Today I was with a returning client for the Ice Factor, Steve and I climbed North Buttress on the Buachaille. Steve has already done Curved Ridge and fancied something a little harder. His aim is to get onto Tower Ridge, however he did feel fit for it today. The weather forecast was pretty accurate with scattered showers through the day, however the rain clouds never really went above us. We had the whole route to ourselves, didn't see anyone on Curved Ridge and only bumped into a couple of walkers as we headed back down. A great day out with pretty reasonable weather. There was a very cold wind though!

Over the last couple of wet weeks, I have only really been getting out on my mountain bike up at Nevis Range and around Kinlochleven and climbing at the wall. Yesterday we had a clear sunny day so Kenny and I headed up to Tunnel Wall to get pumped stupid! We climbed Uncertain Emotions (F7b), unfortunately I was unable to link all the moves due to a power loss in my forearms. A great route and definitely worth getting back on and working. The midgies are still here in force! Why did I wear shorts again . . .?!

Today, first time mountaineer Andy and second time mountaineer Emma and I went up Ledge Route. We found the day to be very wet as predicted and visibility very low with a very low cloud base. Lots of people on the summit, as well as a couple of kitted out walkers, mainly people without a clue though! Since I was last up there is a huge ammount of rubbish left around the summit, come on, do your bit, take it home with you!

Today I went up North Buttress with Gordon. He had never scrambled on graded ground so this was a real eye opener for him. We had the route to ourselves, but bumped into several people who had been up Curved Ridge and also several walkers out for a bit of bagging action. The cloud obscured any views of the day so we didn't hang around and got up and down in 3.5 hours and picked Sam up from the Kingshouse.

Today Karl, Al and I headed to the North East coast (where the weather was nice) for a days cragging. We were at Latheronwheel in Caithness, a crag we haven't visited before. It was wet at first but dried very quickly as he showers stopped and the sun came out. We climbed 11 routes ranging from severe to E2, the rock was very good, some small flakes broke off here and there but nothing worth writing home about! The crag is either vertical or slightly over hanging which makes the short routes quite sporting. No one else at the crag other than a couple of seals watching from the sea as Al's forearms could hold no more . . .

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.

. . 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.

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!