Today I was back out With Mike from Skye Guides and this time we were out with Chris. I looked after Chris today with Mike sharing his local knowledge about the area we were in. Today's objectives were Sgurr a' Mhadaidh (the Foxes Peak) and Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh (Peak of the thrashing or mighty winds). We approached up through Coire An Dorus then up into An Dorus (The Door) and headed north onto Mhadaidh. From here we retraced out steps then continued onto Ghreadaidh wandering past the Wart. From the summit we retraced our steps back down to the Eag Dubh (black notch) and descended this which was filled with soft snow and was great fun. Again today we seemed to have all seasons in one day, resulting in a great day! I'm starting to believe that you always have a good day on Skye! Its defiantly the case for me!
Today I was out observing Mike Lates from Skye Guides as he knows the Cullin like the back of his hand. Ever since I did the ridge traverse I have really wanted to climb and guide on the ridge. On arrival to the Island last night, I was met by a heavy rainfall, not a great transition from yesterdays rock climbing, however this was falling as snow on the tops. With crampons in the bag Mike, Chris , Craig and myself headed up into Coire Lagan and made our way up onto An Stac screes and then headed south to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich – MacKenzie's peak (famous Guide). The plan was to go onto Sgurr Alasdair – Alexanders peak (Nicholson) however with the snow, progress was slow so we headed back down. We backtracked our route which brought us back to the An Stac screes for a speedy descent back down into Coire Lagan.
Again we were blessed with more fantastic weather so I suggested to Graham and Neil that we hit the Etive Slabs. Give it a couple of months and this place will be swarmed with midgies and no doubt wet! I was really keen to climb The Long Reach (E1 5b) and as none of us had done it before we got it sent. It was classic Etive Slabs climbing, bold and fun! It was fantastic. Climbing in a t-shirt in April in Scotland is always a great experience. We had the whole place to ourselves, which was a real shame as every route was dry and it was perfect Etive conditions, Hot sunshine with a light breeze. After topping out we headed back to Fort William where I packed up my bags and headed for Skye.
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!