UKC

I'm considering heading up to Scotland on Thursday night for a long weekend of climbing. With the current avalanche hazard are there any suggestions on where it would be best to go?
I realise Ben Nevis probably isn't the best venue at the moment, but I fancy having a crack at North East Buttress - how avalanche prone would the approach in Core Leis be for this?

In reply to Julian Prieto:

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?n=635279

In reply to Mountain Llama:

Thanks - yes I've seen that report, which is why I'm concerned about approach slopes. I'm hoping someone might have some advice on what the approach is like to NE Buttress when there is a considerable avalanche hazard.

In reply to Julian Prieto:

Make things less complicated and go somewhere besides Ben Nevis, there's ice and great conditions everywhere.

In reply to Steve Perry:

Any suggestions on where would be best?

In reply to Julian Prieto:


If I had the long weekend I'd head to Skye.

In reply to Julian Prieto:

Better aiming for a nw route.

In reply to Julian Prieto:

bear in mind it will have been a week since it last snowed and drifted by the weekend, the snowpack will have stabilised a fair amount. still need to be carefull as there wont have been any thaw to bind layers together.

In reply to planetmarshall:

Funny you say that, I was thinking it would be great to go there with current conditions. However it's a long overnight drive from southern England!

In reply to Julian Prieto:

Some great pictures on Facebook showing amazing ice on Skye just now. We were on Lurchers yesterday and all the ice lines are looking great and turf is bomber.

In reply to Julian Prieto:
anywhere facing W / NW would be a good choice although N aspects don't seem too bad in the cairngorms.

Obvious crags:
Aonach Mor West Face
West Face Aonach Dubh (could be in it may have been cold enough)
The northern corries (mostly Face NNW, avoid fiacall ridge area in Coire an t'Sneachda, Mess of pottage should be more scoured again than the main corries).
Lurchers Crag (I'm not sure on safe approaches to this crag so you may want to look in to this further)

erm I'm sure there are more options too, you can do an advanced search on here

In reply to Webster:

Thing is personally I would only go to considerable avalanche risk venue / aspect if there wasn't other reasonable alternatives and I thought it wasn't going to be too high in the category. Unless you can totally avoid scarp slopes, crag aprons and gullies on the category 3 aspects just the now, I would avoid it. I think there is still a thick layer of graupel quite deep in the the snow pack and there are plenty of other options for climbing right now also.

In reply to Julian Prieto:
regarding NE butress, the classic approach takes you over E facing slopes so probably not a good call in current conditions. You can approach up a west facing chimney line Slingsby's Chimney. I've not done it but in theory if its in nick it will probably be safe currently. That all could change mind!

In reply to Webster:


Unless there has been a temperature gradient in the snow pack leading to the growth of crystals and creating weak layers.

In reply to Julian Prieto:

I'm heading out tomorrow and over the weekend and am personally sticking to ridges and avoiding snow slopes (where practicable).

I'm taking heed of the discussions and advice being given on here and given there's much to do that reduces the exposure to the risk then it seems daft not to.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Cairngorms sounds like a good bet, but avoiding NE to SE aspects (and possibly also N based on latest avalanche report).

In reply to Webster:


It's not stabilising much due to staying cold, there's also a lot of transportation on the winds; the snowpack is really variable - it transitions from ice to crust on dust to powder to neve in a matter of metres. There is stable stuff there (plenty of people have been skiing it this week) but care needs to be taken. Don't think that long time since snow = stability.