Cancer Research UK

Congratulations to John, Daniel, Katie, David, Tracy, Jason, Tina, Colin, Peter, Andy, Susan, Karen and Chris.

Today I was working with the Cancer Research UK team at the end of their 3 Peaks Challenge. They had difficult weather on Snowdon (the train wasn't running and the cafe was closed), they had attrocious weather in England, and then today - it got worse! The weather forecast was for perhaps gusts of up to 80 mph and prolonged driving rain.

But as it turned out the weather wasn't as bad as expected on the lower half of Ben Nevis. So we quickly made it to the upper half.

On the upper slopes there was the rain and cold but where was that wind?

So we made it quite happily(!) to the summit - well done to everybody...

After the last 3 days of hard effort they hope to raise up to £5000!

A couple of lads had carried an ironing board up the Ben today and ironed a jacket on the summit!

The ironing board on it's journey down.Back in the Ben Nevis Inn they celebrated completing the 3 Peaks Challenge and more importantly raising all that money for Cancer Research UK...

A Day On Ben Nevis

Robinwood Staff on Ledge route today

The Robinwood Activity Centres Staff team had a great day on Ben Nevis today. They split up and did the CMD Arete, Tower Ridge with Tony Halliwell and Ledge Route with me. The weather was great, it was cloudy on the Ben, but the UV got through the cloud to give us a good glow (burn) by the end of the day.

As usual on Ben Nevis the scenery was stunning, and the rock perfect (nearly). I found it great to be out with a croud of like minded outdoor instructors.

The team enjoyed some nav from the top of the route, up to the summit of Ben Nevis. Unfortunately when we got to the summit, visibility was a little too poor to see the croud of people making their way across the Tower Gap below, so we left them to it and met up with them later.

The mist lifted from the summit only for a few fleeting seconds when we were there.

We had a great day, and there was an enormous number of tourists at the summit doing the same. We took the track down happy after another day on the Ben.

Flip Flops On The Ben

On Thursday I was working for West Coast Mountain Guides. I was working alongside Seoras Lindsay and we were on our way up the Tourist Track on Ben Nevis with the 2011 Smithers Fund raising team from Poole.

Seoras, the team of 14 and I got on our way at about 8.30am . As usual the track was busy all the way up and the way down. At an early stage Lisa's boots started to deteriorate and the sole was falling off in chunks!

Just before the soles completely wore through to her feet, Lisa came up with the genius idea of strapping a pair of flip flops (that she happened to have with her in her bag!) to the base of her shoes - kept in place by a spare pair of socks and her original socks pulled down - original and it worked!!

For the first half of the climb we were below the gathering clouds and the views were terrific.

The cloud had descended and by the time we had reached the snow we were fully enveloped.

All 14 successfully reached the summit and normal celebrations commenced...

Celebrations with beer and chocolate!!

A summer view of the very steep slabby face of Indicator Wall on the side of Gardyloo Gully. Gardyloo gully was originally called Tin Can Gully and used as a rubbish chute for the old Observatory. The summit and the shelter can be seen behind.

The view from the top of Tower Gully looking towards the summit. Gardyloo Buttress visible in the foreground.

The full team of 14 reached the bottom of the mountain and so started the second celebration. Flip flops were still intact but some knees and hips were very sore. Congratulations to the entire team and well done to Laura for all the effort organising it (starting about 6 months ago!). What challenge for fund raising next year?

A Day On The Ben

A pretty clear start sign

Working for MountainSense today, I was a marshall on Ben Nevis with the Kier group as they started their 3 Peaks Challenge. The weather forecast didn't fill me with joy this morning, so I pack good waterproofs and a lot of Primaloft clothing. It was my task to marshall the upper plateau below the summit, so I got a good chance to walk about and stretch my legs a little. I actually had a couple of hours of near solitude without a soul about. So it turned out not to be one of the busiest days on the Ben (well, actually with a 1pm start time I think we missed most of the crouds earlier in the day). All the groups did really well, and got down in good time. I drove back to Fort William, as they drove off to England for the next stage of their adventure...

Where are all the crouds I was expecting?

My initial marshalling post at 1200m on a quiet Ben

There were a few breaks in the clouds to enjoy a view

There's still some sizable cornices

Ben And Torch

Ben Nevis from a distance on Friday 8th June

Today I was working for Jagged Globe as one of the marshalls on Ben Nevis, along with Keith, Rachel, Graham, Dave and Jamie. There were over 200 people starting their 3 Peaks challenge this morning at 4am. This will be a crazy 24 hours for them all. We got an early start and got into our marshalling positions on the hill before they arrived. This gave us a really early start, but with the benefit of seeing Ben Nevis in all it's glory just after dawn with nobody else around.

At 5.40am there are only the few of us marshalls on the hill

Before 8am this morning towards 300 people had visited the summit of the Ben - by the end of the day, how many I wonder! We passed at least 5 people on their way down after seeing the sun rise from the top - and I thought I had an early start.

Not long after this photo was taken, this path had hundreds of people moving up and down - mostly raising money for charity. A normal day on the Ben

I wasn't expecting to get such stunning views this morning

Before 6am. A rare moment of quiet on the summit today

So after a couple of hours of marshalling at the top, we made our way down - to the sad news that one of our group had a suspected fractured ankle, so Mountain Rescue was in full swing - sweeping him down to have an x-ray - probably at the Belford.

Unfortunately a broken ankle neccessitates a lift in the Big Bird down to the Belford

My day continued swiftly in Fort William to celebrate the Olympic Torch passing through town. With some chance positioning, we saw 3 people carry the torch therough town, to the tunes of Bagpipes and travelling Coca Cola party music. I've never seen so many people in the middle of town.

A very busy Fort William at lunchtime celebrating the Olympic Torch running through town

The Torch had lunch in town, so we managed to see 3 runners carrying the Torch

A busy day, and it's only lunchtime!

Ben Nevis - Three Peaks

So today I was working for Jagged Globe on the Ben Nevis start of the Three Peaks Challenge for 188 charity fund raisers. I was working with Ken, Isi, Jamie, Spike and David. We had to get out of bed at 2am and start walking with headtorches at 3am. I used my headtorch for about 10 minutes, the dark nights are so short at the moment. There were 36 teams for us to marshall and they started walking without the need for headtorches at 4am. On our way up we met some people already coming down, including 3 mountain bikers - now that was an early start! I got to the top at about 5.20am. Ken and I had it to ourselves for about an hour before the teams started to stream up. So we spent our time checking out the cliffs and crags for the winter routes making our hit list for 2012!

The weather was fantastic, we were treated to a cloud inversion for most of the morning. Much better than being in bed .. There's always time to sleep later (I did).

The top of Gardyloo Gully. There's still a little snow on the path to the top, and a lot in Observatory Gully as usual.

The clouds did finally roll in over the summit, but there was no rain.. Basically we were blessed with this weather after more than 4 weeks of rain....

Down to the car park with everybody packed off to England for stage 2, by 11.30am.

Walk Up A Very Windy Ben - Cancer Research UK

We walked on our first snow at 1000m altitude, then it was soon winter conditions to the top, with frequent white outs.

Today I met up with John McVey and his team finishing off their 3 Peaks Challenge, walking to raise money for Cancer Research UK - John, Daniel, Katie, David, Andy, Stacy, Peter, Arwel, Mathew, Colin, Philip and Andrew. Today Ben Nevis was the last of their 3 Mountains, but they looked fresh and keen when Chris dropped them off this morning. We set off at good speed onto a dry but slightly windy lower mountain. The first snow affected the path at 1000m. The upper plateau was in winter condition with deep snow, whiteouts and a driving NE wind. The worst wind we encountered was in the last 100m push to the summit. I nearly turned the team around at 90m to go, but decided to go on. Congratulations to the entire team for battling with the last 90m, holding Katie down to the ground, for completing their 3 peak challenge and for raising money for Cancer Research UK.

Check out their blog here -  3 Peaks challenge 2013 for Cancer Research

With a stirling effort from the determined team we all made it to the top of Ben Nevis.

The snow level was up to the trig point platform

Ben Nevis

Today I was working alongside Scott. We met our group of 18 early in the morning. This is day 1 of their 3 day challenge to do 'The 3 Peaks'... We got to the top in good time - the group were excited to find the snow and the fantastic views. We managed to beat the main Holiday crowds - which were coming up en mass as we were going down..

We managed to get the top to ourselves for a few essential photos...

On the way down, the crowds are beginning to build on the path..

Fun on the snow on the way down. It was a great day in the heat of the sun - Another awesome day on the Ben - surely they're all like that?!!!