Beinn nam Ban

Date:

21.02.2010

An Teallach, Constabulary Couloir

Date:

20.02.2010

An attempted ascent of An Teallach via Constabulary Couloir with Lucy, Andy and Suzana. Initially the snow in the lower part seemed pretty unstable; soft and very deep. However, higher up in the gully we had excellent neve conditions and it was perfect for soloing up with crampons and an ice axe. Lucy was on good form, and made a bomber pace up the route, topping out much before myself and Suzana got there! The weather was lush too, crisp and cold - just how all winter days should be! But by the time we had reached the ridge before the traverse of An Teallach started properly it was already starting to get dark again. Suzana and I roped up thinking that the terrain was going to become infinitely more difficult from there, but we didn't actually tackle the main difficulties of the ridge because >>>

Hidden Gully (II)

Date:

17.02.2010

Characteristic:

Alpine trip

Alternated leads with Suzana while Rocio soloed up with us. Nice route, but the snow wasn't particularly neve-like, especially after the second pitch so it felt more like a steep walk rather than a proper climb. Still, we had some practice in moving together on a short rope on the descent off Stuc a'Choire Dhuibh Bhig with fantastic views into the wilderness north of the Liathach massif - the first day of the week (possibly) we'd had any decent views at all.

East Buttress (IV)

Date:

15.02.2010

We started the day with an hour's drive from Lochcarron into Torridon, parking up at the foot of the valley between Beinn Eighe's western end and Liathach's eastern end. It was about 8am when we got out to begin the long walk in to the coire on the northern side of Coinneach Mor; in fact it was altogether dismal to start off with, rain being chucked down like you wouldn't believe. Nevertheless, after much dithering around we eventually set out in the soaking wet conditions anyway and about 3 hours later we were finally round and into the coire, looking in awe up at the Triple Buttresses. We were going to climb the grade IV route up the East Buttress, which was at that moment looking decidely thin and uninviting for me as someone who has a fear of mixed routes. It turned out to be quite a long >>>

Goat Track Gully (II)

Date:

14.02.2010