Summer highs

Last Friday, myself, Kev and Andy headed on to the Ben with a plan to climb Tower Ridge. The guys had agreed to be my 'clients' for the day and as we approached the hut, it sure looked like an interesting day! The cold North wind was really biting and as we layered up, it certainly felt a million miles away from some of the warm sunny days we'd been having recently. I roped the guys up and we headed into the Douglas Gully East. This was pretty horrible, loose and wet and not particularly easy to safeguard the chaps on. Nevertheless, we made it up the chimney and onto the ridge just as the snow started... As the the cloud lifted we saw fresh snow and even some rime on the upper part of the climb. With an ice axe each, but no crampons, we made the decision to head down. After having an epic long day on Tower Ridge in winter before, none of us felt we had anything to prove by fighting up the route in sub optimal. We descended the grassy ramp higher into Observatory gully which will be my first choice of accessing the ridge in the future. We even found a few bits of kit that had been dropped last winter!

On Saturday, the sun was out again, and I was guiding a group of 3 peakers for Maximum Adventure. A great performance and nice conditions saw us on the summit in around 3hrs 15min and back down in under 6 hours total, a promising start for the team!

On Sunday, I was guiding Mark and his son Matt on the Ben for Hunter Mountaineeing. Both of the guys live in California but were adapting well to the Scottish climate! A wet forecast didn't really amount to much and we stayed fairly dry for the day, which was a bonus. Well done guys!

I seem to get more than my fair share of good weather when guiding on the CMD arete, and Tuesday was no exception! I was out with Sam, who had chosen to ascend Ben Nevis via a more interesting and challenging route. She was treated to conditions that were pretty much as good as it gets, with great views of the North Face of Ben Nevis, the Mamores and beyond to Glencoe. Sam took the arete in her stride and steadily cruised here way along it until the final push to the top of the Ben. It's on days like that I have the best job in the world!

It's always a pleasure to meet up with returning clients and on Thursday, Razia, Anuja and 9 year old Aakesh were back in the Fort with the summit of Ben Nevis in their sight! Last April when the guys were up here, we headed up Meall an-t Suidhe as warm up to the Ben. After a good few months of training, they were ready to give the Ben a shot. A good steady pace for the day saw us all reaching the summit in good spirits with plenty in the tank to tackle the long descent. A massive well done to young Aakesh who has been the youngest person I've guided up the Ben so far.

Aakesh making sure he was the highest person in the UK!

With a great forecast on Friday, Andy had mentioned the possibility of getting on one of the big mountain routes on the Ben. The Bullroar was high on both of our lists and so we headed up to Carn Dearg buttress to get a look... There were some wet streaks along the crux slab pitch but we hoped the sun would dry these out. Unfortunately, the first pitch was really wet and Andy moved over into the corner and the E1 5b alternative start. A great effort from Andy saw him battle his way up the strenuous corner and onto the first belay. I led the next two pitches which saw some thought provoking moves on sensationally exposed ground. The first wet streak was dry but the second one meant we had to make a rather large step over to avoid it. Route finding was quite hard but we eventually found ourselves on familiar ground half way up pitch 3 of Centurion. A couple more pitches and we reached the ab point above The Bat. We backed up some dodgy looking tat on the anchors with our own and made the 2 long abseils back to terra firma! An absolutely classic route and one of my favourite days climbing for sure!

Photo by Mike Pescod

With rare day off on a Saturday, Glenda, John and I headed to Glen Loy. I went for a run up Beinn Bhan which was massively enjoyable, especially with the stunning views over a mirror like Loch Arkaig. Nice to be moving relatively fast and light in the hills, and outrunning the midges too!

 

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.

Getting stuck in...

It's been a busy start to the Summer season so far. I had a great day on Ben Nevis with Tina and Simon. They have both done a fair bit of hiking and trekking abroad, mainly in Japan and so were keen to see what Scotland had to offer. A pretty pleasant day all in all and we even managed a bit of cramponing descending the Red Burn.

 The next day I was working for Abacus Mountaineering guiding Tony and Kim on the Ben. The guys got a proper Ben Nevis experience with some wind, rain and cloud thrown in!

I've also started the process of consolidating what I covered during my MIA training and Andy and I went for a trip up the North Buttress of Stob Ban and descended the North Ridge. Really good route for some short roping practice.

We also had a  great trip to Ardnamurchan and climbed a few routes up to E1 5b.

Back up the Ben on Saturday with a group from Action Challenge, with lowering freezing levels and a frosty night we were slightly concerned about how firm the snow would be. Thankfully the morning sun helped to thaw the top layer of snow by the time we got to the snow line and on descent things were soft and pleasant underfoot.

On Sunday I was working for Dave at the Highland Mountain Company on the CMD arete. Unfortunately two of the chaps in the group made the tough call to head down on our way up to Carn Mor Dearg. Whilst not an easy decision, when taking into account the length of the day, it was the best one. I accompanied the guys back down and then headed back up the Mountain Track to meet the rest of the team as the ascended the final slog up to Ben Nevis from the arete.

On Tuesday Kev and Andy were kind enough to be my guinea pigs for some more short roping practice. We settled on Curved Ridge on the Buachaille as our route for the day and despite

the odd shower, the weather was pretty kind to us. Lots more good practice for me and thanks to Andy and Kev for being patient 'clients'!

pics by K. Shields