Lou on Scultress

Last night I managed to steal an evening at Ardmair after work with Lou and returned today for another few routes before the rain.  We had a nice tally of routes, all of which were really good fun and it feels like a long time since I last went climbing in my own time.  Arms felt weak, flexibility was restrictive but things improved as the day went on.  I really should take more days off.

Nice evening location

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Father and son on Stac Pollaidh

Ed loving the friction

Reed ready to walk the plank

Ace place to work

Over the last 3 days I have been based in the North West and doing a spot of climbing with Reed and his son Ed.  We covered most bases when it comes to traditional climbing.  Mountain crags, sea stacks and single pitch sea cliffs.  We started up at Stac Pollaidh and Climbed 2 VS's, Summer Isles Arete Direct which was great followed by Bats in the Belfry which was OK.  We were lucky with the weather and climbing in the sun all day.  Unfortunately it was a little bit moist on our second day and we planned for the Old Man of Stoer.  Unfortunately the rock was damp and Ed was unable to climb the slimy pitches in the rain, nothing was easy as it should be so we decided to bail and after some interesting abseiling we made it back to the Tyrolean.  Our final day was great and made up for day two as we climbed heaps of routes and Reed and Ed got up every single route and with smiles and eagerness for more

So far yet so close, then so close but so far :/

We didn't top out but this was fun

One of the 10 routes we did on our 3rd day

After a long day, coiling the rope is always a hard task

Our transport

Usually I spend all my time on dry land however  for the Last two weeks I have tried my sea legs.  We have toured around the west coast of Scotland looking for sea cliff and sea stacks, wild life and island life and meeting some great people on the way, we got some climbing in along the way but we has such a busy itinerary we had to keep pressing on.  From Ballachulish we sailed up to Skye and the surrounding Islands, past Rassay and onto Harris.  From Harris we went to two very remote islands, Sula Sgeir and Rona and onto Orkney.  We were rained off the Old Man of Hoy, got a kreel caught in the propeller so had to get towed in by the coastguard (see the pic below).  After some repairs, we then went up to Shetland Island, Over the North Sea to Floro in Norway and finally down to Began via some fantastic Fjords with hugh granite walls.  Lots to talk about but I will let the photos do the talking.

Our navigation system

John plotting the course, Angus making brews

Under the Skye bridge

Rassay or Rona...cant quite remember

Climbing on Harris

John bridging on Harris

Yet more crags

The brewing storm never caught us

Amazing cliff on Rona (near to Sula Sgeir)

The Old Man of Hoy

The bad climbing conditions, the kreel and our tow

Oil rig in the North Sea

Nice wee house in Norway

Lots of big boats

Somewhere in Norway

I caught all of this! Yum

A floating bridge

Boats...cable layers for the North sea.

Lovely morning

Carn Dearg looking pretty dry

Finally back on the main land and back on Ben Nevis today.  Its been a while but fortunately I was working with Bruce for West Coast Mountain Guides and we took 4 keen hill walkers up Tower Ridge for a change of pace.  It was quite amazing how much snow is still up there, we were able to avoid it and didn't need an axe or crampons.  We came off a very busy summit and down the CMD arête which was also clear of snow.  A beautiful clear day and really good fun spending it on one of the best mountaineering days out in Scotland.

Douglas Gap

Lots of snow up there

The team on the CMD

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Ben Nevis

Neil and Wallace on peak number 1

Lovely day to be on the ridge

Wallace on the In Pinn

It all worked out, this time Neil and Wallace got to celebrate their success on the Cuillin Ridge Traverse.  We had perfect weather on the first day making good progress and ticking off 6 Munro's on the first day in sunshine and light winds.  Our bivi was one of the better one's, chilly but dry with lots of grub to keep our energy levels up.  Day two was also nice, threat of rain was around us but never really developed.  The clouds dropped down in the early afternoon but fortunately we were in the pub.  The 5am start was worth it.

Bivi

This traverse marks the end of this stint of work on Skye (back next month) so now back over to Fort William for some work on Ben Nevis.

Nearly there

Not a bad day

Today I was out with Neil and Wallace who are up from the South to complete the Cuillin Ridge.  The finest way is by a traverse so with this forecast it was game on.  Today was not such a nice day so we went for a training day on Pinnacle Ridge.  This gave us a chance to coach some scrambling and climbing, get to grips with the rope work, practice abseiling, spend time with gear and chat about the upcoming two days.  As it was so wet I didn't get any photo's today.

Today I was back out with a group who have been on the Island all week bagging the Munro’s and today I helped the team of 4 touch the cairns on Sgurr Mhadaidh and Sgurr a Ghreadaidh.  Strong gusts and driving rain made for some interesting moments as we were getting blown away but as time ticked away the weather did improve slightly.  Unfortunately not enough for me to take photos but enough for me to take my hood down for an hour.  The last 3 days I have been working for West Coast Mountain Guides No pics today either.

Hmmm...ok, maybe yesterday was too nice!  Today was quite the opposite!  Will and Laura were keen for more and we had David along.  David is on the final 10 of his Munro campaign and he wanted to join up on Am Basteir and Sgurr nan Gillean, as his previous attempt was unsuccessful.  It was constant rain today and cloud down to 300m.  A stark contrast to what Laura and will had yesterday but a very memorable experience.  We succeeded in our summit pushes and David bagged 2 more Munro’s, Will and Laura explored more of Skye and got to grips with wet scrambling and I had my work cut out keeping everyone moving and keeping them warm.  A good challenging day washed down with a coffee, a Talisker and a beer in the Slig! No photos today