D of E Assesment in Germany

I took out a group of 10 pupils from Kinlochleven High school, with the help of two teacher, to complete their D of E silver Expedition, as well as a few other fun activities. We were based in Southern Germany, the Allgau region of Bavaria. Sharing the border with the Tirol region of Austria, the Allgau is surrounded by some of the finest scenery, cultures and traditions to be found in Europe. We spent the first 3 days in the mountains on their expedition with assistance from Jen Dickinson who lives and works in the area. The group created the route cards and navigated themselves throughout, we stayed in mountain huts for two nights. The rest of the week we were water skiing, wake boarding, swimming, sightseeing (the chitty chitty bang bang castle), flat water canoing, plus various other activities.

Back in Scotland

. . After 2 weeks in the Lakes. Unfortunately my climbing partner had an injury so we didn't do a great deal of climbing. I met up with with Dangerous Dave and some friends from London and did the 3 peaks challenge. We completed it within 24 hours and had fantastic weather the whole time. The team raised £12,000 for cancer research. I also did some solo days in the hills to keep the legs stretched. I'm going to Bavaria on Sunday to lead a Silver Duke of Edinburgh Expedition with 10 students from Kinlochleven High School.

The Napes

Today I headed out Honister and walked in to the Great Napes on Great Gable. I walked the long way in, past Grey Knots, under Brandreth, under Gable Crag and around to the climbers traverse. I had a good look at all the climbs and the Needle, definitely worth going back with a partner, then i scrambled up an interesting line to the top of the crag and onto Westmorland crag, climbed through this up onto the summit of Great Gable. On decent back to the car I walked past Gable Crag again and saw climbers on Engineers Slabs, looks like a great line. Another warm and sunny day in the Lakes!

Great End - Not really

On Tuesday Graham and I went up to Greatend crag looking to climb Banzai Pipeline, a 3 star E1. It looked great but as we arrived at the base of the crag a team were gearing up for it already. We decided to do the first pitch of No Holds Barred (E2 5b) then abb off and get on the E1. Graham got as far as he could on the route and decided to back off. Whilst lowering him the top 2 pieces of gear popped and he fell, hitting his foot hard against the crag. A xray a few hours later showed a broken bone in his foot. No more climbing with Graham this week :-(

Day 2 in the Lakes

Today Graham and I headed up to Goats Crag for a route. We had a late start and and had somewhere to be in the evening so we climbed Praying Mantis (E1 5b). This is a great route with interest throughout and a sustained 1st pitch at the grade. After toping out and abbing off we bailed back to the car in search of an ice cream and cold water to swim in.

Back home!

Today Graham and I headed down into Borrowdale and up to Black Crag. The crag was very busy with teams on Troutdale Pinnacle, Raindrop, Prana (one climber took big fall near the top). It was very hot and humid so the short walk in was quite sweaty. We started off on The Mortician (HVS 5a), we then climbed Raindrop (E1 5b) which has a great 3rd pitch. Thunder storms were passing near by so we decided to head over to Shepard's and climbed MGC (E2 5c) and whilst I was climbing up, very large rumbles of thunder were right above us, so after finishing the route and getting back to the bags, we bailed back to the car. The heavens then opened on Borrowdale.

D of E Silver Practice Exped

Just go back from a 3 day exped in the Mamores with Kinlochleven High School's silver D of E group. We are going to Germany in 4 weeks for the assessment expedition so it was vital that the group got out on the hill to learn the skills required. I'm off to the lakes for a weeks climbing then onto North Wales for a weeks climbing.

Loch Treig

Today was a very wet day out in Lochaber. We decided it would be best to go and stretch our legs. Henry and I headed to Fersit and headed up to Stob a' Choire Mheadhoin (1105m) and then onto Stob Coire Easain (1115m). The rain was constant all day with a 5 minute interval at about 2pm. When we drove away in the car, the clouds broke and a view of the summits was clear. As suspected, we didn't see anyone out only a heard of Deer, 2 Buntings, a Ptarmigan (midway between winter and summer plumage) and a little Vole. Kit all in the drying room now.

Ledge Route

Today Gary and I had an awesome day on Ledge Route on Ben Nevis. What made the day for Gary was that we didn't see anybody in the North Face all day and only saw people when the tourist route was visible. This was Gary's first time in the Scottish mountains and his first time scrambling on graded ground. One of his aims of the day was to summit Ben Nevis so we carried on up from Carn Dearg to summit his first Munro! The rain held off most of the day, but came in a bit harder on the last section of the route and carried on until we had summited and a good way down past the zig-zags.

Benny Beg

Today I took Alex, Stephen, Joseph, Tammy and Tom from our Saturday climbing club down beyond Crieff to the small sport crag of Benny Beg. It's a great little sport crag for groups with routes graded from 3 - 6a. We had he whole crag to ourselves but as we moved onto the second sector, a birthday group arrived and took over the first sector. After a few more routes the heavens opened and we hid under the trees for a while before bailing to the coffee shop for a hot drink and cake. Unfortunately the patchy heavy rain meant we couldn't carry on so we decided to head back up the road. The kids got a good amount of climbing in while it was nice and had a great fish and chips on the way back.

D of E Expedition Assesment

Today and yesterday I was out with the Kinlochleven High School Bronze Award group for their over night expedition. The two groups set off from Corriechoille and walked up to the Lairig Leacach Bothy. The two groups were given tasks to complete, one to identify the flora they see (plenty to keep them busy) and the other group had to record moral levels as they went along! From the bothy we walked near to Meannanach bothy and set up our campsites in the area. There was a good breeze most of the day and night, however when it did stop the kids decided it was tent time. So after a good nights sleep, heavy rain, 1 collapsed tent and some even wetter socks left out to dry, the groups headed off towards Glen Nevis for their final day. We started off with light drizzle which cleared up later in the day. Everyone got to the Upper Falls car park in one piece and passed the expedition part of the award.

The Pause

Today Jamie B and I made the most of another nice day and climbed The Pause (E1 5b) down at Etive Slabs. Slab climbing has never been my strongest discipline, however I was getting well into the 'zone'! Jamie let me lead every pitch (7 in total). This route is definitely worthy of its 4 stars, and definitely up there in my 'best routes of the season'. The rain stayed off all day, with only a couple of drops landing as I was on the 6th pitch. There was nobody else at the crag and with it bone dry and with a good breeze we had no midgies!