UKC

Hi

I am heading up to Scotland in the next few days and am planning on climbing mainly on Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor and the other areas close to Fort William. Looking at the forecast and the recent SAIS reports, it looks likely to be around Considerable to High on the avalanche scale on the slopes that I would most likely have to cross/climb on.

What options are there on these mountains for accessing routes in reasonably high avalanche forecasts? I have quite a bit of experience at judging the snowpack from winter Alpine climbing but I am not familiar with these cliffs. I'm after recommendations for options when the N/NE/E aspects are loaded and not a good idea to cross. Obviously I will make my own informed judgements on the day, but I would like to develop a potential shortlist.

Thanks

In reply to iamaclimber:

Ridges. But not Castle, because of the approach.

In reply to iamaclimber:
Look at conditions reports, ie http://www.abacusmountaineering.com/currentconditions.html

And here to see what's been climbed http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/winter.html

In reply to iamaclimber:

The stuff close to the hut is a good option in bad weather and/or dodgy snow conditions. Not sure what grade you're looking for but there are decent routes from III to VI on the Douglas Boulder. We were up on the east side of Tower Ridge yesterday. Lots of avalanche debris in Observatory Gully but the snowpack was OK as far as we went ( Brass Monkey). The decent down Tower Ridge in an full-on hoolie was quite exciting though.

In reply to iamaclimber:

Regards Aonach Mor, you can abseil in from one of the posts near the ski patrol hut, which gains you either Morwind area or Left Twin area depending on which way you go; handy for avoiding the potentially hellish slopes at the bottom of the crag. Not sure what nick the posts are in at the moment.
The Ben gets a lot of localised wind effects so sometimes it's worth just going in with an open mind and see what you can get at. I've been surprised positively and negatively lots of times.
Quite often bits of Coire Leis are scoured so you might be able to get on to NE Buttress.
Beware the routes on the west side of the Douglas Boulder, there's a nasty terrain trap below the approach slopes.
Routes on the NF of the Buchaille often start before the serious snow line. The exits can be dodgy though, but if you find that's the case you can always reverse your route.

……..Mind you, saying all that, there's times I don't go out anymore; whereas a few years ago I was of the mind that it was almost always possible to do something.

In reply to iamaclimber:

There are some ridges on the West face of Aonach Mor which can be approached from the top gondola station.
Being ridges and on a west face sounds promising in the current conditions but I've never done them so I can't comment on the approaches or topouts so you'll have to make your own judgement but could be worth looking into?

You could check out what people have to say here
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=649