Ben Report

Not from me unfortunately.... I'm still trying to rest my ankle and what the cynics out there have described for 2 weeks as my 'man-flu' was today given the title of 'deep chest infection' and blasted with a cocktail of antibiotics!
Rich and Brian did North Gully today on Ben Nevis (thanks for the pics Rich). Conditions were reported as warm ('the only freezing in evidence was on my car this morning') all the way up. Whilst there was a deal of ice in evidence there was a general thaw and wet soggy snow/cruddy 'snice' in Coire na Ciste.
Nice forecast for tomorrow and I'm working the weekend....... not sure I can be well behaved and resist another day out........
If you haven't seen them Patrick Roman's articles on his soloing on UKC (article 1 and article 2) are well worth a read. They have generated debate and comments ranging from 'inspiring' to 'stupid'. I love soloing. I find climbing focuses me in the moment and helps me view the rest of my life in perspective afterwards. Soloing is even more absorbing than most climbing, demanding a greater focus and self-awareness and therefore carries me further from my regular spheres of thought. Some people have described this aspect of climbing as juvenile and an extreme form of escapism. For me I always plan to come back to the 'regular' world I just find that up there lets me view my priorities more clearly.
'Above 3000ft there are no worldly cares' Tom Wier
Read Patrick's articles and see what you think.

Navigation Assessment for Lochaber College

Today was a navigation assessment for First Year students on UHI Lochaber College's BA Adventure Tourism Management course. The syllabus approximates the NNAS Bronze Award standard and we started in Fort William with the town map looking at basic principles before moving up onto more conventional hill walking maps on Cow Hill. Another damp, cold day- not too showery. Whilst the S and W side of Ben Nevis have had a good deal of snow stripped glimpses in Coire Leis still look very white.

For anyone who hasn't seen it SAIS have published an advance look at their new format for this winter- comments welcome to them. Personllay I welcome it, it seems a lot more intuitive to me.

Another note of interest raising discussion on UKC is this BBC News Item on Cairngorm Mountain and possible car park charges.

Navigation training for UHI Students

Today Bill and I were wroking with second year students from UHI Lochaber College's BA Adventure Torism Management course. All of the students we had today had already completed a Mountain Leader (Summer) training course so today was an opportunity to refresh and practise skills and ask questions of us. We stayed local to Fort William and after a very short classroom session got out onto the hill looking particularily at map orientation, contour interpretation, estimation of distance using pacing and timing, reduction of errors, determining the orientation of line features and the use of slope aspect. We also framed our navigation strategy with the '6 Ds' (ask me some time when you see me :-) to give the students a coherent way of looking at every leg. The weather was kind- cool and still in the morning with cold rain coming in after 3pm, pretty much as forecast.

Back home....

...after a spell on the road ended yesterday in Perth with a D of E Assessors course. This time of year sometimes feels like endless courses, meetings and seminars about doing things, rather than doing things!
Weather in Lochaber looks grim today and I see from the interweb that there were a number of avalanches in Sneachda yesterday- fortunately it seems no-one was badly hurt. There is a lot of snow up there (East and West) and the thaw conditions will not make it more stable initially so be careful where you go.
The ankle I sprained on 22nd August still hasn't fully recovered so to avoid a winter of limping I'm going to have to bite the bullet and rest it for a bit... if I can find the time. So other than a couple of days nav training next week and a day's mountaineering work at the weekend I'm going to stay off the hills for a bit. This sucks but that's the way it goes so forgive me if I'm not praying for more great conditions pre Christmas!
Back to my pile of booking forms, invoices, receipts, Expedition Grant Applications, e-mails.... don't we all love the paperwork that comes with our lives? I think I feel a session on the DT Wall coming on!

A bit of training

Today I was at Glenmore Lodge doing some staff training prior to a big block of work based there this winter. Neil, Derek, Kev, Dave and I joined George Mac for a lengthy review of paperwork and procedures and a wander into Coire an t Sneachda. Unfortunately we were looking at some teaching issues rather than climbing but there were plenty of teams out 'hoovering' their way up the well plastered crags. Teams were in evidence on The Message and a line just to the right, Hidden Chimney and its Direct Start, Jacob's Right Edge, one of the domestic staff from the Lodge soloed the Haston Line (crawl and back-stroke employed there was so much snow). Teams were on one of the ribs between the trident gullys, Fingers Ridge and over on Ficaill Buttress a team may have started up Belhaven but finished further right (Invernookie). One thing they all had in common was a lot of digging! Mention should also be made of Millie the SARDA dog, the final member of our team who proved excellent at destroying bucket seats and buried axe belays.

Short day on the Cairngorms

Travelled up to Glenmore Lodge today and had a free afternoon. I headed into Sneachda in poor visibility and although it was snowing hard (little wind) it felt quite mild. I alternately swam and tooled my way up the Twin Ribs and as I came down the footprints I had made on the walk in had filled almost completely. A team did do Wavelength today reporting the freezing level as probably near 1000m. There is plenty of snow around that is for certain and colder weather might improve consolidation of routes that have been subject to this thaw.
I'll be wandering around the Norries again tomorrow and hopefully have the camera out to give you some pre-weekend pics.

CWALA Seminar

Today I was at EICA in Ratho for the third MLT seminar to induct providers of the new Climbing Wall Award Leading Award. This will go live early next year and will be accessible to both CWA and SPA holders who are 'climbing wall current' and will be capable of leading a minimum standard of Fr6a. We looked at who the award is for, the minimum pre-requirements and the syllabus content. In the afternoon we spent more time looking at practical tools for training people to instruct lead climbers. There were some good discussions hosted by Allen Fyffe, Steve Long and Jon Garside. A useful day at a very impressive facility.