The calm before the flood

It seems the Autumn Monsoon season has well and truly set in here in Lochaber! One good thing this brings is a chance to get caught up with blogging and paperwork.

I had a superb day up the Ben with Laura and Will and whilst there was a bit of mist on top, we had some lovely sunny weather on descent

Enjoying some more of the Autumn sunshine, I was out with Fleur and Emily on the Carn Mor Dearg Arete. Some stunning weather and amazing views led to a memorable day!

I headed out with Kavita who was enjoying her half term break and wanted an adventure with some nice views. With another sunny day in store we headed down to Glen Nevis and up the superb North Ridge of Stob Ban. Kavita took the exposure in her stride and before we knew it, we were enjoying some amazingly clear views from her first Munro! With plenty daylight left, we headed round to Mullach before descending back into the Glen with two Munros, an adventure and some great views in the bag!

With some strong winds in the forecast, it felt like a slight change in the weather was coming. Thankfully, Dirk and his four friends from Canada brought myself and Craig  good luck as some stormy morning clouds parted in time for us reaching the top of Carn Mor Dearg and onto the Ben via the Arete.

It was time for me to head slightly away from my home patch and I met Dan in Fort Augustus at the start of last week. Dan wanted a couple of days in the area getting off the beaten track and to have a bit of a chance to explore. We headed towards Drumnadrochit or our first day and wandered up the lovely ridge of Meall Fhur Mhonaidh (699m). With the remnants of a hurricane passing over on Monday night and some seriously squally winds forecast the next day, it looked like day two could have been a wash out. Thankfully, Dan was still keen to head out so we drove along the Old Military Road to Loch Tarff and made our way onto the moor between Loch Ness and the Monadhliath mountains. This turned out to be a great choice as we got properly off the track seeing some deer, grouse and ptarmigan. We walked around Lochan a Choire Ghlas and started our return journey just as the snow storms arrived. It's great when a day can really exceed expectations and shows it's always worth heading out and giving things a go!

I was back on the Ben last week with Hannah and Pete. We had hoped to do the CMD but with high winds and fresh snow and the guys being keen to reach the top of the Ben, we headed across the moor from the top car park and joined the second half of the Mountain Track. As has become the norm the past week, strong winds, heavy rain ( and even a bit of snow!) were encountered but Hannah and Pete made great progress and before too long, we were enjoying a lunch break amongst the Observatory ruins. Well done on keeping the spirits up despite a bit of a wet day!

Winter skills and Mamores Guiding

On Thursday I was working for the West Highland College with the First Year Degree Students. Our plan was to cover some basic Winter skills and also to let the students look at how we structure our sessions and adapt things depending on the conditions.
Straight away we were met with some challenges as we struggled to get the bus up the Forestry track to the Allt a Mhullin due to all the snow!

We looked at various aspects of avalanche awareness both during the walk in and on the hill. After covering the use of crampons and with lots of spindrift and strong gusts, we found a good bank of snow to dig some emergency shelters.
A great effort from the team who managed to get a productive day despite some challenging conditions!

On Friday I was guiding Laura and Rosie. We had a few options but due to the high avalanche forecast we thought sticking to ridge lines would be safest. We headed up the fantastic North Ridge of Stob Ban. Whilst never too technical, this gives a real sense of a mountaineering adventure and under so much snow, was great fun!
We headed round the West end of the Mamores Ridge along to Mullach nan Correan. The wind started to pick up as we arrived at the summit and so a steady descent saw us back in Glen Nevis. A thoroughly enjoyable day at work! Thanks to Andy who came along to shadow also.

Nevis, Sgurr a Mhaim and Stob Ban

On Tuesday I took Dhiren and Kiro up the Ben Track, with Andy shadowing. They are both planning on climbing Kilimanjaro this year so wanted a bit of training in preparation. They certainly weren't disappointed as the mountain was in great winter condition for a leg stretch! The Red Burn was totally banked out and gave us a nice bit of excitement early on. From here on in, the path was totally buried in snow so we headed directly up the west side of the mountain, giving a good work out for the legs. There were a few pockets of windslab around but nothing to worry about. On the plateau was a complete whiteout, testing the nav skills until the summit popped into view. Well done to Dhiren and Kiro for a great effort and best of luck for your future mountain exploits!





 Yesterday I was out with Dave for a trip around Sgurr a Mhaim, The Devil's Ridge and a descent of the North Ridge of Stob Ban. LOTS of snow up there just now and a few small dodgy bits of windslab but great fun nonetheless!