Blog Posts in Category: Locations

Morwind – Aonach Mor

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

I was pretty keen to get out today after spending a blue sky day in bed yesterday due to feeling ill, however the forecast was less than promising. We decided to head up Aonach Mor due to the lift allowing us to have a lie in, surprisingly due to the wind the chair lift was running which enabled us to get very high on the mountain without doing any work. Conditions on the mountain were terrible at the start of the day, with warm air, hill fog and lots of wind. We made our way up to the summit hut and were sheltering behind the hut trying to decide if it was worth going for a climb. Eventually we decided to abseil down Easy Gully and have a look, with the idea that if the conditions were bad then we would walk around to the climbers col. As we made our way down Easy Gully we met up with another pair who were heading for White Shark, which looked like it was in pretty good condition, but I don’t know how they got on. As we got to the base. Read the full article…

Green Gully

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

I had a brilliant first winter climb of the season today, and what a contrast to last year as the weather and conditions were fantastic. We climbed Green Gully. and the conditions were fantastic. We had first time placements all the way up, some of the gear wasn’t brilliant due to this and the top belay above the last crux step was awful. The climbing was brilliant and the route was not banked out or stepped out at all which made the climbing much more enjoyable. The walk in was beautiful as the sky was completely clear and starlit, it was a shame that there was no moon as I have fond memories of walking into a moonlit Ben Nevis. Due to a very early start it was still very dark by the time we were at the CIC hut and started the next slog up into Coire na Ciste. During this walk we met up with an SMC member who had been staying in the CIC hut, apparently Point Five was climbed yesterday and was reported to be in good condition. The snow was not ideal for walking up, but. Read the full article…

Rébuffat Route – Aiguille Du Midi

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

With yet another weather window of only one day we decided to head up the Aiguille du Midi cable car and climb the classic Rébuffat Route on the south face of the Aiguille du Midi. It was very bizarre being in Chamonix in the morning and an hour later rock climbing at 3800m. The descent down the arete out of the Midi was spectacular with a massive cloud inversion, with only some of the larger peaks sticking out of the cloud, during the approach to the midi and on the descent it became clear that there had been a large amount of snow in the previous days storm, this combined with the very cold air temperatures made us wonder if the route would be climbable. As we approached the climb there were two parties in front of us, but it turned out that they were backing off due to ice. We decided that it didn’t look that bad and decided to continue and have a look for ourselves, and I am so glad we did! We decided to climb the route with our boots and crampons at the bottom, with. Read the full article…

Tour Ronde North Face

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

We made the decision to move back to Chamonix from Saas Fee due to a better forecast combined with there being more routes in condition that we wanted to do. The first weather window we had was meant to be an afternoon and a day before a storm came in, during this weather window we decided to head to the Tour Ronde to climb it’s classic north face. We made this decision largely due to there being a strong wind forecast, so we didn’t want to be up on any exposed ridges, and the Tour Ronde was sheltered by some of the larger mountains surrounding it. During Monday afternoon the weather did not clear as expected, which meant that we were not able to take the gondola to Italy from the Aiguille du Midi. Due to this we decided to spend the night in the Cosmiques refuge and walk across the Vallée Blanche in the morning to climb the Tour Ronde, before walking back to the Aiguille du Midi cable car station (at no point did we think about driving through the tunnel to Italy). After having to wait for. Read the full article…

Panorama – Jegihorn

Alastair BegleyRock Climbing, Switzerland Short Link

After having a rest day following our ascent of the North Ridge of the Weissmies, we decided to make the most of a single day of good weather by heading to the Jegihorn to do some multi pitch sport climbing. We climbed a route called ‘Panorama’, which was a 10 pitch f5a. After a quick walk up to the crag we were pleased to find out that no one else was aiming for our route, everyone else was either heading for the classic Alpendurst or the via ferrata. From the route we had a great view of the Weissmies, including the long north ridge, and the Lagginhorn. Multipitch sport climbing with two people is very efficient and we made great time up the route, finishing the 10 pitches in under 2.5 hours. The main delay at belays was having to get our breath back as climbing at altitude is hard work! The climbing was initially fairly easy and broken with lots of easier ground, but the climbing just improved with height as the rock got steeper. There were some surprisingly tricky moves at points, which were made all the more exciting by. Read the full article…

North Ridge of the Weissmies

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, Switzerland Short Link

After an aborted attempt at the Rimpfischhorn due to conditions which were more similar to Scottish winter due to hill fog, a freezing wind and plenty of fresh snow with some dangerous windslab. We arrived back in the valley too late to start a long walk in to a hut which left our options fairly limited. In order to make the most of a brilliant weather window we decided to head up to the Hohsaas hut with the intention of having a look at the North Ridge of the Weissmies, although this was potentially a bit more optimistic due to the amount of snow around and not having any condition reports from the ridge. We woke up to a fantastic morning with cold air and a clear sky, this enabled us to make very quick progress up to the Lagginjoch. After the approaches to the Rimpfischhorn and the Aiguille d’Argentière it was great to have a short approach to a route, rather than a long slog. The sunrise over Italy was fantastic and provided some great light over the Saas mountains. It was a freezing morning and we initially started climbing. Read the full article…

Flèche Rousse – Aiguille d’Argentière

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a number of days of unsettled weather we finally had a period of settled weather which allowed us to get up into the mountains and attempt a route. Our objective was the classic AD Arête du Flèche Rousse on the Aiguille d’Argentière, although its condition was unknown as it hadn’t been climbed in a few weeks and since then there has been a lot of snowfall and the nights haven’t been that cold. We set off from the cable car station to start the walk in from the hut in very Scottish weather which included hill fog and rain. After a relatively painless walk in we arrived at the hut with lots of wet kit and were very pleased to be greeted by a happy guardian and news of a proper drying room! We set off early the next morning to a crystal clear sky, although unfortunately despite this it was not a cold night and the snow had not refrozen overnight. We made good time to the start of the route despite having to break trail, however after this the snow slowed us down significantly. The initial snow. Read the full article…

Petite Verte

Alastair BegleyAlpinism, France Short Link

After a long day yesterday and two sleepless nights the thought of an early start in order to catch the first lift of the day wasn’t all that appealing. However, due to only having a brief weather window in the morning before a few stormy days we decided to get up early and head up the Petite Verte. We chose this route due to it being a short day (under 300m ascent!) which would enable us to get high and continue acclimatising before the weather came in. When we arrived at the lift station it became clear that a large number of other people had (unsurprisingly) had the same idea. The weather in the morning was fantastic and upon leaving the lift station we were greeted by fantastic views of the Aiguille d’Argentiere on one side and views towards Mont Blanc on the other side. Thankfully we managed to leave the lift station quickly and were in the initial group of teams heading for the ridge, due to the air temperature being cool the snow was frozen and we were able to make quick progress up to the start of. Read the full article…