Winter Is Here - But I'm Indoors

So it is winter. People have been climbing and swinging axes this week and over the weekend - in good reported conditions, even if the snow is a little powdery (white is right?). So far this week, I've been working at Outward Bound (paddling!) and getting my van a makeover - thank you All-Round Signs. Today - I said goodbye to the days of personal paddling as I sold my Werner Powerhouse paddle! The money will go towards some new tech axes - everybody's happy.

Today I was back with the College in Fort William to start a 2 day course on learning to lead with Ellen and Andy - did you see the rain in the west today? So the photos give clues to my venue of choice for the session. They both did really well. We looked at the set of skills needed to lead indoors, before they put it all together at the end of the rope. Andy even had a mini falling workshop. They've both got the homework of practicing their clipping and knots, before we hit the great (wet!) outdoors tomorrow.

Mamores Expedition

Andy and Abigail walking on Day 1 of the Exped.

These last 3 days I've been working for UHI at the WHC with first year students on the ATM course. The 6 students I had with me were Kathleen Torso, Britta Dixon, Maddy Landherr, Amanda Streeter, Abigail Goldfarb and Andy Macleod. Kathleen, Britta, Maddy and Amanda are here for the semester from the States - so I wanted to show them an excellent snapshot of the highlands, because it'll be the only expedition they get here. The weather was set so be a mini Indian Summer in most of the UK, but still with showers and strong winds in the Highlands, so we knew we'd be using our waterproofs and planned to camp fairly low and keep out of the wind. Although the college had issued the students with brand new unused Quasars..

Andy doing his navigation early in the day - day 1.

Here are Amanda and Britta - with Ben Nevis looking majestic behind...

Kathleen taking care across a stream.. This is clearly early in the exped, before we all got wet feet after crossing miles of bog and streams.

Britta had decided to pack her roll mat inside her rucsac the night before. She said she had to stand on it to get it in (!) and now needed asistance form Maddy to get it out!

Hilarious!

We eventually chose a campspot and enjoyed the lack of rain or midges. We then had a late after noon navigation session, then a quick break for food, before starting our late evening night micro-navigation session. We eventually got to bed after 10pm.

Andy (showing us his leg prosthetic) and Abigail.

Andy is on an inspiring and truly remarkable road to recovery after losing a lower leg 6 months ago in an accident in Fort William. He is already back to his previous standard on his mountain bike, and is walking with more balance than most people. Later this term he wants to climb Ben Nevis, and at College he's due to continue his paddling and climbing progression. (When we did the kit check and I asked people how many socks they had packed for 3 days, I got the usual answers from most - 2 pairs or 3 pairs, but he laughed as he told me he had 5 separate socks for only 1 foot!).

Watching the sun go down as we put our stoves away before the night navigation.

Day 2 in the rain. Andy leading, being followed by Amanda.

Yes, the sun did come out on day 2.

Sun rising on day 3. The day started dry and warm (the rain found us eventually!).

The sky started to get moody.

As it turned out Amanda loves waterfalls - so we had 20mins of being tourists at Steall Falls and took a million photos - awesome.

We covered the full syllabus required for preparation for their Hill Walking assessment in a couple of weeks time, so good luck to them all. Thank you for great company for 3 days in the Scottish hills.

Fort William Sunset

Fort William tonight

Ice Today

Robinwood (Robinwood Activity Centres) staff have their last day in Scotland today, and they had to make the most of it because they had to travel home after lunch. As usual the staff split off into different teams, some shopping, walking  to Steall, scrambling on the Buachaille and a team off to the Ice Factor with Tony Halliwell and myself. So as I drove to work this morning, with the rain outside and axes to hand it did feel like winter again! So unfortunately after the fun on the ice they had to depart for England again, tired but happy, thinking about where their trip will be next year...

Lean back and trust the ice

Bikes in Fort William

Loch Leven

This weekend I'm on my Trail Cycle Leader training course. Today we were based in Ballachulish, and tomorrow we'll be based in Lochaber. I can't think of a better backdrop for the weekend, or a more suitable time of year for the course. This weekend also happens to be the weekend for Maggie's Monster Bike and Hike, and yesterday was the start of the Scottish Six Day Trial (SSDT), based out of Fort William. The whole event is based out of the Fort William West End Car Park - visible from my lounge window. It's fair to say that this is one of the busiest weekends of the year, in Fort William. Everybody seems to be talking about bikes at the moment!

Pap of Glencoe from Ballachulish

Glen Nevis - 1st May

Lena pitch 2 of Pandora**

At the moment we're enjoying some clear skies, little wind and high temperatures in Fort William - so still with barely any midges about it's a good chance to get out and climb.

I'm on Phantom Slab (VS 5a***)

Glen Nevis was busy on the 1st, but in the evening we found nobody on Phantom Slab, which gives excellent well protected 5a climbing.

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...