Tag Archives: Braeriach

January Update

January has been disappointing month for Scottish winter climbers. The weather has been dominated by warm high pressure systems and any snowfall has quickly disappeared with sudden thaws. The dry air and associated wet bulb effect has allowed the remaining … Continue reading

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New Winter Season Finally Underway

It’s been an unusually slow start to the Scottish winter season. Normally by the second half of November winter climbing is in full swing, but temperatures have been higher than usual and the weather very unsettled. Winter routes were climbed … Continue reading

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January Scottish Winter Diary

It’s been a tough January in the Scottish mountains with almost non-stop winds and long periods of thaw. Conditions on the mountains have changed day by day and have often been completely different from east to west. Here is a … Continue reading

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The Edge of Profanity – Second Ascent

On November 30, Dave Brookes and Jules Harris put to bed a well-known problem on Creagan Cha-no when they made the first free ascent of The Edge of Profanity. This short, but deceptively steep route, was first climbed early last … Continue reading

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Mid December Update

The first half of December was wild and windy, which rather limited activity. The Northern Corries were popular, and on Creagan Cha-no, the new mini guidebook prompted a flurry of activity filling in the remaining lines, which are mostly in … Continue reading

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November Cold Snap

After a very warm first half of November, the cold easterlies that set up in the middle of the month were good news for winter climbers. The big decision was whether to go east or west. Going west meant better … Continue reading

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Snow At Last!

Saturday’s (January 28) snowfall brought many of the higher cliffs into winter condition at the weekend. Ben Nevis was busy with many of the Early Season favorites such as Gargoyle Wall, The Clanger, Cutlass and Sidewinder seeing ascents. Notable ascents … Continue reading

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Topsy-Turvy

The topsy-turvy season continues. A brief thaw on January 3 followed by a dry cold snap was not the best recipe for good winter climbing. The Scottish mountains are unusually dry at the moment and the freeze thaws should be … Continue reading

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Cat and Mouse

The cat and mouse game of finding good winter climbing conditions continues. The forecast icy blast on New Years Day promised much for January 2, but the snowfall was significantly less than predicted and mainly limited to the Cairngorms and … Continue reading

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Five Hundredth Post

It’s been such a busy season that I didn’t have time in March to acknowledge the 500th post on scottishwinter.com The blog has been running five years and has attempted to record the majority of significant winter climbing activity in … Continue reading

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