End of Winter Round Up

It's been a superb end to the Winter season for me. I've been able to get out an enjoy some early Spring rock climbing with some students from West Highland College in preparation for my MIA assessment in a few weeks. Thanks to everyone who came along!

 Back to some more normal weather and I had 2 days out with Ged. This was Ged's first step into the Winter mountain environment and we covered plenty core skills as well as bagging his first Munro, Stob Dubh in Glencoe! Ged's journey to get into the mountains from significant health challenges has been inspiring and it's always good to share someone's first steps into this amazing environment.

Next up was a snowholing trip with the 3rd year Adventure Tourism Management students at West Highland College. I haven't been snowholing for quite a while so it was good to refresh the skills and also be out with experienced instructors Scott and Julie. We headed to Carn Ban Mor from Glen Feshie, and whilst things felt like Spring in the Glen, there was more than ample snow for us all to dig in for the night! Well done all the students for creating some great snow holes and for keeping a good sense of humour throughout the trip!

 I had a superb trip up Ben Nevis with Kate and her 8 friends with Hannah working with us too. A great effort from the team saw everyone reaching the summit which was fantastic.

A busy summit selfie!

Tim and Nick were up at the start of the month learning some Winter skills and getting some more mileage in the Winter mountains. We had lovely sunny weather on Aonach Mor and around the Nid Ridge followed by another sunny day up Sgurr an Lubhair (1001m) in the Mamores.  It's really satisfying to see clients make lots of progress and look forward to seeing both of the chaps again in the mountains in the future!

 Rounding up the last booking of proper Winter work, I headed out with Joe, Joel, Jacob and Angus for a Ben Nevis Winter Weekend trip. The weather was pretty challenging for our skills day and we saw large avalanche debris in Observatory gully. The chaps learned the 'waterproof' is a subjective term but it prepared us well for our second day out!

 Thankfully, the weather was much kinder on day 2 and we had some smashing weather on Ben Nevis. A great team of guys to be out with!

 This week, I was back out in the 'white room' with Jane and Josh on and ascent of Ben Nevis. Some very challenging navigation conditions reminded me that Spring is still a long way off of the summits. A superb performance from mother and son saw us up and down in around 6 hours, leaving plenty of time for a brew in the Ben Nevis Inn!

It's been another full on Winter, some challenging days and some stunning ones too. Thanks to all my clients, friends and colleagues for lots of memorable and fun days out!

A Week of Contrasts

Wednesday saw my first bit of 'Summer' work for West Highland College. Dennis, Julie and I were working with students to look at aspects of leadership in the mountains. With the snowline still being quite low, we kept even lower and had a great wander in Glenfinnan. Plenty of scenarios for the students from blisters and grumpy clients to broken ankles and missing people!

I had an unexpected day off on Thursday and Steve asked if I'd be keen to go climbing. With a great forecast and good conditions reported, there was only one answer to that! We headed up Observatory Gully and decided that Ordinary Route (V,5) on Observatory Buttress was too inviting to walk past! Great ice, weather and company and really enjoyable climbing meant for a superb day!

Heading up Observatory Gully (pic Steve)

Steve on P1

Me on P2 (pic by Steve)

More great climbing

Happy chappies! (pic by Steve)

We had a big thaw over Friday and Saturday and today I was back up the Ben with Mia and Nathan on the Mountain Track. The thaw was evident from early on but there was still plenty of snow around even on the track. A great effort from the pair who managed up and down in around 7 hours. First time in crampons too!

With high pressure forecast this week, looks like Spring will be making and appearance!

Winter Fun!

It's been a busy few weeks since the last blog post. We've had some stormier weather which seems to have settled down and the last few weeks have been fantastic in the mountains.

I had a couple of great days with Rebecca and Debbie who were here on a Ben Nevis Winter weekend trip. We had a proper wild day around the CIC hut looking at Winter skills (and survival skills!).

 Rebecca and I headed up the Ben and she put in a superb effort getting to 1200m before calling it a day.

Andy and I headed out climbing and it was a sociable day on the Douglas Boulder with Steve and Hannah on Gutless and Nathan and Cormac following us Jacknife (V,6). It was nice to get on the sharp end on something a bit harder and the crux pitch was great with good protection and absorbing climbing.

 We had planned on a second route but on descent I was struck down by the Winter vomiting bug! Glad I wasn't on anything too committing that day!

 Last weekend Hannah was out with Gemma and Nick  and Dave was our with Sonnaz and her friends for a couple of trips on Ben Nevis and Winter Skills. Some stunning weather showcasing the UK's Highest Peak in all it's glory!

 After a few days in bed recovering, I headed back up to the Ben on a very 'Scottish' day! With lots of spindrift piling down the mountain, we settled on Fawlty Towers (III) for a quick hit.

 Last week I was out in Glencoe with Julie and 3rd year students from West Highland College looking at decision making in the mountains, using the 'Be Avalanche Aware' model. This was a great day out and there were lots of interesting points for the students to consider

Mark was out for us with Liz on Friday tackling the Ben in some challenging conditions, well done team!

Yesterday was set to be glorious so James, Andy and myself decided to go climbing! Andy led up P1 of Vanishing Gully (V,5) which was in great nick whilst I got to lead the steeper icefall and up onto Tower Ridge. The continuation gully had a great little pitch where it narrowed which was well worth doing. With a few slower teams ahead of us, we decided to descend Tower Ridge and back into Observatory Gully. Lots of teams out enjoying the day, with the Orion Face looking very popular (and rightly so!)