Sunny Ardnamurchan

Finally got round to putting up some pics of climbing last weekend. Davey, Heather and I went to the ring crags on the Ardnamurchan peninsula. This old volcanic ring gives crags with some superb climbing on gabbro with views out to Rhum, Eigg and Skye. It was hot and hazy all day as I led a couple of routes to remind the guys about belay building and placing/removing gear. I then watched from nearby as they led their first climb An Toiseach, a 2 pitch Vdiff. After that as they packed up I nipped up Greta Gabbro a single pitch VS slab which my wife Jane insisted on seconding - padding up in her socks despite being 6 months pregnant (dont complain to me - I just do as I'm told)!

The Buachaille

Today Jamie B, Lorenzo and I went to Buachaille Etive Mor. Jamie ran the first 2 pitches of his 'desert island climb' January Jigsaw together and then Lorenzo did the same with the top two pitches. We abseiled down and moved across to North Butress where I led the excellent first pitch of Crows Nest Crack and then Jamie led us up Hangmans Crack. We saw other climbers on shackle Route and Royal Flush as well as Curved Ridge, all enjoying dry rock and a fine May day.

SPA Assessment

Friday evening, saturday and snday I was drectibg an SPA Assessment based at the Ice Factor. Despite a dire weather forecast we didnt actually experience any rain until mid sunday afternoon. Well done to Tom, Martyn, Will and Helene who all passed. We spent Saturday at Kingussie Crag and Sunday in Glen Nevis, both venues showing the scars from inconsiderate and wholly inappropriate dry tooling this winter :-(

Glencoe 29 April

Today Ron and I went for a good long mountaineering day in Glencoe. We started with the Lower Bow (a little damp) and Quiver Rib (must be one of the most exposed Diffs in the UK) on the East face of Aonach Dubh in warm dry weather. We continued up to Stob Coire nan Lochain which still had a great deal of snow in the gullys (see pic below) - bumping into Ron and Fiona from Talisman Mountaineering on the way. Dropping to the col towards Bidean nam Bian we met a couple who had definitely not expected the late winter conditions and were searching for a route down avoiding steep snow slopes. We popped up Bidean (where the weather finally broke, hail on top then light showers for the rest of the day) and then back down to the col. We finished with a long slide down into the Lost Valley and a pleasant walk out through the gorge which is deep in blooming anenomes.

Spring conditions on Curved Ridge

Today we went to the Buachaille for Curved Ridge on the back of quite a wet forecast. There had been a light fresh dusting of snow above 900m but the day was mostly quite dry with just a couple of light showers (of snow on the summit). Although the ridges are damp and clear of snow the gully lines still have a good depth of snow (the bottom step to enter Crowberry Gully is complete as is Easy gully after its first step and the basin around Crowberry tower is still full) although in places it is undercut by running water. Looking across to Stob Coire nan Lochain Broad, Boomerang, NC and Forked Gullys all looked full (photo below). We came down the headwall of Coire na Tullaich on deep soft damp snow and were glad of an axe for support (but we didnt need crampons).

Back to work

Tuesday I was working for Crieff Hydro doing some staff training for the team there. On Wednesday and Thursday I was working for Transition Extreme climbing wall in Aberdeen Course Directing a Climbing Wall Award Training course for the staff there. This newest of NGB awards is mostly based around supervison of groups at climbing walls (of all types and sizes) and contains a strong element of teaching movement. The course at Transition was only the second to run in Scotland but I expect it to be a very popular award. After getting back to the West I had a busy couple of days catching up on e-mails, prepping for a series of SPA trainings and Assessments and 2 more Climbing Wall Award trainings over the next month. Today I spent relaxing and soloing in Glen Nevis where I met some of the trainees from Abernethy Trust in Ardgour who I shared a climb with in the sun. Tomorrow its back to the mountains for 2 days mountaineering.

Upcoming NGB courses:

2-4 May SPA Assessment based at The Ice Factor

6,7,13,14 May (evenings) CWA Training at The Ice Factor

26,27 May SPA Training in Glasgow

28,29 CWA Training in Glasgow

If you are interested in a course drop me an e-mail.

Greenland part 2

A second batch of Greenland pics.