UKC

Hi Guys, I'm heading up to Aviemore tomo to run a winter climbing course next week for some novice winter climbers so i was wondering if there were any low grade routes getting done in the norries or anywhere else local for that matter.

Thanks in advance

In reply to StevoNorthernClimber:

I'm thinking of going up there this weekend for some grade I/II gullies, so any info on conditions there would be useful for me too! Looks like there have been a few gully lines done on the ukc winter logbook page, but it's hard to garner enough good info about the routes' condition from people's logbook entries. Ta!

In reply to StevoNorthernClimber:

Yep, Jacobs Ladder is pretty good at the moment. There's generally good hard snow in the easy main gully lines. Ciste Mherad also has a lot of firm snow in it, though the outlook is for some heavy and high winds in the next few days. For the first time in 2 yrs the lows are tracking further south with the tendency to give northerlies & easterlies. This generally means heavy snow for the Cairngorms. The outlook is for a progressive lowering in the freezing level.

In reply to StevoNorthernClimber:

Weather models are currently diverging sharply about what will happen in the Highlands during the next week. Definitely some easterlies though.

Met Office: it will stumble on with limited wind and precipitation and no extremes of temperature.

Nearly everyone else: winter Armageddon.


In the prevailing complexity, small changes in the way the Atlantic lows develop and dissipate can lead to large changes in the result over our heads. Weather is fickle. You knew this, right?

In reply to StevoNorthernClimber:
Very poor in the nw also. A few easy gullies are complete, eg hayfork gully on an teallach but the next corrie over, tal an lochain is very very bare. There may be some snow in lords gully but I havent seen into it. Turf frozen anove 900m. Rubbish lower down. Very poor conditions all over the nw at the moment.

In reply to StevoNorthernClimber:

The easy gullies in the norries now appear to be largely complete but still incredibly lean and im pretty sure the top out of Jacobs ladder etc is on rock. stuff can be done given a weather window but I imagine it may well be harder than normal in the easy gullies for a while yet. fiacail ridge is bare rock but is still fun as a winter scramble

In reply to Webster:


I watched a party exit Jacob's on Saturday steeply on good neve to the right. The 'chimney' still needs to be filled in, but it was pretty much complete.

I agree with lean - Alladdin's was bare in the middle icy pitch, (watched a party come in from the broken ground between Jacob's and Alladdin's to avoid it). Central looked complete, as did the Runnel, but with plenty of protruding rock. Red looked bare.

This current spell of Easterlies should bring a good deal more I would have hoped. Back up on Friday.....