To get straight to the point, I’m back from Glenmore Lodge (as I posted on Facebook last night) ‘relieved beyond measure to be home with a WML pass when I thought I’d maybe blown it!’ (more…)
19 February 2011
6 February 2011
Final WML preparations?
Yesterday I was out with Kenny Grant on breezy, icy Cairngorm ground to go through as much of the WML syllabus as we could. (more…)
29 January 2011
Glen Coe gully fest
Needing to head high for something suitably snowy to do with lack of the white stuff ruling out a half-planned Torridon weekend, some Friday-night consideration of a Nevis easy gully fest with further WML practice soon gave way to thoughts of a similar excursion up Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire nan Lochan. (more…)
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23 January 2011
Hills worth getting back to
Trying just to knock up a quick (?) weekend report to accompany some photos here, so afraid what you see is what you get… (more…)
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9 January 2011
Lurcher’s Crag and Kahtoola KTS Steel review
Sometimes when you want to go climbing and most of your traditional playgrounds are laden with unstable snow, it pays to think outside the box. Which is why (attracted by the prospect of carefree ice climbing on a sunny west face) Jamie B, Jay, Isi, Lorraine and I headed east on Friday to Lurcher’s Crag at the northern end of the Lairig Ghru. (more…)
5 January 2011
Knee-deep on Beinn a’ Chaorainn
Thought the East Ridge of Beinn a’ Chaorainn (a ‘fine 300m Grade II scramble’) looked like a good choice for today with fresh snow loading things up and any gullies that might have attracted me for a solo mountaineering day likely avalanche traps, but really can’t remember when I last found so much deep snow on a ridge! (more…)
4 January 2011
‘Working’ with the pros
Had a great day yesterday with Abacus Mountaineering shadowing Mike Pescod and Kenny Grant teaching winter skills to a Warwick University group on Cairn Gorm. Impressed by how much the guys managed to cover at a pace that stayed geared towards relaxed practice (seeing good retention here), and grateful to both instructors and students (some great smiles coming off the hill!) for letting me tag along. Still plenty to keep practising myself for February’s WML assessment, but it’s been both helpful and inspiring to see these guys at work and I’ve booked Kenny for a day to go through all my skills just before the assessment.
To the Warwick party we worked with (sending you some thoughts by telepathy?), I’d say Mike and Kenny have given you a great start there, so enjoy the rest of your week, keep practising and applying the skills, and stay safe! :-)
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6 December 2010
First route of the season…
And (despite others having been out with the axes and crampons for weeks now) it’s early for me! Yesterday I climbed the splendid Raeburn’s Route (IV,4) on Stob Coire nan Lochan with Johnny MacLeod, thus completing the classic trilogy of the venue (the others being Twisting Gully and SC Gully, which I did in January and February this year). (more…)
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28 November 2010
Hidden gem of the other Garbh Bheinn
Talk about Garbh Bheinn in this area and most climbers will think of the great Ardgour rock peak despite there being another fine Corbett of that name sitting right above the village and blocking out the light! And that’s where I ran this afternoon after (wisely, from the reports coming in of folk getting stuck left, right and centre) shelving plans to go hill running elsewhere. (more…)
16 October 2010
Tour of Tractorland
Just back from a wee trip east with Jamie B, with some contrasting climbing at Dunkeld and Ley Quarry sandwiching an ascent of eastmost Munro Mount Keen… (more…)
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