With another fantastic day forcasted, I headed back out with Kenny and Keith to check out a route at a crag we hadn't been to.  From parking in Glencoe, we wandered up to the North Face of Aonach Dubh, to where Ossians Cave is.  We were all psyched for Fingal's Chimney (VI,7) but on arrival we agreed that it wasn't in the best nick.  It may well have gone but would be unpleasant pull on the turf.  We headed further up the sloping shelf and decided to climb the summer VS The Twarf given VI,7 in winter.  The first entry pitch is awkward and felt a bit insecure, fortunately I had a rope above me.  I led the second pitch which was a brilliant trick chimney to below two v-grooves.  Keith led the right have v-groove which turned out to be the crux.  Kenny led us up to the top of the route in 3 'easier' pitches (it was quicker this way, we didn't have to swap ropes and sort gear).  On the top there was plenty of snow, good winds and required a bit of navigation to get us into the corrie of SCNL.  A brilliant day and an amazing crag....very extensive!

Today was an exciting day from the word go.  Our original plan was to head to the Cairngorms for a shorter walk in but during our drive over in the snow the car, for no reason, decided to spin 180 degrees!  Fortunately we were on a straight section and nothing else was coming.  After driving towards the Cairgorms very slowly, we decided to spin around (in control this time) and head back to Glencoe.  So we headed up towards Stob Coire nan Lochain and broke off the path at Far Eastern Buttress.  We decided to repeat Donald King and Mike Pescods Nirvana Wall (VI,8).  It was a brilliant route, very very tenuous but the conditions were favourable as the cracks were clear of ice and gear and placements were available after brushing the snow off.  There were 3 pitches so we all got a pitch each with Kenny making a good lead on the crux. I never got a view of SCNL crags but they were probably plastered.  It was a soggy day, raining as we were walking out.

Keith leading the first pitch

A good stretch on the crux pitch

Ace fun!

Hardest bit coming up!

Ewan not happy with the idea of the splits

After a day away from the mountains yesterday, I was super psyched to get back out today and today I was with Keith Ball and Ewan Rodgers.  I must mention this was Ewans 3rd time in crampons, first time he climbed Twisting Gully (III) and second time he climbed Dorsal Arete (II), but for a summer E7 climber we thought he would manage.  Today we went up onto Number 3 Gully buttress and climbed The Survivor (VII,8).  We did the route in 3 pitches and each one was tricky.  Conditions were good, still very cold and there was fresh snowfall overnight, loads more to come tonight too.  Other teams were on Souix Wall, The Slab Climb and Ledge Route.

Looks pretty good eh?

Guy (not me) doing the little (VI,6) corner

nice little finish

Happy to be at the belay

Abseiling off the route (2 abbs, 1st 60m, 2nd 30m)

Today I was back on Ben Nevis but today the walk in was easy, all I had was a flask and a sandwich.  I stashed all my gear there yesterday.  So Donald, Mike, Guy (another Guy) and I all got geared up and made our plans.  Mike and Donald went and climbed Lost The Place (V,5) and Guy and I went and climbed Sidewinder (VII,8) on Trident Buttress.  It was a fantastic route with some brilliant, absorbing climbing and some fantastic moves on the crux.  Sidewinder joins Strident Edge at the top, which I did the other day so I did a slightly different variation to keep the climbing independent and new, it was a great 55m pitch.  Conditions are still great for hard mixed climbing.  Darth Vader (VII,7) got climbed again and another route also which I'm not going to say as I fancy it tomorrow....

Topping out on the first pitch

Getting stuck into pitch 2

Allan abseiling down the route

Spot the climbers behind Allan

Happy Allan Thompson after climbing Thompson's Route

Today I was back out on Ben Nevis, I was working with Allan.  We've had quite a few days out now and this is our second day out this season, first being North East Buttress before I disappeared to Spain.  Today was different for Allan.  He had some new axes!  He has purchased himself some Petzl Quarks and what a difference they made to his climbing.  Going leash-less with lanyards was a major highlight for Allan and he loved how they just stuck onto everything.  We climbed Thompson's Route (IV,4) as a mixed climb (more like IV,5 today) as the 1st pitch has no build up of ice yet.  Allan had this route on his tick list for a while as it is a real Ben Nevis classic but also as his last name is Thompson.  We had planned to climb the bulk of the route and abseil of without going over the top so we could get back before it got dark and have a nice leisurely day and it was a brilliant idea.  It gave us an opportunity to check out other routes for the future and watch some young wads (Boswell and Sim (i think)) try a new route.  Donald and Guy were on Gargoyle Wall, Jamie and Ken were on Lost the Place and a team on Ledge Route.

So yesterday I got back from two weeks of climbing in the sun in Spain and today I was winter climbing on Ben Nevis.  The body took a while to get used to the transition but we were both quite warm once we started climbing.  Donald and I opted for Strident Edge (VII,7) and it was brilliant.  We ended up doing the route in 4 pitches giving us both 2 fantastic pitches each and some brilliant climbing (some quite bold climbing too).  Great to see the crags in this condition i.e. amazing and it was great to see many teams out.  Kenny and Guy (not me, another Guy) climbed Smooth Operator (VI,7) and reported an ace route, Simon and Neil climbed The Slab Climb (VI,7), a team on Gargoyle Wall, Lost The Place and 4 people on Tower Ridge.  Conditions are great for hard mixed at the moment.  Working tomorrow on some 'easier mixed'....

Just back from two weeks sport climbing in Spain to be met by torrential rain here in the UK.  Looks like everone done south have been hit hard.  Hope everyone is drying out nicely.  It was amazing flying back over the UK above the weather systems that were hitting the county, very impressive cloud formations, I was just glad I was above it all.

So we went to Suirana and then onto Margalef. There were loads of folk around, all having a good time... Here are some photo's.

John crusing a 7a at Monsant

Yours truly on a 7b

Will crushing a 60m 7b

Anna finishing off on a 7a arete

Anna on a briulliant 7a+

John on a 7a as the sun was going down

Lee Dog banging out a 7b at Margalef

Phil on some 7c action

Ben working the moves out on a 8a+

John at the top of his 7c project

Well we didn't even get out of the car...At the top car park it looked grim and would have involved alot of suffering.  I presented the options and with no hesitation Shaun and Ben jumped at the idea of indoor ice climbing, Latte, dry tooling, Americano, rope work, panini's, bouldering and testing out the routes for the dry tooling comp tomorrow!  So the next thing we knew, we were swinging our axes into steep ice, hanging on logs, placing on holds, leading with ice screws (on a top rope), getting incredibly pumped...and that was only the first 3 hours.  After leaving the Ice Wall and some lunch we went into the bouldering wall and I showed the guys what dry tooling was all about...and they loved it.  Being strong boulderers, they picked it up quickly and were power screaming and taking good lobs onto the mats!  ticked off some of the competition routes too.  After we all got pretty pumped we retreated to doing some rope work, belay building and other useful skills that he chaps have never done before.

On another note, I'm on holiday now, the Talisker is flowing and I will be back in two weeks.  Some sunny sport climbing is on the cards, hopefully more of this here.  I'm hoping its really wintery here whilst I'm gone so it builds a good base for December when I'm back and everyone gets lots of routes done!  Hope everyone gets out loads and makes me really jealous!