Summer 2006 Reports

14th October 2006

Yesterday and today were brilliant Autumn days with warm sunshine and cold nights. The drop in overnight temperature has really helped the colours to change and Owen, Donald and I had a great afternoon bouldering in Glen Nevis surrounded by firery reds and browns.

8th October 2006

It dried out quickly this morning and stayed dry all day but the rocks were very wet still from yesterday. Richard and I headed for Rannoch Wall on Buachaille Etive Mor, a fine climb and perfectly possible in the wet. It was quitre pleasant by the time we reached the top but with it being quite slippy lower down we only had time for the one climb. Still, not bad as your second full day of climbing!

7th October 2006

This morning was dry for about an hour before the rain started and carried on with some strength through the afternoon! Richard and I were not put off though and we had an excellent introduction to climbing. We bottom roped a short crack to sort out how to tie in and belay, climbed Three Pines (S) on Repton's Buttress, The Gutter on Pine Wall with Richard placing his own anchors and setting up belays, Tear (HS) on a top rope but with Richard also placing his own gear and Pinnacle Ridge to finish!

23rd September 2006

A dry day on Skye after a very wet and wild week. A nice way to climb the Inaccessible Pinacle is to go into Coire Laggan first to experience the full grandeur of the coire. A short scree slope leads to the base of An Stac which provides a lovely scramble on the crest of the ridge and a good warm up for the main event. This way you arrive at the foot of the East Ridge (the long side) of the Inaccessible Pinacle. Climbing it is then a continuation of the route and the superb highlight of the day. An airy path then leads down the ridge directly back to the camp site. This is what we did today with a team from Wilderness Scotland who provide a huge range of adventures all over Scotland.

17th September 2006

My summer in the Alps was a game of two halves! The first very dry and hot, the second pretty wet and cold. Just as we had some wet and wild weather back home at the start of August, there was fresh snowfall down to 1800m above Chamonix and some terrible conditions. The rest of August was quite unsettled and cold with teams turning back from Mont Blanc saying it was too cold to carry on. However, we had enough good weather in between to do some great climbing. As soon as September arrived it dries out and the temperature rose, for a while anyway! Read the full trip reports here.

14th August 2006

The first couple of weeks of August have seen the temperature drop off a bit and unsettled weather has brought some dampness. There have been good days in between and if you are able to head out with short notice you will have got some good climbing done. Eric and Jenny did just that today with an ascent of Agag's Groove on Buachaille Etive Mor. Dry rock, great weather and exposure that defines the concept! Brilliant!

5th August 2006

July was a fantastic month for the weather - hot sunshine and no rain for the majority of the month. The first weekend was breezy and dry so perfect for a relatively stationary course looking at self rescue in rock climbing. With a team from the Lomond MC we used Onich Crag and Glen Nevis to cover everything from abseiling past a knot and prussicing to escaping from the system and rescuing a stuck leader. Donald has been out climbing and enjoyed a day on Raven's Edge (VS) on Buachaille Etive Mor which he said was brilliant and very exposed. He also escorted a hen party over Bidean nam Bian from the Lost Valley! Meanwhile the weather in the Alps was also very settled with hot sunshine and afternoon thunder storms. We completed the Haute Route, Mont Blanc (twice), Gran Paradiso and La Tresenta and did the Italian High Level Route in three days. Click here for the full report.

26th June 2006

A dry day today after a brilliant sunny day yesterday. Cliff and I went to Buachaille Etive Mor to climb January Jigsaw, one of the best grade Severe climbs in the country. Nobody else was on it and only one other team was climbing on the crag with two teams scrambling up Curved Ridge. There are few other places in the country that can give such great climbing on perfect rock in as good a situation. The rock was dry apart from a couple of tiny weeps in some cracks. It will take a few more days of dry weather to really dry out the crags after last week's rain.

24th June 2006

Today we helped 180 people walk up Ben Nevis raising money for the British Heart Foundation. It was part of their Britains Biggest Mountain Challenge, climbing the three peaks in 48 hours. Apart from a brief period of snowfall on the summit the weather was cool and mostly dry, perfect for the ascent. We estimated about 1000 people walked up today in everything from two and a quarter hours to nine hours! Last week was pretty miserable weather with strong winds and lots of rain but we now have high pressure building so there is a good chance of more stable, dry weather next week.

30th May 2006

The last couple of weeks have given us pretty unsettled and cold weather with very little chance to get out onto the rock. Frequent snowfall on the tops down to 600m, heavy rain and strong winds have postponed the summer for a while. Apart from the first week, May has been very disapointing with no sign of the stable warm and dry period we often enjoy. Certainly the Skye Ridge has not seen many complete traverses so far. Today though was a great day with warm sunshine and a midge beating breeze, even if it was bitterly cold on the tops. The rock in Glen Nevis was dry and quite a few people were out enjoying the climbs. Ben Nevis still has some patches of snow on the upper slopes and getting to some of the big climbs and ridges will involve crossing some snow for a while yet.

15th May 2006

The Scottish winter season wound up with fresh snowfall and great ice climbing right into May. However, all good things must come to an end and the temperature has now risen substantially with a week of great weather (sunshine, shorts and T-shirts) and the snow is receding fast. Walking up Ben Nevis by the Mountain Track you will cross a few patches of snow on the plateau above 4000' but nothing of any consequence. There is still snow in the major gullies of course and if you wanted to try out some steep spring skiing, now is the best time to go for. The scrambling is great just now and Donald, Alan and Kenny completed all the four classic ridges on Ben Nevis in a day last week going up NE Buttress, down Tower Ridge, up Observatory Ridge, down South Castle Gully and up Castle Ridge to finish.

The crags are drying out well - Glen Nevis, Ardnamurchan, Creag Dubh, Ardverikie are all great early season venues. Donald, Mike and Nick had an entertaining day on the Etive Slabs starting up Agony before (due to wet seeps out of the corner) heading up Swastika including the steep top pitches. The slabs do take a little while longer to dry out fully but the open slab climbs (Long Reach for example) are great. There are one or two patches of snow around the crags in Glen Coe but Mike and Cliff had a good day climbing Agag's Groove on Buachaille Etive Mor.

I spent the last two weeks ski touring in Italy and Switzerland completing a circuit of Gran Paradiso before being frustrated by 60cm of fresh snow in the Valais area down to 1500m! This is a good fall of snow quite late on in the season and will set up the conditions well for the Alpine summer season. We still have availability for Alpine guiding at the end of August and September and to see a report of our ski trip click on the pictures above.