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Scottish Winter Climbing

31/12/2009 5:52 pm

Tim Blakemore

Scottish winter climbing success can be hard won. Blair Fyffe and I have had a couple of days walking in to climb some very hard routes. We didn't get up them! We did however have a magical day on Beinn Bhan in the NW Highlands. The vista towards Torridon was worth the walk alone. Blair climbed about 10 metres of Genesis then another 10 of Die Riesenwand before we decided to climb out via a new pitch of climbing on the connecting ridge of A' Phoit. Not sure whether it will become a classic....

We've also had a walk in to Creag an Socach on Beinn Dorain. It's a good crag for accessible mixed climbing and in the current conditions ideal. Unfortunately the weather was wilder than forecast so we beat a retreat. Apparently somebody was avalanched later on (there was a lot snow transportation today). What's struck me over the last few days or so is the variety in the snowpack depending upon where you climb.

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