Welcome to the West Coast Mountain Guides diary and conditions page, which we will update regularly throughout the year. During the winter, there will be plenty of up-to-date information and reports regarding the latest mixed and ice climbing and mountaineering conditions in the Scottish Highlands, and in particular, on Ben Nevis, Aonach Mor and in Glencoe. We’ll also be posting accounts of our latest trips, both work and play.
If you have any up-to-date conditions reports and photos that we can include in our blog, please drop us an email:
info@77.104.174.8
Ken: Yesterday, myself and Mike, along with our team of budding mountaineers ticked off Sgurr a’Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a’Mhadaidh on the Cuillin Ridge to round up a successful four days, during which we summited all eleven Munros on the ridge.
The weather just about played ball,…
Ken: This week, I’ve been running a Skye Munros Course, alongside fellow Mountaineering & Climbing Instructor, Josh. We’ve had to think on our feet to make the most of the mixed weather, but today, successfully tackled Sgurr Gillean, Am Basteir and…
Dave: I’ve just had a brilliant couple of days out with these guys, we were supposed to be doing a traverse but decided the weather wasn’t ideal, so we had 3 fantastic individual days.
Ken: Despite the weather once again not quite playing ball, I was out newly weds Fiona and Peter who were keen for a bit of an adventure to build on their day on the In Pinn with Sam yesterday. We decided to go for one of the most involved and…
We have a had a last-minute cancelation from our 4 day course running next week, the 1st to the 4th.
This 4 day course is for hillwalkers looking to complete all 11 Munros along the Cuillin Ridge. Our guides know the Skye Cuillin extensively, and will…
Dave: I was out with Eddie today at Creag Dubh introducing him to the crag, refining his stance management and giving him lots multi pitch tips and tricks on our 3 routes and 3 abseils.
We started on Brute VS 5a a great route with an awkward first belay which gave…
Ken: I'm just back from a week of bolt clipping in the very pretty Frankenjura region of Germany. The north-facing crags were perfect despite the warm weather and the area was amazingly quiet.
I'm back in Scotland now and the weather isn't too dissimilar to that in Germany! For the past couple of days, I've been guiding Tower Ridge, but the beauty of the route, particularly when it's dry, is that a number of interesting variations are possible. Yesterday, with Jarek, we took the classic line; up the East Gully of the Douglas Boulder, then the traverse out right after the first flat section. From the summit, we descended Coire Leis. Today, I was out with Stephen and started up the SW Ridge of the Douglas Boulder (getting to it requires care and the ridge isn't without loose rock), before abseiling into the Douglas Gap. We took a much more direct line on the lower reaches of Tower Ridge, which gives slightly more sustained and exposed scrambling. From the summit, we made our way over to Carn Dearg and descended Ledge Route.
A truly great couple of days and all the more so with such good weather!
New Heights – Active Brands
Pro Agencies
Dave: This weather is amazing and great to see so many teams enjoying it. Today I was away from The Cuillin and on Tower Ridge, with Kenny.
We walked in quickly chatting experience and sharing stories. I decided Tower Ridge wouldn't be enough of a challenge so we opted to start up the SW Ridge of The Douglas Boulder. Levitation skills required to not dislodge of blocks or holds.
Tower was brilliant, chilled on each tower and the only other party we met was in descent. We had watched them climb Observatory Ridge, I hope they enoyed their day of all the ridges.
Our friend and high altitude mountain guide, Jon Gupta is running a series of online High Altitude Mountaineering Masterclass sessions, so if you’re interested in building up to tackling your first peak in the Greater Ranges, make sure you tune in to these sessions!
The first session is on Tuesday, 28 April and is for those looking to cut their teeth on 5000-6000m mountains.
For more info and to book: www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/jon-gupta-30149207410
Dave MacLeod climbing Moonwalk on Ben Nevis
On the off-chance that you have a bit of time on your hands, here’s a brilliant short film showing just how good conditions were on Ben Nevis a couple of days before the UK went into lockdown. We were fortunate enough to be running our second five day CIC Hut Week at the time and in fact, we stayed an extra night so that we could make the most of the conditions up there. I’m certain that 19 seconds in, that’s us on Hadrian’s Wall Direct. The following day, we climbed Orion Face Direct before heading back down to Fort William. Over the 6 days, we climbed: Minus 3 Gully, Gutless, Minus 2 Gully into North East Buttress, Right-Hand Wall Route, Vanishing Gully into 1934 Route and up Tower Ridge, Hadrian’s Wall and Orion Face Direct.
We’ve put our dates up for our CIC Hut Weeks winter 2021:
– 28 February – 5 March 2021
– 14-19 March 2021
http://51.38.64.114/…/cic-hut-winte…/
