Rob and Dave were keen for something longer and harder than the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder for today, so for two fit chaps, who have a fair bit of alpine climbing under their belt, and all of us wanting to avoid avalanche hazards on westerly aspects, North East Buttress seemed to tick all […]
Yesterday, Hannah was out on a personal climbing day with Steve, they made the long, but worthwhile approach (2nd time for Han this week) to Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian, where they climbed yet more esoterica – the brilliant part caving, part winter climbing expedition that is Crypt Route, which Han seemed to […]
After three days of brilliant personal climbing, it was back to work for me today. I was out with Conrad, who has an upcoming trip to Mont Blanc this summer, and wanted an MOT to see where he was at in terms of preparing for the highest peak in the Alps. After a rather eventful […]
Continuing yesterday’s theme of squeezing into tight spaces, Hannah and I had a rare day off together, and so ventured up to the brilliant Church Door Buttress on Bidean nam Bian, to look at Flake Route. Whilst the approach feels long, we took a couple of hours from the car park to the foot of […]
With a rather colourful avalanche forecast for Glencoe and Lochaber, Dot, Steve and I decided to play it safe and head back to Ben Nevis, as we were quite confident that conditions wouldn’t have changed much from yesterday. The surface snow up to at least 1000m had thawed and refrozen ever so slightly through the […]
Wow, what a contrast today was compared to the past few days/weeks/months. Dot, Steve and I enjoyed a completely still and cloudless walk-in to Ben Nevis, something that seems to be a rarity at the moment. We also all had a day off, which too seems to be a rarity at the moment. With a […]
After a busy week running a Winter Mountaineering Course for Moran Mountain in the NW Highlands, I was back on home turf today with Mike & Tony. Our plan A was to catch the gondola at Nevis Range this morning, along with a few other hopefuls, but the strong winds put a quick lid on […]
Today, Tom was out working for West Coast Mountain Guides, with Ali, Gary, James and Matt. They climbed the brilliant mountaineering outing ‘School house Ridge’ in Glencoe. Looks like they had a great day, and a brilliant weather window to boots. Meanwhile, I was out running day one of a mountaineering course in the NW […]
With another day of strong westerly winds on the cards, Adele, William and I climbed Eastern Slant on Far East Buttress on Aoanch Dubh, which gave us reasonable shelter from the winds, which were strong enough to repel a few teams heading up to the higher cliffs of Stob Coire nan Lochan. For Adele and […]
Yesterday was wet, and there was almost nothing other than the calender date to hint that it was winter. I was out working for High Mountain Guides, with Grant, and we enjoyed, no really, we did, a wet and snow free Curved Ridge, Buachaille Etive Mor, in Glencoe. It was well sheltered from the strong […]
