A contrast from the weather yesterday mountaineering on Stob Ban today. With blue skies and fresh snow down to sea level. It was going to be a good day. We got to the start of the ridge in the sun and the guys lead themselves up on the dry rock and powder. A handful of short pitches later we were crossing the barrow end of the ridge back in the sun. #winter #glennevis #stobban

Today i was with Hazel and her family in Glen Nevis rock climbing and with an abseil. With a dry forecast we set off up the broad mountaineering ridge in Glen Nevis. We covered lots of different areas and covered lots of ground climbing over some tricky sections and some easy. With the drizzle starting it was perfect time to set up an abseil to finish the morning. A good effort all round. #glennevis #rockimbing

Plan A today was Ledge route on Ben Nevis but with 60mph winds forecast and rain all day we went for Plan B. Which was mountaineering in Glen Nevis with an abseil and then a trip into Steall waterfalls and across the wire bridge. It was definitely wet today. #glennevis

Even though Storm Ali was blowing the Highlands offers spectacular walks at low level. 1st myself and Tanya made our way up into the Lost Valley in Glen Coe. With the gorge and every other river raging it was pretty full on. We couldn’t cross the river half way up but Tanya was keen for an adventure so we picked our way through the boulders and trees on the west side. Still with some energy to spare we went to see how big the 2nd highest waterfall in the UK was, Steall

Today i was on Ben Nevis going up the Mountain Path to the summit on our open group walk. With a very cloudy start it turned out to be a bit of a dreich day. With very close cloud and mist that turned into drizzle and rain and back to mist again, we made the summit in a solid 4 hours. #bennevis #Mountainpath #Walking #Glennevis

This afternoon in was in Glen Nevis on an intro to climbing session. With the sun scortching on the rock the Cassidy family made good progress up Scimitar ridge. After a quick dunk in the stream we finished with an abseil on SW crag. #glennevis #Climbing #Abseil

Today we were in Glen Nevis climbing with Finin and her family for their last day in Scotland. We started off on Scimitar ridge on the guys 1st outing on rock before moving over to the Alp where Casper put up a long pitch of climbing on the classic route the Gutter and i had an abseil going. We then finished off with 2 harder climbs on SW buttress to challenge the guys and teach them belaying. All by lunch time. The rock was mostly dry, but with no wind the midges had th

This morning i was with Iain and Claire and their clan for a half day intro to rock climbing in Glen Nevis. Spring is here and the rock was dry and grippy today.  We started the morning with moving over the rocky Scimitar ridge taking in as much rock as possible, gaining confidence. With the team doing well we moved over to the steeper crags for an abseil and a short steep climb to finish the morning. Going strong Mum mid move #Rockclimbing #Glennevis #Fortwilliam

Today i was on the east ridge of Stob Ban in Glen Nevis for Abacus Mountain Guides. A lot of fresh snow had fallen over the last 48hours, which made for knee deep on the approach and waist deep coming down the north ridge.  Hot in the sun it felt very spring like with the weather and full on winter conditions on the ridge. I was out with Finlay, 14.5 years old for his 1st winter climb and Alpine Guide aspirant and what a day for it. We did 2 pitches to start and then moved to

Amazing conditions on the climbing ridge on Stob Ban, Glen Nevis at the moment. Hard snow slopes and solid snow ridges with dry rock and good gear made for a very alpine feel. Ben and Danny progressed from yesterday with Ben leading the ridge and improving his gear and belay building and Danny ironed out his seconding skills.  7 pitches in total and good milage for the guys. #stobban #Glennevis #Winter #Fortwilliam

Very cold on a winter skills day today with Blarney walking group from Ireland for West Coast Mountain Guides. With another easterly wind hitting the country it was bitter from the start and with very strong gusts as we made our way up to the col. The snow is rock hard at the moment so we had crampons on for most of the day.  There were a few pockets of windslab building as well. New temporary fence at lower falls for the up coming film shoot. Good view for crampon practice #

Day 2 of winter skills for Steve Fallon and this time a very different day on Stob Ban, Glen Nevis. With high temperatures and a sunny forecast made for a good contrast to  yesterdays blizzard. The snow was very soft and melting all the way to the summit and it was so hot in the sun above an amazing cloud inversion we were on the summit in base layers, with little need for crampons. Still lots of snow around and there should be some good consolidation happening with the decre

Winter Skills on Stob Ban, Glen Nevis today for Lochaber Guides.  Nigel was keen to get stuck into the hills after a week of Skiing. With supper cold temperatures and rock hard snow we made our way up towards Stob Ban where we quickly had to put crampons on for the rest of the day. We were prorected from the strong easterly wind in the glen and managed to summit as well as walk,  in a westerly direction, to the next munro of Mullach nan Coirean. There was snow falling most of

Stunner of a day on the mountain track on Ben Nevis with Andrew and his friends who were raising money for charity. Rock hard ice from half way up, amazing views and the guys definitely had to push themselves hard to get to the top and back. #bennevis #Mountain #Munro #Glennevis #Fortwilliam

Stob Ban in Glen Nevis was a good choice today for Sam and Douglas who picked up the basic skills quickly, which meant we could progress on to slightly more technical ground on the north ridge. The snow was rock hard all day so the guys got good milage on varying slope angles in crampons as well as on the north ridge in descent which is very Alpine at the moment. Great views and very good snow cover. All tucked in for self arest The summit view Stob Ban Descending north ridge

Day 2 of our winter skills and Ben Nevis course. With reports of very unstable snow in the Red burn at the half way point i made the decision to take it out of the equation by taking the more direct old runners route up to the zig  zags. This paid off with little snow on the slope and made for a steep but easy and safe walk up and down. Everyone else on the hill followed the path and then turned around at half way, which was also good decision making, only one other guided pa

Today I was helping deliver an avalanche awareness day to Wessex mountaineering club for West Coast Mountain Guides. Casper and myself based the day around the Be Avalanche Aware format and started the day in the pub introducing this model and starting the planning stage by looking at the avalanche and weather forecasts. We then went for a walk in the snow towards the summit of Stob Ban, Glen Nevis to confirm our plan for a safe route by gathering information and to look at t

The east ridge of the north top of Stob Ban was the route of choice for today for West Coast Mountain Guides, with strong SW winds it was quite sheltered. Getting to the ridge is still tricky with swolen rivers and a wet snow pack. The ridge itself was mostly black on the buttresses with snow on the aretes. The guys led themselves up the 1st 3 pitches and changed the rope technique to moving together. #Stobban #Glennevis #Mountaineering #Winter #Climbing #Fortwilliam

With the weather in our favour Matthew and myself headed up the Gutter in Glen Nevis this morning, a classic ‘V Diff’ that he had seen earlier in the summer. Being Matthews 1st multi-pitch and seconding he did well at the climbing and learing how to take gear out, belay a leader and climbing terminology, all in big boots. #GlenNevis #RockClimbing #Mulipitch #Learntoclimb