Today I was out with Alan and Ruraidh for a spot of rock climbing. We were meant to be doing more winter climbing in March but the weather wasn't great so Alan decided tokeep his extra day for some sunny rock climbing. Both of the guys are keen to learn to lead and have had some input already from Al Halewood. We went up into Glen Nevis and started off on Reptons Right hand (VD) where I did all the leading but they were building their own belays and working on their judgement of what a good belay/runner is and isn't. We then found a nice little abseil back down to the bags. This got the guys ready for a lead on Styx's Right wall with me in close proximity on the rope next to them. A good clean lead by both of the guys with good belays, good gear and good climbing technique. The rain was threatening on the top pitch of Right Wall and by the time we topped out it was fair to say it was raining. So not keen for them to lead in the rain, I took them up Pine Wall (HS) to the large pine on the Gutter where together we set up an abseil and ran away from the crag.  

After an early start, Ben and I had a few hours to do a spot of climbing before I had to get back over to Fort William. We started of on a VS called ..... which turned out to be a total sandbag. Ben took a belay half way up and I took over and ended up halfway up a blank slab with snow falling, no gear and feet slipping, I retreated down to a tree, we rapped off and the realised that I had wandered onto an E1 slab! A little bit frustrated that I backed off this I went and led up (E1) which I abbed off the top and stripped the gear as Ben wanted to give it a shot too. Still annoyed with my weakness, I wanted to climb Anger and Lust (E2 5c) which was fantastic, a tricky route with a great finale at the top. I was very pleased to get to the top without falling off. The hardest part was abbing down the route and over the overhang to strip the gear! A great couple of hours of climbing despite finding out that I am weak!

After Ben and I got off the hill with our group, we said our fair wells and headed over to the Pass of Ballater for a spot of evening cragging. This granite roadside crag gave us some good sport and climbed several VS's and a couple of E1's before heading off to the pub for a few well earned pints.

Today I met up with a my good friend Ben Cooling and we led a group up Lochnagar for Wow Scotland. It was a fantastic day to be walking up a new mountain, the sun was shining and the tops were capped with snow. I was particularly excited about taking this group out as it gave me an opportunity to have a look at the crags on the side of Lochnagar, especially the possible winter lines. Really keen to climb here next winter! The walk was part of a charity event where the participants had placed a bid to spend a day walking with members of the Gurkha army. Out of the group of 14 there was 4 Gurkha's, 5 novice hill walkers and 3 folk that had walked up Lochnagar before and Ben and I. It was a great day with lots of tired people at the end.

Today I was back out with John who has recently fell in love with Buachaille Etive Mor but more specifically Rannoch Wall. After climbing Curved Ridge last week, he was really keen to climb a route that breaks through the steep wall. As the sun was shining and the routes were dry, we opted for January Jigsaw (Severe) which gives 4 great pitches of exposed climbing which becomes more and more exciting as you get higher. It was bitterly cold today so we didn't really want to be hanging around so after we topped out we descended down Curved Ridge and back to the bags. We had, what seemed like, the whole mountain to ourselves except one team was on their way up Curved Ridge as we were leaving. Another fantastic day with John who now has seen lots of other routes he wants to climb on the mountain. Watch this space to see what we get up to next time.

This evening I met up with Craig and Graham for a quick evening route. Whilst Craig was leading the first pitch I had a wee solo on Dundee Buttress and A N Other route (Ahem). After getting down I tied in and followed the guys up. I took over on the top pitch finishing up the true Finish (E1 5b) and also got bitten by my first midge of the season!

Today was a scorcher! Sun cream and plenty of water is a definite must. Two things that Donald and I didn't have! So what we decided to do was have a bit of a solo morning, a run around the crags. We climbed Staircase, Two Pines, Flake Route, Pine wall, Resurrection, Damnation, Styx Right Wall, Iche and a few more which I cant remember the names of. After a wee lunch break down at the river, we gathered our rack and ropes and went up to Roadside Buttress. Donald Led up the Web (E2 5c) and I had a go on a wet .... (E3 5c) but was denied. Donald also had a shot but the crucial hand jam was still dripping. Still keen to get a route done, we drove down to Glencoe and onto Buachaille Etive Mor to climb the uber classic Carnivore. What a fantastic route with great history! The first traverse pitch was super exciting, not one to be falling off for sure. The next two pitches I ran together which was also super exciting and very absorbing. This left the 5c pitch and after a quick attempt it was clear that Donald and I were to exhausted/dehydrated/sunburnt to carry on. A quick abseil saw us back at the bags and a swift run back to the car got me home at 11pm.

 
Today Rob and I arrived back from a successful two day traverse of the Skye Ridge.  Rob is up on Skye for a long holiday and had decided that he wanted to do the ridge and we chose the best weather window.  We started from Glen Brittle at 8am and headed onto Sgurr nan Eag.  From here we headed north over all the tops.  As Rob hadn't done much climbing so we went in and climbed the TD Gap and the Inn Pin to find his feet.  Progress was so good that we got to the 3 tops of Sgurr a' Mhadaidh by 5pm and decided that this was enough for one day.  We melted snow for water, saved any long walks down the hill to find a stream.  Day two we knew the weather was coming in so we left our bivi site at 6am.  This meant we could get down before the worst of the weather....the bad weather came early :-( We bypassed Am Bastier and finished the traverse on Sgurr nan Gillean and got back to the Sligachan at 1 in the afternoon, ready for a well earned drink!  Another fantastic two days on Skye.  Thanks to Tony from Climb Skye for kitting out Rob.