Lee Harrison Climbing

With Anna still feeling unwell we decided to make the last day an easy one. It was a choice of either returning to Aonach Mor to try something of similar difficulty to yesterday, or do something longer and easier. The conditions on Aonach Mor hadn't been that inspiring to warrant a return. With blue skies expected, Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor sounded a far more enjoyable outing. Its four star rating would no doubt offer a fine day in the mountains and would of course provide broader experiences compared to simply returning to the same crag as yesterday to climb a second route. The foreshortened view of Curved Ridge Being a classic route, and a Saturday, the route was not surprisingly busy. Not too busy to cause major queues however. We opted to take in alpine coils and move together for most of the route in order to improve efficiency. We set 20m between us, which would provide enough rope to place runners through harder sections whilst minimising rope drag. It

Two days had passed by since we had last climbed a route. On Wednesday we had driven to Applecross in the North-West Highlands in the hope of finding some winter conditions but had found little. Temperatures were set to drop towards sea level imminently but with little snow remaining from earlier in the week there was little reason to stick around. Meall Gorm was stripped. Maybe the East and West Buttresses of Beinn Eighe would have been possible but with Anna's cold becoming slightly worse rather than better the three hour approach would be too long. This was actually our first visit to the North-West Highlands so at least we got to explore a new corner of the UK in process. It's a beautiful part of the world - no doubt more beautiful had we left the roads. More beautiful than many parts of Norway in fact and with a similar sparseness. We pushed onto Fort William and civilisation that same day, which meant few more hours driving than planned. Our only souvenir being some gia

We had taken a rest day on Monday due to the 80mph forecast and because Anna was feeling unwell. She had been suffering from a bad cold that had refused to go away for a week and a half. Luckily on Tuesday morning, against the odds, she was feeling well enough to climb, although the shorter walk-in to Coire an t'Sneachda again needed to be the sensible plan. With the strong southerly winds appearing (in Aviemore at least) to have picked up in the afternoon of Monday we were a little concerned that the current avalanche report would be out of date by the time we entered the coire with windslab increasing. Particularly given the amount of fresh snow that had fallen whilst we were in the Northern Coires on Sunday. The provisional plan had been Original Summer Route on Aladdin's Buttress but we didn't like the look of the descent down Aladdin's Couloir, which looked potentially loaded (but probably actually ok after seeing the later avalanche report), as did the coi

Anna was feeling a little under the weather on Sunday so we opted for the short approach to Coire an t'Sneachda again. Friendlier weather with a lot less wind and better visibility made the walk-in much more pleasant. Better weather we expected to result in more people but we were in the coire at a decent hour. Fine weather, but a busy day expected in Coire an t'Sneachda We headed to Fiacaill Buttress, which looked a little more scoured from yesterday's NE winds, so hopefully better snow conditions. Plan A was the Seam, otherwise something nearby at a similar grade. The buttress was relatively quiet as it happened. Just one pair on Houdini and one pair on Smokestack Lighnin', and of course plenty heading up to Fiacaill Ridge. Approaching Fiacaill Buttress There was some wind slab on the slopes directly beneath the route, up to about 25cm in places but localised, so no real risk. My only previous visit to Fiacaill Buttress had been on Invernookie,

I've missed Scottish winter climbing. I've missed the weathered cracks, corners and chimneys and rimed rock. For me there is nowhere better to climb in winter than Scotland ...when the conditions are right. I've even missed the freezing belays, spindrift, upland gales and other general unpleasantness. They're all things that contribute to Scottish winter feeling a full-on experience and ultimately a more rewarding one. Few climbers visit Scotland from Norway. Many would say I am travelling in the wrong direction. At least if Scotland looks diabolical then I can cut my losses and not get on the flight. A win-win scenario, and with flights fairly cheap it's a worthwhile gamble. There was little sign of winter ahead of our trip. In fact it only arrived the day before we did. But it definitely arrived. Temperatures on Cairngorm's summit had been around 5 degrees on Thursday, then below freezing and dry in the coires on Friday. It was now Saturday and snow wa

It was 2am by the time I arrived at the North Face car park on Friday night. Another epic drive from London. Firstly traffic hold-ups on the M6 North of Birmingham, then snow on the road North of Crianlarich. Tent pitched and alarm set for 5.30am. It snowed for much of the night. Three hours after arrival. Time to pack up and go climbing The coires were holding a lot of fresh snow above the CIC hut so breaking a trail halfway to the summit did not appeal. That said I was aware that the recent warm weather would likely have thawed the lower buttresses so a compromise was needed. We headed for Observatory Gully with a vague plan to climb the first route that looked in condition. I had anticipated Observatory Buttress to be the right sort of altitude to withstand the recent thaw but this was just a vague hunch. I was more concerned about the presence of large cornices above the routes but visibility was too poor to confirm their whereabouts. The cliffs were buried in fresh snow.

Lochnagar maybe wasn’t the best choice of venue given that we had only managed a couple of hours sleep on the roadside of the Old Military Road. Something with a shorter walk-in was probably more appropriate. Leaving London was as grim as ever. We had lost an hour stuck in grid-locked traffic on Fulham Palace Road and we were still obviously a long way from the M25. I won’t need to do this for much longer I keep reminding myself… The morning’s weather was idealistic with blue skies, little wind and freezing temperatures. Much of Lochnagar’s cliffs were still plastered in deep snow though. The cornices above looked massive despite the thaw the previous Sunday. The avalanche forecast looked underrated for Northern aspects. We saw two massive avalanches trigger down Raeburn's Gully and continue down towards the loch. Maybe the biggest I have witnessed in Scotland. The West Buttress looked the exception with less snow and minimal cornice. We dithered for too long trying to work ou