Strong SE winds and heavy drifting!

 I was out with Alan and Paul who were wanting to build on their previous rock climbing and winter Grade 1 experience. They were up with their mountaineering club which coincidently had also booked Jonathan P for some guiding that day. The forecast looked pretty reasonable and we weren't expecting the full on winter experience - the weather had other ideas!

On our walk in it quickly became apparent that the strong SE wind and blowing snow (wind chill of minus 25) was going to affect our day making even the simplest of tasks more difficult and filling everything up with spindrift.
On the plus side the drifting snow was building fast on the NW aspects covering the approach slopes, crag aprons and filling up the gullies for the first time this winter. Unfortunately it was also building large overhung cornices over some routes, one of which I later heard had collapsed and avalanched down the Runnel!!!
Most of the main gully lines were busy but surprisingly Goat Track Gully and it's variation was free, after a French team abseiled off to join the queue at the foot of Red Gully.
I couldn't believe our luck in locating the only vacant classic line in the corrie. As a bonus it was now filled with snow and sported some nice steep ice in the corner for the guys to test their mountaineering axes on! The guys did well on the tricky steps which felt harder than the grade compared to normal.
Paul also experienced his first hot aches and nausea after completing the ice pitch saying afterwards he really enjoyed the experience and wanted to do more though possibly not with the hot aches!!!
After the climb we had to hang on to everything stuffing the frozen gear into our sacks for our descent.

The Goat track was slabby so we decided to battled across the plateau to the relative shelter of Coire Cas, avoiding the large cornices now forming over Jacob's Ladder, Mess of Pottage and on the Coire Cas Ridge. The upper ski area is drifting in nicely with everything is starting to look really good for winter sports in the Cairngorm's

GREAT viz, great day but busy!!!!!

One of the best days of the year so far weather-wise though very busy in the ski and climbing areas given the limited snow cover.
Lot's of climbers on lots of routes with even Coire an Lochain looking busy!!
To avoid the masses we headed off towards the mixed ground on Fiacaill Ridge with our MPS students. Jonathan, Robbie, Jonny, Henry, Arno and myself were fortunate to have a great vantage point for the goings on in the main climbing area and the place to ourselves. Both the mountaineering and the climbing teams looked at rope-work and leading as they climbed up towards the the ridge crest on progressively good snow. A couple of the committee, after a good day on the Seam yesterday, headed over to Coire an Lochain. They climbed Central Crack Route and said the coire was very busy with climbers from the International Climbing Meet and even a film crew before the SAR arrived!

Fi's MPS winter walking group had a great day too as they traversed the mountain looking at navigation, avalanche awareness and emergency rope skills. They even managed to get some unique 'Sun Dog' photos! See Fi's blog for more details here ,Jonny's MPS Facebook photos here and Arno's photos here!

Cold but poor viz...

Red Gully!

Looking down Jacob's Ladder!!!!!

Climbing up the Goat Track

A lot less visibility today than was hope for but it was cold! Fi, Jonathan and myself headed into a fairly busy Coire an t-Sneachda with our respective Nottingham MPS groups and several other training groups.
As Arno, Henry and myself headed up the Goat Track to Coire Domhain we noticed quite a few folk out climbing in VERY thin and less than ideal conditions. The Runnel, Central and Crotched gully were looking especially busy no doubt due to the almost complete lines of old snow in the Runnel (apart from the crux chimney!!!) There were folk climbing a number of other lines such as Fingers Ridge, Red Gully and Fiacaill Couloir. Nottingham MPS teams were on Fiacaill Ridge, The Seam and Hidden Chimney with Jonathan. Climbers were also on the Haston Line, Yukon Jack (retreating?) and Jacob's Ladder which can be seen in one of the photos above!!!! Several skiers spotted on the plateau carrying skis! A few more photos of the Winter Skills group on Fi's blog here

Better visibility for tomorrow is being promised so hopefully a few better photos from the plateau, Coire an t-Sneachda and Coire a Lochain.

Cairngorm's Northern Corries looking wintry again!

Northern Coires from Loch Morlich

Coire an t-Sneachda

Coire an Lochain

Over the next few day Fi, Jonathan and myself are out with Nottingham University MPS teaching winter climbing, winter mountaineering and winter skills.
The weather was cold and clear today with the outlook looking nice and wintry for the coming week or so.
We had a look at the Northern Corries which looked more wintry than expected, with some fresh snow in the gullies and crags, despite yesterdays big thaw...

Lots of snow for our drive to the airport!

A least half a metre of snow fell overnight making digging out, packing the car and the drive to Grenoble Airport a bit of a nightmare! However for anyone heading out to the Alps the powder skiing should be excellent and the ice softer and fatter.... We arrived back home in Scotland this evening safe and sound after a very bumpy and worrying approach into Edinburgh Airport due to the high gusty winds.

La Grave ice and skiing update!

A few clouds about today and slightly milder so another rest day skiing at Les Deux Alpes for less than 21 Euros!

With high pressure for the past two weeks, it's been sunny during the day and frosty both day and night especially in the deep valleys. It's also been a lot colder this week with overnight low temperatures well below minus twelve partially freezing up the rarely formed Le Saut de la Pucelle in less than a week!

This has really fattened up the ice in the upper La Grave area with Les Valseuses touching down and now looking fat. Many of the popular reliable ice lines on north aspects such as Le Pylone, La Croupe de la Poufiasse, La Colere du Ciel, are now climbable though not as fat as they have been in some years. Based on our past experience, Goulotte d'Astarothe, Les Doigts d'Astarothe, Cagade, and Goulottes du Muretouse all look like they would be ok. On southern aspects the lower pitches of the routes in the Clots area look climbable as well as the popular routes at the tunnel such as Caturgeas, Les Moulins and Mini Moulins though the upper cigars are either not fully formed or very thin. All the routes on the south facing slopes are now being strongly affected by the late January sun.
The routes at Alpes d'Huez have given us great climbing - Symphonie d'Automne, Supercramp, Stalactus and Super Misere. Ice Bille and Misere also were in condition. There have been so few climbers about that we've had the routes to ourselves and only on Saturday did we see a group on Ice Bille.
We were lucky to arrive just after the huge dump of snow so the snow conditions were stabilising nicely and we skied at Les Deux Alpes, Alpes d'Huez and had a fantastic day skiing on La Meije from 3200m all the way down to the village at 1500m. That was last Wednesday and since then there is a lot less powder about and some runs are getting a bit scratchy but with more snow forecast...!
The roads have been very icy and covered in hard packed snow. We've had to use our snow chains as winter tyres on hire cars can be a bit of a lottery unless hiring from Geneva.
After twelve years of trips to La Grave in January, this has turned out to be one of the best with a great mix of climbing and skiing.
More details and photos on Fi's blog here

Fi on Super Misere!

"Back to Alpe d'Huez  for our last climb of the trip to climb Super Misere which looked like a Scottish icy gully on Ben Nevis....."
The full story and lots of stunning photos on Fi's blog here!

Sparkling icicles!

"Alpe d'Huez with its sunshine was just too appealing compared to the bitter cold of the La Grave valley!
This time we climbed Supercramp taking the ramp that forms the start of Supercramp direct but continuing on and across to the belay at the top of Supercramp's first pitch. The ice above was steep..."
Another great ice climbing day in the sun on SuperCramp with the full story and photos on Fi's blog here

Deep blue skies and thick blue ice...

"Another great day at Alpe d'Huez this time to climb Symphonie d'Automne.

The ice on the first pitch was much harder and more brittle than we expected..."

More photos and full details on Fi's blog here

Sun and ice at d'Huez

"The overnight temperature at La Grave has been around -12c and the ice is hard and brittle. The high pressure that has settled over the Alps has given milder temperatures higher up so we decided to go to Alpe d'Huez to get the benefit of this. The ice routes are accessed by a half hour walk along a pisted trail from the first level of the lift that ultimately ends up at Pic Blanc..."
The full story and more photos on Fi's blog here!

Lots to do over the next week and lots of headcam video too!

A spot of ice climbing!

"Ron and I went to try out our new ice axes on Le Pylone and for me, to try climbing steep ice without leashes. The ice was hard and fragile in places and the axes took a bit of getting used to but with nobody above us, we could enjoy the climbing..."
A rest from the skiing today with the full story and more photos on Fi's blog here!

Tons of snow in the Alps!

"We didn't have to go far to find fantastic skiing on La Meije, just two minutes from our apartment. We skied one run from 3200m down and across to the second lift station at 2400m to pick up the gondola back to the the top. Another run took us down the Vallons de la Meije and through the forest to the lower lift station at 1800m then back up again for a final run all the way down to La Grave..." The full story and more photos on Fi's blog here!

Fantastic weather and snow cover in the Alps with great skiing in Les Deux Alpes, Alpe d'Huez and La Meije! Given the superb weather and snow over the past week it's also surprisingly quiet which is great for us!

Tomorrow for a change and to rest our legs we'll be going ice climbing. 

Although choice is limited in La Grave and conditions thinner than normal there's still plenty of good thick ice to climb in the area and in Alp d'Huez...