George Cave

Silvretta Traverse: Day 4 Descent

After our week of poor weather the clouds cleared for an incredible descent of untouched powder beneath blue skies. A great end to our first week of ski touring.

Digging a Snow Cave

We had two nights at the Wiesbadenerhütte and another forecast of heavy cloud, snow and no visibility. To make the most of the day we skinned up the hill for an hour and spent the next three digging a large snow cave into the slope. It was a pretty incredible palace.

Silvretta Traverse: Days 1 and 2

We began our traverse with a very challenging descent from the top of the Ischgl resort in a thick whiteout. Foolishly following two French guides for a short while, we eventually abandoned them and made our own way down to the hut (they later turned around and followed us!).

Day two was a pleasant skin up and over to the Jamtalhütte, stopping only to cut Steve's rental skins to size so that they fitted his skis correctly. Technical problems sorted, our third day took us up to the Ochsenscharte and down the descent to the Wiesbadenerhütte.

Ski Touring Training

To prepare for our Silvretta Traverse we hired a guide for a day's avalanche training in Galtur. We spent the morning probing for buried markers in the snow before heading off-piste to dig pits and assess the snow pack.

Avon Gorge Mini Adventure

For Erinna's first real multi-pitch experience I thought we'd start off with The Arete up to Lunchtime Ledge followed by Direct Route to the top. It was a quiet Sunday afternoon in Avon and after a mini-adventure on the final section of the last pitch we topped out just before the rain came.

Lochnagar

After a mega-thaw on the Saturday, Will and I battled our way through rain and wind on the Lochnagar approach on Sunday morning. Just as we reached the corrie the clouds cleared to reveal a stunning alpine day. We tried our luck on Black Sprout Buttress but it was still too warm so Will abb'd off and we switched to a nice romp up The Black Sprout. A day of bizarre and changeable weather, you never know what Scotland will bring!