Today was not a day for walking up mountains but that is exactly what we did.  Bin, Soo and I set off from the Ben Nevis Inn in driving winds and rain.  I think it was quite clear that we weren't going to get up to the top but I kept my fingers crossed and we pressed on!  Bin travelled over from Malaysia to meet up with his sister Soo and they travelled up for a day to walk up Ben Nevis.  So after several hours getting battered by wind and rain, I uncrossed my fingers and we agreed this wasn't the best day to attempt this.  If we had pressed on  it would have been a very very long and unpleasant day.  The snow had receded alot.  When I walked down on Monday, Alan and I kept our crampons on until we crossed the Red Burn.  Today we only encountered a couple of soft snow patches.

On another note, there is a write up on Simon Richardsons brilliant blog of the new route Deliverance I did on Skye.

Looks good on the walk in

Great sky

Alan enjoying the wade

must be a placement somewhere under all the snow

Tired and happy

Last pitch

The start to this winter season is just getting better and better.  Today was my first days work on a winter route.  I was out with Alan who I have been doing quite abit of summer climbing this year and some winter climbing last year.  Today was Alan's first day out for the season and was more than happy to go along when I suggested North East Buttress, despite it being described as a big day.  I was super pleased as neither of us had done it in winter before and to guide it was great fun and quite a challenge.  Despite swimming up deep snow most of the way and finding the 40ft corner utterly desperate, we still managed to get from the bottom of the ridge to the top in 5.5 hours.  It really felt about IV,5 today and it was great to see Alan putting in such a great effort.  His performance was clearly down to all the weight saving tips! ;)  So another brilliant day just before some foul weather is hitting us.  On a personal note, I have now done all the great ridges on Ben Nevis in summer and winter.

Up the corner

Bit of a wade to get there

Short entry pitch.  Belay right of the large pinnacle

Getting stuck into the 1st hard bit

Fun

Mike loving it

Top pitch, dont fall here!

At the top of Deliverance (VII,7)

After yesterdays big slog up the Great Stone Shoot on Skye to get to our intended route, we decided to come back today but with less gear.  Yesterday we stashed crampons, axes, rack, helmet and any else we didn't need to dry out so today was an easier walk in...except for the large amounts of snow that fell through the night which made it very hard going.  So we arrived back at the Stone Shoot face of Sgurr Thearlaich and were stood at the bottom of our intended route.  It was very exiting as it has never been climbed in summer or winter and it looked steep.  Despite Mike finding the route, he was happy for me to do all the leading which I was more than happy with.  The first main pitch was the crux with some steep bulges to negotiate with very poor or none existent foot holds.  It was sustained with fantastic moves and some accommodating gear.  The top pitch was a little easier but again going through some steep ground but with some fantastic hooks and gear.  A brilliant route and Skye winter climbing delivered what I had hoped for.  Two brilliant days out.

Deliverance VII,7** Guy Steven & Mike Lates 4/11/2012

The line starts on the left (facing up) 30m below the top of the Great Stone Shoot by a large pinnacle.
1. 30m Climb the steep corner using the accommodating crack line to a small alcove.
2. 20m Pull out of the alcove and over chock stones to easier ground and the summit crest.

Today I fulfilled an ambition to climb on Skye in winter.   Throughout the summer I have been spending quite a quantity of time on the Cuillin and was looking forward to doing some winter routes.  I did climb Pinnacle Ridge years ago which was absolutely fantastic and always wanted to do more.  So with this cold snap, I got in touch with Mike who lives on Skye and know the mountains well.  He suggested we head up to Sgurr Thearlaich and more specifically the Stone Shoot Face.  We had a few options, a new route or an established route.  We agreed we would try an established route and come back tomorrow for a new route.  So we climbed the imaginatively named CD Buttress (V,6) which is a great route working its way through a couple of off widths and steep ground.  We climb the route in 3 pitches plus one short entry pitch.  Conditions were brilliant, plenty of snow, good cold temperatures, good turf and fantastic climbing.  Looking forward to tomorrow.

With a much colder forecast for today I was keen to head back up Ben Nevis and get another route in.  Yesterday I thought Gargoyle Wall would be ideal.  I have been wanting to do this route for years, I seconded the crux pitch when Kenny and I climbed Babylon but I was keen to do the whole route.  Alan was game for today, despite being hungover and ... well what other excuses he could pull out of the bag ... ;-)  The ground was firmer so the walk in was much easier, freezing level was quite low which was a good sign.  I set off on Gargoyle Wall (VI,6) but soon found that the rock was covered in a layer of thin ice, choking the crack's and making things tricky to protect.  So after running it out after a poor cam in an icy crack and with tricky moves coming up with a ground fall potential I thought it was too early in the season for this kind of behaviour.  So with my tail between my legs, I down climbed, found a thread and ran away.  We headed up Number 3 Gully, past Winter Chimney and found a small buttress.  On here we eyed up a line which gave us some nice climbing.  It was harder than it looked, (ended up being about V,6) managed to totally cut loose onto a single axe that was twisted into a crack, amazed that it held, gear was quite far below me, I managed to pull myself up and throw my foot up by my ear onto a ledge...great fun.  After reaching a belay, Al took over for the summit push on a nice little grade 2 rib which led us to the plateau   A slightly different outcome than expected but great fun to be out winter climbing with someone who took me out many moons ago when I knew very little about winter climbing.  Thanks Al.

Today Kenny and I went for a look up into Creag Coire na Ciste on Ben Nevis with very open minds.  We would have just been happy with a walk up to the crags if it wasn't cold enough.  Fortunately as we got higher the temperature gradually dropped and it was game on for a route.  We had a few options in mind and also we could see new opportunities arising as we wandered up towards Number 3 gully.  We agreed that we would have a look at Archangel (VI,7) , a route Tim and Keith did the second ascent of back in 2011.  It was a brilliant route with interest throughout but never desperate.  It was really nice to climb on this section of the crag and doing so has just extended my tick list.  Some brilliant looking line around here!  Conditions were ok today, snow was sticking to the rocks and turf was generally good.  We did encounter a reasonable amount of loose rock on the route but was never a major problem.  Routes that are generally facing NW seem to be in better condition for sure.  Freezing level was pretty high (1200m ish) and could do with dropping just to secure everything in place. A quick abseil saw us back down number 3 gully followed by a slow descent down loose scree covered in soft snow.

Today Donald and I left Ullapool and headed back up north to Stoer.  The forecast wasn't quite as good today so we opted to climb the Original Route (VS 5a).  Having never climbed a sea stack before I was pretty excited.  What I wasn't looking too forward to having to swim across to attach the ropes for a Tyrolean   Donald some how convinced me that I should be the one swimming, something to do with the fact that I'm younger?!  On arrival Donald stopped and said 'Oh No, bugger!'.  I thought about what it could be... wet rock, other climbers on it, covered in birds, fallen down.... No none of these, just an in situ Tyrolean   Looks like I don't have to swim!  Get in!

So we shot across the in situ rope and had a good look.  We could see it was pretty wet so the E2 was definitely out the question.  So 4 pitches of climbing done and Donald and I were sat on the top happy to be alive.  That was by far the hardest and scariest climbing we had done in the last few days.  Wet and slimy rock was not easy to climb and in some sections it felt very serious, not quite what we had expected on this classic route.  On the odd dry hold we encountered, the friction was brilliant on the Torridonian sandstone so on a dry day the route would be fantastic.  After a long, scary 57m abseil we found ourselves back at the Tyrolean and I headed across  failing to notice the tide had come in....  Donald almost wet himself laughing, I was just wet!  After I got over I re-tensioned the rope so Donald had a nice dry trundle across.  A great day in sub-optimal conditions.  The E2 looks brilliant for my next visit.  Drove back to Fort William to get the climbing gear washed and ready for tomorrow.

Day two of our mini rock trip and today we had a slightly different criteria.  Yesterday we were climbing on slabs which took its toll on our toes so today we opted for something south facing and steep.  This crag was perfect.  A secluded crag of gneiss with steep line and good holds.  Gear was a bit fiddly in places but generally ok.  Being a single pitch crag, we got through plenty of routes, all giving great climbing and a memorable experience, nothing under 2 stars.  We started on Calum's Rest (E2 5b), Gneiss Pump (E3 5c), Original Master (E2 5c), Tyrantanic (E4 6a) and finished on Failte Gu Inbhirpollaidh.  Again we had fantastic weather so it was great to be climbing in a t-shirt in October and also have a south facing crag all to ourselves  I haven't spent much time exploring the north west and to be quite honest it is absolutely breath taking.  Seeing Stac Pollaidh in the evening light was just amazing.  Another fantastic day on the rock, arms are tired, might need an easy day tomorrow....sea stack?!