Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Minus Three Gully

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

Another early start this morning to head back to Ben Nevis in order to make the most of the brilliant ice conditions. I was pretty unhappy this morning with yet another early start, and when it was raining as we were in the car park my psyche levels were pretty low. By the time we were at the hut the weather had cleared but it was very cold in the wind. We headed up into Observatory Gully with an open mind, but having seen the minus gullies looking great we decided to go and have a look at Minus One Gully. I lead up the first pitch which was straightforward to start with, but I was soon stopped by vertical snow below the first belay which meant that I couldn’t get to the belay. The crux pitch looked thin but maybe climbable, but with only a rusty peg 10m below me I wasn’t willing to try and swim up vertical snow (never seen anything like it, in the photo look at the icicles hanging down for reference of angle). After a quick abseil back down the gully we came up with. Read the full article…

Fingers Ridge, Coire an t-Sneachda

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

After a few days of bad weather we set off into Coire an t-Sneachda with an open mind, but really aiming to climb fingers ridge. As we approached the coire there was hill fog shrouding the crags, but the  walk in was pretty quick and easy due to there being a small layer of soft snow on top of good neve. As we approached the crag the hill fog started to lift and soon we had good visibility of the entire crag. An hour later all that was left above us was blue sky and sun shining down into the coire which was fantastic. There was another team of three ahead of us on the route, which was a trainee guide on his assessment. Due to this we made the assumption that the team would be quick up the route so decided to follow them up. Unfortunately it turned out that they were not quick and took a very long time on the first pitch, but by this time we felt like we had committed to the route as we had been waiting for a while, and my psyche had. Read the full article…

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…

The Arrival of Winter

Alastair BegleyMountaineering, North Wales Short Link

Having not been out in the mountains since getting back from the Alps it was great to spend a weekend in North Wales. This was made even better by the arrival of winter and a good cosmetic covering of snow. There was a strong wind in the morning as we headed up out of Ogwen, but the air was clear and the sun was shining. We decided to head up towards the Carneddau and ended up having a fantastic day out in excellent conditions.

Salbitschijen Rock Climbing

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

Prior to my trip out to the alps I started doing some research into alternative plans due to the poor alpine conditions. During this research I stumbled across the Salbit, a peak in central Switzerland which has three major ridges which all provide excellent climbs of varying difficultly. In addition to the major ridges, there are numerous other multi pitch routes. Due to a week of poor weather dumping a considerable amount of snow on the high alpine peaks, we decided to stay low and do some multi-pitch rock climbing instead. The obvious destination was to head to the Salbit and attempt the classic Sudgrat, a 600m long granite ridge, and top out on the summit needle. Due to the weather window we had we decided to walk up to the Salbit hut early in the morning before heading out to climb a 13 pitch ridge which is above the hut, called the Hüttengrat. Hüttengrat, Gemsplanggenstock We competed the walk in very quickly, shaving an hour off the 2h30 book time. While we were walking in there were fantastic atmospheric views, unfortunately the atmospheric views did not continue and shortly. Read the full article…

Aiguille d’Orny Rock Climbing

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Switzerland Short Link

After a last minute change of plan due to an excessive amount of snow in the mountains we decided to head up to the Cabane d’Orny for two days of rock climbing. There is an easy walk in to the hut which is surrounded by excellent rock. The walk in to the hut went quickly, but we were unsure if we would be able to climb due to drizzle and being in the cloud. When we arrived at the hut it was still cloudy but the rock was mostly dry so we decided to head out and climb the Aiguille de la Cabane. When we left the hut we had good time to complete the route before dinner. However due to a route finding screw up by me, we managed to lose an hour by walking 30mins in the wrong direction… Eventually we arrived at the base of the route and set off. The climbing was immediately interesting with the crux being on the first pitch, a steep and juggy corner. After this the climbing eased off and was much easier and we made quick progress up the fantastically exposed. Read the full article…