Sgurr Mhic Choinnich to Sgurr a'Mhadaidh

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After a brilliant climbing holiday in the Val Di Mello and Cadarese in the Italian Alps, I'm back on Skye and out bagging Munros with father and son team; Cameron and Andrew.

Yesterday, we tackled the northern three; Sgurr Nan Gillean, Am Basteir and Bruach na Frithe, which we completed in good time. With Cameron only having the Skye Munros and Ben More on Mull left to go and only on Skye until Thuraday, we had a big day today and took in Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, The In Pinn, Sgurr na Banachdich, Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a'Mhadaidh, giving us a total of 8 Munros in two days. Only the southern three to go tomorrow.

Conditions haven't been brilliant, with damp and windy conditions, so as ever, extra care was required as the rock was quite greasy in places.






The final 3 Munros on the Cuillin Ridge

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Yesterday, our Skye Munros team completed the course by reaching the summits of their final 3 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge; Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Basteir and Bruach Na Frithe.

The weather remained very changeable, with some clear spells, but overall, it was a bit on the damp and windy side, although we were well sheltered when on the northern flanks of the ridge.

Conditions have been quite tough at times this week, but it was clear that throughout the week that the whole team were hugely determined, so a big well done to them all.





Atmospheric day on the southern 3 Munros, Skye

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Our Skye Munros Course, run by myself and Pete, were back at it again and this time at the southern end of the Cuillin Ridge, taking in Sgurr Nan Eag, Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Alasdair before descending the Great Stone Chute.

It was a day of mixed weather, with strong winds early in the day, light drizzle whilst we're on Sgurr Dubh Mor, dry, with fleeting views whilst on Sgurr Mhic Choinnich and sunshine on our walk out of Coire Lagan.

The drizzle wasn't enough to warrant waterproofs and conditions underfoot were largely dry.

That's 8 Munros down this week, 3 to go tomorrow.

Just a reminder that we still have spaces on our course running 10-13 September.






Windy day in the Black Cuillins on Skye

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The most notable feature of today were the winds, which led us to changing plans and tackling the central Munros on the Cuillin Ridge; Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a'Mhadaidh.

With gusts of up to 50mph, it didn't make sense to head to the southern end. It turned out to be a pretty social day, with Dave A and Dave B, both fellow fully qualified Mountaineering and Climbing Instructors, out with their groups on the central Munros too.

The winds look to be with us through the night and hopefully easing tomorrow morning.

That's 5 of the 11 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge down, six to go.

If you fancy a shot at all 11Munros, we have space on our course running 10-13 September.

http://51.38.64.114/…/guide-skye-cu…/





Raw day in the Cuillins, Skye

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Pete and I kicked off day 1 of our Skye Munros Course by taking our group into Coire Lagan and up onto Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, before retracing our steps and heading up beneath Am Stac and over the In Pinn. We finished the day off by taking in Sgurr Na Banachdich and descendes back to the youth hostel in Glenbrittle via Coir' an Eich.

Generally, we would try to do this as our second day, but with stronger winds on the cards for tomorrow, it made sense to do it this way round.

It was quite a raw day, with a cold north-easterly wind making itself known for much of the day. We did get a bit of drizzle, but not enough to warrant waterproofs, thankfully!

3 Munros down, 8 to go!

If you fancy tackling all 11 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge, we still have spaces on our course running 10-13 Sept, so please get in touch if you're interested!

http://51.38.64.114/…/guide-skye-cu…/






More unexpected good weather on Curved Ridge, Glencoe

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Yet again, the weather turned out to be much better than expected whilst Jason, Mal, John and I climbed Curved Ridge and Crowberry Tower on Buachaille Etive Mor in Glencoe today.

When I woke up, the weather was living up to the forecasts, with very heavy rain and thick cloud down to low levels, but it soon brightened up and soon after leaving the car, the waterproofs were stowed away. Whilst we had the odd bit of drizzle through the day, it wasn't enough to dig the waterproofs back out.

What this meant was that we enjoyed a largely dry ascent of Curved Ridge and then made the exposed traverse over to the foot of Crowberry Tower, which we climbed in two pitches before then making our way to the summit of Buachaille Etive Mor.

Jude also joined us today and was out observing, in preparation for her Mountaineering and Climbing Instructor assessment, which she has coming up later this season.






Much better than expected on Castle Ridge today

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The weather today turned out to be much better than the forecasts suggested. Jason, Mal, John and I made an ascent of Castle Ridge on Ben Nevis, expecting the rains to arrive sometime late morning/early afternoon. Instead, we enjoyed a completely dry day, with the rains only starting at about 5pm.

Conditions on the route were excellent, with bone-dry rock. The summit was fairly busy with walkers, but there wasn't another soul on the north face of the mountain today. We continued our day by descending Ledge Route.









Clear and dry on the Aonach Eagach

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Yesterday, I was working alongside Jamie on the final day of one of our 4 day Cuillin Munros Courses. We tackled the northern end; Sgurr nan Gillean, Am Bhasteir and Bruach na Frithe and managed to once again dodge much of the rain.

Today was a different story, as Jason, Mal and I enjoyed a dry and clear day on the Aonach Eagach in Glencoe. Conditions were pretty much perfect, with much of the rock being completely dry. Plenty of other teams making the most of the dry conditions. Good to also bump into Mike Pescod, who was running along the ridge in the opposite direction to us. It felt a bit more like June should today!

We have a few spaces left on our open Aonach Eagach trips (£99/person):
22 June
3rd August 2019
31st August 2019
14th September 2019

http://51.38.64.114/…/aonach-eagach…/








Beat the rain on Skye

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Our Skye Munros team enjoyed another unexpectedly dry day on the Cuillin Ridge today. The forecasts were for rain, but fortunately that didn't arrive until we were down.

We tackled the southern three Munros; Sgurr Nan Eag, Sgurr Dubh Mor and Sgurr Alasdair, before descending the Great Stone Chute, which is in reasonable (relatively) good nick at the moment, with plenty of opportunities to descend decent scree, as opposed to mixed sized rocks and awkwardly hidden slabby boulders.

That brings our total to 8 Munros, with the northern three to go. Guess where we'll be tomorrow!

If you fancy tackling all 11 Munros on the main Cuillin Ridge, we have spaces on our 4 day course, running 10-13 September.

http://51.38.64.114/…/guide-skye-cu…/




Better than expected on Skye today

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The forecast for the morning wasn't brilliant, so our Skye Munros team decided to head uo Sgurr na Banachdich first of all, to give the expected rain a chance to clear before we tackled the In Pinn and Sgurr Mhic Choinnich.

It turned out to not be necessary, as the day stayed dry throughout, although the clouds definitely thinned out through the day.

Everyone enjoyed the ascent of the In Pinn and in order to miss out the steepest section of the Brown Ramp beneath the In Pinn, to get round to Bealach Lagan and Sgurr Mhic Choinnich, we took Murray's Ledge, a brilliant and straight forward descent down scree to gain the lower angled section of the Brown Ramp.

Plenty of teams out making the most of the better than expected weather today.