Winter on eBothy Blog

Chasing the sun

Sat, 02 Apr 2016 00:00:00 +0000

There had been high pressure over the UK for a few days and I’d been enjoying some great cycling in 17C, t-shirt and summer gear when the weather finally broke on the Saturday a couple of weeks ago. It was that kind of feeling though. The cloud was very low, 200m in places. The grey ceiling wasn’t producing any rain and it was lighter than it should be with that amount of cloud. It all screamed “inversion” and coupled with reports from a friend of an inversion in the Cuillin the day before and a forecast of cloud tops being around 1050m I headed out, making for the biggest hills in the area. The north Glen Shiel ridge.

blaven via great gully

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0000

With the old knee back to normal I was champing at the bit for some adventure so with an OK forecast for Saturday (when I saw it on Friday) I decided on Blaven, my old pal. Well Saturday dawned bleak, with cloud at sea level and a fast disappearing snowpack. Light rain at 300m and rather mild didn’t bode well for my plans for Great Gully, a 300m Grade I winter route. I’ve been wanting to climb this for years but never got round to it and today didn’t look the day either. At the big boulder in the coire visibility was about 10 feet and it was drizzling. Mike Lates, the very friendly chap who runs Skye Guides was there with some clients but I didn’t want to tag along and instead headed off into the murk. Whenever I’m up in the coire I usually get the bins out and have a look at the gully to see how to get into it as the foot is rather complicated with lots of cliffs and smaller gullies so I had a vague idea of the ramp that curves round under the cliffs of the east ridge but I wasn’t sure how to get onto it.

storm 2

Thu, 08 Dec 2011 00:00:00 +0000

Quite a storm today. Power’s been off most of the day. Not quite the 165mph recorded on Cairngorm but it was around 80 here. Got blown away getting the post! A couple of vids from down at the shore. Between 2 and 3pm all hell broke loose. Very violent wind indeed. Great stuff!

west highland railway avalanche

Thu, 25 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0000

The West Highland Railway was closed between Tyndrum and Bridge of Orchy for quite a while round about the end of February/beginning of March this year due to a couple of avalanches on Ben Odhair that covered the line and the West Highland Way. On the way back from Nephew Conrad’s christening in Glasgow, I took some pics from the bus.

You can see all the pics here.

cold calm and clear on the cuillin

Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Three words that sum up this winter. January was Alpine, quite literally, with massive dumps of snow that made walking almost impossible in some areas, especially the route into the northern corries of Cairngorm, virtually no wind and temperatures down in the minus twenties. These are indeed, Alpine conditions and they make for hard walking and avalanches and so far this winter, the wind has been absent. Last year there 100mph+ winds that wrecked parts of the ski building at Cairngorm but so far, not a lot of wind. It really has been one of the best winters ever. Even the Cuillin are plastered. which drew me out for a simple day’s bimbling on Blaven on Saturday.

winter wanderings

Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0000

At last, the snow cleared enough to get out of the village and just in time too, as I was booked on to the Winter ML refresher at Glenmore Lodge at the weekend. So I thought I’d bimble up Ben Wyvis on the way across on the Friday. The forecast was for light snow showers and winds gusting to 60mph. Still benign for this area but a bit wilder than anticipated. I hadn’t been up Wyvis in yonks but apparently there’s a spiffing path all the way but from the word go it was slushy snow lower down with the path disappearing once I was out of the trees and I just plodded up squishy snow fields to the foot of the steeps of An Cabar.

still it snows

Thu, 07 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

This is the third day in a row we haven’t been able to get out of the village. Each night it dumps another couple of inches on the frozen ground. The crofters have moved the sheep onto the hill as there’s more food for the black faces up there although the others are starting to suffer. It looks beautiful but the lack of food is starting to show on some of the sheep.

on the ne ridge of beinn na caillich

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Christmas Eve, blue skies, barely a breath of wind and the fishing boats on Loch Eishort following leads through the ice to reach harbour. Is this what it’ll be like if the Gulf Stream diverts? It’s been sub-zero for the last week with stunning views in very clear air and snow from sea level to summit in every direction. So I thought it would be a good idea to get out in it for a bimble and the NE ridge of Beinn na Caillich promised some sport at Grade I if it was in nick and not just all powder. You tend to get that these days. Lots of unconsolidated powder snow.

superb old time winter climbing video

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

John Cunningham climbing on The Ben in 1976. Brilliant stuff!

winter storms on the way

Fri, 30 Oct 2009 00:00:00 +0000

It’s going to be a wild Halloween, woOOoo! 100mph winds on the tops and snow. What a combination!

where has winter gone

Wed, 25 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago there was a massive amount of snow on the hills but with lots of minor highland roads shut due to the amount of the white stuff drifting around, I couldn’t get across to the Cairngorms to meet up with the Orion MC and bag a few climbs in the Northern Corries. Then a week in Devon ensued, which was great and very relaxing and I come back to find all the snow gone! Every last drop! Apparently there’s snow above 1000m in the ‘gorms, no ice and the easier gully lines are being described as “waterfalls”. There’s an international climbing meet at Glenmore Lodge and it’s definitely a case of “you should have been here last week!”. There’s a cold front moving in tonight with the freezing level expected to come down to 750m and the avalanche category for all areas is set to jump from 1 to 3, as the old slush refreezes and new windslab forms on top of it. Not nice. But it’s speculation at the moment. No-one’s sure whether it will be snow or heavy rain on the summits as the timing is uncertain. If it’s heavy rain it could wipe out what’s left of the snow cover. And it’s still February!

more snow than you can shake a snowman at

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Not for here though, just a smidgette that was enough to snow us in and stop me making it over to Kincraig to meet up with friends at the Orion MC. I was planning on getting up Jacob’s Ladder (I) and Fiacaill Ridge (II) but that would have been unlikely as Aviemore had a foot of snow today and the top lift was closed due to winds. That would have meant whiteout conditions and with an Avcat of 4 the “norries” would have been out of bounds. It’s cleared up a bit now, although there’s more cloud coming in:

snow reminiscences 1984

Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

I was 16 and it was some winter that year. My dad, who was chief inspector, took me on the West Highland Railway snow plough on an adventure from Glasgow to Fort William. I was in the leading engine, one of those big monsters that could push through almost anything. There were two of them, with a snow plough equally massive up front. They called it double headed, having two engines working together and I remember the blizzard that hit us coming out of Helensburgh as we made our way towards the highlands and some of the best snow I’ve ever seen.

another storm on the way 2

Thu, 15 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

“O mo chreach” as they say in these here parts (equivalent of OMG!). Saturday night is looking like time to batten down the hatches and ride out the storm. From MWIS:

“Significant risk of extreme conditions setting in suddenly, with any mobility widely impossible”

Mean wind speed is going to be 60-90mph! That’s MEAN wind speed. The gusts will be far in excess of that. This illustrates the increased danger from the weather in winter. The mountain forecast is saying the wind will more or less appear from nowhere, after a calm day and making all movement on the hills virtually impossible. So make sure you don’t delay on the top. I was caught in similarly bad weather on Blaven last winter but it was only gusting 60-70 and that was pretty wild. That time, the wind literally came out of nowhere.

sound winter advice

Mon, 08 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Grough has a great article on winter walking. If you’re new to winter, it’s a great starter for ten and if you’re thinking of doing Winter ML, here’s my brain dump from the training. If you want to see how the pros cut steps, watch this. It’s the instructor on my winter ml training:

deep snow on the south glen shiel ridge

Sat, 06 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Had a fantastic day today on the South Glen Shiel Ridge, well the bit between Maol Chinn Dearg and Sgurr Coire na Feinne. A ridgette really. I was planning to do more but the snow was so deep and soft I was tiring by the time I got up there. I was also trying out my new La Sportivas, which are rigid and are hard going on the old feet, as I haven’t worn stiff boots in years. I left the house at 7.30am and was walking by 8.30, through deep soft snow from the word go, while the sky blushed in the first light of day.

a snowy skye day

Sat, 29 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It was a still and cold day at the eBothy today. My crampons are past their best, with the straps all bust and all sorts, so after a very cold night I thought it best to bimble around taking pictures instead of heading for the frozen heights. There was some snow last evening then a clear and cold night which cemented the car shut for a while but once out, the views were stunning:

the first snows have arrived

Fri, 03 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Had to go to Inverness on business today so managed to take some pics of the first snows of the winter, down to about 1500 feet. Not a drop on the Cuillin of either Skye or Rum though. It’s all on the mainland. Looks wonderful. Forecast for tomorrow is horrendous!

winter still approaching

Thu, 02 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0000

We didn’t get the snow to 850m yesterday and neither did we get the forecasted gales, although this morning the big sign at Broadford was flashing CANCELLED for the Armadale ferry. Not sure why as the Sound of Sleat is like a millpond and it’s a beautiful sunny morning. Perhaps it’s too nice to sail and everyone’s just hanging out, admiring the views. Having said that, there was a fisheries boat in the Sound as well as the Hebridean Princess, just sort of hanging around, so perhaps there is some weather on the way. There were also a fair few deer at the top of the road this morning, which is a rare occurrence so perhaps there is indeed weather on the way.

is winter coming early

Wed, 27 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0000

It’s very autumnal here and the word on the streets is winter might be coming early. Well, it’s come early to Alaska according to An Gaidheal Alascanach (The Alaskan Gael). Translation is:

A little early for this type of view

We’ve had a real humdinger of a storm. Loads and loads of water and there was no sign of the mountains behind the town until yesterday when the clouds cleared a bit and this was the view opened to us

a winter storm on blaven

Sun, 06 Apr 2008 00:00:00 +0000

At last, a day on the hill and with the forecast for gusting 60mph and blizzards, it was going to be interesting to say the least. So I decided to head up Blaven via the south summit. I know the route well and was hoping I could experience some wild winter weather without having to worry too much about the navigation. We’ve been having some very unseasonal weather lately, with lots of snow on the hills and strong winds. Normally winter is over by now on the west coast but an Arctic blast has just hit us, with gale force northerlies and huge dumps of snow on the tops.

winter guiding in the cuillin garbh bheinn north ridge

Mon, 24 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I had an old friend staying for the Easter weekend, up for a Corbett bagging session and with the forecast predicting heavy snow and gale force winds it was an ideal opportunity to get some Winter ML logbook experience. We intended to go up Garbh Bheinn, starting at the head of Loch Ainort at the wonderfully named Eas nam Bruadaran (waterfall of dreams), which flows out of Coire nam Bruadaran (corrie of dreams). I don’t know how this area got its name but it’s a a rather large bog and the walk up the corrie to Marsco can be hard going in wet weather. However, our route was up Druim Eadar da Choire (the ridge between two corries) and up the north ridge of Garbh Bheinn (rough hill). I’d been up this way in summer and knew that the 489m top was a beautiful spot to linger and soak up the views of the Cuillin ridge and it was a nice grassy Alp, in contrast to the upper part of the north ridge which was bare rock and scree.

whither adventure

Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

I used to like winters. I used to climb ice and snow. I used to revel in the wildness of spindrift avalanches on the north face of the Ben, which sucked the breath from my mouth and soaked my stinging face. Nearing the top of a steep climb, sheltered from the south westerly gale, sometimes the only sound was the dull plunk and scrape of the axe searching for purchase on iced rock. The sound of total concentration. I can still hear that sound and the muffled icy rattle of gear. When you’re not sure whether something’s plastic or metal, you give it a tap, see what sound it makes and you get a feel for the substance, it’s depth and quality. It’s the same in winter climbing. When your axe caresses rock and rivulets of powder flow from its pick you feel the huge solidity of the mountain. It reverberates down the shaft. You can suddenly imagine the other side of the mountain, storm lashed and steadfast, sheltering you from the maelstrom. Then your mind compresses back to the task in hand and you thwack into solid ice, pull up and restart the process with the other axe.

real winter reminiscences

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 00:00:00 +0000

With the winter 2007/8 forecast out, the threat of yet another half-winter got me thinking about days of old.