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
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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…/
On the 14th of March Mehmet guided a team of 4 up Ben Macdui.
Below are some words from Mehmet Karatay.
Chris, Christopher, Stuart and Tony are friends from Leeds. Chris wanted to introduce his friends to the delights of Scottish winter walking and to test his own boots and crampons out for an ascent of the Matterhorn later in the year.
When booking with West Coast Mountain Guides they chose to go up Ben Macdui, Scotland’s second-highest point and a remote-feeling peak on the Cairngorm plateau. It has acres of the big open spaces that the Cairngorms specialise in.
The reality of Scottish winter meant that we didn’t have much chance of getting to the summit today, with 40mph headwinds forecast and the readings from the Cairngorm summit weather station coming in higher. The group were keen to have a go though. We ventured out with open minds and with a number of contingency plans inbuilt into our day.
On our way up Lurcher’s ridge, the group learned a variety of winter skills, had an excellent view of a couple of mountain hares, and generally got a bit battered by the winds. When adventuring in the mountains, especially in winter, good-quality open communication within the group is essential. We managed to establish this early on so when the time came, the decision to turn around was an easy one. There was some thought of trying to loop through the northern corries but the temptation of a hot drink in the Cairngorm Mountain cafe won us over.
The day was full of smiles, despite the challenging conditions, and everyone was satisfied with what we achieved.
