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.

Lillehammer, Norway, XC Skiing 16-23 March 2010

Organized a group from Argyll Mountaineering Club to Sjusjoen above Lillehammer.

Rented a beautiful cabin seen here with Sally and John Ferrie.

Dougie, John, Morna and Sally working on their uphill track skiing.

During our stay the Birkebeiner 54km race was held. The racers travel from Rena across the mountains via Sjusjoen to Lillehammer, some 16,000 of them!

The wonderful terrain around Sjusjoen.

A sunny lunch spot.

John.

Hazel.

Chris at the Birkebeiner finish line, day after the race!

Cruising along on perfect snow, day after a powder storm!!

Cabins buried on the Saeters.

St Andrew's Uni - River Spean Gorge 14 March 2010

Second day with St Andrew's University crew. Spean had come up to just above 1.5 on gauge and so we set off into the Spean Gorge to work on personal skills and then gorge river running skills. Great to get a decent level.

James runs Headbanger with Emily on safety duty.

Sarah stroking confidently into Headbanger.

Hugh approaching the awkward corner above the cauldron.

Hugh heading for the boof on the right side of The Constriction.

Laura showing good style approaching the same drop. Neither she or Hugh made it through though.

Gotta get some leverage on the last stroke to make the boof!!

A good weekend all round.

St Andrew's Uni - River Roy 13 March 2010

Paddling on the Uper Roy with St. Andrews University Canoe Club. Was running an intermediate coaching course for the Club with Hugh, Laura, James (above), Sarah, Patrick, Emily and Melissa. Finished our training day by running the first half dozen rapids of the gorge section, takinbg out river right before Achavady and the siphon at Headbanger.

Sarah enjoying a clean run down the lower half of the gorge entry rapid.

Melissa dropping through the hole on the second last rapid.

Glovers Chimney Ben Nevis 12th March 2010

Headed up to climb Glover's Chimney on Ben Nevis with Caroline Phillips from the village.

Here Caroline leads the first ice pitch. I led the final chimney which is quite tricky at times although the rock protection is good. Hardest move of the climb was the exit from the Tower Gap. Tower Ridge was plastered in snow.

Silvery sea on Loch Linnhe as we head down the Red Burn.

Ski tour on Grey Corries 10th March 2010

Headed out for a solo ski tour, main objective being to climb Stob Ban 972m behind the Grey Corries. Hiked in via Lairig Leacach bothy and then skinned up to the summit.

From there skied down the south flank and round into the bottom of the corrie to the north and climbed from there on skis all the way to the summit of Stob Coire na Ceannain. The last few metres had to carry the skis as it was both steep and icy.


Nice views of the arete from Ceannan to Claurigh.

Finished the day by descending the arete, dropping slightly into the basin on the right side of the arete and skiing all the way back top the Leachach trackway through Coire na Ceannan.

Both peaks and corries were new for me. Both corries are rarely visited.

A splendid ski tour, but I was a wee bit out of shape in the legs for this and suffered a few bouts of cramp en route to the second peak! Needed a long cold beer and a hot tub when I got home!

Skiing Aonach Mor 8th March 2010

Beautiful weather tempted us up onto the Aonach Mor ski area. There was a good cover on the top half of the field, although it was bobbly in places where the groomers had chewed up frozen snow. Sally gave it half a day and I stayed for the duration.

The best snow was on the rim of the West Face seen here. Also skied down Winger and into the back corrie. Nid Wall was the hardest run I did as it was icy and lumpy. There was an unusually large cover on the slope east of Snowgoose which meant that there was an excellent run right from the summit straight down the hill to the top of the high traverse.

Bonaire, Dutch Antilles 20 Feb to 6 March 2010

On way back from Ecuador spent two weeks in Bonaire, Dutch Antilles.

Signed up with Wannadive for a PADI open water course in first week.

Based at Eden Beach, using pool and the sea. Course included 4 open water dives.

Lizards and iguanas abound!

Bonaire is pleasant and warm!!

Nice restaurants, like this Argentine steak house, but self catered mostly.

Made a couple of boat dives on Klein Bonaire, a smaller uninhabited island ringed by coral reefs.

The diving was excellent, good viz and great coral formations.

Plenty of fish, like this parrot fish, and also saw rays, a turtle, squid, lobster and so on!!

Snorkelled at various places in between dives.

Bonaire has around 100 dive sites, many of which can be accessed from the shore and the whole coast is a marine reserve

Large cruise shjips visit from time to time.

Aboard the Wannadive boat.

Driving into the National Park on North end of Bonaire, a wild place!

Did about 12 open water dives whilst on the island.