UKC

A couple of friends and I are looking for some good winter routes for beginners. Not too far from Edinburgh (eg arrochar alps, loch tay, crianlarich) and preferably not too bad a walk in.

Experience wise, we’ve done a two day course and have had few days out in winter ourselves.

In reply to Donnie:

To clarify, are you looking for decent grade I type routes?

In reply to Donnie:

Chockstone Gully followed by Great Gully on the Cobbler is a nice easy day out. Chockstone is pretty straight forward at grade II and takes you to the bottom of Great Gully. GG (also II) has a couple of rocky steps which give some sport.

In reply to Donnie:

Maybe look south as well - there's some great stuff in the Moffat hills (in the Lowland Outcrops guidebook) - easy walk ins, shorter drive, but more fickle conditions. Avalanches are something to think about there too mind you - not as common as the bigger hills up north, but lots of snow build up on fairly uniform/concave grassy slopes can lead to some exciting times!

In reply to Donnie:

Hi Donnie,

Aldo's suggestion of the 2 routes on the Cobbler (Chockstone & Great Gullies) is a good shout. Plenty of opportunities to practice belays etc, and give the feel of a full mountain day.

Enjoy,

ANdy

In reply to Andrew Mallinson:

I'd second this suggestion, I did them on Sunday and they were good fun. We roped up and moved together, but did place two bits of gear. They're also out of the wind.

In reply to Donnie:

Central Gully on Ben Lui is a great route and it was also my first winter climb. Be careful though if your heading up any time soon. I've had a look out the car window in the mornings I've been driving up recently and it looks like there is a ton of snow up there right now. Could be dangerous!

In reply to Donnie:

Agree with Martin, in good firm snow Central Gully on Ben Lui is a belter, so much so I usually do it every winter. If you're unsure about snow conditions a clockwise circuit of Coire Gaothach's bounding ridges is a safer alternative, although gaining access to and from the coire could also put you on some dodgy snow slopes. Y Gully on Cruach Ardrain is another straightforward snow climb in firm snow, normally with no cornice issues. The North East Buttress on Stuc a' Chroin gives a rerr (albeit short) winter scramble if you pick a line up the rocky section in the centre of it.

In reply to Donnie:

Tarmachan Ridge? http://scottishwinterroutes.com/tarmachan.htm

In reply to cat22:


The ridge itself is really just a walk, albeit a very good one in winter. There are some reasonable climbs on the E side of Meall Garbh (Cam Chreag http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=1543 ). The crag is increasingly sun-affected as Spring approaches, and it's worth taking some turf gear.

In reply to Donnie:

Thanks everybody. I think the plan is to see what's looking better on Sunday, the Cobbler or Ben Lui and go for that.

In reply to adamarchie:

Grade one or two - I think we have some but any other suggestions welcome

In reply to Mark Bull:

We've done that, great day out (apart from the walk in)

In reply to Donnie:

If you want a look at Chockstone GUlly, we did a video (HD lol) of it last sat (7th) not sure how the "lean" bits will be by now. We pitched just for practice etc but most of it is straightforward
youtube.com/watch?v=uoaLbsKnO1o&

Tim

In reply to Donnie:

A few more ideas, Donnie:

- A round of Coire nan Cat, i.e. Ben Lawers and the three Munros to its east. Make sure you do it anti-clockwise. The ascent onto An Stuc is great: maybe 150m of good exposed grade I/II. The rest of it is hillwalking - with great views.

- A round of the Ben Lui ridge: grade I. Take bikes for the approach.

- Slightly further away, but Cruachan ridge traverse. Best to do it clockwise to have the wind at your back. Did this recently and found a grade I gully that pitches you out right on the summit. Mostly a cracking hillwalk with a wee downstep east of the summit which isn't overly difficult.

- If your car can find its way a bit further to Glencoe, there's loads of great routes in those grades. See Scottish Winter Climbs.

In reply to Donnie:

I was on Chockstone Gully yesterday, a lot of snow has gone since last week so the first step up is now a wet scree scramble and there's hardly any snow under the chockstone.

In reply to all:

Thanks for the advice everyone. I think we're going for Ben Lui - central gully if it looks good and round then ridges it we're not so sure.

In reply to Donnie:

Walked in to Ben Lui today. Lots of low cloud in the coire so gave Central Gully a body swerve (it deserves something a little better than the "White room" experience.) Did the clockwise ridge traverse, fantastic conditions (apart from the visibility). Firm icy snow all the way with the rocks all nicely decorated with rime feathers courtesy of all the low cloud. In a nutshell, above about 650m, Gullies and ridges in Coire Gaothach are about as good as it gets

In reply to Joak:

Nice one! Cannae wait