Yesterday Tom and I went up to the Bowfell area.  We had a few options in mind for a days new routing depending how the conditions panned out…

On leaving the car park it was obvious that it was going to be one of those awesome Alpine days we occasionally get in the Lakes.  Due to wind and snow on Tuesday and having had a good freeze the crags were looking plastered, Bowfell Buttress was as white as I’ve seen it! It stripped very slightly in the sun but remained climbable and looking good all day.  There was some ice build up in places and the older scoured snow was hardening up well.  Today we are getting snow down to the valley in the east Lakes but the freeze line is due to rise and give rain to a fairly high level.  As long as things don’t thaw too much this could be the start of a build of some really good conditions for a range of routes due to a steady freeze thaw cycle.  No others out climbing on the Bowfell crags yesterday, Helvellyn will likely have had some climbing and routes have been getting climbed there since the weekend and reports are that the conditions are good.  Also plenty of skiing going on on Raise and touring in that area.

We tried something new yesterday which was going well, with all the hard climbing more or less completed I was placing some gear and heard the clanking of a tool disappearing down the crag, I’d knock my axe out of the hook I’d left it in… with no option for getting stable to get it sent back up I was forced to accept failure and lower off….  I like a quote that I heard the other day that said ‘success is going from one failure to the next without loosing enthusiasm for what your doing’, so I applied this to the situation!

All in all though it was a great day out with good climbing and perfect conditions, lets just hope things shape up now for a full on Lakeland winter!

 Had a great weekend winter mountaineering taking in Curved Ridge and the top of Crowberry Ridge on the Buachaille on Saturday and then Castle Ridge on the Ben today.

After a wet start on Saturday that put a fair bit of snow down up high the day cleared out well.  The upper part of Curved Ridge and above was under a few inches of fresh snow.  Today was a colder and clearer day, the Ben had a fair bit of fresh snow on it with the snow line at the bottom of NE Buttress.  We climbed Castle Ridge which required crampons from the base of the route and gave a good blast of winter!  As the snow is just cosmetic and unconsolidated the route was in relatively tricky condition.

Some of the harder routes on the No.3 Gully Buttress area I’d think were climbable and snowed up? This looks like it will all change tomorrow though as a rise in temperature is forecast with rain at all levels…

Thanks to the guys for another great couple of days out!

Thanks to Sherpa Adventure Gear UK for sending some great looking kit through!

The kit will be available in the UK now for the first time, there will no doubt be a great range at the Epicentre in Ambleside, see their website here –  www.theepicentre.co.uk

To see the full range of kit available check out the Sherpa website here –  www.sherpaadventuregear.com

The Sherpa range has already been well tested in the Himalayas and other parts of the world, the logo is now a common site on route to peaks throughout Nepal and is associated with quality so I’m sure its going to be great for what Scottish winter is about to through at it!

One of the aspects of this kit that really appeals to me is also the company ethos and what they do to support the Sherpa community in Nepal.  They donate a percentage of every sale to various non-profit schemes supporting the Sherpa families.  For example the  Paldorje Education Fund.

First report of the winter for the Lakes, great to see a white covering on the tops!  I’ll try and put a report up from now on whenever I’ve been out or know what the winter conditions are doing.

I went out today for a run over Helvellyn and the edges to see how things were shaping up.  The good news is winter has definitely arrived!  There was snow down to about 500m and some deep drifts about.  Lots of snow was blowing around today and accumulating particularly on N-NE-E facing slopes as the wind was SW.  So full on winter up high, the ski tows were also open today…

The bad news is that, whilst the conditions are good for winter walking, running and the edges and ridge climbs etc.  its not there for climbing yet.  The turf up high was soggy under the snow, the lack of a really good freeze before the snow came will hold back the climbing conditions until we get a bit of a thaw and refreeze allowing the turf to freeze up.  The issue at the minute is that the layer of snow will be insulating the ground below.   More exposed routes may come, however the usual winter crags today were black and sheltered from the SW wind.  The best bet for a good winter day will be any of the classic edges and some of the easy ridge climbs, Pinnacle Ridge on St.Sunday will be worth a look, it will be snow covered all the way and doesn’t rely on turf.  Its hard to say what the week will bring, it looks good until Tuesday and then it may be a fairly big thaw.  Great to have a blast of winter so early in November none the less!

Reports are that the Cairngorms are also in condition just now with many routes in…

I have just returned from an expedition to Manaslu in Nepal.  I was leading the expedition for www.adventurepeaks.com

Manaslu is in the Lamjung District of Nepal and is the 8th highest peak in the world and one of the worlds 8000m peaks.  It has a reputation for being a peak that is of moderate difficulty technically but with reasonably high objective dangers.

Our trip lasted 34 days, about a week shorter than planned.   Our early finish was the result of a massive avalanche on the 23rd September on Manaslu.  The scale of the avalanche was so that it took out camp 3, and about 3 hours walk down the glacier, it also stripped some tents from camp 2.  The irony of the situation was that since last season and up to that day camp 3 was empty or quiet, that day a large amount of people made it to camp 3 due to a break in the bad weather and it was that night that a massive lump of serac came off above the camp and triggered the slopes  above.  There were 11 killed by the avalanche and about 15 or so flown to hospital in Kathmandu.  The teams effected were mainly European, Austrian and French largely.  One Sherpa was also killed.

The team I was leading consisted of 2 Sherpas and 2 members and myself.  We had moved from camp to camp up the mountain on the days leading up to the accident.  We arrived in camp 3 on the 22nd, our tents went up and kit was stored, the plan was to spend the night at camp 3 for our acclimatisation and then drop to Base Camp on the 23rd for a rest before our summit attempt.  However, our plan took a last minute change….  One of the team members woke with a headache at camp 2, it had not improved during the day and by the afternoon of the 22nd we made the decision that the member should not go higher, and then soon after we decided to descend to Base Camp in-case the headache should worsen into the night and become more serious.  Headaches at altitude can be an early sign of altitude sickness (AMS) and potentially a Cerebral Oedema (HACE) so are taken seriously…  Following this decision the Sherpa team and other member agreed to descend as well from camp 3 so we could re-group in Base Camp and make a plan for our continued attempt.  We made it to Base that evening.  The following day we woke early to the sound of radios buzzing with messages and the call had come in for help, the avalanche having hit camp 3 during the night.

The day that followed was a day of confusion.  We took our stretcher and medical supplies along with oxygen and a respirator to the heli pad where the casualties were coming in and needed help.  Following this was the recovery of the bodies, 2 were not found before the initial search was called off.

Our team needless to say felt very lucky, a headache changing the course of things.  We lost 2 camps and a lot of kit.  We replaced the equipment over the following days and made the decision to go back up the mountain to see how things would pan out as regards a continued summit attempt.  On the day when we moved to camp 2 the decision was made to finish the expedition due to a few reasons, too much kit to go up with an imminent weather window and no time for carries being the main one.

The memories of the trip as a whole will off-course be mixed due to the large loss of life that took place on Manaslu this year.  That said, the mountain still offered some great days before the accident and the 10 days of trekking take you through a fantastic journey up one of the less trafficed valleys of Nepal.  Starting in warm tropical forests and finishing at Samaguan at the toe of the Manaslu Glacier is a fantastic journey in its own right.

Thoughts go out to the families and many affected by this accident and to the family and friends of Dawa Sherpa, our Sherpa on last years Baruntse Expedition, a top Sherpa and great person to have had with us in the past.

Just had a few great days on Skye.  I was running a Scrambling Course for www.westcoast-mountainguides.co.uk

We had a very mixed forecast but the days out proved to be better than expected, that said we did have some heavy showers with hail and a cool NW wind.  We had an instructional day on the Spur on Sgurr an Fheadain, we did the Coire Lagan round taking in Sgurr Alasdair, Sgurr Thearlaich and Sgurr Mhic Choinnich via Collies Ledge.  On the final day we did the Inn Pinn, this day was a bit of a surprise as we had expected the weather to be much worse than it was and we had a few ‘plan b’s’…

Thanks to Ivan and Bobby for their enthusiasm in the face of some real Cuillin weather!