UKC

"A dry day with fine panoramic views of snow capped peaks across all ranges" so said the MetOffice forecast last night. Bollocks I say!! Couldn't have been more wrong for Glencoe certainly.

Plan was Beinn Fhada and over Bidian, day started in the rain, then the driving rain, then the hail, then the snow, then the snow and the clag. The White Room was so intense at one point I had to kneel down and stare at the ground close up before I threw up/fainted. Took us ages to get onto then along the ridge with heavy fresh snow, bailed into Lairig Eilde at the steep step up to Sgreamhach. Knee jarring descent back to the road, and then the injustice of walking back down the road to the car (had parked at Heli Pad on the basis of finishing down Lost Valley or SCnL path...)

Quite a bit of fresh snow above the 750m mark, and some amazing cornice/wind blown arete action on the ridge itself, but didn't see much else through the day. Though I can confirm that Eilde Canyon isn't in yet!!

Photos here for what it's worth:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152126087765865.1073741852.7386...

Cheers folks,
Gordon

In reply to peebles boy:

A bad day in the hills beats a good day in the office!

In reply to peebles boy:

C'mon, that sounds ace. You were out, doing stuff, whilst most of the rest of us were contributing to RSI. Good on you. (I spent the day chopping trees down, which I'll see the benefit of in about 24 months)

Had a terrible climbing day on Saturday, which involved about two hours of walking and not a single route completed. Day ended in rain. But we found a couple of projects, and we'll be back up there tomorrow, depending on snow tonight (no snow, clipping bolts tomorrow; snow, we'll go higher)

Martin

In reply to maisie:

Hmmm, not sure who had the better day there, it's a while since I've done any wood chopping but I always found it strangely therapeutic in a manly kind of way!!!

In reply to peebles boy:

Definitely manly. We (we're staying at a friend's house) walked in the door with very deep voices and a particular need for beer. Chainsaws were involved.

But you got out and saw some scenery from the opposite side to everyone else. How was that not a better way of spending your day? Someone put up a thread on here recently about it becoming like dadsnet (is that real?), and I think they nailed it. Kudos to you.

In reply to peebles boy:


Just watching Winterwatch at Mar lodge, in the Cairngorms and it was obvious that they planned it to be snowy by going to one of the coldest areas at this time of year, but as you will see, if you turn it on, there is very little snow, but lots or rivers in spate., and flooded fields.

( I have learned that earthworms can live underwater for over 100 days breathing through their skin, )

In reply to peebles boy:

Sounds familiar. Left the climbing gear in the car, went up the Zigzags onto Gear Aonach then SCNL via its east ridge on Saturday, claggy, nice firm snow. The continuation out to Bidean and back was a very different touchy feely affair, swirling spindrift, some recently formed soft windslab and very poor visibility. High pressure, azure blue skies with a sharp penetrating frost disnae appear to be forthcoming in the immediate future!

In reply to peebles boy:

I've often thought that being a weather forecaster must be the easiest job in the world. You can get it wrong more than half the time and still keep your job. Not sure that any other occupation (other than politician) you can be that wrong and still have job security.

That said, your day sounds pretty awesome in an alpine suffering kind of way. Certainly better than sitting at a desk. I've always figured that any day out climbing that doesn't end in someone getting injured or killed is a good day.

In reply to peebles boy:

>The White Room was so intense at one point I had to kneel down and stare at the ground close up before I threw up/fainted.

Excellent. Mark Twight couldn't have put it better....