Spring in the air

Yesterday I was out with Andy starting some practice towards my MIA for which I'll assess later this Summer. We went up the nose on Gearr Aonach, a grade 3 scramble followed by a descent of the Zig Zags. Some nice little bits to look at how to manage clients on and we were home by lunchtime!

 Today I was working for West Highland College with Craig and the First Year ATM degree students. It was their turn to do some leading so we gave them various scenarios and awkwards group members to deal with as we traversed Mam na Gualainn and Beinn na Caillich near Loch Leven. A great effort by the students as usual and some superb leading too!

Solitude on Tower Ridge

Today was forecast to be pretty good again so with a day off, Andy and I headed up the Ben for a day on Tower Ridge. The last time I did this route in Winter turned into a bit of an epic so we were keen to avoid any night time crossings of Tower Gap and moved fairly fast. Despite a lot of cars at both car parks, we were surprised to get the route to ourselves for the whole day!

The cloud came and went just as we finished the Eastern Traverse and we were treated to some spectacular views.

The ridge was in great condition with lots of firm snow for feet and axes, and I even managed to place an ice screw as a runner.

 After a wee stop on the plateau, we nipped down Ledge route which was in great snowy condition.

An alpine Ledge Route

Lots of routes getting climbed today as you might expect including Harrison's climb, Smith's route, Castle Ridge, Indicator Wall, Hadrians Wall, and  Point Five.

Queues on Hadrian's Wall

'Action'on Gearr Aonach

Yesterday I was working for Abacus Mountain Guides on a rather unusual job! Vodafone were wanting a dramatic place to film and photograph someone taking a 'selfie' for an ad campaign so I headed up the Zig Zags and onto the edge of Gearr Aonach. It was quite a change working but not having anyone to look after! The weather was absolutely glorious again and I did stop to think how great it was to have all of this as my workplace.
The chopper arrived about midday and I was given my instructions from the director. This varied from moving about a bit, pretending I was on the phone, to taking a picture, acting annoyed and eventually playing air guitar! The helicopter returned a couple of hours later to do some stills.
As I said, quite an unusual day and I'll be intrigued to see the finished product! :)

What an amazing selfie ;)

The helicopter circling before the next shots!

Glencoe at it's best!

Amazing Winter Days on Bidean and Mullach...

I've spent the last couple of days with Whittaker who is already a fairly experienced hill walker. He wanted to cover some skills to give him some useful tools to head out in Winter and well as climbing a Munro or two while we were at it.
Yesterday was a rather unusual day 1 of a Winter skills trip but having seen the forecast, we thought we'd aim big and go high! The highest peak in Glencoe, Bidean nam Bian is one of my favourite mountains and armed with sunglasses and sunscreen (rather than the usual goggles and Goretex!) we ascended towards Coire nan Lochan and onto the peak via the West Ridge. The coire was quite busy and it was nice to bump into so many people having a great day.
The connecting ridge between Stob Coire nan Lochan and Bidean had some of the hardest snow ice I've seen, with my not so sharp crampons skidding off the surface in places! We made it safely to the summit to enjoy some outstanding views.

A careful descent was need to get off Bidean safely so it was a bit of a baptism of fire for Whittaker who was fairly new to crampons. Still he did fantastically well and we were back down in the Glen in good time. An absolute gem of a day!

We decided on a slightly easier day today so we headed up to Lundavra and along the North Ridge of Meall a Choarainn. We looked at step kicking, step cutting as well as a bit of ice axe arrest. We also looked at making decisions in Winter with regards to the underfoot conditions and avalanches.
A wander up to Mullach nan Correan saw us bagging our second Munro of the trip. Another stunning day to be out!

Smith's Route after the Storm...

On Saturday I was out with Jamie and James for a spirited attempt on Ben Nevis. With winds of 80-90mph forecast and rain fall of over 200mm, it was one of those days where leaving the car park was  a small victory in itself! We managed as far as the Red Burn which normally can be strolled across but it was a raging torrent on Saturday! We went for plan B which was to head up Meall an-t Suidhe, just next to Ben Nevis. Whilst this hill has a modest height of 711m, it packed a wee punch for us in those weather conditions and it was great to get up to the top of something! A great effort from Jamie and James meant they earned their beers back at the Ben Nevis Inn!

!

Today I was out with Steve and Hannah for some personal climbing, This has been somewhat lacking for me this season so it was superb to see a good forecast and hear good reports that the ice high on the Ben was in good condition.
Smith's Route (V,5) has been on my wish list for a long time and we were all keen to get on it. We were second in the queue when we arrived which didn't seem too bad until about an hour and half, at which point it felt quite chilly. Still, it was great to get moving and I led up the first pitch to the cave belay whilst Steve and Hannah followed swiftly. Steve took the crux second pitch and made short work of it. This was superb fun, good ice, exposed and steep!
Hannah led us up the final pitch and the cornice onto a calm and sunny plateau.
Winter climbing at it's best- great company, great ice and great weather, cheers guys!

Stob Ban and the Ice Factor

This weekend I was out with Prashant for his second trip to Fort William this Winter! To progress his Winter walking a bit we decided to head up Stob Ban on Saturday. We had some fairly mild conditions on the walk in and spotted some debris from what looked like recent avalanche activity on some of the NE aspects of Stob Ban. Whilst the freezing level was forecast to be around 700m, there was rain up until the last 50m or so before the summit of Stob Ban (999m). Prashant put in a great effort and it was great to experience some more challenging conditions in order to progress his skills.

 On Sunday, Prashant went with Steve to the Ice Factor for a drier day looking at skills for climbing on ice and rock and some useful rope work.

Photo by S. Holmes

Photo by S. Holmes

Photo by S. Holmes

Photo by S. Holmes

Photo by S. Holmes