Wintery Glencoe and the Grey Corries

October and November are wonderful quiet times for me, when I recover from a busy summer, and take a deep breath before the cold thrills of winter. Winter came a bit early this year however and Wally and I managed to grab three magical winters days in the West Highlands before the month of November was out.

 On Saturday, we had an easy day with a plan to keep our legs as fresh as possible for Sun/Mon. We headed up the steep staircase that leads to Stob Coire nan Lochain in Glencoe. The aim was to brush up on our winter skills, and familiarise ourselves with the conditions. The snow proved too soft for practicing ice axe arrest and other exercises so we satisfied ourselves with a jaunt over the top and back down again. 

 Lovely views across the glen to the Aonach Eagach. 

 The gullies and butresses of SNCL itself were plastered with fresh snow, and fluffy little cornices topped the steeper routes.

 Magnificent views west towards Loch Leven and beyond. 

 On Sunday we packed our expedition rucksacks and headed from Corriechoille up in to the Lairig Leacach. The rain quickly turned to snow as we climbed and we took shelter in the bothy for a welcome brew at lunch time.

 After lunch, it was up in to the coire below Stob Ban.  We found a high pitch for our tent just below the bealach, and as the sun was setting, climbed up to Stob Ban.  We didn't get much of a view in the fading light and mist, but the moon beautifully lit our descent to the camp.

 Dawn at camp was a cold place!

 From the bealach, we climbed steeply up on to Stob Coire Claurigh, and from there headed along the Grey Corries Ridge towards Stob Coire an Laoigh.  

 The cloud refused to lift all day, and visibility deteriorated to at times complete whiteout punctuated by looming buttresses and snow covered scree. 

At last, descending towards Coirechoille again, we dipped below the cloud and were treated to stunning views of the of the Aonach Mor and Aonach Beag range.

Stob Coire Nan Lochan, Glencoe

The countdown to my Winter ML assessment is on, and although I don't want to say too much about it at this stage, you can look forward to a frank post mortem after the event. However, regular readers this winter will have spotted  in my blog some references to QMDs (Quality Mountain Days), insane night nav missions, persistence in digging bucket seats on easy ground, tying the rope around my waist, and not climbing anything harder than grade 1 for the entire season. Its been a frustrating winter, and I'm pretty anxious about it all, as better leaders than me have not passed first time, but I've worked hard at my prep and now I must wait to get the dreaded thing over with.
Yesterday was my last chance to practice my skills among friends, and my mate Hazel kindly agreed to play at being my client for the day.  We met in Glencoe the night before, planning an early start to try and beat an impending thaw and associated weather. The early start paid off, and when we arrived at the base of Broad Gully, Stob Coire nan Lochan, the ground was still frozen and the winds light.

 Stob Coire nan Lochan first thing. Broad Gully is the shallow rightward slanting gully between the black summit buttresses and the small triangular buttress (Dorsal Arete).

The snow conditions seemed pretty good at this point, although there was a thin layer of poorly bonded fluffy stuff that was overlying old hard neve, it wasn't deep and could easily be kicked through.  We hoped to top out before the thaw, and associated wet snow instabilities predicted by the SAIS.

We had cracking views across Glencoe to the Aonach Eagach and even the summit of Ben Nevis was out of the cloud for a bit

We roped up at the base and proceeded to pitch the gully old school style. The old snow was rock hard and digging buckets was warm work.  Hazel had a wee go as well and lead her first winter pitch (nice one!). We made slower progress than I'd hoped however, and the weather began to appear. Higher up the gully, fresh snow and spindrift were blowing in.  I had a brown trousers moment at one point when I looked around me to see rivers of loose snow literally flowing past me on either side down the gully. Fortunately, it was only a small section of the gully that was in this poor state and I took a good spike belay on the side of Dorsal, brought Hazel up, and found that not far above the snow condition improved with little of the loose stuff to bother us. 

Hazel having fun in Broad Gully

We topped out as the weather deteriorated and the snow turned to rain.  It wasn't as windy as predicted, but a few ferocious gusts warned us to hurry up and descend. Once down in the shelter of the coire again it was possible to relax and take a leisurely walk out. 

Big changes happening in the mild misty rain when we returned to the coire, fresh snow was melting and older snow turning to soup.

There were a few parties about as well as ours, doing winter skills courses and digging industriously in the rain.  I hope the weather improves for them this week (and stacks up some nice conditions for me next week...).