Thursday 13 September 2012

First glimpse of Winter...

A busy last couple of weeks saw me working on a 3 peaks trip in 3 days with a group for Diabetes UK. The 22 strong team did a great job on Ben Nevis the Friday with most reaching the summit in some pretty minging weather. Scafell Pike was much drier thankfully with the occasional break in the cloud giving us some great views. I was given the task of taking PJ bear from PJ Travel to his first daytime summit of Scafell Pike, which he achieved easily! Snowdon started as a very wet and misty day but the cloud soon broke and a bit of sunshine finished off the weekend nicely. Well done guys on raising a lot of money for Diabetes UK!( Union Jack coinciding with Paralympics!)


Matt, Guin, PJ and me!
Thursday I was taking a family up Ben Nevis for Abacus Mountaineering  in what was forecast as 100mph winds and heavy rain! Fortunately the gusts didn't really materialise and although pretty foul, the weather didn't stop us reaching the summit in around 3 hours and back down in another 2hrs 30min- a solid performance guys!

Saturday was another trip up the Ben for Seren Ventures with Jill from Australia. Jill did really well and informed me that the Winter in Adelaide is about the same temperature as Summer in Scotland! Some wet cloud on the summit threatened to lift and we got a glimpse of blue sky from the summit but no views this time.

 On Sunday Glenda and I headed for a quick walk near Binnein Shaus before the rain set in. Hopefully be getting some climbing done here before the season ends!


Tuesday and Wednesday Kev and I were working for Dave Ascough with some clients after some big days out in Scotland. Saw a bit of snow on Carn mor Dearg before leaving for the day- Winter may be on its way! We headed up Sgurr a Mhaim but the 50-60mph gusts and -11C windchill meant we were forced to abandon an attempt on the Devils Ridge. We finished the day taking the guys along what W.H. Murray described as 'the best half mile in Scotland', along the Steall Gorge to the falls. Some antics on the wire bridge were followed by a great view of the Steall Falls which was looking very impressive after the rain over the last few days!

Robbie and Simon  quickly descending out of the wind!



Yesterday the group went to Glencoe to head up Buachaille Etive Mor. I went ahead with Simon who was after a good workout in preparation for the Berlin Marathon. We speeded ahead to complete the entire ridge in and back to the car in 4hrs 30min- workout accomplished! Some signs of snow over Aonach Beag too!
Simon on Stob Na Broige

Looking back to Stob Dearg

First Snow on Aonach Beag

Glencoe Panaroma


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