I had one of my strangest days working on the Ben the other week guiding for Abacus Mountain Guides. We took a team of 36 people from Travelodge who, as well as raising money for charity, built a Travelodge room on the summit of the Ben! It actually turned out to be a great day, with the team doing a grand job constructing and deconstructing the room in a couple of hours.
I had another trip on the Ben for Seren Ventures leading a group on the mountain track. A
sterling performance, especially by 10 year old William!
I had a couple of days sports climbing back East with family in the sunshine at Bennybeg and Kirriehill which was very pleasant!
Last week I took Sue and Sarah to the top of the Ben as part of their 3 peaks in 3 days fundraiser. The two of them did really well despite some fairly gnarly weather!
I was out again the next day with a group from a Nordic walking club. The team had great technique with their poles, although the terrain didn't always make it easy to use them properly.
I was back out again the following day with a group of 3 peakers for Maximum Adventure.
A few days off followed and with some fine weather on the forecast it was time to hit the rock!
Andy and I headed to the Cairngorms and ticked off Magic Crack (HVS 5a) and Damnation (HVS 5b). The final pitches of both routes were fantastic, some of the most enjoyable climbing I've done for a while!
Tuesday, we headed on to Binnean Shaus. First up was the Keep (HVS 5a), which had great main pitch up the parallel cracks. With the heat and sun beginning to make an impression, we headed up Blaeberry Grooves (VS 4c) before calling it a day. The walk in and out wasn't too bad at all but bikes on the way out would be awesome!
Wednesday Davie and I headed for a wee adventure up Raven's Edge (VS 4c) on the Buachaille. The approach was interesting but we eventually found ourselves at the base of the route. With no belay apparent, and the first 60m looking pretty grassy, we soloed up to a good belay to just before the proper climbing starts. This was an great route, a really enjoyable mountaineering day out.
The end of the week saw me back on the Ben again, to start a 3 peaks in 3 days for Maximum Adventure
We had stunning sunshine and hot weather for all the 3 peaks, which was pretty hard going but the team did great!
