Mountain Diary and Conditions

After a day on the Cobbler, in Arrochar, yesterday, I was back out with David and his 12-year-old son, Harry. After a successful day on Ledge Route on Ben Nevis on Tuesday, we decided to up the challenge and tackled Curved Ridge on Buachaille Etive Mor today.

The weather was quite mixed as we set off, but improved steadily as the day progressed. I certainly think that one of the team found the scrambling easier than the other, you may be able to tell by who's smiling the most in the photos! To give you a clue, his name begins with H and rhymes with 'carry'.

That said, they did both enjoy themselves and did fantastically well! On reaching the summit of Stob Dearg, we had some great views towards Rannoch Mor and down Glen Coe.

Proagencies

I was out on Ben Nevis today, with Frederick and Christian, who are visiting from Sweden. They were keen to tackle Ledge Route on the north face, which is a brilliant introduction to this impressive face. We had a real mix of weather throughout the day, but the most notable thing was the snow on the summit plateau.

We made the summit in good time and took a wander back down the mountain path. Plenty of others out on the mountain today.

The ground is currently saturated, which will bode well as the temperatures cool down throughout autumn and before the proper snows arrive. Fingers crossed for a good winter ahead! 🤞❄️

Nice to be back on home turf today! I was out with Arabella, who is in training for Carstensz Pyramid in Indonesia's New Guinea and we made the most of the mixed forecast, by tackling Curved Ridge, one of the finest scrambles of its grade in the UK. The pictures don't paint the full picture, as despite our fair share of showers, we did get some sunshine and dry rock, as well as some excellent, if fleeting, views and a number of rainbows.

The wet rock and occasional gusts did nothing to slow Arabella down and we were soon on the summit of Stob Dearg, where it was made clear that we had been fairly well sheltered from the winds for much of the day!

As a side note, I've been hugely impressed with my Cross Mountain boots, which have kept my feet dry in some pretty wet conditions throughout the year.

For our third day of our Skye Munros Course, Tom, myself and our team made our way up to Bealach a' Bhasteir, from where we firstly made a quick ascent of Am Basteir, before tackling the airy West Ridge of Sgurr Nan Gillean, which provided a healthy dose of exhilaration, as the teams weaved their way over the exposed pinnacles.

We bumped into a chap and his dog on the summit (they had come up the SE Ridge), beforeaking our way beneath the steep north face of Am Basteir and over to Bruach na Frithe, our third and final Munro of the day (and no. nine of the course). The weather remained dry all day and whilst it was breezy, it was far from being wild.

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Tom and I kicked off our final Skye Munros Course of the season today and found ourselves walking into Coir' a'Ghrunnda in the sunshine, with excellent views of the Small Isles and out to the Outer Hebrides.

First up was Sgurr Nan Eag, before cutting across to Sgurr Dubh Mor. Whilst en route to Sgurr Alasdair, we had a bit of rain, which soon turned into light snow. As we descended the Great Stone Chute, the snow turned back to rain, before completely clearing up again, so it really was a case of experiencing all four seasons throughout the course of the day.

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