All Alone on Zero Gully

Alastair BegleyScotland, Winter Climbing Short Link

I have plans to spend next week in Scotland with some friends from university, however with a decent forecast and fantastic conditions I was unable to resist the urge to come up a bit early and do a bit of climbing. My aim for the day was another big classic Ben Nevis route, Zero Gully, which has a reputation for being a very serious route. I was climbing with Tony who I met off UKC, it was very odd meeting my climbing partner for the day for the first time in the car park as we were sorting gear. We had a relatively leisurely start as Tony had to drive across Scotland, and I only arrived in the car park at 2am so was grateful for a bit more sleep, although four hours is not really enough… We made good time on the very warm walk in and thankfully as we gained height the temperature started to cool and by the time we arrived at the snowline we were greated with a firm snowpack, which makes a nice change compared to my last few trips. Due to our leisurely start we were expecting other people. Read the full article…

Left Hand Branch & El Mancho – Clogwyn Du

Alastair BegleyWinter Climbing Short Link

After yesterdays long day on Western Gully in the Black Ladders, the aim of today was to have an easier day out so we decided to head to Clogwyn Du due to it being a more friendly crag that was closer. The walk in did not feel any easier as we made the never ending slog up to the crag in the cloud, made worse by having to chase Nick up while trying to ignore what my legs wanted to do. As we got to the gearing up spot the cloud dropped below us and revealed the crag in fine winter conditions. Despite being at the crag shortly after 8, and overtaking a number of parties on the walk in we discovered we were fourth in line for the route we wanted to do, Left Hand Branch. As the route looked like it was in brilliant condition we decided to wait in line for the route. The problem with following other parties up ice gullies is that you have nowhere to hide when parties above dislodge ice. The team in front of us learnt this the hard way as one of the. Read the full article…

Western Gully – Black Ladders

Alastair BegleyNorth Wales, Winter Climbing Short Link

In an attempt to make the most of the brilliant conditions up in North Wales at the moment we took Friday off work and headed up for a long weekend winter climbing in North Wales. It was great to only spend 4hrs in a car and be at a winter climbing destination, rather than the normal 9 hours it takes to get to Scotland. Today we headed up into the Black Ladders to climb the classic Western Gully, a route which Nick had unfinished business with. After a reasonably leisurely start we set off just as it got light and made the seemingly never ending walk up towards the crag. Not knowing much about the conditions of the Black Ladders we were pleased when it came into view and was suitably white. Eventually we got to the base of the crag and had to make the long slog up the approach slopes, which was incredibly tedious thanks to unconsolidated snow on top of rocks. Eventually we arrived at the base of the climb and geared up. In an attempt to save some time we started by soloing the easy initial. Read the full article…