Getting a lumber...

Craig and Mark headed for an overnighter in the Coire Cas carpark for an early start to the Norries.

A vino night cap and up at 6am saw us watching the crowds head into the 'Sneachda...so, we headed for Lurcher's Crag at a more leisurely pace.

Enroute, we saw a full depth avalanche trail across the Lairig Ghru...very scary.

Full depth avalanche across the 'Ghru

We had K9 in mind but after getting to the base, it was clear the ice was very fragile, wet and delaminating.  The traverse to the base of the first pitch looked unappetising so we back off and headed for what turned out to be North Gully (III).

Surprisingly steep pitch at mid-height

At the top

Soloing the route up to the main ice pitch midway, we passed a rope of 2 and chatted about this winters rather "tricky" conditions.

We roped up for the "steeper than it looked" ice overlap then continued solo to the summit.

Onwards to the crag summit and a pleasant lunch and chat with the keen ski-mo'ers saw us head off towards to the ridge down to the east side of the Chalamain Gap; it was incredibly icey on the way down due to wind scouring and cold temps...fun nonetheless.

Chalamain Gap

VERY icey descent

A pleasant walk out saw us head for Aviemore, a quick gear shop scan and coffee at the inimitable Aviemore Mountain Cafe; thence home and a hearty dinner.

Toe-rags...

Fine day out; first proper sunny winter's day in a while.  The snow is beyond description mind!

Face Plant

Bill was out running an MBLA Trail Cycle Leader course last weekend around Mugdock Country Park, with the Maryhill TA squad.

Super keen and always willing to get dirty, they learned new skills on and off the bike.  Sergeant Jaime kept them in check with his barking voice and all had an excellent few days.

The trails around Mugdock are ideal for TCL courses, with a variety of terrain in and out of remit for candidates to examine and peruse.

Highlight of the two days was seasoning a steep downhill braking test; unfortunately, one person declined to follow the 'no front brake' grab rule...

Notwithstanding, more candidates are keen to come training and those just trained are off to develop their skills before returning for assessment in early course.

Martian Landings

Saturday saw Craig out on the hills around Comrie with the Glasgow Life group.  A lovely walk up Beinn Odhar, a Graham, then skirting to the adjacent hill saw us hitting the snow line around 500m and trudging through some thick heather to get there.

There are some lovely hills around the area, with one particular ridge line south west of Comrie looking very appealing in the snow.  We made Beinn Odhar in fair time but the wind on the summit and the proposed route west to the next was into the teeth of the snow bullets.  Common sense saw us take the winds at our back and drop down to the beallach fora sheltered, and lovely, lunch spot.

The only draw back to the summits were the increasingly, and hideously unsightly, ubiquitous wind turbines appearing out the mist like something out an HG Wells novel...there are places for these things but a new approach is needed before the Scottish hills are decimated by these monstrosities...

Anyway, turning our backs to them, they disappeared in the mist again and a little navigation was needed to gain the next top and find the way down the broad ridge line.

All in, another lovely day with group; I'll jinx myself but I've been blessed with most fine weather when out with them.........perpetul rain now no doubt!

An Irish Treat

Well, some three-four years after finding his camera at the bottom of the NE buttress on Ben Nevis and reuniting him with same, I finally met the man in the flesh...and what a great character Stephen turned out to be.  Typically chatty and friendly Irish dude who even laughed, politely I'm sure, at my jokes.

We had plans to climb something nice but the weather and avalanche forecast worked against us.  However, always having another plan A, Bill and I met Stephen at his bnb in Crianlarich and headed to Ballachuilish for a journey up School House ridge, a lovely alpinesque ridge line to the top of one of the munros towering over the village.

We made the snow line around 600m and breezed the steps, overtaking a youthful, if sedentary group near the summit; I recall there being a cairn of sorts at the summit but this time it is merely a snow mound with Scottish bergschrunds up and down the line of the ridge to catch one unawares.

The weather held fairish for the day and entreated us to some pleasant views on the descent down the north ridge.  Back at the car in jig time, we had a pleasant coffee and cake in the Coe, thence dinner in Crianlarich.

A most pleasant day was had by all; the craic was sound, the walk 'Scottish', steak pie excellent and future plans laid.  The most surprising part of the day was Stephen actually holding on to his camera for a change (I make that number 5! ;) )

New friends, merging paths and the road rising to meet us for our next adventure - and damn soon too I hope.  A stellar Scottish day; thanks for the company Stephen.

Gretna and tartan

Craig and Bill had a great activities and challenge day with young people from East Dunbartonshire Council engaged on an anti-sectarian  project.

We had them climbing over ropes, passing balls through pipes, speed collecting the alphabet and playing various forms of archery.

It was a damp cold day at Mugdock part but this failed to dampen the enthusiasm of the young people who threw themselves into the challenge with vigour.   Mud prevailed in overdoing the rope and the alphabet game went down a treat.

The archery was 'interesting' but the target was threatened on at least three occasions :)

All in, a great day rounded off by a visit to McDonald's for a well earned burger (not for the atheletes mind).  They move on with their project now to visits to Ibrox, Parkhead & Hampden.   Hats off to them for keeping us, and themselves, entertained and integrating as a team from the two schools.

And Gretna won...

Is the Monument meant to be over there?

Craig and Bill took a group of keen walkers from Glasgow Life to the hills above Dalmally on Sunday.  The snow on the hills looks quite beautiful at present; there is lots of it but avalanche risks abound higher up and common sense is required when venturing to the Scottish hills at this time.

Our walk took us to 500m and broke out onto open ground around this height after a pleasant walk through the forest.   A path to the ubiquitous radio masts then saw us strike across country to Loch an Stacain.

The views were to die for and the weather very friendly; one snow squall passed us between spells of sun.   The temperature rose through the day and although the snow line sat around 400m, it was a very wet pack and in need of a good freeze to make walking less strenuous.

We completed a great circular walk, bar the final 100m ascent to the van, in the dark and made a hasty dash for coffee and cake to the Green Welly Stop and thence home.  A 10/10 day in the Scottish hills, which goes to show you don't need big mountains to have a big day.  

Some more pics of the day...

Always Plan A, even when it's not!

Plans for Taxus and Cirrus fell apart when Craig and Mark drove through Bridge of Orchy and headed for Achaladair; 6C, persistent rain and orange avalanche warnings meant it was all too much of a risk.

Heading for the Coe, saw us check out the North Buttress on the Buachaille - too loaded - then SCNL - death on a stick.  What to do...the Ice Factor was unappealing and we wanted to get something done, burn calories and get cold.

Ridges were always the likely location, so after a rain (get it?) check, we headed for School House Ridge at the back of Ballachuilish village.  We got ahead of a winter skills outing and headed up the appealing line, with cornices in view near the top.

Once we hit the snow line, we moved fast with light sacks and sans crampons.  However, the snow is soft, the drops steep if one slipped and there are two wee steps worthy of respect and care, so we got crampons on and roped the steps to be safe.  A hasty pit at the top of the ridge line revealed a hard slab covering but a definite weak layer about 4" down with a smooth shear.

After that it was a fast ascent to the top at 947m where the wind howled around us like a train; the spindrift was bullet like and we snuggled down behind the rocks to see if the wind abated.

A group ahead 'retreated' citing a navigation error and followed us down the ridge line then across to the more northern ridge line and thence to the village school carpark.

All in, a fine day indeed; a new approach to the hill for Craig and a lovely line for those days when you want to avoid avalanches.   Notwithstanding, can we have a bit of settled weather to give us a wee climb before summer arrives??