I’ve spent the week on Mull with a group from Edinburgh conducting a range of activities including coasteering, canyoning, climbing and an expedition onto the remote and sparsly populated island of Ulva. Thankfully the weather proved to be significantly better than forecast but we had to stay pretty flexible with the itinerary to make the best of the week.
I’ve had another hectic work week which started with a weekend guiding the Forcan Ridge in Glen Shiel and Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis. I was hoping to complete the Clach Glas – Blaven traverse on Skye on Saturday but strong winds and heavy rain meant we had to leave Skye’s lone Munro for another time and head south to Glen Shiel. Although not in the same league, the Forcan Ridge provided a great alternative in challenging conditions and did allow 2 Munros to be bagged. Tower Ridge was as superb as ever with the persistant rain adding to the challenge and ensuring there were no weekend queues with only two other teams on the route. No photos I’m afraid – my camera is not submersible.
For the rest of the Week I’ve been working on a Rock Improvers course for Glenmore Lodge where I visited a number of local crags with Sarah and Graham, practising and perfecting a range of skills and techniques.
Thanks to Will for these photos of our trip to Binnein Shaus a couple of weeks ago. The first photo shows a team on Kubla Khan which climbs the left-hand side of the same slab as The Keep. I’d forgotten what it fantastic day it was.
I’ve spent the last week running a hill skills and navigation course for Glenmore Lodge where we looked at a range of skills required to be self-sufficient in the mountains, navigation techniques and ropework for hill walkers whilst having some great days out on the Cairngorm Plateau.
Continued rain on Thursday saw a return back home to recharge before a perfect ascent of Tower Ridge on Friday with Laura.
I spent the day working for Alpha Mountaineering marshaling on Ben Nevis for a charity 3 peaks race. The tourist path was particularly busy with a constant flow of walkers climbing Britain’s highest peak. Its been a while since I’ve been up the tourist path and I was disappointed to see the amount of litter strewn around. We brought quite a bit down with us but it shouldn’t be there in the first place!
Once the low cloud lifted there were great views from the summit of many parties ascending Tower Ridge. The weather is looking more changeable into next week which should bring some cooler air in and be a welcome change as long as the crags don’t get too wet.
Will and I have had a productive week ticking off a couple of ultra-classic rock climbs. The weather here in the highlands has been perfect for climbing and although thunder storms and heavy downpours have affected some areas, we seem to have avoided them all (which makes a pleasant change).
First on the list was Centurian (HVS 5a) on Ben Nevis:
Followed by The Needle (E1, 5b) on The Shelterstone in the Cairngorms:
