This Month @ Climb Shetland

by Al Whitworth

submitted on 16th March

Winter Trip Report

‘The clubs first trip off the island has been a huge success. I’d like to thank everyone who organised it and for making it such an enjoyable week. We were off to Glen Nevis for some winter walking, aiming to improve or learn new skills in winter conditions in the mountains. The group were Pete, Julie, Tommy, Kelly, Alan, Al, Anna and Anghy.

We all met up in Fort William on Saturday for some lunch and last minute shopping, with the Southerners amused by Shetland folk’s reaction to proper shops as we scurried round the outdoor shops like little kids! We were staying in Roybridge, a small village about 10 miles from Fort William. It didn’t prove to be particularly central for the walks, but the bungalow we had was excellent, being both cheap and very well equipped - and with 2 good pubs within a few hundred yards it was a great choice!

Our first day of walking was an acclimatisation day of low level walking around the Buachille Etive Beag. We didn’t fancy the summits due to the category 3 (considerable risk) avalanche warning, and the forecast of high winds and blizzard conditions on summits. The walk covered quite a distance (12km) and also quite a few different problems such as navigation and walking into a snow storm.

On the Monday, the forecast remained poor, Pete had aggravated his hips and Kelly was getting blisters, so we opted for an easy walk at Glen Nevis following the stream to the SMC hut via a wire bridge which provided entertainment for those brave enough to get across it. We then headed to the pub for the evening and attempted to play pool and ruin the atmosphere with our jukebox choices before returning to the house for The Sawford Sessions.

The following morning, having vowed never to drink again, and some questioning their decision to stick to baileys for the entire evening, we attempted to get some enthusiasm for a long walk and bag a munro on some easier snow slopes that would avoid any avalanche risk. It turned out to be a great day, taking a direct steep ascent up Beinn a Chaorainn (1052m), with the cloud closing in at 700m to give whiteout conditions on the summit. We descended to the North and back down the adjacent valley slogging the 10km back to the road.

Anna left on Wednesday morning claiming that a new job was more important than climbing, and then there were 7. As the avalanche risk had now reached its highest category most of us opted for an easy day at the Ice Factor in Kinlochleven, except guess who?! Yes, Pete decided to stick to the original plan and try for the summit of Stob Coire Gaibhre. On realising that the forecast blizzard conditions were actually true, he and Julie changed plans to climbing a gully and onto the original ridge they had planned to ascend, before returning back down. We went out for a meal in Fort William that evening for Anghy’s last night and checked the forecast ever hoping that the conditions would improve.

On Thursday they seemed slightly better so we went to the Lost Valley for a walk and packed axes and crampons in case a more interesting return route looked feasible. We chose the obvious North West gully that looked pretty clear and solid, and 4 of us headed on up leaving Alan and Kelly to return back down the stream we’d come up on. As we got further up we realised that we’d not paid enough attention to the map lower down and were heading for a different route. It still seemed ok and was a long way down so we pressed on despite it being half 3 already. In general the snow was very good and the one loosely bonded slope we encountered was swiftly traversed as we headed for the more compact snow around rocky areas. We ended up summitting onto Stob Coire Nan Lochan at 1115m instead of the original plan to skirt around it a few hundred metres below, and we then descended a ridge and snow field to find the clear path back down to the valley and the cars, reaching them at half 6 as the light began to fade. We then met Kelly and Alan at the Clachaig Inn for a meal and a well deserved pint.

Friday was our last day on the hill and the excellent forecast meant we could have a go at Ben Nevis. We originally wanted to do the CMD arête but decided to stick together on the main route in the end. Starting early we were the first up that day and with snowfall overnight there were no tracks to follow. With a whiteout at 700m we eventually navigated our way to the summit, using Alan as our cornice probe walking out in front on an exact bearing backed up by the GPS. Had we not had the GPS that day the summit would have probably been too risky, so it certainly proved useful. As we left the summit, the cloud cleared revealing stunning views all around us, and also showing up the massive cornices and slopes we were trying to avoid on the way up just 50m away at some points. We left pretty pleased with our navigation passing several others now following our well trodden route to the top. We made it down in good time with the whole route taking less than 8 hours. That night we celebrated Julie’s birthday down the pub, somehow managing to stay awake until 2am.

Photos of the trip are now online in the 'Photos > Trips' section.

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