The Team

Great winter environment on Aonach Mor

 This weekend I have been working with some member of the Austrian Alpine Club who signed up for a winter skills weekend.  Our group had a wide variety of experience covering 2 or 3 generations and a variety of mountaineering experience.  To optimise to teaching time and skills we opted for some mechanical assistance and got the gondola up to Aonach Mor, bringing us out in the snow.  As the weather was more desirable we opted for more of a journey and to get up high, so armed with the appropriate skills we set off for the summit station.  Unfortunately, time evaporated and we didn't make it to the true summit, sometimes the case when there is lots to teach.  We made our way back down avoiding all the pistes and back to the comfort of the gondola to save some knees.

Lunch shelter

Interesting terrain to blow away some cobwebs

Prepared to head into the 'Ping Pong ball'

In the ball

 Day 2 there was a strong desire to make use of the mechanical uplift again however the strong wind's didn't allow and the gondola was off all day.  So instead we opted for a drive over to Glencoe and headed up Coire na Tulaich on Buachaille Etive Mor to pick up where we left off.  As the winds were high today we stayed sheltered and opted for a more static skills based day covering any aspects we didn't have time for yesterday and equipped the team with enough tools in their tool boxes to go out and have a save and fun day in the hills.  The team were great sports and put great effort into everything, Mike put in a great effort trying to break the sound barrier on his ice axe arrest runs and I was very thankful of the Sloe Gin from their hip flask at the end of the day.  A great couple of days and the weather wasn't too bad either.

Steve sporting equipment older than me.

Steve's wooden Stubai axe.  Lovely piece of equipment.

The team in Coire na Tulaich

Working as an independent MIC it is great to have opportunities to further my knowledge and understanding with a group of other independent providers and hill enthusiasts.  The day was put together by the Chris Walker Memorial Trust.  This charity provides funding for expeditions to greater ranges and also helps mountaineering instructors to attend courses to further their knowledge and understanding, helping avoid further incidents and pass on crucial information to clients.  The day was split into two, we had a classroom morning looking at the theory of avalanche awareness and how we can teach this to our clients, followed by a hill based afternoon showing how we can utilise the mountains and teach clients exactly what they need to know.  As a member of the Association Mountaineering Instructors (AMI) it is important that we attend these CPD courses to make sure we stay current and in-line with modern ideas and thinking.  A fantastic day ran by Graham Moss from the SAIS.

Abseiling on the Forcan Ridge

This week I have been working a Intro to Mountaineering course in the North West Highlands for Moran Mountain with a team of 3 French chaps living in London.  The weather and conditions have taken a slight change here.  We climbed everyday but as the week went on it was clear that there was less and less snow to go around.  We spent a day refreshing skills at Fuar Tholl in quite wild conditions, we then climbed the A'Chioch Ridge on Beinn Bhan and the Forcan Ridge in Glen Shiel which were all showing lots of rock.  We had a crag sessions too involving all sorts of rope work and lead practice as well as a great session of dry tooling.  Not many photo's as we didn't get many views!

Spoilt for choice

What a brilliant two days out with Claire and Ian.  After our day out last year HERE, they were keen for some winter adventures.  As they have never worn crampons before, we started off with some basic skills and got hem both moving up the classic Ben Nevis route of Ledge Route (II) ****.  It was stunning weather and great conditions underfoot so we pressed onto the summit for stunning panoramic views.  Took plenty of photos today.  More Here.

Heading back down

Going down Number 4 Gully

Claire leading to the summit

Great place to be

Ready for action, first time in crampons

Day two was looking very promising also, clear skies greeted us as we drove through Glencoe to Buachaille Etive Mor.  Claire had Curved Ridge on her sights for years and was keen to put it to bed.  So with a stellar forecast, perfect conditions and the right team, it would have been rude not too.  We made good steady progress up Curved Ridge (III) and made our way onto the summit of Stob Dearg.  From here we thought it would be best to make the most of the day so we continued onto Stob na Broige for the full 'Buachaille' day out.  It had been a while since I had been on Stob na Broige and was a view you get.  Well worth the walk.  We back tracked to Coire na Tulaich and made our way down mostly on snow.  A great couple of days to round off a great week.  Thank you everyone.  More photos HERE from Curved Ridge and beyond.  Off to Torridon now!

Day two in crampons, heading for Curved Ridge

Lunch spot

Getting there..

Nordwand starts at the fat ice centre left

Great views as we walked off

The beauty exposed and the ugliness hidden by the clouds

Wow, what an amazing route!  Yesterday John and I climbed Vanishing gully so today I promised a longer but easier route.  I hadn't climbed this 420m route before so I went on what the guide book said.  So we did the direct start, grade 4.  Felt more like 5 but maybe it was because we were not warmed up.  I shouted to John 'thats the steepest pitch on the route'.  Oh dear!  I was so wrong!  We did 9 pitches of climbing, 7 of them had steep climbing on.  It was brilliant.  I honestly thought it was harder than Orion Direct, definitely more sustained.  The ice is fat and very good condition.  If you have a chance to climb it then go and do it!  Brilliant.

Like the Eiger but closer to home

One more pitch to go

Vanishing Gully

John happy to be up a grade 5 on his second day out this winter

Today I was back out with John and we headed into Ben Nevis to see what routes didn't have too much traffic on.  John did fancy the Curtain but as we spotted multiple team on the route and queuing for the route then we opted for Vanishing Gully (V,5) instead.  We only did the 2 pitches and abseiled off the side and headed down.  A nice easy day to rest the legs for a potentially longer day tomorrow.  Conditions are looking great on Ben Nevis.  Teams on Point 5, Zero, Hadrians, Gemini, Shield Direct, Curtain, Italian right-hand (I think), Tower Ridge, Ledge Route and Harrison's Climb Direct.

Cave belay!

Tim and Twid on the Shield Direct

Blair climbing up to my belay (Keith Ball)

Unfortunately John couldn't make his second day, but every cloud has a silver lining.  I knew Blair was looking for a partner and as the Shield Direct was in, I was happy I had a day off.  There was no discussion about what we would climb, we both were super keen to do this.  We opted for an early start and were almost pushed back to the car because of the winds.  We persevered and we were rewarded with 6 pitches of brilliant VII,7 climbing.  Blair won the rock, paper, scissor duel, so he went first and climbed the nice ice pitch, which is becoming thinner as climbers keep hacking away.  Above the ice pirch we were greeted with great icy mixed climbing up a fantastic feature on Ben Nevis.  Nice long pitches too.  This route has true classic status and is rightly deserved.  It was great to be out climbing today as it does feel like I haven't done a great deal of personal climbing this winter and to catch a rare day off on such an amazing route is the icing on the cake.  Sadly Blair and I didn't take a camera so have no pics but thanks to Keith who was on Gemini with Dave, he sent me some really poor quality shots.  (Its ok, he knows I'm grateful and he doesn't read this blog so he wont know I said this! ;)

John blowing away the cobwebs

Funky ice formations

Its great to be back from Norway and find vast amounts of ice around.  Ben Nevis has plenty to go for as does Glencoe and the North West.  Even Skye has some nice ice too.  John was back for more winter climbing and we started our stint down at Beinn Udlaidh, the southern highlands premier ice climbing venue.  Most routes were in climbable condition so we started with two brilliant grave IV's.  First up was South Gully of the Black Wall which has a lovely grade III first pitch and a short step of grade 4 on the second.  Just a shame it didn't go on for 5 more pitches!  We then wandered back down to find the queues had gone on the crag classic, Quartzvein Scoop.  We climbed this on fantastic ice all the was up with amazing views and clarity to the local hills.  With a short and steep approach and lots of great climbs, its a fantastic venue for a spot of ice cragging.  Great to see Big Al and Steve out for a nice wee jollie.

Nice belay on QS

Al and Steve heading back in for another