What a great couple of weeks.  I have dreamed about going to Kalymnos for quite a while and finally the star aligned.  I went out to the Greek Island with old friends Kirby, Ali and Donald.  Fortunately Kirby and Ali had been before so they knew all the good places to eat and knew where all the laybys were for the crags leaving me to ride my scooter without crashing and climb as much as my arms would allow.  I teamed up with good friend and regular climbing partner, Donald.  We're both quiet at this time of year with work so use it as an opportunity to get some last minute sun before the winter and build up a little bit of strength for some winter climbing.

Mike on one of the many no hands rests.

We missed some horrible Scottish weather at home!

With 9 days of climbing on the island, we barely touched the surface.  There is so much to do there to keep any climber (and non climber) entertained.  The perfect destination to take family even if they don't climb, something for everyone.  We climber every day except one.  We should have had two rest days but our first one ended up in some sea level traversing followed by some deep water soloing....and plenty of swimming!  As there was so many cool lines to climb we ended up just climbing as many routes as possible rather than spending a few hours, mornings or days on one particular route...if we fell off them we moved on.  Fortunately most of the time we stayed on but as usual we also took some hugggeeee whippers!  Might need a new rope now!  I'll let the pictures do the rest of the talking....im off to sharpen my ice axes!

Most routes ended like this....tired!

Our tour guides...Ali and Kirby

Dream team heading to a smaller island

Looking back to the Grande Grotte

Kirby smashing his first ever 7b+

From inside the Grande Grotte, all about the tufas

Donald and I trying not to look tired...truth is that our arms barely function

See you next year!

More photos on facebook HERE

It has been a wee while since I have had a sit down to write a wee update, which is great as it has been such an action packed few weeks.  I guess the brilliant weather has helped.  Fortunately I haven't had to travel around too much as the rock has been dry and work has been local.  A couple of visits to Brin Rock and Tunnel Wall helped kick of Sport Climbing season, given that I haven't had a great summer of rock climbing, I felt I was doing ok.  Really enjoyed the routes I tried.  Really pleased to climb Uncertain Emotions in Glencoe after a couple of visits.  I also made the most of some nice days with cragging at Creag Dubh, bouldering at the Skeleton Boulder in Glen Nevis and mountain biking at Wolftrax  before work kicked in.  I have just finished my 3rd week working at the Joint Services Mountain Training Centre in Ballachulish (the military version of Plas y Brenin and Glenmore Lodge).  I have been working on a host of instructor training courses, two weeks of rock climbing instructor training and assessments and a week of Mountain Leader Training.  We visited a whole host of single pitch climbing venues, some with a lengthy drives but worth it for the dry rock and the climbing.  Its been great working Monday to Friday 8am-5pm, feels like a 'real job' with time to spare and weekends to catch up with folk.  With an upcoming trip away sport climbing on the Greek Island of Kalymnos I have been trying hard to build some fitness to get the most of the trip.  So a few trips to Ratho (best indoor wall in Scotland...if not the UK!) and mid week bouldering have been doing the trick.  This week I am working on Mountain Leader Assessment so will be out on the hills for the week which will be great, before flying out at the weekend.   I'm hoping that when I return at the start of December I will be straight into winter climbing so watch this space.

Brin (Zed Buttress) with Mhairi and Murdoch

Good views in Glen Nevis (above Skeleton Boulder)

Creag Dubh...beaut day!

Kingussie Rock training

Group abseil

Setting up climbing at Glen Nevis

Team at Kingussie

Where is the Loch?

Inversion on the Buachaille

Mountain Leader ropework

Walking out of the Buachaille

Good navigation training in Glencoe

Dream team loving learning new skills

Training at Dave Mac's wall

The title pretty much sums up my time since I returned from the Alps with Ben.  Obviously I have missed a few normal life things that you wont want to hear about but I have been super busy with work and climbing.  With a little time off before I started work again, I was really keen to see how much my rock climbing strength had altered over the last few months where I have been mainly mountaineering or dodging rain.  I started off with some success by climbing the brilliant Uncertain Emotions (7b) on Craig A'Bhancair on Buachialle Etive Mor.  This came after 3 visits but still really chuffed to pull this out the bag, especially as it has been such a hard summer.

Essential sport climbing gear

 After gaining a bit of fitness, I went to Creag Dubh with my flat mate Blair (good snow patch photos) and headed up to Barrier Wall and between us accumulated 12 E points between us spread over 4 routes.  I felt pretty broken by the end of this, think it was the combination of too much wine the night before, the baking hot sunshine and the steep nature of the crag.  A top day though!  This day marked the end of my time off and work began!

First up was a day up on Ardverikie Wall (HS) with Paul.  Not a great deal to say about this other than it was perfect.  Sunshine, nice breeze, great company, brilliant climbing and lots of other climbers out.  A really social-able day on an uber classic line.

Paul loving his day off whilst over on a business trip

From here I had a stint on the Isle of Skye, brace yourself....it was amazing weather!  I was so lucky and so excited to be up in those mountains with endless views and a warm glow from the sun.  First Skye job was to take the lovely Alison up the Inaccessible Pinnacle and over to Sgur Mhicoinich.  This had been her nemesis for years but with some care, coaching and coaxing we both made it to the top for a well earned rest.  We had the summit to ourselves where we basked in the sun for a while.

Alison and the inversion

After saying farewell to Alison, I met my next group.  For the next 4 days we had planned to summit every Munro on the Cuillin Ridge.  11 summits, 4 clients, limited scrambling experience, 1 guide, stunning weather...no problem!  Again, not much to say about this but it was a great 4 days with a super fun group and we succeeded in our objective.  We took countless pictures, everyone magazine worthy.  Skye truly was magnificant...

The team, but on which peak?

Until the weekend hit...

My traverse clients, Simon and Harry, were given the bad news on Friday that the traverse would not go ahead.  High winds, lots of rain and very wet rock would not lends itself to an enjoyable, comfortable and successful traverse.  Instead we opted for two single days, aiming to be off the hill to enjoy showers, pillows and duvets.  Our first day we climbed Pinnacle Ridge and continued to tick off the Northern 3 Munros on Skye.  Also including Am Bhastier and its tooth as well as a descent down Kings cave chimney.

Harry and Simon ready for action

 Our second day was the brilliant Clach Glas BlaBheinn traverse.  We had to have a delayed start to allow for the winds to ease and the rain to subside but it was clear that our late start was not late enough.  We battled through wind and rain, over greasy and slippy terrain but ultimately completing Skye's fantastic satellite ridge.  On arrival to the summit of BlaBheinn we were greeted with no views but as we turned away from the summit it started to clear.  Was it worth the battle?  Of course it was.

Harry and Simon hoping it would be a 'summer' holiday!

After farewells with Harry and Simon, I met with my next group.  This time 8 members, 2 guides, 11 munro's, suboptimal forecast....no problem (ish).  I teamed up with Andy Ravenhill and we dissected the forecast to see when was best to hit the tricky summits and when to have a shorter day.  The team fought well and worked well together and we succeeded in summiting all the peaks over 4 days.  A great result all round.  It has appeared Skye has gone back to normal but such is life.

Ok, we had a good couple of weather windows.

This concluded my work on Skye for this year and I had to head straight to North Wales for an induction to become a British Mountain Guide.  After a welcoming power point presentation and an over view of the scheme (3+ year), I was taken to Gogarth sea cliffs and tested on my ability to rock climb at the standard of E1 5b.  As events proceeded I ended up climbing Resolution Direct, a brilliant E2 5c on the edge of main cliff and this was enough proof to the assessing guides that I could operate at the standard they require.  The following two days were spent being trained by experienced British Mountain Guide's in the advanced skills that will take me beyond the remit of my current qualifications and allow me to work in the Alps and worldwide.  A long standing ambition.

My last ever mountain logbook!

After the course I spent two days climbing by the sea, firstly at Gogarth with Ally Swinton.  We climbed 3 E2's and an E5 which left us both feeling quite tired and today we went sport climbing at LPT on the Great Orm where we both maxed out at 7a+...we put it down to been very tired from the last few days.

The following few months are looking super busy, I will mostly be in Scotland getting ready for winter and this year instead of going to Spain for some sport climbing I will be heading to a little island on the Aegean sea.  Can wait!

If your already dreaming about winter then get in touch and we can make your Scottish mountain ambitions come true.  Click HERE for some ideas.

Thank you to West Coast Mountain Guides, Skye Guides and Steve Fallon for work recently, it has been a blast!

Donald cruising up 'The One and Only'

Since I have been back from Lewis and Harris, I have barely been able to get out climbing with work commitments and the weather, the Scottish summer goes on!  I managed to sneak a day (or half day) at Brin Rock with Dan and Donald for some pumpy sport climbing.  We started off with the 7a called The One and Only, a great on-sight by Donald and I followed him up it as I had done it before.  Dan had a go working the moves then smashed it on his second go.  Team send!  We then went onto the brilliant Pink Wall (7b).  After I put the clips in, Donald and Dan had a go working the moves before I had a shot at doing it clean but lobbed off whilst rubbing my nose on the chains, pumped and unable to let go and clip!  Unfortunately my second go was stopped as the rain came in and soaked the crag...we ran as fast as our little legs would carry us as we knew this was settling in.

Still plenty of snow on Ben Nevis

As the poor weather continued, I have been doing a spot of running, something I don't do much of.  Recently I have really enjoyed it so if this weather continues then you might see me running up to the CIC hut or around Cowhill (nothing too ambitious just yet).

Glen Clova

Over the last 3 days I have been making the most of my days off with some great days climbing with Uisdean.  East was on the agenda as West was our choice last month.  After deliberating over forcasts, we ended up at Glon Clova, a crag I havent been to but super keen to get back.  Every route we did was brilliant and I super keen to get back there with a bit more time.  Unfortunately the weather didn't hold for us so the following day we went to Ratho.  Never a disappointing day at Ratho, get to get a huugggeeee work out and get totally pumped.  Day 3 we headed to the brilliant sport wall of Dunkeld where we got Back onto Hamish Ted's to see if we could remember the route.  Just about managed it on my last red point but no cigar!  Next time.

Special Uisdean

Uisdean crushing

Next stop ... the pavement!

Down we go!

Ok I will hold my hands up.  My enthusiasm got the better of us.  Day 4 and I had another plan up my sleeve. A 9 pitch HVS up the most striking feature on the Costa Blanca.  Diedro UBSA on the South Face of Penon de Ifach.  Unfortunately I didn't take into consideration that John has been maxing out for the last 3 days so we should have opted for a rest day straight away.  Anyway the 2 pitches and 2 abseils we did were great, we got dive bombed by sea guls, looked around another marina and topped up on more vitamin D, not a total wasted day.

The Bernia Ridge

We did get worried as the white stuff came in from the left..

Our 5th day we went for the mighty Bernia Ridge, another opportunity to keep the weight on our legs and rest the arms.  So, fantastic scrambling on bone dry limestone, in blue sky weather with a sea breeze...what's not to like?  John enjoyed the crux so much he threw a quick draw back down so he could be lowered and climb it again..!  We had the ridge to ourselves until the final summit of 1126m.  It was shorter than the Cuillin but nicely sustained.

It was very windy here...when I said 'smile' I didn't mean let go!

All good fun!

Today, we went for it, I wanted to tick the whole of the Costa Blanca guidebook, however we settled for the brilliant Puig Campana (1406m).  We had a view of this giant from our apartment and knew we had to climb it.  The classic Espolon Central, 13 pitches, early start...no problem!  "Ahh John.....slight problem" "What" "didn't pack my climbing shoes".  John response..."Oh"  Maybe I'm too stubborn or just too lazy but I didn't want to walk back down without climbing this route so we pressed on and I led the 13 pitches in my trainers which turned out to be far more comfortable than I could have imagined!

Pitch....12 I think

After a interesting beach/dinner experience in Benidorm we headed back to the ranch and John was happy to finish on a high so we are having a relaxed day tomorrow then catching a flight in the afternoon.  The drams are flowing and it's been a fantastic 6 days climbing...despite being constantly dehydrated!  This is a must for winter sun and spring time rock climbing strength!

The view didn' change much, it was nice!

John rehydrating whilst observing the weather take a turn for the worse

Well after 3 days of fantastic climbing I thought I would settle down with some duty free whiskey and make a wee note of what we have been up to.  John is really wanting to push his grade this year so when I suggested we go to Spain for 7 days climbing he jumped at the chance.  I have made an itinerary for the whole week, it took me a while to do as there is so much amazing rock to climb.  The first two days were single pitch climbing, to see what John can and cant climb.  As were staying at Sella, the local crag was ideal.  5 minute drive, 28 second walk in, 9 routes later we were done for the day.  Day two we went into Vall de Guadar and found a fantastic newly developed crag which wasn't polished which gave us another 9 routes in the perfect temps.  In the distance we could see a storm brewing..

Entering the final pitch on the Toix Ridge

Top of the climbing..now time for scrambling

Today our forecast was confirmed and it rained all night and up until about 9am.  This was fine as we knew it was to clear and this allowed time to explore to local marina and drink some lovely coffee.  After a relaxing morning we climbed the Toix Ridge.  It was bloody brilliant.  5 pitches of nice climbing to a fantastic airy ridge that required a wee bit of rope work, especially with the high winds we had.

I know Spain is meant to be warm but it was very windy!

Top of the climbing, scrambing to come

Doesnt look bad but it was super windy!

Thumbs up, start climbing!

After this our day wasn't over.  We hurried down to the sea cliffs to climb the fantastic Magical Mystery Tour.  5 fantastic pitches above the sea given sport grade 5 and felt like a nice HVS 5a.  We made two abseils in, full committed ourselves as we only had 1 60m rope, either a climb out or a swim out would be suffice but fortunately all went to plan.  So all in all a great contrasting day, 5 pitches to a summit ridge followed by two abseils and a fantastic multi-pitch sea cliff climb!

Summit shot

On the sea cliffs...baking temperatures now!

This traverse was by far the psychological crux...don't fall here!

Mmmm bliss

Mmmmm bliss

Chulilla

Amazing place to climb.  Chulilla.

Amazing day at Suirana

Beautiful day at Montsant.

Donald loving the Tufas on this 7a

Donald enjoying the climbing at Siurana

Murdoch climbing 7c+ at Chulilla.  I seconded it but fell off before I got to the top.

Murdoch verses 8a!

Donald front and back footing on tufas

A brilliant way to exit the crag.  Hard work after a full days climbing.

Bright lights of Barcelona

Not only did we do a lot of climbing, we also got to know the inside of our wee hire car pretty well.  Donald and I were keen to get to a few different places rather than stay at one place.  Our first port of call was meeting up with Murdoch in Chulilla.  This place is absolutely amazing.  Even to go for a walk through the gorge is pretty breath taking.  Steep techy wall climbing is the style here but we also found some really cool Tufa's to climb.  Next stop was Margalef.  I love this place, it suits my style I think, quite steep but really good pockets.  From here we went to Siurana and finally onto Montsant before heading back to Margalef.  12 days we climbed for with no rest day.  Our final day we couldn't climb any more so went to Barcelona for some Chaos and shopping!  A brilliant holiday.  I'm exhausted but ready for some winter climbing!