UKC

Potentially heading up to Scotland next week for trad, how is the snow levels looking on shelterstone and the Ben approaches?

Any info is much appreciated!

Jack

You won't have any issue getting to Shelterstone or to Carn Dearg Buttress.

Stuff accessed from Observatory Gully or high in the Ciste I'll leave to someone who's actually been.

Cheers, that's exactly what I wanted to hear!

Hopefully the weather holds into next week. 

Looks like high pressure building midweek at the moment. You'll want some decent temps too, early May can be pretty baltic on those crags.

https://holfuy.com/en/camera/1746 is a useful resource for getting an idea of snow cover. You’ll probably want a pair of boots for kicking steps to get to Minus 1 area currently, could be cold up there and better done in the afternoon/evening to get the most of the sun. Some morning cragging at Polldubh, lunch in FW and then an evening on the hill. Guaranteed the route to yourself as well. 

I haven’t seen Carn Dearg Buttress or The Shelterstone recently but they both catch a fair bit of day time sun and dry faster than most would think. Steeple was a bit wet at the crux when I did it but totally manageable.

There's a reasonable spread between both crags in terms of grade, but I’d probably rather climb slightly wet granite than andesite. Carn Dearg buttress is one of the very best places I’ve climbed though. It’s only 2 hours drive between so if you can visit both then you definitely should! 

That webcam is cool. Can you select past dates on it? I couldn't see a way.

There’s a button something like this <<
 

I think Robin moves it to point at Carn dearg once the winter season is over. (Well he has in the past)

Click on the past image (the small ones below) seems to work

There’s a bit below that says “click for more images” which gives you the previous few days. Not sure if the stuff before that gets archived or is deleted. 

This webcam is really good thanks for that, I have climbed on carn dearg and shelterstone before but always later in the summer. I have done steeple (and remember the under grade wet first pitch), so was looking to do the other ER ticks on shelterstone.

Just unsure how climable theses places will be in early May!

For reference, I climbed Torro around the middle of April a few years ago in a t-shirt. A long dry spell, full sun and a light breeze made it pretty perfect and the whole thing was bone dry. Likewise, I climbed King Kong (ER tick?) in September two days after several days of heavy rain, also bone dry and in the sunshine.

I think the wind factor is the biggest issue, temps wise it should be fine but play it by ear closer to the time. The highland forecasts are usually relatively changeable until 2 days out, but there’s always dry options as a fall back.