Ben Nevis 13th April 2010

As news came through of arrival of another grandaughter for Sally in San Francisco I took a wee run down to Glen Nevis. This was the view of the Ben and Carn Mor Dearg after recent warm days. Slightly cooler today and overnight frosts are leaving me hopeful of a route on Thursday with David Shortt. Ironically it is due to get much cooler again next week so winter on the Ben is probably not over yet.
Learning to fly like the Golden Eagles in Glen Nevis.....!!!

The birches shining in the spring sunshine in Glen Nevis.

Polldubh, Glen Nevis rock climbing 12 April 2010

A quiet Monday in perfect weather at Polldubh crags in Glen Nevis. These outcrops, set amongst majestic mountain scenery are a great place to climb, especially early season before the midges get going and the bracken grows thick. Chris in spring garb!!

Chris leads it out on the spectacular main pitch of Flying Dutchman on Pandora's butress.

James then nails the direct finish to the same route.

Chris working up to the overlap on SW Butress's Tear.

James rounds off the magnificent two pitch Pine Wall by a bold and direct finish on the final open slab.

A great day to kick off the rock climbing season.

Good to get out of the big winter boots!!

Ski Tour Cairn Lochan and Braeriach 11th April 2010

Fantastic weather, James and I headed across to the Cairngorms for a day ski touring.

0900 we left the Cairngorm ski area and headed into Lurcher's Gully.

We skinned up and over Cairn Lochan and then skied down Tailor's Burn from just below Macdui, Scotland's second highest summit into the Lairig Ghru, the famous pass that splits the high Cairngorms.

Magical skiing in Garbh Coire, the heart of the wild Cairngorms. Angel's Peak on left.

Then we skinned up Braeriach past the lip of Coire Bhrochain and on up the west arete

Finally making it up to the corniced rim of the corrie in supoer warm temperatures....

....and working round the rim to the summit......

And finally approaching the top of Braeriach.

Then we set off west and skied down and round the northern corries of Braeriach, covering terrain few people walk or ski over, but that dominates the skyline from Speyside....


Then finally cross country into the Lairig Ghru, close to where the old Sinclair Hut used to be....and then a weary pull up and over the Chalamain Gap and over the moors to the Cairngorm ski car park, still brimming with people and cars. Great tour of 23kms with 1150m of climb done in just over 7 hours.

Memorable. Probably the last real big day this winter?

Zero Gully, 5, Ben Nevis, 10th April 2010

James came up from Dalbeattie to climb and ski.

Set out around 5am from dam, we had a key for the Ben road, on a stellar day.

Had not really been a frost overnight so we knew things would be soft.

Decided to go for Zero Gully which looked complete, whereas Orion Direct looked a bit patchy low down. Here James follows me up the first long pitch, a groove with some very soft snow on the steep section. Somewhat thought provoking.

Leaving the first stance we werte at least on ice, albeit wet ice.

Great views across to Tower Ridge from the upper part of Zero Gully.

Looking down the upper gully towards the CIC hut.

Great snow cover on the summit areas of Ben Nevis as we set off down the Red Burn route.

Finishing with wonderful views in all directions, here across Loch Linnhe

River Ailort, 6th April 2010

Second wet day, lots of rain and went to River Ailort for first time to check it out.

The view is of the classic wee lochan with the wooded isle that you see from the road.

A couple of steep rapids lead from Loch Eilt to the small loch below, grade 3+ and 3.........

Some nice eddies and a few small playwaves............

The largest rapid is solid grade 3 with some interesting holes at high water......

River Roy, Jen Hartnett, 5th April 2010

Spean gauge rose from 1 at 0830 in the morning to 5 by 1430. Big melt day. Took Jen to Roy and we put in right below the second siphon to run the lower half of the gorge, the lower run, below the gorge and finally the Middle Spean back to the house in Spean. Nice day. Gave JKen responsibility for finding her own way down the lower Roy which she accomplished very well including railway bridge rapid.

There are a a lot of new trees in the Roy. This one for example lies right across the river and in lower water will be an issue.

River Etive, Jen Hartnett 4th April 2010

Another cool day, snow just beginning to melt from the hills and river levels creeping up.

We went to the Etive to run the waterfall section. Planned to coach Jen over some of the easier drops. She managed two, one with a swim and one with a roll and then got a little spooked by all the freefall and we decided to call it a day.

Ski jump falls........ boofomatic!


Here Chris demonstrating the real boof on Block Falls

Jen looking enthusiastic off the river!!

Spean Gorge, Jen Hartnett 3rd April 2010

Coaching up Jen's river running skills. Here she is approaching the last drop on the Gorge.

Meall nan Coireann ski tour solo, 2nd April 2010

After the recent blizzards, 2nd dawned fine and sunny. Set off at midday above Blarmacfoldach to ski up and down Meall nan Coireann. The NE winds had loaded the SW slopes so everything on the hill was opposite way round to normal.

Lovely views to south flanks of Ben Nevis

A 1 hour hike up to the snow.......................

and then lunch and on with the skis and skins..........

Skinning up with me and my shadow.........................

Nice views south to Loch Linnhe and the Ballachulish Horseshoe............

The Mamores seen from the summit..............

The west flank of Nevis and a distant view of Loch Lochy.............

Skis off at the summit ready to de-skin and start the downhill. Made it up and back to the car in 3 and a half hours at a leisurely pace. Did not see a soul. Pretty good for a bank holiday...yo!!!

River Meig - 3 Star and gorge descent 29 March 2010

Took Ewen Pryde to Upper Meig to complete a 3 Star Assessment. Nice little section of river that I had not done before with some great pieces for training and one good class 3 rapid.
Afterwards, guided Ewen through Meig gorge. He looked a little daunted at first and we portaged him around a couple of the key drops in the early part. There were also a couple of drops that were jammed with wood, that needs clearing out. The heavy winter has caused a lot of trees in the area to break or fall.


A degree of ingenuity was required to portage him around the tea cup falls! He clambered down the slabs on river right and I threw the boat and paddle off the cliff on river left on the end of a throwline and then manouvred them towards him. It worked!



A nice trip through Meig gorge, it never disappoints, and the flow was a little more than minimum which gave some of the drops a little bite!

St Andrew's Uni - Beginners weekend 27/28 March 2010

Second St Andrews University weekend for beginner river paddlers. Two members had not been on a river before and some had made it down the North Esk gorge so there was a fair spread of experience. Used Middle Spean first day and trained everyone on control and effective paddling. Everyone had a go at boofing the main ledge drop. 2 swimmers. On Sunday we went to the River Arkaig (Loch Arkaig put in above) and the river was actually a pretty good flow. 5 of the group of 7 wanted to try and run the class 4 rapid. We spent a lot of time setting things up, inspecting, putting communication links in place. All five swam, one having made it down on a small wave below!! Lots of gear and people catching practice!! Then we ran the drops on left side of the island before continuing to the finishing rapids. An excellent day.