by Kevin29035 » Mon Dec 03, 2018 1:15 am
Hey
One thing I thought, reading your post, is to say that the grade I gullies can often be one of the most objectively dangerous parts of the mountain. Just because it's easy, doesn't mean it's safer. Accordingly there is little place to say that a Grade I solo will ever be totally safe. Because gullies are the mountains' 'rubbish chute', a mistake in assessing snow conditions could really hammer you. (as in, avalanche)
It would take a lot for me to get really enthusiastic about going soloing grade I gullies. But once the right conditions develop however, it is just great! Consistency of the snow is something probably more widely appreciated in winter climbing as opposed to winter hillwalking because the nature of the game takes you far closer to the snow structure. i.e. you actually climb it, it could fall on top of you if you're having a bad day.
So it takes time, I think, to develop an eye and a feel for the snow, and that's not best developed through walking either.
Counter intuitively, steeper or more exposed climbing can be objectively safer than the entry-level grade I gully. That's not to say it is safer overall; just that you'll be able to control the level of risk more than if you climbed the snow slope and (say..) stood underneath a collapsing cornice time-bomb.
Last winter, I went to Coire Fee for climbing, and had the option of a deep gully or an ice line up the middle of a face. We chose the ice climb. Half way up our climb, we watched (and heard!) the gully in question avalanche from top to bottom (B Gully), a full 1,000 feet. The debris shot out the base of the gully, along the coire floor for some distance and came to rest very near a couple folk, way far out in the base of the coire. We would have got annihilated in that gully, but our line was steep so that the snow hadn't built up so much as to be really dangerous.
Another scenario would be if you get to March/April time, and the Ben Nevis gullies for instance are all deep, generally stable and 'in condition'. (Not always the case of course!). In good conditions, the gullies climb 1 or 2,000 feet and the snow can be bullet-hard. So the snow stability might be excellent, but the consequence of falling might be disastrous. It may not be possible to stop once you start accelerating, so one element of safety (snow stability) gives rise to another danger. Safety in these situations come down to quality (and confident) movement.
If you are looking for easier early-season climbs and the gullies are dangerous, look to ridges or buttresses. But worth knowing maybe, that in winter the requirement to get into roped climbing might arise very quickly, and perhaps half way up a route! To that end I think it's something best explored with partners and as 'winter climbing'.
Try and get a hold of Martin Moran's 'Scotland's Winter Mountains' book - bit dated now in techniques and gear but an encyclopaedia of the Scottish winter mountain game, including the weather, terrain, ridges, gullies, buttresses and all that good stuff.
Sorry that doesn't answer your original question more! Hopefully helps somehow?
Cheers
Kevin
