Monday 30 January 2012

Current availabilities on winter courses



The conditions in the highlands are currently in a good shape giving the ideal learning environment for budding winter mountaineers to learn. I have a few last availabilities for privet bookings on winter skills and mountaineering courses over the next few weeks. Courses will be run to suit your exact requirements for any number of days, please get in touch to discuss your requirements and to come up with a tailor made program to suit your needs. I charge from £150 per day depending on group size. Visit www.verticalworlds.com or drop me a email n.mortley@yahoo.co.uk

Sunday 29 January 2012

Day 2 in Cairngorms



Back out with the team from Newcastle University today we head up into Coire an t-Sneachda where we briefly ran over yesterdays skills before heading up the goat track and along to the summit of Cairngorm. It was a slightly more Scottish winter like experience for the team today compared with yesterday, the wind was blowing carrying the snow in places and the clag was down. On the way back to the car park we stopped just past point 1141m to have a look at the construction of snow belays.  

Saturday 28 January 2012

Stella Day in Cairngorms


Today I have been out with Newcastle University Mountaineering Club on their annual winter meet. With little snow around in the Cairngorms compared with the west and not being into the area yet this winter I sought some beta from another instructor who had been into the Coires over the past few days. With a team of 6 we head up into Coire na Ciste blessed with perfectly blue sky and no wind at all where we spent a good few hours look at personal movement and Ice axe breaking before heading over the top to join the senior club members who had been climbing in Coire an t-Sneachda back at the ski centre car park. 

Friday 27 January 2012

Infamous Creag Meagaidh Navigation

Creag Meagaidh plate has somewhat of a reputation for challenging navigation and with it being Jack and Keith last day with myself felt it would make the perfect venue. On the approach the sun was shining and the fresh overnight snow crunching under our feet. By the time we had reached the main summit plate the cloud had come in which made perfect navigation conditions. We spent a few hours navigating around before having a brief look at snow bollard construction and digging a snow pit before heading down through the window and back out to the car.

Thursday 26 January 2012

CMD Arete


Jack and Keith were both keen to get up onto Ben Nevis during their trip so with a good overnight freeze and a stele forecast for the day ahead we decided to head for the fantastic Carn Mor Dearg Arete approach to the Ben. After a very long trudge up to Carn Mor Dearg we briefly stopped before heading out across the arĂȘte. By this time the wind had picked up moving a lot of the overnight snow around as well as the fresh snow falling which set for some challenging conditions out on the arĂȘte with whiteout at times and some loaded sloped either side. Reaching the summit at 16:20 we had little time to navigate across the summit plate in whiteout conditions before a slide down Red Burn reaching the main path down at the halfway Lochan just as darkness struck. Both Jack and Keith managed well with the difficult conditions today and a good day was had by all.   

Wednesday 25 January 2012

Warm and Very Wet!!!


Today I was joined by Jack and Keith who had booked on a 3 day West Highlands Winter Skills Course. They both have some experience in a winter environment although had always been out with more experience mates or been guided and wanted to give themselves the judgment to travel safely off their own back.

With a horrendous forecast of +3 at 900m, heavy rain, storm force 100mph winds and a high avalanche risk on slopes facing NE – SE we  picked our way up into Stob Corrie Nan Lochan where we had a look at personal movement skills as well as Ice Axe Breaking. Once all of this had been covered and we were sufficiently drenched from the heavy rain we decided to head up towards the summit are to see if the winds were as bad as forecast. Luckily there was very little wind which enabled us to traverse along the top of the Corrie before dropping back down and negotiating the very swollen streams on the trek back to the car. Let’s hope for that better forecast tomorrow as well as a good drying room tonight.    

Monday 23 January 2012

First Winter Climb of the Year


Having just arrived in Scotland yesterday I was super keen to get out on the hill to see how things were looking before my first course of the season started on Wednesday. I managed to bump into John who was also keen for a look up on the Ben. After a few hours trudging up to CIC and then into Observatory Gully we noticed Hadrians Wall Direct was looking in good shape. This provided a few pitches of sustained steep ice followed by easy snow slopes and then a surprisingly steep finish which felt even more so with tired arms.

Sunday 15 January 2012

Security on Steep Ground

Today I have been out on Cadair Idris running a session on security on steep ground and scrambling. We were blessed with a crisp clear day which was a amazing day to be out on the hill. The day started off with looking at offering others unroped support before moving on to introducing a rope. We then put this into practice by taking a direct line up from Llyn Cau to the summit before heading back down over Mynydd Moel.

Friday 13 January 2012

Indian Himalayas

Over the past month I have been working for World Challenge Expedition Australia on an experiential learning expedition in the Indian Himalayas. The idea of the expedition is for the students to take charge of the trip with myself overseeing this and taking charge of all technical issues. The expeditions had a number of phases with the first section seeing us heading up to Mussoorie which is a mountain hill station based at 2000m where we spent 3 days doing some day treks to acclimatise. Following this we travelled further north to start our main trek which was a 6 day trek to the top of the Rantham Pass which lays at 4000m with stunning 360 views of the surrounding peaks. With the students being from Australia they had not see snow before which was a highlight for many. Following the end of the trek it was time for some rest where we took a white 24k water rafting trip down the river Gangies before heading to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal and then on to the pink city of Japure. During our time in Japure we undertook a community project at a local school where we helped out with some construction work. India for me was a amazing eye opening country which I am looking forwards to returning to and hopefully venturing further into Himalayas next time.