Today I was back out with Alan who was keen for some more rock climbing as the weather was good.  Like yesterday, it was cold and crisp but we stayed low in Glen Nevis where it was a little warmer than up on the tops.  One of Alan's ambitions is to climb the Old Man of Hoy so he was keen to see how he perform's on some trickier routes.  We started of on Ressurection (VS 4c) which Alan climbed without too many problems.  We then climbed Damnation (VS 4c), a route Alan had tried in the past but failed, this time it was no problem for him.  We then made our way down to Calvery Crack Buttress and climbed Storm (HVS 5a).  With the top pitch a little damp and a little steep, Alan made a great attempt getting up to the belay but was unable to make it this time. Not many others out on the crag today, a group on SW Buttress and a chap self lining on The Old Wall.

Taking out an axe and a pair of crampons paid off today for Dave and I on Tower Ridge.  I may have to think about getting some of my other winter kit out if this weather continues....would have been nice to have my flask today!  Dave was keen to check out Tower Ridge as he plans to climb it in winter with a friend.  Today he got pretty much a complete winter ascent, a little more than expected.  We encountered snow below the Little Tower and we donned our crampons and had an axe at the ready from half way through the Little Tower.  All the old snow from Friday had firmed up nicely with a fresh dusting from yesterday.  Plenty of verglass was sitting on the ledges low down but were avoidable most of the way to the snow line.  Small amounts of rime ice were forming on the upper sections, plenty of crunching going on underfoot, it was brilliant.  Again we had the whole North Face to ourselves and many walkers were watching Dave and I make our way up onto the Great Tower and over Tower Gap.  Very busy on top with plenty of walkers, several pairs of shorts were on show too!  A great day and a nice start to what looks like a promising winter.  Now where is my winter ticklist.....

Another day off today so I met up with the two gingers, Donald and Ewan.  After yesterdays thrashing down at the Ice Factor with Donald, Ewan and Andy, I was pretty keen to do something that didn't require too much arm strength...a slab!  We agreed to head down into Glenfinnan and try (top rope for me) an E7 slab that a friend had done.  On the drive in we saw lots of crags that looked dry and Don Wan suggested we went to do some new routes instead.  So after a wander up the hill we picked a crag, with an imposing line and Donald set off.  He made great progress but got defeated by a wet and mossy crux so Ewan then had a go and managed to get through with some cunning.  So after all of this I had a go at seconding the route and cleaning the gear...with cold hand and weak arms, my ascent was far from clean!  After topping out Donald had spotted another line which he cleaned but didn't fancy a go today, wicked looking groove.

So the 'heavy' rain came a day later than expected, it was forecast just to rain today but instead it was persistent   The Allt a'Mhuilinn was in high spate so we had to take a high detour to get to the bottom of Tower Ridge and unsurprisingly we didn't see a soul!  On the approach we could see a dusting up high so we knew we would encounter some snow.  And we weren't disappointed.  We encountered snow below the Little Tower and it just kept falling as we climbed.  It was all very wet snow and wasn't until we got up to the Great Tower where it started to become dryer snow.  And when we got above The Gap, it became icy snow covering all the rock and cracks.  The snow was getting blown in by the westerlies and sticking nicely to what ever it hit, a good cold spell to follow would be quite nice.  Finn and I delayed our start at Nevis Range Cafe so didn't leave until 9.45 (to allow the worst of the weather to go through and to have a really good coffee) and found ourselves inside the summit shelter at 13.30.  Good going considering the underfoot conditions.  We had planned to come down Ledge Route but instead we slid down the Zig Zags and back to the Allt a'Mhuilinn to finish off the day with a wade through the river with the water up to our thighs.  We could have wandered down a bit lower to the bridge but Finn was up for more challenges!  A brilliant day under very wintery conditions.  Well done to Finn for keeping going and smiling all the way.  Today I was working (taking one for the team) for Abacus Mountain Guides.

Today I was back out with Alan and we were after some sun kissed rock.  Original plan was the East Face of Aonach Dubh but on arrival it was shady and looked cold.  So we nipped round to Buachaille Etive Mor and head up to the East Face of North Buttress.  Plenty of folk were out today, many teams on Rannoch Wall and Curved Ridge and many out just to bag the Munro's.  We had the whole crag to ourselves and got a couple of great routes done.  We started off on Shackle Route (severe) which was brilliant, the rock is so good with great friction.  After abseiling off we jumped on Crow's Nest Crack (VS 4c) which is very sustained for the grade.  It was perfect for today because it kept Alan warm and brought all his climbing experiences together to make an (almost) clean ascent.  After abseiling back down, instead of heading back down to Curved Ridge to descend, we traversed off and had a look over at Slime Wall and descended down the North flanks of North Buttress.  A brilliant day in the hills!

Today was a nice warm down day after the last two days on Skye with an ascent of Ben Nevis via the tourist route.  I was out with 6 ladies from Exmouth that are all members of a ladies gym called Curves.  Together they have raised over £3000 for their local Hospice and put in a great team effort in getting to the top.  And a team effort was needed, we had it all today....panic attacks, broken hydration systems, jammed walking poles, severe case of vertigo, sore knees, cold bodies, sweaty bodies, bad language, bad hair, good laughs, good humour, sunshine, rain, mist, snow, salmon sandwidges, fruit cakes, over use of Iphones, slips, slides and I had the privilidge of holding hands with the eldest member of the team for most of the descent (to help speed up progress).  So it was over 10 hours up and down so a great effort by everyone.  Andy was out climbing Observatory Ridge too and reported it to be pretty damp in places and with the last 100m under snow made for a steady ascent.

Over the last two days I made another successful traverse and this time I was accompanied by John.  We had very mixed conditions over the two days which made it very challenging and for many teams they would have called it a day.  I think the reason why we succeeded was down to the preparation we made together over the last 4 days.  We spent 2 days mountaineering in the rain on North Buttress and Tower Ridge, we spent a day inside working on rock climbing technique and a day getting mileage on the crag.  Put all this together and you have a recipe for success.  So we opted for a South to North traverse and started on Sgurr nan Eag at 10.30 am, with what looked like promising conditions.  There was plenty or rain throughout the night which left the TD Gap very wet so instead we opted for the bypass just to save time, climbing the TD Gap in anything other than dry conditions is very unpleasant   So from Sgurr Alasdair we descended down to the base of King Chimney's (VD) and climbed this to reach the summit of Sgurr Mhic Choinnich.  From here we made our way round to the Inn Pinn and made a very quick ascent and descent before heading onto Sgurr na Banachdich.  From here we went over Sgurr a Ghreadaidh and Sgurr a Mhadaidh and bivied at Bealach na Glaic Moire after arriving at 5pm.  At 5.30pm the rain came too!  It rained through the night and the cloud set in but fortunately a bottle of whiskey helped us sleep through it.  In the morning I thought I had gone blind with a hangover but actually it was just 10 metre visibility thanks to the cloud.  A challenging day ahead.  So we set of at 8am, made our way around Bidean Druim na Ramh, over An Caisteal and onto Bruach na Frithe.  As it was still, wet, cold and greasy I decided we wouldn't climb direct onto Am Bastier to so we traversed around the north side and climbed up the East ridge before retuning the same way to ascend Sgurr nan Gillian.  For the first time today the clouds cleared and we got a full view of the ridge.  We stood on the top at 11am which meant a traverse time (summit to summit) of 10.5 hours.  We descended down the South East ridge back to Sligachan for a feast, some beer and a limited edition Talisker.  What a fantastic week with a great finale!

So today John and I wanted to spend a short day cragging before we went shopping for our little mini break to Skye.  We wanted to put some of the techniques and skills we learnt in the climbing wall and bring them to the outdoor platform.  So we headed into Glen Nevis where we could get quite a few pitches in before we had to head north.  The vibe was good down the Glen with several teams out climbing and a few big groups from the College and Outward Bound.  We avoided all the youngsters and completed a journey through some of the crags linking up some classic routes.  We started of on Three Pines (Severe) which had a very damp and tricky start up a greasy arête/slab to a tree belay and then the awkward top pitch through the overhanging corner.  We then traversed and climbed the brilliant Flying Dutchman (Severe), the first pitch isn't great but the second is fantastic, traversing on footholds and minimal handholds over a nice undercut slab then finishing on the finger crack at the top.  You get your moneys worth on this severe!  We then continued up the hill and into the sun and climbed Secretaries Direct (Severe) which is just fantastic at the grade in a beautiful setting.  Well worth walking up to.  With a tight agenda, we had to call it a day and make our way upto Skye.  The forcast looks good!