Accountants on The Ben

Kenny, Andy, Earle and I working on behalf of Hebridean Pursuits took a group of students from Glasgow to the summit of Ben Nevis and back along the walkers path. It's that time of year again and the track is extremely busy so if solitude is your thing then go early on a weekday, otherwise it's very sociable! There is still snow on the plateau from 1200m upwards but this is reducing fast in the warmer conditions.

Rock in Glen Nevis

Al and I nipped up for a quick route or two Polldubh. No sign of the forecast showers, just lots of sunshine and breeze. A few midges around though. We went to After Crag; a nice little outcrop, if a little overgrown just above the more popular Dundee Buttress. We took turns leading the excellent and strenuous Kraut E1 5b and then Afterthought HS which is very lichenous and heathery but otherwise reasonable.

Aonach Eagach

Today I was working on behalf of the Ice Factor and went out with Peter and Andrew who have had a long held ambition to traverse the Aonach Eagach. The chaps took everything in their stride and we made good progress along the ridge, which allowed us time to look at using a rope and anchors in a scrambling context.
The forecast was predicting showers possibly falling as snow in the afternoon but fortunately this never materialised in Glencoe and we had a lovely day throughout. Not many people on the ridge, but we did see a pretty convincing canine performance.

Wet and dry in the Cairgorms!

Thursday to Saturday working for Glenmore Lodge on their Summer Mountain Leader Training course. Great team and great weather, apart from the deluging electrical storm all afternoon and evening of day one of the expedition, where I got another thorough soaking.

Wet and dry in the Cuillins.

Back to the sensational Cuillin Ridge for the the 3rd time this year so far. Working for Adventure Peaks, Mike and I set out from Glenbrittle on Tuesday in clear weather and made good progress along the ridge. The weather was great, sunny with a nice cooling breeze making for dry rock all day except the TD Gap which was somewhat greasy. We felt sure we would encounter rain over night and possibly the next day so pushed on until 8pm in order to get as much of the ridge done as possible. In wet conditions some sections are very slippery and so require much more time.
We bivouac'ed just before Bidein Druim nan Ramh having been on the go for 13 hours.

After a very wet night we battled on over the remainder of the complex central section of the ridge. I must admit with rain and wind it was hard going at times. We reached Sgurr Nan Gillian in the afternoon and arrived in Sligachan at 5.30. Well done Mike.

SPA day 2

SPA stands for Single Pitch Award - a climbing instructor certificate, by the way. We didn't go for a jacuzzi. The final day related to group activities at the crag: rigging for top and bottom ropes, protected abseils as well as all aspects of group management. We went to a damp Glen Nevis, however still no midges!! Long periods of time over the winter where the ground was frozen has probably taken out many larvae. I'm sure it won't take them long to recover.

Kingussie Crag

Working with Al Halewood on a Single Pitch Award training course run for Lochaber College UHI. Five students attended, day one starting with a session looking at simple climbing basics in the Ice factor climbing centre. Subsequently moving on to Kingussie Crag to escape the wet weather in the west. Much dryness was found and the students revised and tuned their personal climbing and rope work technique.

Cuillin Ridge

...Kenny, John and I set out from Fort William at 6am to drive to Skye then traverse what we had time for along the Ridge.
I must admit I don't think any of were hugely motivated whilst driving towards Sligachan: the weather was pretty claggy and damp. But, we went for it anyway hoping for an improvement. Slogging across the moor to Sgurr nan Gillian we decided to include an ascent of Pinnacle Ridge which gave amazing scrambling and an abseil - a great day out in itself. By the time we had dropped down the Bhastair Tooth the skies had cleared, the sun was out and there was a good breeze to dry off the rock. Perfect conditions!
We made good time along the Ridge, reaching Bealach Coire na Banachdich by the afternoon where we dropped down into the corrie towards Glen Brittle. Kenny immediately managed to score a lift back to Sligachan to retrieve the van. Home by 9pm via the chippy in Kyle.

Ben Path again...

Received a last minute request from the Ice Factor to guide a party of 16 on Ben Nevis who are raising money for the Whizz Kidz charity. Kenny and I led off our group at 5.30pm and made good time through a beautiful evening, returning with the last group members at 11.15pm. A fairly quick trip.
Then off home for a few hours sleep, big day tomorrow...

Carn Mhic a Ghillie-Caim

Seven years of Gaelic in primary school, a hunt through a dictionary and I'm still none the wiser about the name of this hill. Individually the words have multiple meanings, but Caim can mean crooked amongst other things, which figures as the alternative name used is "Crooked Crag".
Anyway, this is where Al and I hiked into, a couple of miles east of Malliag to have a look at the climbing here which sounded like it could be quite good. These crags are rarely visited from what I can gather and no one I know has been so I was quite curious.
The rocks are fairly impressive from a distance and are much larger than the pictures would suggest, being 80 - 90m on the central pillar. The stone however is extremely lichenous and mossy, which after a dry spell wouldn't be too much of a problem but today was damp, greasy, slippery and horrible. So we did some bouldering (of which there's lots) and then retired to Mallaig for coffee and cream scones. To keep the energy levels up.

Not having sated my apetite for climbing and not being able to drum up a partner at such short notice I nipped up to Glen Nevis and used a self belay system to climb on Whale Rock, where there's a nice steep crack line that happened to be clean and dry.

The next generation of Lochaber climbers.

Quick crag session this afternoon on behalf of the Ice Factor. Isi and I took 7 kids from schools around Fort William up to Glen Nevis for some climbing on real rock. We did routes up to grade Severe and a nice abseil with everyone managing really well, which I'm not surprised about as many of their dads are members of Lochaber Mountain rescue Team.

As you can see from the photograph the Polldubh Club and associates have been clearing Silver Birch from the area which will open up the crags to wind and sun, thereby reducing midge infestation and crag over growth.

Pony Track

Working for the Ice factor today. Our task: to take 27 kids and parents from the American International School in London to the summit of The Ben and be back in time for tea and cakes. Brian, Gill, Isi and I divided our charges into groups and made the top before midday, just in time in fact for a bit of a view. The track, so called because it was built for pack animals to supply building materials and provisions to the observatory in the 1880's, is largely free of snow until about 1100 metres where after the plateau still has complete cover. All the large cornices loom around the rim of the north face requiring care past the gullies close to the summit. We were back down for tea in Cafe Beag - who do excellent clotted cream and jam scones.