Skiing at Hillend (Mid Lothian Snowsports Centre), Edinburgh, Sunday 15th November 2009

Lorna insisted that she wasn't going walking this weekend, and no one had been in touch to tempt me out, so we decided to spend a few hours at Hillend Ski Centre in Edinburgh. Technically it's correct title is, Mid Lothian Snowsports Centre, but everyone knows it as "Hillend".

We took one of our Grandson's, Lennon, as he had a week's lesson's earlier in the year and was keen to get back up there. We took advantage of the 3 hours for the price of 2, as this gives you time to stop for tea and biscuits halfway through! At £35 for the three of us, it isn't too bad I suppose but if you were to go every week then a season ticket might be a better option.

There is a cafe there, but we packed a flask of hot water to make hot chocolate, and some crisps and sandwiches, and fortuneatley the weather was ok to sit at the side of  the slopes and watch the action.

Looking down the main slope from the top. Although not horrendously steep, it is steeper than the photo makes out. In the distance is Aurthurs Seat and the Firth of Forth beyond.

Above is a short, uintentional, "you've been framed" style video which was definitely unplanned!

Sprayway Warm Challenger Pant, 10th November 2009

Well after wearing my Sprayway Warm Challenger Pants for the first time on Sunday in Glencoe, I have mixed feelings. The trousers themselves are well cut, come in different lengths and are not too baggy, unlike the now cheaper Berghaus Statis Pants at around £35-£45 which can seem a bit "flappy" unless you're six feet tall.
The Challenger at around £60-£70 has more features than the Statis and is made of Soft Shell with TecWeave Extreme technology apparently, and are lightweight, durable and seem to be quite breathable.
They have mesh lined leg vents at the thigh and vents at the backside too which also act as extra pockets.
They also claim to have an articulated crotch whatever that means!
There are also ankle zips too.

If I had a complaint, it would the perenial one of waist adjustment. Like the Berghaus Statis,well mine anyway, the Challenger wouldn't stay up too well. Although they have velcro waist adjusters, they come undone too easily so I will need to find a suitable belt which may or may not be comfortable if you add a climbing harness and rucsac waiststrap to the equation?
So to be fair, the Sprayway Warm Challenger Pant is better looking, a better fit and almost better designed than the Berghaus Statis Pant, only let down by the lack of decent belt!

Bidean nam Bian via Gear Aonach and SCNL, 8th November 2009

Well the stars must have been in alignment this weekend as Sunday brought light winds and sunshine! We headed for Glencoe with a loose plan to try some scrambling depending on the conditions.
It was also a good chance for Lorna to test out her new Raichle Mountaineering boots, North Face Circadian Paclite Jacket and Mountain Equipment Gloves. I was also interested to see how my new Sprayway Warm Challenger Pant would perform too. (More to follow in my next post).
We parked at the large car park at NN170569, and took the South East path down to the River Coe and over the footbridge, then headed for the Lost Valley (Coire Gabhail).

Looking up at Gear Aonach from the car park. There are two scrambling routes here; the grade I "Zig-Zags" and the grade III "Easy Route". As we walked up the Lost Valley path, we took a right fork that leads up to the nose of the mountain. From here we attempted to follow the Cicerone Guide book to Scrambles in Lochaber to find the start of the route. For the grade III, you take the first of the zig zags and head a little further round after the first bend. As usual these things can be a little vague, but we found a section that looked ok and pitched that.
 
















Lorna at the top of "our" first pitch which turned out to be very mossy and slippy. Just being wet would probably be okay, but the slime and moss didn't make it too enjoyable. So after getting covered in crap, we traversed left back onto the Zig-Zags and made for the summit of Gear Aonach the easy way! Although that was quite wet and greasy too in places. 






















Lorna looking down into the Lost Valley as we went up the broad ridge of Gear Aonach.

After Gear Aonach's summit at 692m, there is a slight bealach before you head up to Stob Coire nan Lochan at 1115m, (SCNL).

On the way up to SCNL, we were down to base layers despite the cool temperatures and the occasional snow flurries.

From the summit we could see right down the Ballachulish Bridge, and after a quick bite to eat and some extra layers it was on to the final climb of the day up to Bidean nam Bian at 1150m. Lorna's new North Face Circadian Paclite Jacket seemed to be ideal, with it's lightweight shell and women's specific cut.

Looking across to Bidean from Stob Coire nan Lochan.

A short video taken from Stob Coire nan Lochan across to Bidean.

Sun setting beyond the ridge that leads from Bidean to Stob Coire nam Beith at 1107m.

Plenty of snow on the Carn Mor Dearg Arete and Ben Nevis, beyond the Aonach Eagach Ridge.

On the summit of Bidean nam Bian before heading South East down to the bealach between Bidean and Stob Coire Sgreamach, then down the steep, loose path to the bottom of the Lost Valley and back to the car park.

Raichle All Degree Lite GTX

Once again the forecast for the weekend, more so Sunday, is rain, gales and more rain!

Is it me, or does the weather seem to be crap most weekends, at least this year anyway. Still, there's talk from the mountain guide types of colder weather on it's way and hopefully some snow too.

Looking forward to some "free training" at Glenmore Lodge next February, just after my birthday. Take note anybody that knows me, ahem!

Hopefully I'll get out before then to brush up on some grade II stuff and then with a bit of pursausion, we can get some grade III practice with the MIC trainees at Glenmore.

As for this weekend; well unless I bite the bullet and nip up the Pentlands with Lorna to help try out her new boots, it could be an hour or so skiing at Hillend or a trip to EICA at Ratho.

Raichle All Degree Lite GTX's, a bargain at £80 from Peglars! :)

However, they are on older, ie last years model and difficult to find, especially as Marmot has now taken over the company. On the plus side, some Raichle named models of boots are still available from outdoor stores such as Tiso.

Holiday home to rent in Bulgaria

Just a quick post to show you a good friend of ours, holiday home for rent in Bansko, Bulgaria. http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/bansko/73412

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/bansko/73412

Why not enjoy a week in this beautifully restored village house situated only 15 km (approx 15mins drive) from the resort of Bansko. There are numerous local shops in the village for all your basic supplies which are all in walking distance or a supermarket in Bansko which covers most things you'll require. There are a few local Mehanas (restaurants/tavernas) situated in the village, plus there are over 100 in Bansko itself, which all offer an excellent range of food. Winter or summer Eleshnitsa is an excellent base for seeing the local places of interest. The rescue centre for Dancing bears, through the village of Belitza (approx 10km) has spectacular views of the Pirin mountains, and is great to see how the bears are adapting to their natural habitat. Walking, skiing, snowboarding,swimming,white water rafting,horse riding,paragliding,mountain biking, whatever you decide to do the whole area will give you a stress free break.

http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/rentals/bansko/73412

Meall Garbh, An Stuc and Ben Lawers (with special guest appearances?), 11th October 2009

With a half decent forecast, and the chance of the strong winds easing (ha ha), we headed for the Lawers Hotel on the NW side of Loch Tay. We parked the car and set off for Machuim Farm and the track that leads NW up towards Lochan nan Cat via the Lawers Burn. Once at the dam works on the burn, we struck off N-NW to the bealach between Meall Greigh and Meall Garbh, and into the wind! It was here that Lorna decided she'd had enough and turned back whilst I battled with the wind up to Meall Garbh at 1118m.
 
After a couple of near horizontal moments at the summit, I managed to get this pic of the North side of Ben Lawers, with (half of) An Stuc on the right - it was windy!

At the foot of An Stuc (above), soon realised it wasn't the "beast" it has been made out to be. Of course winter or maybe heavy rain would make the scrambly path more interesting, but today it was just a scrambly path!

At the summit of An Stuc, 1118m, the wind eased (a little) and the cloud finally cleared. Just after this photo, I got talking to three Dutch guys, here on holiday - Munro bagging. One had just ticked off 50 on Lawers summit, that's more than I've done and he lives in Holland!

And then five minutes later, I bumped into two old (as in time not age, ahem) friends as they were on their way up to An Stuc. Stuart and Sheena are two of the Kilimanjaro crew from 2006, just proving what a small world we live in. It was great to see them, and no doubt we will catch up with them again on a distant hill somewhere...

After that pleasant surprise and a quick photo of Lochan nan Cat to my left, it was head down for the final windy slog up the North side of Ben Lawers to it's summit at 1214m, followed by a quick sandwich and a cup of tea, before descending the East ridge and cross country for about 4km to get back to the Lawers Burn and out of the wind. I didn't take anymore photos as keeping upright on the rocky descent took up all my concentration, and looking back West for some good shots of my route was a waste of time as my eyeballs were almost blown out of their sockets. It was a relief to finally find shelter in the lower slopes, and form there back to the Lawers Hotel for a well earned pint!

What we didn't do on Mallorca, September 19th - 26th 2009

Saw this on Mallorca, between Porto Pollensa and Cala St Vincenc.

The Cavall Bernat Ridge; makes the CMD look like a walk in the park!

From the Cala St Vincenc side, where the cliffs plunge 400m vertically down to the sea.

Information is hard to find on the net, although it is the Cicerone guide to walking in Mallorca. Having said that, I've read people's personal accounts, ranging from a scrambly walk, to requiring a rope!!!

So we will just have to do it ourselves next year :)

Curved Ridge, Sunday 13th September 2009

I finally managed to persuade Lorna back out having not done any walking/scrambling since our week in Coniston earlier in the year. Taking advantage of the forecast good weather, we drove up to Glencoe and Buchaille etive Mor with no real plans as to what we would do. With a boot full of climbing gear, we opted for a lighter day and headed for an old favourite, the grade 2/3 (?) Curved Ridge. The Rannoch Wall in the centre of the picture with Curved Ridge rising right to left just below it. Lorna making her way up the ridge, with the Rannoch Wall on the right and Crowberry Tower just visible through the mist at the top. The only "slightly" tricky section up the corner about two thirds of the way up. Looking back down the ridge with climbers just visible gearing up at the foot of Agags Croove, (V-Diff) on the Rannoch Wall. Looking up at Crowberry Tower from the end of the ridge.

View from the top of the ridge over Rannoch Moor.

The short climb up to Crowberry Tower was a bit greasy in the slightly sheltered corner of the tower.

The last time we climbed the North Buttress, we got speaking to a guy who recommended an alternative descent to Coire na Tulaich. He spoke of going down to the western ridge if the corrie, and then slightly North East to drop down a wide grassy gully to rejoin the path back to Laggangarbh.

En route we discovered someones handy work on a seemingly not well used path (what path?).

Personally, although it may be useful in winter if you can find the route, in summer we didn't find it any easier or quicker than the normal path in the corrie.

Chamonix Week, Friday 4th September 2009 - Via Corda

With little prospect of getting to the higher mountains today, we opted for the rocky, scrambly, route of Via Corda above the Arveyron River. Gordon on the lower slabs of Via Corda, some of which despite the grade, anything up to severe higher up were occaisionally greasy, or as Mike did say, "it's all a bit round up here!" The route is great fun though with bolt runners most of the way and climbs several hundred metres. Looking down the gorge on the left of the route.

The route eventually finishes with a fine view above the foot of the Mer de Glace at a small Buvette below Montenvers, which was shut!!!

Would've been great to have a quick beer and enjoy the views! The higher reaches of the Mer de Glace. The Aguile le Dru at 3754m rising out of the mist.

Chamonix Week, Wednesday 2nd September 2009 - Mont Blanc?

We arrived at the Aguile du Midi cable car station in Chamonix, to be told that there was a power cut in the entire valley! So along with the other guides, clients and coachloads of Japanese tourists, we had to hang around for a while, waiting for any news on the cable car restarting.

Camera frenzy as the cable car finally gets under way!

View across to Mont Blanc du Tacul from the Midi.

At the top station, the Aguile du Midi (3842m), we had a quick look around before heading to the "snow cave" to gear up. We now had an extra guide with us as required on Mont Blanc; Paul who was an aspirant guide and a good laugh too!

Stepping out of the snow cave is a bit nerve racking for the uninitiated, ie, us! The snow crest has a bit of "down" on the Cosmiques hut side, and A LOT of "down" on the Chamonix side! But you also get your first views of the hut below Mont Blanc du Tacul. Looking back up to the Midi and the snow crest from the plateau. Close up of another team descending the crest. We had planned to traverse the Points Lachenal, but the weather was definitely changing, so we headed back towards the Cosmiques Hut and the ridge scramble that leads directly to the balcony. Overnight the weather really did change and it soon seemed inevitable that our chance of reaching Mont Blanc was off. In fact there was some doubt as to if the cable car would even operate! The strong winds and snow showers had kept up all night and we even told by the hut guardian to leave asp to try and get down in the only planned run of the cable car. Even the guardian and his staff abandoned the hut! So it was with some disappointment that we, along with the rest of the climbers, geared up and headed back to the snow crest and the Midi station.

Every one getting ready to leave the mountain.

The top station was rather bleak, eerie and empty of tourists as we waited, and waited, and waited for our eventual trip back down to the valley.