Ben On Sunday?

Possibly the last Adventure Peaks course of the winter! We left the hotel early after a Scottish Porridge breakfast and headed for the Ben. The weather deteriorated and so did Jack's IT band... As we got to the CIC hut Jack realised that the day was over for him - his long suffering left leg IT band was causing serious pain, even after ibuprofen.. And so he offered to walk back to the car and let Helen and Chris push on to our plan A.. The team chose to stick together, and so we all headed back to the car and so on to the Ice Factor for some ice fun..

Helen taking photos of partner Chris doing well - somewhere up there.

Here's Chris.. Good luck to them both on their move to Australia.

Here's Jack on day 2 of wearing crampons or using an axe... Fun, fun, fun - it's all in the eyes! So finishes another winter for Adventure Peaks... But there is still some cold climbing out there for next week (maybe) for my week off...

High On New Years' Day

So here we are in Argentina, working for Adventure Peaks, making our way to Aconcagua. A team of 14 clients and 2 leaders, myself and Chris. The group was Simon, Phil, Ash, Paul, Christian (Jurgen), David, Allen, Mark, Andrew, Vivian, Alison, Dorothy, Ross and Rony.....

IT'S SUMMER, AND IT'S HOT !!!

Staying at the Hostel before the trek to base camp we had some site seeing to do at the sulphur spring... We're such a bunch of tourists!!

Finally the trek starts. Night 2 of the 3 day trek to base camp... Here Dorothy and Alison get to grips with the wind.. No rain forecast so I guess it's okay to camp on the river bed..

Day 3 of the trek, we see our mules close up. We had mule assistance on the 3 day trek - after that it'll be our horse power to get us up the hill...

Just before our trek, lots of mules fell into the gorge and died! They're driven hard!

Finally after 3 days we arrive at base camp - 4200m. People feel rubbish with the altitude - but the solution - hydrate, so new competition - how much can you drink in a single day! - my record = 6 litres of water! Tomorrow's a rest day...

Okay so after a quick brush with Santa Claus, we're off and running - well actually sooo slowly! Here we're off on a load carry to camp 1 - and it's XMAS DAY 25th !!! We're all carrying about 20kg from 4200m to 5100m.. 7 hours up, 2 hours down..

We get the tragic news that 2 climbers have died after their epic climb on the Polish Glacier. The team of 4 were on it for 27 hours, and 2 died after arriving back at camp 2.. Tragic.

After a long rest, and a second load carry to camp 1 on the 27th - campo 1 is established at just below 5100m .... Happy campers. The weather is good, everything is going to plan.. But then Simon gets sick with altitude and so Phil and Simon have to be hel-evac'ed ... (today I found out that he was later diagnosed with HACE in the hospital !!)

I made a quick call home - and got some bad news !!!! Snow, wind and all wintry stuff on the way... Great! The team were NOT happy !

The snow fell - but no wind over night.... The flakes were still perfectly formed, and the powder was light, fluffy and perfect for Skiing 'off piste'.... So where are my skis?

Campo 1 totally transformed ! Okay, so decision - today we're not going anywhere... A day indoors - as you can see in the photo... Let the strong winds blow today, tomorrow will be better.

What a difference a day makes !! After a stormy night - guess what - the snow has been blown about, our ascent slope 'mostly' scoured - but also a perfect slab has been formed to be wary of ! So wise men avoid the slab. An American team of 2 that we met, got avalanched today close to camp 2, luckily they only got light injuries - thank goodness... Beware of the slab!

More Snow..... Wow. Like a WML course in the Cairngorms but without the snowholes!

Always a good spectator sport... Watching Vivian and Andrew having 'dinner' - freeze dried meal and water....

My tent is the yellow 1 on the far left...

Campo 1 as the sun goes down after a long day - about 14 hours of daylight!!

Starting to get the awesome scenery now.... Is that horizon curved.. Okay so we're quite high! This is at 5900m approaching campo 2

Our first tents go up at camp 2. Unfortunately Ash isn't with us anymore - he had to go to BC to see the doctor about stomach cramps..

Other team have had their time on the mountain and are heading down - we're reminded that we'll be carrying 30kg on our way down - awesome !!

Still the snow falls..

On days like these, people didn't get out much! Dorothy apparently read about 9 books! I was travelling light so had NO book - clever!!! (bored me!!) - So I walked about outside quite a lot, and got really good at that game on my phone!!

Our neighbours.... Chilling like us.. Waiting for the weather window - for the summit..

A Clear sky above 5000m

We saw many avalanches - big and loud... Cool, during the day time, but when they wake you up at night - with just the tent for protection - not so cool.!

Summit day... Here's Paul sporting his latest fashion statement, mostly by RAB.

The Scenery was okay !!!

The going was hard. I was at the back of the group for the first three hours with Ali, Vivian and Andrew, and unfortunately they had to turn around and head back to camp 2.. By the time we later got to camp 2 they had successfully made it back to camp 1...

The upper traverse

The terrific weather of the morning was starkly contrasted by the afternoon. The clouds and wind rolled in. Visibility progressively went down to below 50m and we made our way back to campo 2. Chris (my colleague guide), who had acclimatised earlier in the season led from the front and made the summit with Christian and Allen. I got to 6500m after leading from the back and looking after those that needed help.

Here people are trying to find me and the path in the poor vis..

That'll be me, on owr way down from campo 2 to 1

The trip was a success, everybody made it back to the UK with fingers and toes intact.... But not the bags - Rony's bag got 'melted' open in Buenos Aires! The bags are still lost for some of us!! My black bag has turned up in Yorkshire!! Helpfull !! I'll be going to get it tomorrow then - my ice axe is in it - so it's a priority....

Winter in Scotland, 7-8 hours of daylight ... here I come... put the suncream away :( ... tech tools out :)

Alps an Peru

I´ve just had a great week in Chamonix visiting Alison Culshaw and climbing with Lena Brune. I managed to get 6 days there and climbed as much as the fickle weather allowed. We got some great climbing and routes done.
Photos and blog entries to follow ...

I then flew to Peru for Adventure Peaks, and I´m here now in Cusco, prepping to do the classic inca trail to Machu Picchu.
Photos and blog entries to follow ...

Winter Mountaineering Day 1

Sunset over Loch Linnhe, from the Hotel, Onich, Nr Fort William

This weekend I'm directing a Mountaineering Course. Today the 2 teams set out for Aonach Mor to learn the skills needed for safe winter mountaineering, and tonight I gave a talk on avalanche awareness. Tomorrow, they'll use all that they learnt on a bigger mountaineering day, taking in an easy climb. The photo shows sunset viewed from the hotel. The weather was great today, with some terrrific views across Loch Eil and Fort William. Everybody had a great day, especially Andrew and Nicola who are on their Honeymoon...

Golden Oldy

Overlooking Easy Gully

A day off without a climbing partner - what do you do - go out, stretch your legs and visit a classic climb. I chose Golden Oldy on the west face of Aonach Mor. It was a good chance to renew my gondola season ticket at the office at 9am (and a good excuse for a late start). At the ticket desk I met the Adventure Peaks climbing team (heading for the Nid area), and the Jagged Globe Winter skills team heading for the summit.

There were 3 other climbers heading for the same destination. We all came to meet to discuss our targets. As a result I had Golden Oldy all to myself.

The climbing was fine. With altitude the snow eventually firmed up, and then reached the point of being frozen, but with a crust on the top and unconsolidated below. In the final run to the top, I found some dubious slab.

On the summit plateau, I met up with Jagged Globe again on their way to the summit, and I met a couple of climbers topping out on Left Twin. Their approach wasn't the abseil, but they had approached from the climbers col - and from their description of the snow - I won't be going there any time soon. The East face approach slopes are known for their avalanche capability. The cornices were enormous and looking very fragile. Easy Gully was not the place to be and there were no climbers anywhere near it.

NC Gully - Adventure Peaks Meets Jagged Globe

Again with Radim and James, working for Adventure Peaks, we head into Stob Coire nan Lochan. The intention is to build on the teaching from yesterday when they were learinng to lead. NC gully is a great II** route but already lots of the classic lines have people on. James sets off leading the first pitch and belays shown in the first photo. Radim is super keen to lead the next. James gets the steep central section and pulls it out of the bag. The gully gets busy, Rob Wills (also Adventure Peaks) has his team there and Adele Pennington (Jagged Globe) has her team. Wow, it seems to be the most sociable place on the West coast.

At the top James describes the climb as 'epic'. Well done everybody, unfortunately most people have to drive home, just as the snow and weather improve.

Tomorrow I'll be off to Jagged Globe.