After work, I met up with Ewan and we headed off down to Glen Nevis to tick off another route. We headed up to Steall Area from the Upper Falls car park. After a short walk we arrived at the base of Gorge Crag and we climbed In The Groove (E3 5b,5c), great route despite taking a while to find the crucial jug! Another team on Plague of Blazes but it appeared the top was too wet to complete. No photos today :-(

Midgies, they are on their way, I received two bites this evening and Ciera was flapping her hands around like a drunken boxer! We were both up Glen Nevis, this was Ciera's first time trad climbing, we went up pinnacle ridge and then 3 pines. The evening sun is lasting quite late now so lots of potential to get routes in after work. Heading up into Glencoe is also going to be an option soon.

After work Lorenzo, Ben and Ewan headed down to glen Nevis and made our way up to Secretaries. Ewan and I climbed Ring of Fire Right Hand, a great 30m E3 6a. I found the 'gymnastic start' quite hard which inevitably pumped me out for the rest of the route (an easy warm up would have been good). Lorenzo and Ben went to climb Vincent E3 5c, Lorenzo got up the 1st pitch but Ben got psyched out and they bailed after pitch 1.

Today was my last day working with the Lochaber College students. As we had a heavy downpour all morning we stayed indoors for half the day looking at building belays, problem solving and more ropework. In the afternoon, when the weather cleared up I headed into Glen Nevis with Kyle and Dan to put the last fews days in to practice. We started off on Cross 3 (Diff) on Hangover Buttress then headed up to the Alp area and climbed the Gutter in 3 pitches.

Good luck to Alex who is leaving for New Zealand tomorrow.

On Wednesday morning Ben and I arrived at Glen Brittle campsite and walked into Sron na Ciche. We climbed Crembo Cracks (HVS 5a), Cioch Grooves (HVS 5a) and Bastinado (E2 5c). The weather held out most of the day with some drizzle coming in, but it didn't come in hard until about 9pm. We drove out to Neist that night so we could climb all day Thursday but unfortunately, when we woke it was raining and did so all day, we bailed back to Fort William.

Today we headed down to Glen Nevis to build on the skills that were covered yesterday and to gradually add to what they have learnt. We climbed 9 pitches looking mostly at protection selection and placement, belay building and stance management. I was working with Ali and Emily and they both did their first lead. We climbed 3 Pines, Right Wall (repton), Right Wall (styx) and Pinnacle Ridge. It was quite windy today which was drying out the crag nicely. Our final day is on Friday after the group have done two days hill walking and navigation practice.

Today I was out with a group of students from Lochaber College on the Outdoor Education Course. This is a 3 day course and hopefully by the end the students will be ready to lead routes unsupervised. Today we went up to Kingussie Crag and climbed several routes on front face of the upper tier. We climbed Little Wall (Diff*), The Groove (Hard Severe**), The Block (Very Difficult), The Slab (Difficult **), Right-hand Crack (HVS 5A**) and finished on First Pull (VS 4C). The rock was nice and dry, we had no rain, only a cold breeze.

Last Friday, I set off with Kinlochleven High School D of E group for their first experience of walking with heavy rucksacks and camping in the wild. The group consisted of 10 students and two teachers. We got the train from Fort William and took the short journey to Corrour Station. From here we headed NW to Loch Treig and stopped for lunch. After lunch the group navigated W past Creaguaineach Lodge, down to Staoineag Bothie and onto Luibeilt where we set up camp for the night. The next day we headed SW back to Kinlochleven along Loch Eildh Mor. The groups were doing studies on the Flora and Fauna en-route, coming across common butterwort, primrose, iris, ladies mantle and many more which were starting to make appearances this spring. Unfortunately the group were looking forward to seeing some deer but never did. Next up for these guys will be their assessment expedition.