Winter Skills on Ben Nevis

Had a great day on Ben Nevis today teaching Nik some Winter Skills. This was Nik's first time out in Winter and he did really well learning how to move efficiently on snow and ice. We covered how to use crampons, ice-axe self arrest and self belay and some avalanche risk assessment. Lots of spindrift around and some soft slab building up quickly on the underlying hard snow

Winter Skills Practice

Out with Dave Ascough  www.daveascough.co.uk for preparation for our upcoming Winter ML assessment.

We looked at avalanche awareness and found some weak layers on the West slopes of Carn Mor Dearg whilst digging test pits. Also looked at various snow anchors and belays as well as movement on snow and ice. Beautiful weather, looks like the Ben is shaping up nicely, quite a lot of ice forming already!

Ledge Route

Dessie and I headed up Ledge Route on Ben Nevis today. A superb grade 1/2 scramble with fine airy situations. The mist and rain cleared to give sunshine when we topped out so we followed the corrie rim round to the summit. This was Dessie's first time on the North Face of the Ben and he now has his sights set on Tower Ridge after some awesome views across to it today!
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The Summit from Cran Dearg

Tower Ridge

Mamores Day

Had a great day with Dessie and Glenda on Stob Ban and Mullach Nan Corean in the Mamores. Mixed weather in the morning cleared to give sunshine and spectacular views over to the Ben and South to Glen Coe. This is a lovely ridge walk with some fantastic scenery. Met some folks celebrating a final Munro too, congratulations again!

3 Peaks on Ben Nevis

Back off the Ben after working for Maximum Adventure. A large group of about 60 made it to the summit and back despite some rather wet and windy conditions near the top.

Skye Trip

Jonny and I returned from Skye after a wet attempt at the Cuillin Ridge. The weather window we were hoping for didn't arrive until 7 hours later than we needed it .After a rather wet and windy bivvy on Bealach a Coire Lochan we went for a wander around Coire a Ghrunda and back to Glen Brittle for a chill out time on the beach

3 peaks

Back from another trip up the Ben with a group doing the 3 peaks. Some nice weather despite poor forecast early yesterday. Everyone managed in under 6 hours. Good luck for other peaks guys!