Lots of stuff to go at on the Ben, the ice routes are as they were though a bit more solid after colder weather, the fresh snow though has given the whole crag a covering and there is plenty of mixed routes looking good now.  Many people out climbing and looked like a new route possibly going up left of Smiths Route.

We did Tower Ridge which was great and was well snowed up and mixed from the start.  The fresh snow on bare rock below meant it was not in its easiest condition and we climbed many variation pitches out right to pass the crowds….

Well done Jill, great effort for your first 2 winter routes!

There is a full crag shot from yesterday on the Epicentre Facebook page.

Woke up this morning to fresh snow down to about 500m and a freeze to about the same level overnight.  A last minute change of plan took us to Dorsal Arete with the Chimney finish.  Lochan was feeling the part today with fresh snow and sunshine.  There is good old snow about and exposed turf was firming up though anything deep was not frozen, cold again tonight though so may improve.  The steep mixed routes were looking the part also, Unicorn and Inclination looked white, Scabbard also…. not sure about how well frozen though.

Some fresh snow today on the Ben above 900m.  Blowing in on the face but not amounting to much, everything feeling a lot more like winter again though!

Some ice still about, we did Smiths Route which was really good, first pitch was thin and a bit hollow in places, second pitch was all good and only a little wet….. and no others on it.

Good Friday and Tower Scoop looked good.  Think I saw people on Comb Gully and No.3 Gully Buttress also.

Some fresh snow today on the Ben above 900m.  Blowing in on the face but not amounting to much, everything feeling a lot more like winter again though!

Some ice still about, we did Smiths Route which was really good, first pitch was thin and a bit hollow in places, second pitch was all good and only a little wet….. and no others on it.

Good Friday and Tower Scoop looked good.  Think I saw people on Comb Gully and No.3 Gully Buttress also.

Some fresh snow today on the Ben above 900m.  Blowing in on the face but not amounting to much, everything feeling a lot more like winter again though!

Some ice still about, we did Smiths Route which was really good, first pitch was thin and a bit hollow in places, second pitch was all good and only a little wet

Not much snow left on Helvellyn after a warm week and some rain.  Still some snow on the headwall area but not much left in the gullies or on the ridges.

The snow that was there was solid and worked well for the mountaineering course I was running today.

Looking about there didn’t seem to be much snow cover left at all on the other main Fells.

After a drop in temperature last night and some fresh snow on the tops things were feeling much more like winter today.  The old snow was well frozen and there was only a little fresh accumulation which didn’t give any problems.

 Loads of people heading up high on the Ben and a lot of the high ice routes were still looking surprisingly good, we were up in the Ciste and routes like the Central Routes, The Gift, North Gully, Wendigo, Green Gully, No.3 Gully Buttress to name a few were all climbed.  Some mixed possible also, folks on Gargoyle Wall….

We did Central Left which was in really good condition and a great way to finish the course with Jim.

Cheers Jim and Mick for a great course!

After a day of rope work training and a wet weather big boot climb on the Gutter yesterday on Polldubh Crags we decided to head east today to the Cairngorms.

We didn’t totally get the sun we were looking for over there and it was hard to believe the lack of snow cover.  We were able to have a good day none the less on Jacobs Ladder, Jim and Mick led the route today as their first lead.  There was usable snow and some ice about to look at screws etc.  The route had a few gaps and was getting to the point were loose rock will be an issue.  The others had a similar day on the ground to the right of the Goat Track and said it was all good at about I/II.  Apart from these 2 options it is fair to say that nothing else was climbable, that said a team did make an ascent of something in the White Magic area (not joking…!)

Probably a better chance of something steeper high up on the Ben still or on Aonach Mor, however high winds will be the problem for the Gondola and climbing up high, possibly some fresh snow due tomorrow also.