Stairway To Heaven III*, North-East Corrie. Beinn An Dothaidh. 12th March 2013

With word from a friend that the winter conditions on Beinn An Dothaidh are remaining good and with an improving weather forecast the scene was set for another early start. We left Glasgow full of enthusiasm and looking forward to a good day on the hill.

Early morning view of The Black Mount. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Arriving at the car park there were quite a few cars, so we assumed that the word must have spread. We quickly readied ourselves whilst chatting to a couple from Hereford that were enjoying their annual winter trip to Scotland. They were planning on attempting West Gully a nice straight forward climb. The couple were ready for the off before us so we said our good byes and wished them luck and said that we would hopefully catch them on the summit of Beinn An Dothaidh.

The North-East Coire of Beinn An Dothaidh. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Once we were ready we started the walk into the corrie at a nice gentle pace, stopping every now and then to take in the stunning early morning views. The one thing I did notice is there was a lot more solid ice present on the ground than the last time I walked into this corrie. (See Taxus The Ice Fall Finish IV,4***, North-East Corrie. Beinn An Dothaidh for grid refs and directions).

Me sporting the Geordie Mohican. The start of Stairway to Heaven III*. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

We manged to catch up with the couple from Hereford again and chatted whilst we geared up for the days adventure. They decided that they did not like the look of the cornice looming over West Gully and opted to walk around onto the summit of Beinn An Dothaidh instead despite my assurances that it was stable and can could be passed on the right with little difficulty. We decided to go for Stairway To Heaven as we could see a party in front of us already on Taxus and another party were already on the way up to the start of Taxus. 

Me just starting Stairway to Heaven III*. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

I 1st climbed Stairway To Heaven last year in totally different conditions, Taxus and West Gully had both avalanched. The snow was wet, unstable, with low cloud and drizzle just to add to the adventure. Luckily all went well and both me and my climbing partner survived the ordeal with out incident. It may not look like it in the pictures but today the turf was frozen like concrete with thick ice on all the ledges making this an all together different adventure.

Me cutting a belay stance into the concrete like neve and ice just below the final pitch of Stairway to Heaven III*. 12/03/2013
(Photo: A J Thorley)

Starting the climb the 1st thing I notice was everything was bone dry and frozen that hard it made it virtually impossible to get any purchase with my ice tools. The 2nd thing I noticed was all the cracks were also frozen solid making either finding protection or pick placements in the cracks impossible. Today like my last adventure was not going to be straight forward.

Me just starting to make my way up the iced up ledges of the final pitch of Stairway to Heaven III*. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

It had taken some time for me to complete the 1st pitch and I must admit it was relief to gain the saddle. I made a belay with ice screws in the concrete like ice then shouted down to Vicks to climb. Once on the saddle with me I swapped things around and lead up to the base of the 3rd pitch where with great difficulty I managed to fashion a belay with an ice screw and a couple of wires I managed to get into the only ice free crack on the crag.

Some of the locals. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Continuing up the 3rd pitch of the route things seemed to be getting harder, I could not gain purchase on either the turf or ice. It was simply frozen too hard. I manage to find some good hooks and I also managed some good torquing moves but eventually after the best part of two hours I had to concede that it would be safer to back off and leave it for another day. In total I managed maybe two thirds of the final pitch before then having to reverse the moves I had just made to get me up there in the 1st place and this was equally as difficult.

Beinn Achaladair & Beinn An Dothaidh. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

Once back down to the saddle we managed to arrange an abseil and abseiled down into West Gully where we bumped into two of the climbers that we had seen on Taxus. They had been watching my progress or lack of from Taxus and commented that I had done well to get as far as I did. This cheered me up a little and now that I have had time to reflect upon this attempt at Stairway to Heaven I am quite pleased to get as far as I did and back to safety without incident.

Buchaille Etive Mor. 12/03/2013 (Photo: A J Thorley)

We said our good byes to the other climbers and waited until they were safely out of the gully and then we started our descent. Once back into the safety of the corrie floor we packed the climbing equipment and then strolled back to the car before traveling the short distance to camp at the Kings House Hotel.