Today was another stunner in Lochaber so I headed down Glen Nevis armed with my bouldering mat and chalk. On arrival I bumped into Neil at the car park who had the same idea. We headed up to Heather Hat and climbed until our fingertips were no more. Neil was telling me how he had attempted Storm the other day but didnt get to the top due to a wet top pitch. So we went and got out the rope and rack and went and climbed Storm (HVS 5a). I was then keen to climb the bold and brilliant Fang (E2 5b) to finish off the day. Its a fantastic wee route with barely adequate gear but great climbing.

This afternoon I shot up into the Glen between rain showers to see if anything was dry. I went up to Scimitar Buttress to find a couple of routes dry there. I carried on to see if Scimitar Upper Buttress was dry but it wasnt. After hiding under a boulder as a heavy rain shower passed, back down to Scimitar Buttress, I nipped up to the top of the crag and dropped a rope down Fingertip Finale (E4 5c) which went pretty easily, I was suprised! I then had a go on Precious Cargo (E5 6a) which also went first time. So a couple of quick routes climbed using a Shunt as protection. I just topped out on the 2nd route as thunder rumbled and the heavens opened......again! Home time!

Plenty of snow up on the tops too, lots of fresh snow has been falling!

So at 00.00 hours this morning I set of with two keen Essex blokes who were aiming to complete the 3 peaks challenge in 24 hours. They had originally planned to do this without a guide but as the weather was poor and there was still quite alot of snow up there, they decided against it, which was a good idea. Visibility became very poor just below the Red Burn and it was very moist in the air. We summited after 4 hours and descended in 2 hours and 40 mins, giving the guys a good challenge to complete in time. On arrival to the summit shelter we found quite a large amount of rubbish in the shelter. I carried a 4 man tent down which had been destroyed and left up there. If you are up on the summit, bring something down with you because the dustbin men don't go up there! Do your bit before it encourages other to leave more rubbish up there.

This morning I was working for West Coast Mountain Guides. This afternoon I was sleeping.

Today Blair and I headed away from a wet Fort William to another wet part of Scotland! On arrival to this boulder on the south side of Loch Ness we were met by a pretty substantial rainfall. After some cursing and some sandwiches, the rain stopped and we were able to make our way over to the rock. There is a nice overhanging section which mostly stayed dry but unfortunately Blair wasn't able to do his uber link up as some crucial holds were wet. So he did laps on the sections that were dry. I also tried to do laps but unfortunately I needed to work on the sequences and moves before I could go crazy. So after a good workout and one problem ticked, we headed home, pumped and content!

Today Blair and I headed up into Glen Nevis dodging the rain showers and puddles. We arrived at Steall Hut Crag to find Greg and Mike getting a work out on an 8a there. With quite alot of seepage around Blair and I had a go on the only route that looked dry (and the only route I had a chance of getting to the top of). We had a few goes on Trick of the Tail (7b+) which, quite frankly is nails, especially for my weak arms. I managed to get up to the top and workout most of the moves but felt I was a long way off leading it. Its proper run out at the start after the first bolt...no need for that! Fortunately Blair found it hard and scary too so I knew it just wasn't me.

Today is the big day Graham is going to propose to Anna, so the best thing for us to do to keep calm is go climbing. So the nearest place to where we were staying was the mighty Auchinstarry Quarry. So Graham, Lee and I headed to butty van to get started and then jumped on Promontory Direct (HVS 5a) which is a great, clean-ish route with good gear. Graham made quick work of this. The I led up Knock Back (E1 5b) which would be great if you had a dust mask and goggle's! Maybe keep away from this face for a while! We then headed over to the Main Amphitheatre and climber Cracked Arête (VS 4c) and then over to trundle slab to climb Walk on the Wild Side (HVS 5a), Trundle (VS 4c) and finished on the Gold Bug (E3 5c). A great little crag with some surprisingly good routes. If I'm in the area I would pay a visit again and tick off some of the harder routes. No photo's today I'm afraid!

Today Graham and I swapped the rural scenery for the urban jungle and headed down to Dumbarton as we needed to be in Glasgow that afternoon. I had never been there and on arrival I was impressed by the imposing wall of where Rhapsody goes and also by the extensive bouldering there is there. If you phase out all the rubbish and graffiti then it is quite a cool place. So to get cracking I led us up a horrible looking E1 5b called Longbow, it actually turned out to be really fantastic climbing and reasonably tricky. A great little warm up. After a false start by Graham on Windjammer (HVS 5a) I took over and led this, again no pushover, I would say a sandbag at HVS but maybe I'm just being weak. Anyway we decided on some sport routes and after putting in the clips in I made a clean lead on Persistence of Vision (7a+) which I was well chuffed with. Graham had a few hits on the top rope before we bailed into Glasgow to get Graham ready to ask his girlfriend to marry him!

Today after arriving back home from Skye, I met up with Kenny and we headed down the glen for a few hours bouldering. We started off at Heather Hat boulder where I surprised myself with what I could pull on. All this training in the bouldering wall has been paying off over the winter! We then went up to Sky Pilot and had a sesh on some of the cool problems there. Unfortunately I found out that I am still a weak as a kitten! Must get stronger!!