Focus Mountaineering Blog » Summer

Update

Andy — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 19:58:40 +0000

Well its been a while since I last posted so its about time I wrote a quick update on what I’ve been up to. Its been a busy few weeks with another short trip to the Inner Hebrides, a guided 3 peaks long weekend (Ben Nevis, Scafell and Snowdon) and a number of climbing trips in the Peak District. Aside from work I’ve re-found a love for cycling and I’ve been putting some miles on the road bike (over 200miles in the last 2 weeks).

It may only be September but the Scottish hills have already had some snowfall and I’m already looking ahead to winter. I will be based back in the Highlands for the winter and offering a full range winter mountaineering and climbing courses. More on that to come…

North Wales, Lundy and Baggy Point

Andy — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 22:43:34 +0000

I’ve been trying to do a lot of climbing over the last few weeks but its been a challenge with the weather. We seem to have been dominated with a stream of Atlantic lows which has made finding consistently dry rock a challenge. First there was a trip to North Wales with Charlie to tick off some classics where we climbed at Tremadog (damp), Clogwyn y Grochan (drying) and Dinas Cromlech (until it started to rain). Regardless, we managed to climb Ivy Sepuchre and the 1st pitch of Cemetry Gates on the Cromlech before finally being washed home.

Then there was the much anticipated trip to Lundy with Crispin and Mat. This small Island in the Bristol Channel has an awesome reputation for adventurous granite climbing on its sea cliffs. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. The gales started as soon as we arrived and for the duration of our stay, torrential rain was only interspersed by light showers. After 3 days, all attempts at climbing had been twarted and with only one reasonable day forecast in the next 5 we escaped to the mainland.

The following day was that 1 reasonable day and so we spent the day climbing at Baggy Point before heading North. The headland between Croyde bay and Putsborough Sands is a great venue with slabby routes from VDiff upwards on grippy sandstone. We climbed a couple of the harder classics on ‘The Promontory’ before heading a bit further along to ‘The Long Rock’.

More adventures on the Isle of Mull

Andy — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 10:07:41 +0000

I’ve spent the last 2 weeks back north on the Inner Hebridean Island of Mull working for Hebridean Pursuits. I have been responsible for providing a range of challenging activities to help develop and interest two groups of young people. Mull is a wonderful venue for this being remote and having stunning natural scenery. Both weeks were pretty wet allowing us to focus predominantly on water based activities with the highlights being coasteering and canyoning. We did however manage a dry day’s climbing on the pristine granite on the Ross of Mull and a cultural visit to Iona.

Ben Nevis – 3 Peaks Ascent

Andy — Sun, 11 Jul 2010 15:43:55 +0000

On Saturday I finished my week back in Scotland by guiding a group up Ben Nevis on the first stage of their 24hr 3 peak challenge for Maximum Adventure. The mountain was busy with lots of other three peak challengers and only the top 300m of the mountain were in the cloud. Ideally teams need need to be up and down the Ben within 6 hrs to give plenty of time for Scafell and Snowdon . I hope the guys weren’t too delayed on their drive south by the Scottish Open at Loch Lomomd.

Dutch Invasion

Andy — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 20:36:13 +0000

Andy, Bill, Danny and Derek continued working with the Dutch army guys this week out of Kinlochleven. A much ‘greener’ week where the troops were dropped off at a number of sites by Spean Bridge/Roy Bridge area and given 3 days to make it back to Kinlochleven undetected with the attached mountaineering instructors keeping a watchful eye on the teams’ safety. Another superb few days on the West Coast has left the visitors with a great experience in unusual terrain and, more importantly, heading home with impressive sun tans (and maybe a few midge bites). Thanks to Danny for the photos.

Skye Scrambling

Andy — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 12:24:54 +0000

Where is everyone? I made a quick one day dash to Skye yesterday to guide Terry on her last Skye Munros. We made excellent progress from the Sligachan to the col between Am Basteir and Sgur nan Gillean and were yet again treated to clear summits all to ourselves. We only bumped into a few teams on the hills and the campsite site and pub were pretty empty. Surely everyone isn’t stuck inside glued to the football? Well done Terry – they’re in the bag now.

Fantastic West Coast Conditions

Andy — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 19:32:10 +0000

I’ve been based on the West Coast this week working with a large group from the Dutch Army who have come over to experience some proper mountains (the highest point in the Netherlands is only 322m above sea level). Focus Mountaineering has been hired in a consultancy role to ensure their plans are safe and then provide mountaineering instructors to look after them on the hill. With high pressure established, the troops have seen Lochaber at its best with walks around The Mamore Forest, Ben Nevis Summit and scrambles on the Ring of Steall and in Glencoe. Next week looks a bit more interesting for them…

West Coast Walking

Andy — Sat, 29 May 2010 11:09:16 +0000

I’ve spent the week on the West Coast working with a group from the Dutch Police for Mountainplan. The week started with an ascent of the Cobbler in the Arrochar Alps in glorious sunshine followed by Ben Nevis by the CMD arete, a day in Glen Nevis and finally a snowy ascent of Bidean nam Bian in Glencoe. With a low pressure system established over the UK for the latter part of the week, the group experienced all the Scottish mountain seasons in the week (sometime all in one day!) I’ve included some photos of Ben Nevis taken on Tuesday to show the remaining snow although there has been another dusting since.

Wet days on Skye

Andy — Sun, 23 May 2010 10:27:46 +0000

I was back on Skye at the end of last week in some pretty damp weather. On Wednesday I helped Allison complete her last Skye Munro of Am Basteir and then James joined me on Thursday and Friday with the aim of climbing the 8 Munros at the Southern end of the Cuillin Ridge which we easily achieved despite challenging conditions. Skye is undoubtedly home to the most challenging Munros with all involving different degrees of scrambling and rock climbing so its great to help such committed hillwalker achieve their goals.

Horns of Alligin

Andy — Sun, 16 May 2010 18:49:00 +0000

Laura and I headed over to Torridon today to complete a circuit of Beinn Alligin. This superb ridge outing has short sections of grade 2 scrambling and is a superb introduction to Torridon’s longer scrambles. We weren’t treated to the best weather with on/off showers throughout the day but there were still long enough breaks in the cloud to get good views.