So after a good long drive from Fort William, Kenny and I arrived at Saas Grund in Switzerland yesterday.  Today we get the first lift up and climbed the North Ridge of the Weissmies (AD+).  We made super progress but feeling the altitude as we approached the 4000m mark.  The round trip from the lift took us 7 hours, alot shorter than we expected.  The ridge was great fun, plenty of interest and some really funky sections of climbing, a must do if in the area.

Today was my final day at work before I had out to the Alps for 3 weeks.  What a way to finish a great summer season by doing the Inn Pinn in super high winds and very cloudy conditions.  Malc and I had a group of 6 to take up the Pinn who wanted to climb it as a birthday treat.  We were meant to be a group of 8 but the high winds destroyed some tents which resulted in some of the group not getting much sleep.  We battled up high and the wind eased just enough for us to make a few ascents.  Everyone went up the East ridges and then we got a couple up the short side as we had plenty of time to spare.  A great day finished of with some good scree running to get back down.  So I'm of to the Alps for 3 weeks and I don't intend in going on a computer other than to check the weather and answer emails.  Hope the weather is as good out in the Alps as it has been here in Scotland!

Today I was working for Skye Guides and I was out with Nick who is very close to completing his round of Munro's.  Only 6 more to go.  He hadn't done any of the Munro's on the mid section so we headed up into An Dorus from Glen Brittle.  From here we nipped up onto Sgurr a' Mhadaidh, then over to Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh and finally into Sgurr na Banachdaich via the fantastic South Ridge via Sgurr Thormaid which gives fantastic grade 3 scrambling.  A boiling hot day which we finished off with some swimming in the little pools about Glen Brittle Youth Hostel and did a fantastic bit of shallow water soloing - see here!

Today I was out with Bryan and his two son's Alasdair (19) and Gregor (16).  Year's ago Bryan had done the ridge traverse had always had an affinity with Skye.  So much so, he named his eldest son after Skye's highest peak, Sgurr Alasdair.  The plan of the day was to climb The Cioch and onto Sgurr Alasdair so Alasdair could see why Bryan named him after this great peak.  So we made our way onto Cioch Slab which led us nicely onto The Cioch.  From here we traversed into eastern Gully and headed up into the sunshine.  A well worth adventure, if your waist is 36+ then it might be quite tricky, some tight squeezes!  After arriving at Bealach Coire a' Ghrunnda we headed up onto Sgurr Sgumain then finally onto Sgurr Alasdair.  We made a speedy descent down the Great Stone Shoot into Coire Lagan.  Today I was working for Skye Guides.

Today I was out with David who hasn't been on Skye fort the last 10 years.  He attempted the full ridge traverse north to south, however due to a injured leg he dropped off at An Dorus. So our plan was to climb up the Inn Pin and then head north along the ridge to An Dorus via Sgurr na Banachdich and Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh.  The weather stayed fair for us most of the morning but surrounded us in the form of cloud after we got down off the Inn Pin.  Relatively quiet on the hill today, a few others on the Pinn and a couple of girls were attempting the ridge traverse in one day.  Good luck to them.  The weather made the day a little more interesting and ended up being a good 9 hour day.  Today I was working for Martin Moran.

Today was my last day with Rob and Jill and after yesterday's monster day we had a bit of a sleep in and set off walking at 9.30.  Rob and Jill had completed all the South section and the mid section of the Cullin ridge Munro's except the Inn Pinn.  They also haven't done the North section.  We decided that we should attempt the Inn Pinn as it is a bit of a shorter day and we had a later start.  Unfortunately the weather still wasn't playing ball and we didn't really fancy walking all the way to the top to find we couldn't climb it.  We decided to sack it off for another day.  A great 3 days in the mountains, our itinery was some what disturbed by the weather but that is the way it goes in the mountains, being able to come back safely without your chosen climb or summit means that you can recover and attempt at a later date.  Didn't get any photo's of Rob and Jill looking very wet.

Today was traverse day so Rob, Jill and I headed off with out our light rucksacks after yesterdays stash.  We made rapid progress onto Sgurr nan Eag and the weather was looking great, blue skies as far as we could see and a lovely light wind saw us rapidly getting over to a little bag stash so we could dash over to Sgurr Dubh Mor.  As there were a few Raven's lingering around we piled up the bags and buried them under some rock's.  Unfortunately not quite enough rocks.  Once we returned from SDM, Jill's top zip of her bag had been opened and all her food for the two days had been eaten, everything except one cereal bar!  So we decided that we still had enough food to get us through.  So we pressed on through the TD gap, onto Sgurr Alasdair then onto Sgurr Mhic Choinnich. This is the point the weather came in, it came in hard.  Cloud eloped the peaks and brought rain and wind.  We donned our waterproofs and pressed on.  We arrived at the Inn Pinn but decided not to climb it as it had become very wet and quite windy, a dangerous combination on the most polished and exposed piece of rock on Skye!  Again we pressed on making our way through minimal viability and rain to find ourselves on top of Sgurr nan Banachdaich.  I guess if we had carried our bivi kit we would have bailed off the ridge here but we didn't fancy walking up the same route again the next day so we pressed on to find our kit.  Again we pressed on reaching Sgurr a'Ghreadaidh with the weather showing no signs of improving and we reached our bivi site....relieved!  I brewed up a hot drink for Jill and Rob whilst they ate and packed up the bivi kit ready for our escape from the mountain.  We were all to wet to bivi out for the night so we descended back down An Dorus to Glen Brittle youth hostel.  Near the bottom I ran ahead and jogged along the road to pick up my car from Glen Brittle camp site.  We got in the car at 23.30, a good 15.5 hour day!  Today I was working for Moran Mountain.

Today I was working for Moran Mountain and out with Rob and Jill.  We had a 3 day weather window to have a training/prep day and then two days for a ridge traverse.  Rob and Jill had heard about gear being stashed on the ridge to make life easier on the first day so we planned to make a stash as a prep day.  Stashing kit was a concept that I haven't tried, it had its benefits but also its consequences.  So we headed up into the thick cloud with bivi kit and water and up through An Doris and ascended on to Sgurr a' Mhadaidh, Jill and Rob's first Munro on Skye. Unfortunately the cloud was think so we had no views and very poor visibility.  We then went over to Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh, again in poor visibility.  I got a glimpse of blue Skye so I suggested to Rob and Jill that we hang around on the summit as it my clear.  Fortunately it did leaving us with a perfect cloud inversion with all the peaks creeping through the cloud.  WE stashed our kit and descended back to Glen Brittle for a relaxed evening and planning our means of attack over the next two days.