Rob Johnson MIC - www.expeditionguide.com

Snow on the mountains

2012-01-26T17:49:00.000+01:00

I have been doing some work with my dog today below Snowdon. There has been a reasonable dusting of snow overnight down to approx 450m and more is forecast over the next few days. Fingers crossed!

Home in Wales

2012-01-23T16:27:00.000+01:00

I am back home from Scotland for a couple of weeks now before I make my annual winter pilgrimage to Norway. I have been for a quick romp around Cwm Idwal this afternoon, taking the dog up North West Face Route on the Slabs and descending into Seniors Gully. It was beautifully quiet, crisp and dry, there was a smidgen of snow on the tops and some lovely weak winter sunshine. Its always nice to be home.

SARDA Week

2012-01-19T18:59:00.001+01:00

We have had a really good couple of days with the dogs. Yesterday we were working under the North Face of the Ben whilst today we did a joint exercise with the Royal Navy Sea King. We were picked up from the hotel with the bodies being taken up onto Buachaille Etive Beag and then the dogs and handlers following behind in a second flight. We did a search scenario in the snow before making our way down on foot as the helicopter had been forced out by the heavy snow and strong winds. A great end to a great week. A full report will follow on the SARDA Wales blog.

Avalanche Training

2012-01-17T18:02:00.001+01:00

For the second day of our search dog training week we headed up onto Buachaille Etive Beag in Glen Coe. We used some snow shelters that someone else had kindly built to the East of the col to teach the dogs to search and dig out avalanche victims. We also did some transceiver work, looked at avalanche avoidance and the older dogs searched some open mountain areas. A great day despite some craggy weather.

More lovely sunshine

2012-01-16T19:19:00.001+01:00

For the first day of the SARDA Wales winter training week we headed to Aonach Mor today and did some winter skills for handlers, bodies and dogs! It has been a beautiful day with lovely views, sunshine and no wind and the bullet hard neve has been ideal for teaching skills. If only it was set to continue!

Cold and sunny

2012-01-15T18:04:00.001+01:00

I have moved down to the Kings House in Glen Coe this evening. I have organised a week of winter training for SARDA Wales which kicks off tomorrow. It has been a stunning day with blue skies and sunshine and valley temperatures remaining around freezing all day Here's the view from the bar!

Left Twin

2012-01-14T15:49:00.001+01:00

I had a day off today so headed out climbing with my friend Jim. We went up the Gondola at Nevis Range and climbed Left Twin on the East Face of Aonach Mor. This is one of the classics of the crag and the crux pitch gave some lovely steep ice at tech 4 with first time placements. The top section was complete (the rock band can be thin and tough in lean conditions) and I was able to place screws the whole of the crux pitch. Great to be out on the ice!

Dorsal Arête

2012-01-13T18:21:00.001+01:00

Matt, Karolina and I have had a stunning day today with blue skies, sunshine and crisp neve to play on. We made our way up into Stob Coire Nan Lochain and climbed Dorsal Arete (II). It looked a bit bare from below but once on the route the snow was good and the weather and views superb.

Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

2012-01-12T16:59:00.001+01:00

Matt, Karolina and I headed up the Ben today via Ledge Route (II). Low the down the snow had not had a chance to completely re-freeze but once established on the route we had some lovely crisp neve to play on, the anchors were all easily visible and the lack of snow on the approach made the walk in easier and quicker. The temperature seemed to drop rapidly as the day went on and we had light snow showers throughout the afternoon but probably not enough to have an impact. There were teams out climbing on the main gully lines such as Green Gully but I don't know what the conditions were like. For us the conditions were ideal, its great not to be fighting the wind and we had some lovely views between the showers. For Ben track key holders be aware that work had started this afternoon on the washed out section of track. When we got there on the way home the track was closed as they dug it out. We were diverted through the distillery which was pretty cut up in places compared to the main track. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Winter Mountaineering

2012-01-11T16:02:00.001+01:00

I have been joined by Matt & Karolina for the last three days of this week. They have been out with me for the last three winters here in Scotland and were hoping for a day at the Ice Factor and a couple of days climbing crisp neve in the sunshine. The weather meant that today was the Ice Factor! We were able to work on technique on steep ice and burn their arms out and so now I am working on the sunshine and neve for the next two days. Its been mild the last couple of days and a lot of the snow has stripped out so we need some more snow and some colder temperatures - fingers crossed. - Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Winter Skills Weekend

2012-01-08T17:09:00.001+01:00

It has been pretty warm today and raining steadily all day. We headed up onto Buachaille Etive Beag to bag a summit and then used the Eastern slopes to practise the skills covered yesterday. The day finished in the dry - at the Clachaig!

Winter Skills Weekend

2012-01-07T17:31:00.001+01:00

I have been joined by Ric, Ben, Iain, Simon, Gavin and Scott for a winter skills weekend here in Scotland. We used the uplift at the Nevis Range ski centre today to get up onto the snow quickly and spent the day looking at the use of axe and crampons, avalanche avoidance and looking after yourself in winter. It has been a nice day with some bright spells of sunshine but pretty windy with gusts of 70mph closing the gondola for our return journey. A great day out playing in the snow!

Buachaille Etive Beag

2012-01-06T16:45:00.001+01:00

For the final day of our five day winter skills course we have been up Buachaille Etive Beag in Glen Coe. We had a nice crisp, cod start to the day which gave a nice firm snowpack for our ascent. The temperature rose through the day and it was raining as we made our way back to the car. On the way we revised ice axe arrest skills and reviewed the week. An excellent week with a great group of people - thanks guys and girls!

Sunshine and stunning views

2012-01-05T18:14:00.001+01:00

We have been rewarded for the poor weather of the last couple of days by a lovely day of sunshine and light winds today. We headed up Stob Ban from Geln Nevis and as well as some stunning views we enjoyed some nice crisp snow after the moisture from yesterday had frozen overnight. In places this was a little crusty but on the ridge the wind scoured snow combined with the refreeze gave us some lovey crampon conditions. We summitted and then did some ice axe arrest practice in descent as the sun went down. A stunning day showing Scotland at its best.

More snow, more wind - its Scotland in winter!

2012-01-04T18:00:00.001+01:00

It has been another pretty wild day here in the Scottish Highlands with 100mph gusts on the summits and persistant rain and snow higher up all day. The freezing level has risen through the day which is a good thing as it should give the snowpack a chance to consolidate with a good freeze - fingers crossed for tonight! We headed up to the CIC hut under the North Face of Ben Nevis and built an annexe to the hut in the form of a shovel up snow shelter. It would sleep three Collies or seat two people for a tea party. It was wild even at the hut but still masses of snow about, a very good test of kit!

Stob Coire nan Lochain

2012-01-03T18:48:00.001+01:00

It has been snowing heavily all day and overnight last night again so we were very glad of the footsteps of James Thacker and his two clients to follow up into Stob Coire Nan Lochain today. The snow is knee deep on average and lots more in the drifts and the snow starts just a few hundred metres from the road. We continued our theme of avalanche avoidance and also found some wind scoured snow to do some crampon work on. We also used the West ridge of the mountain to demonstrate how to use a rope to protect walkers when approaching a cornice or navigating along a cliff edge as a handrail feature. The day was finished with a swift half in the Clachaig - it would be rude not to!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Winter Skills - loads of new snow

2012-01-02T17:44:00.001+01:00

I am in Scotland now for the next three weeks and have arrived with a big dump of fresh snow. I have been joined by Juliette, Sian, Sean, Dan and Rob for a 5 day winter skills course and we headed to Aonach Mor today. It had been snowing through the night and continued all day giving drifts that were more than waist deep. With strong winds there is lots of wind blown snow and so we spent a lot of the day looking at avalanche avoidance skills as well as introducing axe and crampon skills. Great to be back in Bonnie Scotland!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Photo Memories from 2011

2011-12-31T20:46:00.001+01:00

January - images from Scotland:

Hadrians Wall Direct

Fingers Ridge

February - Norway

March - Scotland & Snowdonia

Dream of White Horses

April - cragging & scrambling in Snowdonia

May - Cuillin Ridge, Isle of Skye

June - August - Scrambling, climbing and mountaineering in the sunshine

September - Scotland, Tower Ridge, Aonach Eagach and then Playing in the Alps

October - Atlas Mountains, Morocco

November

Skye qualifies as a Search Dog

December - early season winter action

Heres to 2012!

Off to Scotland

2011-12-31T18:31:00.000+01:00

I am away in Scotland from the 1st Jan until the 21st Jan. I will be blogging as often as I can about the conditions North of the border but the internet connection can a bit sporadic so please bear with me if there are delays in replying to emails.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T19:50:00.001+01:00

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year!

Have a really nice Christmas, here's to some more snow in the mountains for the New Year! Stay safe, have fun and eat plenty, its all good fuel for those snowy walk ins!

Easy Gully, Cwm Cneifion

2011-12-20T17:42:00.000+01:00

I have been out with Dave and Mike today for some winter skills and transition into graded winter ground. Mike had not been out in winter before whilst Dave had done a week of winter mountaineering on the West coast of Scotland. We went up into Cwm Cneifion and used the snow at the back of the bowl to refresh/teach some winter skills before climbing Easy Gully (1) to the summit plateau of the Glyderau. We roped up for the upper section as the mushy wet snow became hard and the turf frozen for the last 30 metres. We then descended Seniors Ridge (1) which added a bit of interest to the way off. It has generally been pretty warm but it was snowing above about 900m. More pictures are on my Facebook page.

Monday Morning

2011-12-19T10:29:00.000+01:00

Here is a bit of inspiration for a grey and wet Monday morning.

Avalanche Warning

2011-12-18T09:08:00.001+01:00

There has been a lot of fresh snow over the last 24 hours. Tragically yesterday a male walker fell approx 500ft down Banana Gully on Y Garn when a cornice collapsed. In his fall the gully avalanched. (Details of the incident are here) Be careful folks.

Something for the Weekend

2011-12-16T18:05:00.001+01:00

We have had a good dump of snow overnight last night and throughout the day today. My clients for the day cancelled due to poor travelling conditions coming across from the Peak District and so I have not been up on the hill. The snow line has dropped to about 350m with snow down to Pen Y Pass. With all this fresh snow you will need to pick your routes this weekend. Reading the conditions reports on UKC highlights the lack of understanding of what can be climbed in different conditions so I thought I would provide a brief summary of the three main types of winter climbing in Snowdonia and the conditions needed for them to exist, to help choose good objectives for the weekend.

Ice Climbing - As the name suggests. For ice to form and be climbable we need a sustained period of cold weather for several days and nights. There also needs to be enough water in the streams to freeze and provide routes to play on. A gentle freeze/thaw action will help the ice to build and prevent the ice from being too brittle. A sudden sharp drop in temperatures can produce very hard, brittle ice that is not great for climbing. We have not had these low temperatures yet this year and they are generally quite rare here in Snowdonia because we have such a relatively mild climate being right on the coast.

Ice Climbing in Cwm Idwal - South Gully - Dec 2010

Snow & Ice - This generally refers to the sort of climbing found in the main gully lines such as Broad Gully in Cwm Lloer, Parsley Fern Gully in Cwm Glas or Easy Gully in Cwm Cneifion. For these sorts of routes to be "in condition" we need to have had some good dumps of snow to fill the gullies followed by a slight rise in temperature to start a gentle thaw followed by a freeze to bind the snowpack together. (This process can occur naturally over time without the freeze/thaw action but rarely does in Snowdonia since it usually starts raining and washes it all away). This type of re-frozen snow is called neve and is Gods gift to winter climbers.

Hidden Gully, Cwm Cneifion. Good Neve in Dec 2011

Mixed Climbing - This is a mixture of ice and snow but can also provide climbing on routes where little of either exist. Mixed climbing is your best bet for early season conditions as it generally requires little if any ice and many routes can be climbed without neve. Defining when a mixed route is "in condition" is often contentious since harder routes often rely on frozen turf that can be easily damaged if climbed when its not frozen. A lack of snow and ice can also lead to damage to the rock itself which is a problem on summer rock routes. (For further advice on minimising your environmental impact and picking suitable routes read this article)

This weekend the best climbing will be had on mixed routes. In the lower grades ridges like the North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch, The Gribin, Seniors Ridge and the Crib Llem Spur will all give great mountaineering at about grade I/II as long as its not too windy. The lower grade gullies will probably be a wade fest in the fresh snow as they have not gone through the melt freeze process described above.

Crib Goch - only needs a dusting of snow to be wintery. Neve like this though makes it even better. Dec 2010

Pillar Chimney, Colwyn Du - A great mixed climbing venue & a route that uses snow, ice & rock combined - Jan 2011

To push things on a bit there are plenty of mixed routes in Baggys new guidebook North Wales Winter Climbing that are high enough for the turf to be frozen, will be plastered in snow and will give a great range of routes from grade III upwards. Have a great weekend!

Cwm Lloer, Pen Yr Ole Wen

2011-12-15T15:49:00.000+01:00

I have been out with repeat client and friend Andy today who fancied a bit of progression from winter walking onto graded ground. We have had a reasonable covering of snow overnight down to about 600m and we headed into Cwm Lloer on Pen Yr Ole Wen to make the most of it. There is still quite a lot of hard neve in the main gully lines and with ankle deep fresh snow on top it made for good fun. We climbed the Headwall (1) and descended it again via a different line after visiting the summit. The Cwm was nicely sheltered from the wind and gave a nice mix of ground to play on. A cracking day in the snow with more forecast tonight.