Mac, Steve and I nipped over to Hell’s Lum Crag today and climbed Deep Cut Chimey. The slabs below the main chimney were banked out with good firm and generally scoured snow allowing a fairly direct approach, although some ingenuity was required to find a belay.
Once in the chimney conditions were generally very good, with nice ice and only the odd section of more powdery snow. The route is a classic, requires a good variety of techniques and has a superb back and footing exercise to finish. Not a bad route for Mac and Steve’s first of the season.
There isn’t a huge build up of ice on Hell’s Lum and most of the ice routes look on the thin side. Additionally, there’s a lot of wind slab above routes like The Sneer and a huge cornice forming above Hell’s Lum itself. The day started sunny with a South-West wind and finished with light snow on a more Southerly wind as we returned to the car. Significant accumulations of wind slab were forming in sheltered areas. Snowing steadily at Drummochter as I drove South.
