Despite the sun on the walk in, the strong winds blowing had caused significant drifting which made the going tough. Andrew and I climbed a grade III line in Coire an t’Sneachda. There was lots of spindrift blowing about which made condtions and climbing hard work today. There were sizeable areas of unstable windslab, and generally a lot of snow around. Butresses where white and turf well frozen with ice starting to form.

I was working on an EICA Ratho winter skills day today. Louise, Dean and I went up to Meall Tarmachan to look at how to use axes, crampons and work on navigation skills. Despite the thaw, we found some excellent snow and even some ice to play on. The weather was pretty good, all though a bit blowy at times and damp on the way back to the van.

Gareth, Stephen and I ventured up Sron na Lairig in Glencoe. It gave a excellent mountaineering expedition on snow and rock with a real adventurous feel. The snow was mainly soft and wet – but at the top there was a pitch with frozen turf and some harder snow. There had been some cornice collapse the day before, but the snow pack seemed generally stable. An excellent day out with decent weather.

Some great photos from Glencoe Skiing from Doug:

http://www.haggistrap.co.uk/photostrs/glencoe_6thmarch_2009.html

Caringorm Plateau

I bumped into Doug Bryce on saturday – he and Jamie were off for tour up to Ben Macdui.

Doug says “Once we got up onto the plateau it turned out to be a great tour – with more than enough snow.”
See Doug’s site for more photos.
http://www.haggistrap.co.uk/photostrs/benmacduipoint5tour.html