Gwilym's Adventure Blog

Another great day out climbing with Charlie and this time on Ben Nevis. Number 2 Gully Buttress a little bit challenging to find gear and belays but otherwise a nice route at Grade III. 

Out with Charlie for a personal climbing day in Coire an T'Sneacha where we climbed Trump Towers and some mixed grade II ground a but further along.

Today I was out with Jonny and Stanze (who had already done one day with Charlie yesterday) to take their winter skills a notch higher and introduce some snow anchors and emergency shelters. Staying out of the wind again we headed for the Ciste gullys and didn't get too blasted.

Back into Coire an T'Sneachda today with Mustafa to climb Jacob's Left Edge which was a little harder than normal due to lack of build up in places

Day 2 and Mustafa and I headed back to The Morraines to look at all things snow anchors.  We dug (and tested) snow bollards, buckets seats and buried axes as well as re-visiting footwork and cutting steps. Working for Wet and High Adventures Ltd  

On Day 2 of a Wet and High Adventures Winter Climbing course, with a major thaw in progress, we choose some snow banks and spent the day looking at different snow anchors including Buckets Seats, Snow Bollards, Deadman, Buried Axe and even tried a Buried Rucksack. Ban and Tim then tested the anchors to see what a difference both size and snow quality made

  The last 2 days I have been on an Association of Mountaineering Instructors CPD weekend. On the Saturday I was on a Avalanche workshop where we looked at some snow science and what to teach to what skill level On Sunday I was out looking at Short Roping skills and developing some other techniques to broaden the options available.

An excellent day with Mark on Raeburn's Gully Buttress today even if the snow was unconsolidated and unhelpful to say the least. There was some neve towards the top of the route and amazing views on the walk in, during the climb and on the descent.

Today I was out with Angus and Graeme looking at Winter Mountaineering skills in Coire an T'Sneachda. The weather did turn quite Scottish at times but there were still a couple of opportunities to take photographs I was being observed by Giles as this was part of my assessment to become a Winter Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor .

Today was spent with Marcus and Jamie looking at all things snow climbing. We managed to make 8 pitches up one of the remaining snow ribbons in Corie An t'Sneachda and used bucket seats backed up by snow bollards, a deadman and  a buried axe as well as a rock thread, a bit of rock gear and a rock spike. A lack of winter did not mean a lack of learning opportunities and as with most Wet and High Adventures courses, coffee and cake at the end of the day

After a frustrating week trapped in and around Glenmore Lodge, I was finally able to get out and about today up into the hills. My 2019/2020 winter season has started! I wandered into Coire an T'Sneachda with an open mind, a set of crampons and one axe. None of the gullies looked complete so it was up onto the reliable, goes in almost any conditions Fiaciall Ridge (II). I did put crampons on for the main difficulties but it would have been mainly ok without as not a lot was frozen, just some powder snow. I wombled about the plateau for a while taking a few pictures and spying on my cousin Will who was climbing in Corie an Lochain. It was a little blowy up top so I headed back down the ridge and to the car to warm up. I am now writing this blog in a cafe waiting for Will to come and join me for a catch up.

On the first day of a Wet and High Adventures Ltd Winter Mountaineering course we had a look at all things snow starting with footwork and axe before moving onto snow anchors - bucket seats, bollards and buried axes. We did some testing on these anchors at different sizes and depths and with different axes. We then had a look at some stomper belays. As always, safe travel and avalanche awareness was a theme throughout the day and coffee and cake for the post day debrief.

On the last day of a Wet and High Adventures Ltd Winter Skills course, we headed to the relative shelter of the Ciste to look at all things steep snow. We spent the morning looking at abseiling from snow bollards, body belaying from bucket seats with a buried axe. We also had a look at how strong snow was trying to get the bollards and buried axes to fail. We manged to shear the smaller bollard but everything else held on. We then had a go at some ice axe arrest skills,  or more accurately, sliding through wet mush with snow and water getting inside all of our clothes By midday we were all wet in places where we shouldn't be from feet through to pants so with the wind picking up and the rain coming in harder we ran for the shelter of a cafe and dripped all over their floor (sorry about that)