First winter climb

On arriving in the Cairngormes it looked like winter was here to stay.  David and I walked into Coire an t-Sneachda to be greeted buy a very snowy crag.

David at the base of Aladdin's Couloir.

 We started on Aladdin's Couloir and the snow was prtty good.  Lean in a few spots but enough to get up.  This was my first winter experience so I was so excited to be on the snow.

Aladdin's Couloir

 The climbing was pretty easy and all the ice on the surrounding rock made it a pretty special place.

We arrived at the top and took time out to stand next to the awsome pinacle.

 

We then decended into the Corie and climbed Jacob's Ladder.  A grade 1 with a slightly trickyer finish.  By now the lower part of the climb was becoming slightly slushy however higher up the snow became more solid making for another great route.

A few days with Chris

Chris Dickinson invited me to stay with him for a few day in Spean Bridge.  So I hitched down to his then spent two days practicing security on steep gound techniques and night nav.  In return I spent a day working with Chris to lay new laminate flooring in his Glen Morriston house.



The Grey Corries

The last day, I left Chris and hitched down to the Nevis range car part to explore the Grey Corries.  I walked up under the cable car then up onto Aonach Mor then East along all of the Grey corries before being picked up at The Lairig by Chris.

Glen Shiel

I hitcheda lift with Stewart, a paramedic from Hull visiting Scotland on holliday.  As we still had daylight when we arived in Glen Shiel, we decided to climb Am Bathach.  There was a beautiful rainbow on the way up and we saw loads of rutting dear on the walk back dowen the glen to the car.

Rainbow above Stewart on Am Bathach

I camped in some trees next to Loch Cluanie then hitched down to Invershiel to start the 5 sisters ridge on the next day.

The five sister from Sgurr a'Bhealaich Dheirg

The day was incredible.  Beautiful skies and little wind in a magical place made the long walk along the ridge to the Clunie Inn worthwhile.

Campsite below Am Bathach

For the second day in Glen Shiel I decided to climb the south ridge.  This was equally long and the views across to Knoydart equally stunning.

Cluanie Forrest ridge on the south side of Glen Shiel.

Glen Coe

The next stop on my tour of Scottish hill walks was Glen coe.  I based my self in Glen Coe village and spent 4 days walking solo.

The river Coe guarded by the Pap of Glen Coe.

The first day, I hitched down the road to Ballachulish to walk the Beinn a'Bheithir horseshoe.  The ridge upto Sgorr Dhearg was spectacular and the scree decent into Gleann a Chaolais was great fun.

The Aonach Eagach ridge appearing out of the mist

Day two I was a little nervous to head to the Aonach Eagach rideg on my own however once on the ridge i relaxed and enjoyed the whole experience.  There was one other team that I met fairly ealry on.  The ridge appeared and dissappeared into the cloud throughout the day and I was amazied to see a Brocken spectre.

Brocken spectre on the Aonach Eagach ridge.

In the evening I got a call from the St Andrews Mountainearing Club saying that there were heading over for the weekend.  I met up with Byron and Natalie and had a great day on Buachaille Etive Mor.  We assended the "Chasem to Crowberry Ridge" traverse which was horible, loose and wet but the views from the summit were superb.

Jonny, Natalie and Byron on Stob Dearg.

The decent on Curved ridge was superb and the bash across the heather back to the car was soon forgotten aftre a couple in the Clachaig Inn.

Decending Curved Ridge.

Glen Nevis with Will

 Will and Stewart came up from Henley to join me for a few days in Glen Nevis.  We started by clibing the Ben, decending into Glen nevis for the night.  Luckyly we met 3 chaps heading to the hut at Steall so they invited us in for warmth and wine.

Up the motorway on the Ben.

A tired team heading to the hut in Glen Nevis.

The Ben Nevis day took it out of the boys so rather than heading over to Kinlochleven we decided to retreat down the Glen for a warm cup of tea and a shower.

The incredible Steal Waterfall

We spent the next day chilling in Fort William and as the rain lashed down and we hatched a plan for the final day.

For the final day we hopped on the "Harry Potter" train to get some classic Scottish views and then explore the hills in Arisaig.  We climbed a small hill overlooking the village with great views of the coastline and all it's beaches.

North wales with Giles

After a week of work in South Wales at woodlands OEC I headed up to N wales for a week of walking with Giles.

The grade 3 scramble onto Carnedd Filiast



We had a great day on the Glyders.  We took a great grade 3 scramble onto Carnedd Filiast, the furthest NW summet then headed SE along the ridge over Y Garn and Glyder Fach to decend befor Tryfan.

Decending Mynydd Du in the sun at the end of the day

We parked near Bethesda on the second day and walked round the Carnedd LLewelyn horseshoe battling with strong winds and little vis on the tops.

Battling the winds on Crib Goch, Snowdon.

On day 3 the weather took a turn for the worse so we decided that Crib Goch would give us enough of a challenge.  The side winds, sleppery rock and exposure gave for an exciting assent.  After a quick tea in the summit cafe we decended in the pooring rain via Y Lliwedd.

Classic Adam and Eve summit pose

With the wind increasing and rain intensifing we wanted a greater challenge for our final day.  The N ridge of Tryfan seemed ideal.  The wet rock and strong winds made the assent challenging but the summit even more satisfying.



Lake District

After lots and lots of sea kayaking with my ML assesment fast approachiong it was time to get out on the hill.  So i headed to rthe lakes with Dad's old saunders 1 man tent for a 4 day solo mission.

The first day was spent walking from Hird Wood to Poolybridge along the amazing high street ridge.  On Day two I hiked from Pooly Bridge to Grassmere via Helvelyn and Fairfield.  It was a huge day but the wonderfull views and swim in a river at the end made it all worth while.

By day 3,  I had done 2 long days so was knackers and planned moere than the weather and body allowed.  The walk up Great Langdale was aweome wiotha nice scramble up ontop the summit.  The weather then turned so I vias Northe then down he vally into Borrodale before hitching into Keswick to the campsite.

The final day was spent up Skidaw then looping round via an old YH and up onto the Blencathra ridge before running down into town to catch the train to N wales.