Bidean Nam Bian, 29th April,2007

Myself, Bill, Stevie and Willy went to Glencoe today with the intention of doing the grade 1, "Rhyolite Romp", around the west face of Aonach Dubh.

Interestingly, (well not for Stevie and Bill !) we found ourselves on the wrong line of traverse, which appeared to be harder and dodgier than suggested in the "Scrambles in Lochaber", Cicerone Guide! So just myself Willy bravely carried on, only to find the point at where you turn back on yourself and go to the higher level, was not where we were! Obvious by the fact we didn't end up at Ossians Cave!

However after some improvisation, we got back to Bill and Stevie at the summit of Aonach Dubh.

Had we found the correct route, I'm sure Bill and Stevie would've enjoyed it? From Aonach Dubh's summit, we went over to Stob Coire Nan Lochan at 1115m. There are various grades of winter climbs here, which we'll maybe try one day, eh Stevie?

Looking over to Stob Coire Nam Beith.

The "Ben", with some spring snow still lying on the plateu.

Willy and Bill making their way along Bidean Nam Bian, 1150m.

We descended (through very cold and wet snow!) into the Lost Valley, and then back to the car park on the A82.

Langdale, Middlefell Buttress, 12th April 2007

Lorna and myself spent a couple of days in the National Trust, Great Langdale Campsite, in the Lake District. The weather was excellent and the scenery fantastic! The campsite is the perfect base to from which to explore the Langdales, Bowfell and Crinkle Crags.

We booked two days instruction on basic ropework with Bob Henson, a local guide and member of the Mountain Rescue Team. Although we wanted to learn the basics for roped scrambling, Bob said if we spent the day on Middlefell Buttress (Diff or V.Diff I think?), we would learn the techniques that apply to both scrambling and climbing.

We set off from the Old Dungeon Ghyll Pub car park and headed for the err, middle buttress!

The route is an excellent place to learn to lead and place protection etc, and if you look carefully, in the centre of the picture, at the top left of the buttress, you can just see the tree (with in situ gear) that we did our 50m abseil from. It is possible to go all the way to the top, but we spent the whole day on the lower section practising. After having such a good day in great weather, we were looking forward to the next day on Dow Crag doing "Easy Terrace"!

Buchaille Etive Mor, April 1st 2007

Myself and "Gunner Roach", went up to Glencoe to see what snow was left.

We had fantastic weather, and could even about spot Crowberry Tower on Curved Ridge as we approached the car park at Altnafeadh, on the A82 just beyond Glen Etive road. GRNN220564.

We set off for Coire na Tulaich, the large obvious coire and headed for the "thin" line of snow, just visible at the top of the coire. After following the burn, the ground gets steeper and when we got to the snow we found it was like concrete, even in stiff boots!

What you can't see from the photo is a small cornice that a couple of guys were trying to kick their way up! We opted for the rock to the left of the gully which turned out to be iced, making it at interesting ascent on what would be easy rock in summer!

Once at the top,we a fine view of the Ben and the CMD Arete.

It was then norteast from the bealach (GR NN216452) to reach the summit of Stob Dearg (red peak) in just under 500 ft from the bealach.

The summit of Stob Dearg (3335 ft) has a great view over Rannoch moor, and to the southwest you should just get a glimpse of the top of Crowberry Tower. After posing for photos, we headed back to the bealach and on to Stob na Doir and Stob Coire Altruim.

Looking along to Stob Coire Altruim and Stob na Broig from Stob na Doir.

The top of Stob na Broig gives you a great view of Glen Etive and Loch Etive.

As we made our way back to Stob Coire Altruim ( and down by way of a very faint track roughly at 208530 ), it was tempting to stray too far over the snow. But as you can see above, some of the cornices were still there even as April started.