Thigh to waist deep snow everywhere!

The A9 was re-opened today however once you get on the road it is almost impossible to stop anywhere as all the laybys and side roads are blocked with dense thigh deep snow. After several trips back and forth tying to find some parking we managed to make our own thanks to the Landrover 4x4 and the Berlingos snow tyres. An hours wade later along the old A9 brought us near to my house "Ice Station Zero". We then headed for the icy crags through the Slochd pass trail breaking through waist deep snow for some sunny ice climbing! At the end of the day an other hours walk back to the cars and then Aviemore to drop everyone off before returning back for yet another hours walk home with supplies by headtorch!!!
More details and photos on Fi's blog here

Snowed out!!

Stuck in Aviemore until tomorrow as the roads are currently closed due to heavy snow and white out conditions! Inverness was more or less cut off this evening with the airport closed, rail line blocked and the A9 closed. Today our winter mountaineering course did a bit of micro navigation and tried cross-country skiing for the first time. Details and photos on Fi's blog here

Winter ropework and ice threads

Today we looked at basic winter ropework and simple belays. The snow was too deep and soft for ice axe belays so we made good use of natural threads and ice screw V-threads. In the afternoon the the wind increased and heavy snow showers arrived. With so much snow around any winds are going to created huge drifts and cornices on sheltered aspects..! More photos here

Snow shelters and roadside ice climbing

Plenty of snow and ice near my cottage for our Winter Mountaineering course...! For more info see Fi's blog here

New Year and new winter course

There's been lots and lots more snow in the Cairngorms making road travel extremely difficult and mountain travel almost impossible without skis or snow shoes.
Road access to Cairngorm is also difficult due to the sheer number of visitors and skiers up for the Christmas/New Year and the resultant traffic queues. On the plus side the snow cover for skiing couldn't be much better with the best powder skiing in Europe! The lower level forest skiing is also fantastic.
Despite several feet of snow the Cairngorm Mountain ski road has been cleared of snow quicker than the streets of Aviemore or even the A9 by the ski companies fleet of snow-blowers and snow-ploughs.
The depth and weight of snow on trees and roofs has caused a lot of damage and the possibility of being avalanched from roofs, hit by icicles or crushed by fallen trees is a real risk. On the hills the avalanche risk on most aspects is very very high too.
Today a few climbers tried to access Coire an t-Sneachda on foot but gave up only halfway after more than three hours of floundering!
There's plenty of good thick snow covered ice close to hand in the lower hills without the slog or the high avalanche risk if you know where to look...
The first Winter Mountaineering course of the New Year started today and details can be found on Fi's blog here