A bit of a catch up...

Last week I had a couple of superb days out with some of the first year ATM Degree students from West Highland College. Nathan, Cormac, Gregor and myself headed up to Stob Coire nan Lochan in Glencoe for our mountain day, putting in practice some of the skills covered last week. The students were also looking at the day with a view to examining decision making and dynamic risk assessment. A good effort from the lads saw us making it to the peak of SCNL and even glimpsing the tiniest bit of blue sky! 

Some deer living life on the edge!

On Friday I was back out in Glencoe, this time with Richie and Alex. We headed up Buachaille Etive Beag and in whiteout conditions with a bit of wind, it felt like a very decent hill day. Well done to everyone for a really enjoyable couple of days with some good skills on show!

On Sunday I met up with Dan and his family. Dan previously climbed Ben Nevis with me last year on his third go (after the two windiest attempts I've had!)! He was keen to share the Scottish mountain experience with his family so we went to Glencoe, up the Devil's Staircase and along to Beinn Beag. Some pretty strong gusts gave everyone a proper mountain day but we all made it to the top still smiling and even had time for some fun in the snow on descent!

 Yesterday I was out with Juniper and Craig from the Cotswold Outdoor Fort William store. It's was Juniper's first time out in Scottish Winter so we had a couple of days planned before our attempt on Ben Nevis tomorrow. We walked into the CIC hut and found some great snow for some skills practice. We managed to cover ice axe arrest, self belay as well as step kicking and plenty cramponing.  Thanks to Craig for coming along and showing some support as well as bringing the Cliff bars for us to 'test'!!!

 With a bit of a wet forecast today, I decided to take the drive East in the hope of avoiding most of the rain. The plan worked and we stayed pretty dry for the day. Juniper has done lots of hiking in her native Singapore and around South East Asia but wanted to try and improve her navigation. Carn an Fhreiceadain was our hill of choice, a nice Corbett near Kingussie. Whilst in Summer it has a superb landrover track pretty much over the entire route, there was still plenty snow around today to test the skills. Lots of good opportunity for contour interpretation, timing and pacing.

Juniper and Juniper!

Tomorrow it's back up the Ben and with things turning colder again, it's looking nice and Wintry for the Fort William Mountain Festival. I'll be at the Carpe Diem stand in the exhibition hall some feel free to come along for a chat about this exciting project!

A productive month!

This month started with an excellent day on an Association of Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) trainee workshop run by Alan Halewood. The aims for the day were to look at how we can effectively teach rock climbing to our clients. A big thanks to Alan for the day- it was thoroughly enjoyable as well as being massively useful with many top tips learned.

I had a great day out on the Ben with Anne and her five friends who had all met up from various parts of the country (and the world!) to climb Ben Nevis.

On the same day, Andy and John were guiding a group of 15 from TLT solicitors who were raising money for charity. A cold wind on the summit but a great effort from both groups!

Andy and I headed East to avoid the rain and did some climbing in the Cairngorms. We headed to Stac an Fharaidh on the North side of Loch Avon. Walking along the Cairngorm Plateau was enjoyable in itself before we headed down to the crag. We climbed Mack's Dilemma (VS 4c) and Whispers (VS 4c/5a). Some lovely slab climbing on good rock and a few other routes spotted for a return trip in the future!

Another reunion with some returning clients saw me meeting up with Simon, Jane, Zaf, Duncan and Justin from the Nordic walking club based near Cheltenham. The team did the 3 peaks over 3 days last year and were now keen to step it up a gear and go for the 3 in 24 hours!
From the outset I could tell we were on for a good time, reaching the Red Burn in just over an hour! We managed to complete Ben Nevis in just over 4 hours before heading down to the Lakes. We finished Scafell Pike in just over 3 hours in some hot temperatures but with stunning views.
The headtorches came out as we embarked on the final peak, Snowdon at about 0200hrs. Again, the team comfortably reached the summit in just under 2 hours before descending the Miner's Track. It gave us a total time of 23 hours! An outstanding effort from everyone and most definitely one of my favourite 3 peaks trips!

Back up to Fort William and I had a great teaching day down in Glen Nevis with Emma looking at multipitch climbing. We climbed 8 pitches as well as looking at gear placements and a bit of abseiling. Sunshine, a slight breeze and no midges!

A change of venue next, and I was at Polney Crag at Dunkeld with Nik. We looked at various aspects of climbing outside and covered stance management and building belays on multipitch climbs as well as some abseiling.

On Monday I was out with Anna and Amanda back in Polldubh. Both have done small amounts of climbing before but were keen to progress their knowledge of ropework and climbing. A few more midges this time but we managed to climb on some dry rock and cover a fair amount on the way!

I was back out again with Anna and Amanda on Tuesday, and with a good forecast, I wanted to get some practice guiding on Tower Ridge.

The hills were a bit claggy and damp in the morning but with an improving picture we decided to give it a go. We headed up Observatory which still has a lot of fairly firm snow in it, so the ice axes I stuck in as a last minute thought came in very handy! 

We traversed the ledge on the East side of the ridge to gain the crest proper. A few glimpses of the route as the cloud swirled around but no sign of sunshine. Still, this was great for me in terms of picking out the best route up and the damp rock certainly let me get some good mileage whilst short roping the girls.

 Tower Ridge has to be one of my all time favourite routes on the Ben and looking across to Tower Gap and the final slopes brought a smile to my face. The last time I was on this part of the ridge was during a long winter ascent, with the rock covered in verglas and powder snow and in pitch black darkness. Even with the cloud and dampness, it felt decidedly friendly in comparison!

A lower into the gap, and then a climb over for me and we were on the final push to the summit. Thanks to Anna and Amanda for being my guinea pigs for the day and being good company despite the lack of sun and blue skies!

Yesterday, I was out with Hannah and Benn on the Mountain Track. The couple had been planning a trip to Scotland for a while and thought that climbing the Ben would make a fitting highlight! With some cloudy and wetter weather due to arrive later on, we made the most of the views in the morning and had pretty pleasant conditions for most of the way to the summit. The waterproofs came out for a short while on our descent but all in all, a pretty pleasant day. Well done to Hannah and Benn for reaching the top of the UK and thanks for the great conversations throughout the day!

In full swing...

Been keeping busy the last few weeks as is usual for this time of year.
Myself and Dave headed to Glen Nevis with Jonny to look at some multi-pitch climbing. We had a great day taking in routes including Pinnacle Ridge, Three Pines, Right wall and Pine Wall, as well as getting a chance to work on getting my ropework slick.

The weather wasn't looking as good the next day so Jonny and I headed to Meall Cumhann for a dampish scramble. I've been meaning to head up there for a while and we were rewarded with some great views down Glen Nevis. The scrambling was good fun though a bit broken in places and involved the odd heather or mud handhold!

Next up for me was guiding Jason, Liam and Ian on the Mountain Track, for Abacus Mountain Guides. This was to celebrate Ian turning 50 and the guys did really well with a respectable time of up and down in just over 6 hours.

Keen to start racking up some more climbs this season, Andy and I headed to Binnien Shuas. We biked in most of the way, which after having done the walk in last year, felt really easy. I jumped on to the Fortress Direct(HVS 5a) which had a great first pitch. Andy led the second 5a pitch up a crack on immaculate rock. There was a loose block on the second main pitch just as Andy traversed under the triangular niche which is worth watching out for though.

Our second route of the day was Hurricane (HVS 4c). The first pitch was pretty good, bold in places but the climbing was generally fine. Things did deteriorate higher up with a lot of choss and some seepage but we got there in the end!

Andy on the Fortress

After the stunning day climbing, we were back to more normal Lochaber weather but it wasn't wet enough to dampen the enthusiasm of Kirsten, Amy and Betty on our trip up the Ben (for Abacus Mountain Guides). Amy and Betty, both from Hong Kong, had not seen much snow before so they were amazed how much is still left on the Ben! Kirsten on the other hand, from Canada, was pretty at home on the white stuff! Another great day on the hill.

Dave, Kev and I were in Glen Nevis on Friday running through some rescues and problem solving. This was a good session for me as I hadn't covered much of these since my MIA training. We started with some easy common problems and then worked up to some more tricky ones to solve! Thanks to Dave for the feedback and Kev for being a patient victim on the rope!

Hanging around while Dave rescues me!

Andy and I were again working for Abacus on at the weekend with a big group from Lloyds bank. They were all raising money for the Alzheimer's Society. The team were treated to a full Ben Nevis experience with plenty wind, mist and horizontal rain! Still, everyone finished with big smiles, despite the wet clothes! No pics for this one as my camera was hiding from the all the rain.

On Sunday I was working over in the Cairngorms for Wilderness Scotland. A group from the Edinburgh Business School were on a leadership course and had to deal with a mountain rescue scenario. I got to be a casualty for the day, which actually turned out to be a very pleasant job! Sitting out on the hills, waiting to be rescued has never been quite as enjoyable!

The Northern Corries

Loch Morlich

On Tuesday, I took Fang and Sumaaya on one of my favourite days out- the CMD Arete! I seem to get more than my fair share of good weather when working on this route and Tuesday was no exception. The pictures say it all really....

To bring things up to date, yesterday I was guiding Lynne and Latimer on the Mountain Track for Abacus Mountain Guides. It was Latimer's 11th birthday and a trip up Ben Nevis was his present!

An absolutely fantastic effort from the young man! We even had some birthday cookies on the summit to celebrate. A definite birthday to remember.