Improvers Snow and Ice climbing course. 28 Feb - 1 March


Mirror-Direct-Cairngorms

Course report: Nigel Hooker
Course: Improvers Snow and Ice climbing

Curtain-Ben-Nevis-pitch-1Over Friday night a warm, wet and windy storm travelled over the west coast of Scotland resulting in thawing snow and Ice followed by heavy snowfall and spindrift as the temperature dropped later on Saturday followed by yet another warm, wet storm cycle hit again around early/mid afternoon. With only a 2 day course Mike was happy to make the long drive over to the Cairngorms to escape the wet and High category Avalanche risk and hope that the more favourable weather forecast was true and the next storm cycle hit after sunset as forecasted.

The plan worked and we found plentiful, if a bit soft, ice on Mirror Direct IV 4 and steeper ice than Mike had climbed before. As we walked back across the plateau the wind increased and we had not driven very far westward before meeting heavy rain. Chris  took his mountaineers up past the CIC hut on Ben Nevis to cover movement skills and some rope work with them, commenting that there was a lot of snow blowing around higher up the hill and they walked out through heavy rain.

On Sunday Mike and I headed up Ben Nevis with the plan of seeing what low level routes could be accessed. Several teams were already heading for the SW ridge of the Douglas Boulder so we headed up to the Curtain IV 5 which seemed to have the least spindrift of the available routes. Even so we were still being hammered by heavy spindrift almost all the way up.

In order to avoid the potential avalanche risk in Number 5 Gully we descended by abseil which also meant we were able to avoid the thin, thawed out final section onto Ledge route. Over the weekend Mike got some good ice climbing done in challenging weather and began to understand the phrase ’full on Scottish!’ The mountaineering team made an ascent of the Zig Zags of Gearr Aonach in Glencoe and then braved the wind along the ridge to descend the Stob Coire nan Lochan path somewhere below them in the thigh deep snow. Various planned trips to higher altitude peaks should be a breeze after experiencing a ‘typical’ Scottish winter weekend!


Nigel Hooker

About Nigel Hooker

I am a climbing and mountain enthusiast who has lived every day of the last 30 years for the chance to be out climbing the crags and walking the mountains. My excitement at the prospect of a day in the hills, whether for work or play remains just as it was when starting out as a teenager all those years ago. Travels abroad have included extensive alpine mountaineering, rock and ice climbing in Europe, North America, Scandinavia and New Zealand. I have never climbed right at the cutting edge but I always enjoy being out in the hills whether walking, scrambling, climbing easy classics or more testing routes both in summer and winter. I firmly believe that this means I have a greater empathy for the aspirations, concerns and needs of the majority of hill walkers and climber’s like you and me.


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