Mullach Clach a’Bhlair & Sgor Gaoith

Alastair BegleyMountaineering, Scotland, Walking Short Link

Having had an excellent day on Sunday traversing Liathach in unusually nice Scottish weather, today we were treated with a more usual day out. We spent the day munroe bagging above Glen Feshie where we completed a 25km loop which included Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair & Sgor Gaoith. We set off from the car hoping that we would be able to cross all of the rivers which on the east bank of Glen Feshie, thankfully we were just about able to with some fairly committing jumps over the first river we came to. The ascent up Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair was very painless after the long walk down the valley due to the estate track which runs all the way up to the plateau, as we joined the plateau we ascended into the white room. Unfortunately the rest of the day was spent in the white room staring at a compass. Having read stories online of people not being able to find the summit of Mullach Clach a’ Bhlair in the summer even with the help of GPS due to the summit being very indistinct and having a tiny cairn. Due to this. Read the full article…

An Alpine Traverse of Liathach

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Over the past few years I have completed three (An Teallach, Aonach Eagach and the Cuillin Ridge) out of the four classic mountaineering ridges in Scotland in winter. This just left Liathach left to complete, unfortunately for the past two years the weather and conditions didn’t align while I was in the area. Thankfully this year it was very different as we were blessed with a stunning weather forecast during the time we had planned on being in Torridon. Our walk up from the Beinn Eighe carpark was wonderful as the sun was rising which was plastering the mountains in a wonderful orange glow, as we ascended the mountain we started to see some of the wonderful scenary which Torridon has to offer. The ascent up to the start of the ridge was pretty hard work and we took a very long time to get up to the ridge, thankfully yesterday someone else had broken trail which made the approach somewhat easier. When we got up to to the first top we were greeted by a spectacular panorama of the Torridon hills which instantly made all of the hard work. Read the full article…

Sunny Schiehallion

Alastair BegleyScotland, Walking Short Link

Today was the start of this years Scotland trip, last year we were constantly battling with frankly terrible weather. The start of this year’s trip could not have been more different as we were greeted with wall-to-wall sunshine, I even got sunburnt! We have plans in Torridon tomorrow so had a short day en-route today. We climbed Schiehallion, which is a Munroe which Becky had been saving for a perfect winter day, and it certainly could not have been much more perfect than today. On the ascent we were too hot in our baselayers as there was no wind, although we did get a sharp reminder of how cold it was in the slight breeze on the summit. The conditions underfoot were relatively easy going on the well trodden path which enabled us to make a quick ascent in under 2 hours. The views from the top were absolutely fantastic due to the cold crystal clear air which meant that we could see over to Rannoch Mor and Ben Nevis to the west, Ben Lawers to the south and the Cairngorms to the North East. The snow was softening slightly. Read the full article…

Rjukan Day 6: Nedre Svingfoss

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

Having had a long day out on Trappfoss yesterday we both felt a bit achy this morning when we woke up so we decided to have a shorter day out in the upper gorge so that Becky could do some more leading. We had a sociable walk down to the climb as there were numerous teams from our club heading down into the upper gorge. The walk in was as atmospheric as ever, and it was great to walk in with the great view of Trappfoss having climbed it yesterday. Our plans were to head to the single pitch WI3 of Nedre Svingfoss so that Becky could get some more experience on lead. Becky did a good job leading the route which was a bit steeper than it looked from the ground, which probably made it about WI3. Lucy ventured further up upper gorge with James and David who were setting off up Juvsøyla and after they had set off from the first belay came back and joined us for the climb. As the temperature was only just below freezing the ice remains a mix of decent ice and useless rotten ice,. Read the full article…

Rjukan Day 5: Trappfoss

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

With another good forecast Becky and I  climbed the classic WI4 of Trappfoss, partly because it is visible from our accommodation and looked brilliant from a distance. It was pretty windy this morning as we left the house, but we soon descended down into the bottom of upper gorge and out of the worst of the wind. The going underfoot was easy until we got past Sabotørfossen, when the good track vanished and left us trail braking in up to thigh deep powder which was hard work. As we got further up the gorge the wind started to pick up again and we soon had to start making our way up a steep snow slope to the start of Trappfoss. There was a fantastic ice formation which we had to climb past; I have no idea how it formed as it seemed to be a frozen waterfall with a horizontal roof sticking out from it before it had started to form another vertical ice fall. While we were gearing up to climb the edge of this feature another team turned up who were heading for the classic ice pillar of Juvsøyla. We. Read the full article…

Rjukan Day 4: Upper Gorge & Vemork Bridge

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

With a great weather forecast combined with cold air temperatures David and I planned a big day out in Rjukan’s Upper Gorge today. Initially we had planned to do Sabotørfossen and then Nye Vemorkfoss which are both multi pitch WI5s. On the walk in it became clear that it wasn’t as cold as it was forecast to be, but that didn’t seem to be too much of a problem as nothing seemed to be dripping too much. The walk up through the upper gorge was fantastic as it is such an atmospheric place with the steep sided walls, covering of snow and steep lines of ice towering out of the gorge. We headed to Sabotørfossen first as it was the classic and looked like a stunning route, I elected to take the middle pitch which left David with the easy first pitch and crux final pitch. The first pitch is an easy angled slab up the start of a hidden chimney with a number of steep icy steps, which leads up to the final crux headwall. David had to clear a lot of snow off the first pitch as it was. Read the full article…

Rjukan Day 3: Svingfoss

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

With the forecast set for 3 degrees and rain we decided that today was going to be a rest day, so that we could make the most of the cold, clear conditions forecast for Wednesday and Thursday. After a lie in we woke up to discover that the air temperature was around zero and the promised rain had not materialised. Due to our late start we decided to head up the road and climb Svingfoss which is about as roadside as you can get. It is graded WI4, but looked pretty steep from the bottom with two obvious lines, the left hand line followed a leftward trending ramp and the steeper & more obvious right hand line followed a groove all the way to the top. I set off up the route and followed the right hand line as it seemed more natural, it was great to be back on some steeper ice and enjoy the gradual build up of arm pump again. After this we had planned to go down into the lower gorge and climb Tracy’s Eyes, but unfortunately we remembered that we had to go down to Rjukan to get some. Read the full article…

Rjukan Day 2: Lower Gorge

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

The weather forecast for today wasn’t great, snow and about zero degrees air temperature. Due to this we decided to head to Ozzimosis so that everyone could get some more milage in. Unfortunately we didn’t make it up the mountain road due to ice so aborted that plan and decided to head to the Lower Gorge. After a slightly exciting descent, we were soon in the base of the gorge. It was a very atmospheric place and I was glad to find that the river was mostly frozen which meant it was easy to move around the base. Hjemreisen, the classic WI4, was looking fantastic but unfortunately due to the warm conditions it was dripping a bit too much to be able to enjoy the climbing. We headed around the corner to the classic WI3, LP-plata. I lead up the steepest line and after much faffing fixed two top ropes for the others to climb the route. It was just about possible to top rope from the top of the main fall with a 60m rope. The route was great, with generally sustained climbing with one steeper step in the middle.. Read the full article…