UKC

Any ice and how's the road? Cheers.

In reply to Jimmy56:

A friend of mine was out there last week and said some of the shorter ice falls were in reasonable nick. Longer stuff was patchy though.

In reply to Jimmy56:

dont know, but i visited Divach Falls at Drum yesterday and had a lot of ice but too much water flow

In reply to baldie:

Interesting, wonder what grade that goes at?

In reply to Jimmy56:
Not sure about this week, so far.
But good conditions last week (and 2x new routes too... well I think so!)

As TobyS mentioned regarding last week, shorter ice is good, longer routes need some further build up and after the 3 mild days, maybe useless now.
Snowy ramps, cracks and turf was really good last week.

Out later this week, so will post fresh conditions then!

In reply to Jimmy56:

Divach Falls goes about V when in nick. Also done nearby are Corriemony Falls III/IV, Guisiechan Falls IV/V and Plodda Falls same. I think as can't remember. Think in SMC Journals somewhere.

In reply to Lone Rider: Conditions yesterday in Strathconon looked okay. A couple were climbing one of the gullies on Creag Dubh called Left Fall III and were just short of topping out when I passed. Hardy seeing as it was -14c. Hard to see what the other lines looked like from the road although Allt Mhairi is almost there. The Strathconon Experience looked almost there as well of the section that you can see from the road. Lower down the ice that forms on Meig and Upper Scatwell Crags is slow in building up due to the very cold weather locking up any drainage. Both crags have ice that could be climbed but not thick enough for screws as yet. Road is drivable with care past Milton.

Cheers

In reply to Lone Rider: Nice one M. Thanks for that info.

In reply to Jimmy56:

The Strathconon icefalls are in good condition by and large. Eve and I did Left Fall on the 22nd December, the lower pitches were tricky mixed but the top three pitches each gave 30m+ well formed ice that was not brittle despite the cold (that however froze my water bottle wrapped in clothing inside the sac). The lower pitches made it a IV but the current slight thaw might well have improved things lower down by releasing some of the water. The Allt Mairi was done on Boxing day too. Strathconon is a cold place so might resist the slight thaw longer than most other low-lying spots.