UKH

I’m after some advice...

I’m really new to winter climbing - I’ve done some winter walking and I’m ready to start doing something graded. Obviously I want to start with something that’s Grade I and I’ve looked at a few options around the Ben Nevis/Glencoe area and decided Ston Ban South Gully looks like a good one to start with.

The weather isn’t looking too bad tomorrow so I was thinking of heading up there in the morning.

My question is about the avalanche risk. I have read about it and how to read it etc, and also looked at the avalanche forecast - but I think the more I read about it, the more it just seems like there could always be an avalanche risk if there's snow...

But I know there has been quite a bit of snow recently and I’ve also read that you should leave it 48 hours after fresh snow for gullies etc - but then I don’t know if that just means if it has snowed A LOT in the last 48 hours...

But anyway - do people think Stop Ban South Gully might be a good option for tomorrow?

I'm thinking I'm probably just being over cautious and it will be fine (as there won’t have been a huge amount of snow in the last 48 hours), but I'm really not sure.

And if Stob Ban isn’t looking like a good option for tomorrow, can anyone recommend any other good Grade I options in the area that might be good to start with? (I’m in Fort William so ideally somewhere not too far away - Ben Nevis/Glencoe area etc).

Any advice would be really appreciated...

Thanks!

Tomorrow's avalanche forecast is not out til this afternoon but it is unlikely to be promising. Sheltered snow-collecting NE aspects look like a pretty good bet for getting yourself avalanched today, and it's supposed to be snowing all day today too. I would avoid South Gully like the plague tomorrow, and be very careful considering where else to go.

A ridge route is the textbook answer, but bear in mind that a. there can be avalanche prone bits on some ridges or approaches, and b. ridges aren't much fun if it's very windy. Also consider the slope angles and aspects of your whole route, not just the 'climby' bit.

North Ridge of Stob ban might be worth a go if there's a lull tomorrow daytime as some forecasts suggest. That's a nice airy bit of grade I but not too long or committing:

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=833

In that neck of the woods the Devil's Ridge on Sgurr a' Mhaim is another good alternative at a similar difficulty. As per this Ring of Steall description (but if the full ring is too far you can return the same way or even do Stob ban and down its N Ridge): 

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/logbook/r/?i=930 

This could be ok as the wind could well be scouring the snow off westerly aspects and depositing on East

Golden Oldy (II)

Thanks Dan, really appreciate the reply! Your ‘Scotland’s Mountain Ridges’ book is actually one of the book’s I’ve been looking at to pick out potential routes - really good book! I’m definitely going to do the 'Ring of Steall’ at some point but I was thinking of saving the full route for a better day.

That rules out the south gully then! I knew on the avalanche forecast the risk was probably going to be ‘considerable', but I’ve been checking it for weeks and it always seems to look similar to that, so I didn’t know if most people would probably still go ahead if it was ‘considerable’, and maybe if it went any higher than that it was best to avoid it. But obviously not though…

That’s a good suggestion doing the first part of the Ring of Steall, then looping back on myself past Stob Ban and down the North Ridge - if the weather’s playing ball I think I’ll do that instead.

Thanks again Dan!

Yeah I did look at that one actually, but I'm just getting into the winter stuff and I thought it was probably best to start with Grade I's

No worries!

Yes, if you're solo then I'd save Golden Oldy until you've got more mileage. There's a lot of fall-off-able technical (at the grade) climbing on that 

Sron na Lairig - may be an option, although check weather forecast first

From memory the short descent from the end of the knife edge bit on G O was tricky, so a short length of rope or long sling, to enable an aid alternative if it looks too sketchy, might be wise.

Thanks, I'll have a look at that one too

I must have missed he was solo?

Wind blown snow (spin drift) can be a massive avalanche issue especially if it lands on an icy surface. Gullies can especially be an issue but lee slopes and fragile cornices can still be a big problem. This is pretty much irrelevant of snow falling in the last 48 hours (its more down to if there is loose snow that hasn't melted and refrozen about)

Its not just that though, for winter climbing you're much better off climbing on the wind scored slopes and climbing on neve / ice / frozen turf. The lee slopes can be an absolute nightmare to climb on too with deep loose insecure snow, especially on the easy ground.

East Ridge (Winter) (II) on  Beinn a' Chaorainn is a useful route in conditions like the current ones. Unlike Golden Oldy, it is low in the grade and the hardest section is quite short.  It is relatively sheltered from westerly gales, but does not normally carry much avalanche risk. 

Take care on the descent if the vis is poor - a direct bearing from the centre top to the south top will take you over the cornice! If in doubt, aim off to the south-west.  

(As an aside, there is a bit of an oddity concerning the grading of easy mixed routes - at some point the SMC guidebooks appeared to adopt the policy that there is no such thing as a Grade I mixed route, and so Grade II contains quite a wide spread of difficulty.)  

As far as avalanche hazard is concerned, it is maybe worth pointing out that "Very High" on the European Avalanche scale is never used in Scotland, and that "High" is used pretty sparingly (about 2% of all forecast days). "Considerable" really does imply a non-negligible risk of being avalanched on the appropriate aspects, and as a general rule of thumb such gullies are to be avoided (at least until you have much more experience in assessing the risk, and even then...). About 50% of avalanche fatalities occur in "Considerable" conditions (source: https://www.sais.gov.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/SAIS-Winter-Report-2018-... ). 

I just assumed. There's no 'we' in the OP

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when planning routes in future!

Thanks, that’s all great info and definitely clearing up some of the things I was unsure of.

Beinn a' Chaorainn looks good too!