinion is not going to make a blind bit of difference to how we enjoy the mountains. And there are far too many walkers and mountaineers in the UK for our activities to be easily curtailed by legislation. We have representative bodies with sufficient clout to make our voices heard.

Anyway: what with the cold weather continuing here in Glencoe I am hopeful for some more snow on my days off on Thursday and Friday. Keeping fingers crossed.

Don't go up on the hill today

Weather in the glen:
Indescribably foul. Storm force gusts, continuous torrential rain, rivers in spate. Very poor chance of survival on exposed high ridges. Mobility at valley level extremely difficult.

Despite the Biblical weather we are getting in Glencoe at the moment, a fair crowd turned up at the Clachaig for the first night of Octoberfest last night. Wolftrain were playing, mostly rock'n'roll and blues, and all fifteen ale pumps were on. We had a range of beers from Williams and Houston mostly, including such delights as Williams Red, Kelpie ale, and Houston Texas. Tonight the Pictoids are playing (a Scottish folk band). I'm particularly looking forward to the Skye ales later on in the week.

Apart from my eventful morning of winter mountaineering on Wednesday, I've done nothing in the mountains all week as the weather is so bad. A few intrepid souls are hopefully staying at the campsite (if their tent is still standing), or the hostel, and even setting off to climb the mountains; however the weather really is too severe for even the easiest walk at the moment.