Climbing Teams; Phil Moore & Ian Hebborn, Stew Leitch & Neil Waters, Kyle Hudson & Harry Dodd, Colin Toombs & Andy Howarth

It was another wild, wet and windy weekend meet at the CIC hut this year.  Conditions had been stable in previous weeks but that all changed as the CMC teams headed North to Fort William.  Phil & Ian formed an advance party stopping off in Glencoe to climb Dorsal Arête in Stob Coire nan Lochan.  Reporting wet and windy conditions the forecast thaw was already underway.

On Saturday the teams converged at the CIC hut but with little enthusiasm to get out that day as the rain had settled in.  It seemed that the forecast had put off some other visitors as the hut was not full even though it was booked up.  One of the great things of staying at the hut is meeting international visitors and this year there were groups from California, France and Czech Republic all braving the weather to experience Scottish winter climbing.

On the Sunday teams pushed out into the elements, Colin & Andy went over to Observatory Gully and up Tower Ridge.  The others headed into Coire na Ciste with Stew & Neil embarking on Number 3 Gully Buttress, Phil & Ian chose to avoid the crowds and ticked off Number 3 Gully, while Kyle & Harry headed up North Gully.  There was plenty of snow on the Ben but low down the snow was wet and melting off the rock.  High up close to the summit things were more frozen but with not much ice around.  After topping out careful navigation was required with limited visibility and strong winds scouring the summit.  Fortunately, it was easy to get into Number 4 Gully for the descent with no abseil required.  Back at the hut dinners were cooked and thanks to Neil and Stew carrying it up whisky was shared around.

On Monday the conditions were no better but the wind had changed direction making route choice tricky.  Colin & Andy decided to head all the way up Observatory Gully and tackle Gardyloo Gully which the French team had done the day before.  After breaking trail for an hour they found Stew & Neil following up their footsteps with a “fast & light” plan for Tower Gully.  Meanwhile, Kyle & Harry and Phil & Ian headed back up into Coire na Ciste but found significant overnight avalanche debris from all the main gully lines, and decided to beat the retreat, back to the hut and cars to head home early.

Over in Observatory Gully visibility was causing route finding confusion but finally Gardyloo Gully came into sight.  Both teams headed up hoping to find the difficulties banked out but a short overhanging ice pitch blocked the way.  Leaving Colin & Andy to tackle the ice pitch, Stew & Neil headed back down and around to Tower Gully.  Quick progress led to their path being blocked by the cornice with no easy way of turning it, so they commenced digging a way through.  Suddenly the cornice collapsed sweeping Stew back down the way they’d come up.  Fearing the worst Neil wasted no time in alerting mountain rescue before heading down to look for Stew.  Miraculously Stew came to a halt much lower down with only bruising to show for the experience.  After confirming everyone was OK mountain rescue were stood down and Stew & Neil made their way back to the hut for several calming cups of tea.

Back in Gardyloo Gully unaware of the nearby avalanches, Colin was being buried by spindrift as Andy fought his way up the overhanging ice exclaiming “Oh my giddy Aunt!” when he finally surmounted the pitch.  Fortunately the top of Gardyloo allowed the cornices to be turned on the left and they were soon back on the summit plateau in 50mph winds and near whiteout conditions.  Navigational skills were again put to the test as they headed to Number 4 gully and the descent back to the hut.  Now aware of the recent avalanches they sought out a safe way down avoiding the cornices and sticking close to the rock walls.  By mid afternoon they were back at the hut too and after the day’s experience no one was making plans for the Tuesday except to head home and which pub or cafe to stop at.