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Ben Hope in winter

Ben Hope in winter


Postby watkins » Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:31 pm

Hi, new to the site.

Me and a colleague were considering doing Ben Hope in January, for charity.
This may be a completely stupid idea, but with the approach being easy it seemed more viable than some of the other walks that could raise money and be a real achievement for both of us
The plan would be to stay in tongue, and head out early before sun rise, enabling us the most amount of time possible to complete with the short day.

Can anyone offer advice/ guidance on how/ if this is achievable?

For background, we both have some mountain experience, and would if possible like to test any equipment on Tryfan before heading up as we are both familiar with it and have easier access.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby jmarkb » Mon Sep 24, 2012 10:38 am

It is very difficult to advise you without knowing more about your experience. Ben Hope in January could be a straightforward walk, which should take a reasonable fit person no more than 4-5 hours (so no need for pre-dawn starts). On the other hand, depending on the weather and snow conditions, it could be a full-on winter mountaineering experience, requiring the use of ice-axe and crampons. You should also be confident of your ability to navigate in (very) poor visibility: although the route is straightforward it passes close to some steep cliffs which would easy to stray over in a white-out, especially in descent.

You should also be conscious of the effect of doing a walk for charity can have: it might encourage you to continue in unsafe circumstances because you feel you have promised lots of people that you will complete the challenge. I would certainly advise that you plan to be in the area for a period of several days, so that you can pick the one with the best forecast, rather than being committed to going up regardless on the one day you have available.

Hope that helps,
Mark.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby Phil the Hill » Mon Sep 24, 2012 1:58 pm

Agree with Mark's advice.

Tryfan in full winter conditions would be much more challenging than Ben Hope by the usual route in full winter conditions, as it's more of a scramble. But you're much less likely to get full winter conditions to practice in on Tryfan than you are on Ben Hope. I'd go up Pen yr Ole Wen from the A5 as practice for Ben Hope (but Tryfan and the Bristly Ridge are much more fun).

If you're inexperienced with ice axe and crampons, a winter hillwalking course is a great way to start.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby spokes2563 » Mon Sep 24, 2012 8:34 pm

whilst I haven't done either in winter conditions in summer Pen yr Ole Wen from the A5 is, I think, a much harder climb than Ben Hope by the "usual" route, and I suspect it would be so in winter as well so i think Phil is right, if you can do that you can do Ben Hope
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby watkins » Tue Sep 25, 2012 1:05 pm

Thanks everyone, main concern was the need for ice axes and crampons as these would be an added expense we just don't need.

Fitness levels wise I think we'd both be okay, both 20...and have done some walking and are fairly active sports wise.

Hopefully winter conditions roll in early so we can get some practice in locally. I take it that on a good day, normal route up Ben Hope is achievable without the need for crampons and ice axes even with high levels of snow and ice left over from previous spells of weather?

Thanks Again
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby jmarkb » Tue Sep 25, 2012 4:19 pm

Well, you might need axe and crampons and you might not! It depends not so much on the weather on the day but on the history of the snowpack, and conditions can change fairly quickly (i.e. overnight if there is a hard freeze following a thaw). You could always hire some (e.g. from Tiso's in Inverness).
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby LDPWalker » Wed Sep 26, 2012 2:01 pm

watkins - I think you will be risking a failure if you don't take crampons and ice axe.

I had a few failures when I first started climbing Munros in the winter when I simply couldn't climb the last 50 or 100 metres of rock hard, glassy ice near the summit. It doesn't have to be steep or dangerous to make it unclimbable - if the ice is rock hard and glassy, you won't get up that last bit without crampons and ice axe and it is VERY frustrating! Think of pavements when we get snow in towns, they are lethal when the ice has been compressed underfoot and goes rock hard. Then tilt it 35 degrees...........
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby Kevin29035 » Thu Sep 27, 2012 12:18 am

Again second the axes and crampons thing. Crampons you can commonly do without. Do not go without an axe if there is any decent amount of snow. I usually find that I use an axe ten times more often than crampons, which suggests the very specific conditions in which crampons are useful. So if they are an expense you'd rather do without leave the crampons but know there will be some conditions you might not be able to get up in - aka sheet ice.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby Scotjamie » Thu Sep 27, 2012 1:05 am

Endorse the above...very much. From memory, Ben Hope goes straight upwards from the road (unless tackling from Alltnacallaich) then easing between a break in a line of crags...all easily done in good summer weather. In any winter condition at all, crampon/axe potentially required.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby RadMan » Thu Sep 27, 2012 11:26 am

Take the advice given above.
I would not even contemplate going out in winter without crampons and ice axe.
Ben Hope is pretty steep and the path might not even be seen if theres been a lot snow.
If your not fully prepared then you are just setting yourself up for failure, or even worse - death. :thumbdown:
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby hills » Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:09 pm

Good luck to you watkins, whatever you do. Good sound advice given so far, but one thing not mentioned is the road. That road is a single track b road, and most likely will not be gritted before sunrise, you may find even getting to the hill isnt possible. During the very cold winters of 2009 and 2010, getting to hills, even on A roads was a bit of a challenge. And if we did get there, parking was another major headache in ungritted laybys.

There are a number of Munro's that are accessed from main roads that are kept well gritted, Ben Narnain is a good one, something like that would be ideal.
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Re: Ben Hope in winter

Postby jmarkb » Thu Sep 27, 2012 3:43 pm

If you do have your heart set on Ben Hope, then you should have a sound plan as to how to navigate safely off the hill in the event of poor vis / whiteout conditions. The crags on the west side may carry cornices, in which case they are a serious hazard which needs avoiding, since they are very close to the normal route. From the summit, you could take a bearing more-or-less due south, and walk on this until you are "caught" by the stream gullies at around the 650m contour. Following these will turn you back westwards towards the lower part of the normal route.
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