Final Scottish winter call

An interesting season has come to an end.  Many great days on the hill with brilliant people and made some great memories and friends.  I'm super pleased that my last day of work this winter was in fact very wintery.  It felt we finished on a high.  We had great weather on the Aonach Eagach and made a modest car to car trip in 7 hours of trench warfare.
Our last day out was on Curved Ridge and we didn't even touch snow and that was in late January!  So we got our quota today.  A fitting end to the season and now time for the next stage on my journey to becoming a IFMGA guide...Ski Touring Training.

Claire and Ian have found some ice

Dream team

Claire and Ian are back for another instalment of winter.  In previous trips with me they have done the CMD arete, Ledge Route and Curved Ridge.  This time we kicked of with the Aonach Eagach which was in superb condition.  The cloud was in low but as we neared the end, it cleared for spectacular views along the ridge.  Day two we climbed Number 3 Gully Buttress on Ben Nevis which was great with a nice ice pitch at the start.  Our final day, warm and wet, didn't produce any pictures.  Despite the poor weather, we climbed North Buttress on Buachaille Etive Mor which was essentially a very wet experience but equally very satisfying.  Hopefully I will see them both again soon, especially and Claire has unfinished business on the Cuillin Ridge! ;)

Ian leading the way down on the Aonach Eagach

The sun is coming through!

Glencoe at its best

Claire in N3GB

Deffo wintery

 More pictures Here

A quick transition

Right after coming back from the North West Highlands I was out working with Steve.  We had planned to climb early season but due to poor conditions we postponed until now.  And we lucked out. 2 days of brilliant weather.

Savage Slit

Good conditions

Day one we did some classics.  Firstly we climbed Savage Slit (V,6), a route that has always called out but I never got round to climbing it.  Usually because it has a queue on it.  So it was great to finally climb it and guide it in one go.  After a quick rap off we went and climbed Overseer Direct (V,6) to finish off a great day.

This is what we avoided coming in from the top

Pole position on The Seam

Our second day was after a wild day which brought plenty of snow so I decided we would abseil into Fiacaill Buttress.  We abseiled into The Seam (IV,5), climbed this, then abseiled into Burning and Looting (V,6) which turned out to be a great climb.  Topping out into the sunshine ws great and we bailed down off Fiacaill Ridge into the coire for a nice gentle walk out.  A great couple of days.

Me leading up the second route of the day

Where next?

3 weeks in the North West Highlands

70's club

Poacher's Fall, Salmon Leap, The Godfather, Blood, Sweat and Frozen Tears, West Buttress, Silver Tear, Mad Hatters, Penguin, Emerald, Resurrection.  Not this year, not even close.  Having just spent 3 week based in Lochcarron working for Moran Mountain I have come away to finally put my feet up.  An interesting 3 weeks for sure!
Week one I was out with Richard (71) and visiting American climber Terry (70).  With a knee strength threshold we managed to pack the week with trips to Skye, Torridon, Applecross and Glen Shiel.

Week two I was out with Julian and Nathan on the Technical Winter climber course.  With one climbing grade 4 and the other climbing E3 it was going to be a tough week of work.  Because the conditions were non existent.  Day one we climbed the Cioch Nose in the wet in big boots which was brilliant by the way.  Day two we had a technical skills day and dry tooling...it was hosing it down.  Day 3 we drove to the Cairngorms and Nathan Led Jacob Ladder (the only climbable route), day 4 we drove to Ben Nevis for Tower Ridge and Day 5 we climbed East Buttress on Beinn Eighe.  It was a great week and here is a fresh testimonial from Julian.

Julian and Nathan on Cioch Nose

Julian on Tower Ridge

East Buttress

This final week has been very different.  I was out with Abrar from Kuwait.  It was a 'spur of the moment' booking she said and I'm not sure it was what she had expected.  Having never walked up a hill or even do any sport I managed to give her a taste of as much as possible of her visit to Scotland.  I was working as a mountain guide and a tour guide.  We rock climbed, abseiled, bouldered, walked, scrambled, gully climbed and saw the sights.  Her main desire was to see Nessie but I knew we wouldn't get a sighting this year so instead we went to the Applecross in and ate locally caught langoustines.

Day trip to Skye

Climbing on Meall Gorm

Rock climbing and abseiling

Visit to Strome Castle ruin

Between these weeks I have been back in the Cairngorms practicing for my upcoming British Mountain Guides winter test which is approaching very rapidly.

 To be honest, my camera hasn't been out much due to the weather.  Winter is back so things are looking up!