It's been the usual mixed start to the Winter season here in Lochaber. The dumps of snow followed by mild and wild weather seems to be the pattern at the moment. I started my Winter with an exceptional blue sky day on Castle Ridge with Andy Mac and Andy H. Great company, fun climbing and superb weather definitely set the bar high for this season's climbing!
At the start of the month I headed put with Nikki for a couple of days. Nikki had done a fair bit of Winter training with her time in the Armed Forces including some Arctic Warfare training with the Marines! We had a quick hit on the Ben followed by a great day up Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe.
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| Damp on the Ben after a big thaw |
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| Stob Coire nan Lochan with some fresh snow 03/12/15 |
I've also worked on a couple of Ben Nevis Winter Trips for Maximum Adventure over the past few weekends. First up was during storm Desmond so some wild and windy weather. Still, the chaps put in a sterling effort and we battled onto the summit without to much of a struggle. My water proof 'rubber' trousers that I used on the North Face Survey came in very handy and actually kept me amazingly dry. If only they came in bright colours... :)
Last weekend's trip for Max Ad was with Hannah and Gavin also. We had a bit of a late start but still managed a good wander towards the CIC Hut with the team and we got to show them the Ben's best side in pristine conditions. What a difference a week makes!
Today Al and I fancied a quick blast up something so we headed up Curved Ridge on the Buachaille. A shell and a base layer was all I needed to wear today as it was mild pretty much from car to summit. Soft slushy snow and greasy rock kept our interest up but it was surprising to see how much snow had stripped already and that's before Thursday's rain....
Looks like some more mild and wild conditions towards the end of the week and early weekend so it'll be interesting to see how things shape up over the festive period.
