Ben with snow

Ben this morning

All systems go for the winter 2011/2012 season...

Hill walking Assessment

Today I was working for UHI (University of the Highlands and Islands) at the WHC (West Highland College) on the ATM (Adventure Tourism Management) 2 Hill walking assessment. I chose Ben Nevis as the venue and so we set out from the top North Face Forestry Commission car park.


After lots of nav legs, micro, macro nav, broken ground, steep ground, emergency scenarios, river crossings, and group management we made our way to the top of Meall an t-Suidhe, where the wind really picked up. After lots of nav relocation we made it back to the bus and the assessment was over - phew. Well done everybody - a good and sometimes excellent performance.

Tower Ridge and CMD

Walking on the eastern traverse on Tower Ridge on Saturday 12th October 2013 (7 of 10) from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

On Saturday I spent the afternoon on Ben Nevis in incredible weather. There was a little ice on the walk in to CIC and even more ice higher up. As I started up Tower Ridge I could hear lots of shouting eg 'on belay' - so I started to look around, and I saw a team on Observatory Ridge, and about 7 people on NE Buttress (Chris, Craig, John, Lee, James, Simon + 1 other). I watched them all having fun on the mantrap and using classic tactics. There was a little ice and snow on Tower Ridge, but not enough to cause a problem - but I did wear gloves for half the time. At the top I met up with Chris and John, who went that step higher from NE Buttress to visit the summit. We went down together, meeting up with Lee and Craig. We parted when I went off to do CMD.
I'm trying to collect video footage of routes for my upcoming new website. I did get carried away however, because on Tower Ridge I took so many (see the videos on Vimeo) that my battery was flat by the time I was on CMD - 2 batteries next time.

Well done to everybody involved in the Real3Peaks Challenge across the UK. Congratulations Rich. The Facebook page is worth a read. James - I was nearly sick (just had lunch) when I read about the mouse!!!!

CMD ridge with Ben Nevis casting a shadow - I had it (almost) to my self

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?

Ledge Route In The Mist

Day 1 of a 3 day exped

Working for Outward Bound on a Serious Adventure Course, led by Sean, the group headed off on a 3 day expedition. The plan was to climb Ben Nevis via Ledge Route on day 1, complete the CMD (Carn Mor Dearg) arete on day 2, walk off the Ben and drive back to Outward Bound on day 3 - fantastic, and the age range of the group is only 13-15 !! The 3 day exped rucsac was heavy at the beginning, but the group did well. They were finally happy to be putting up camp and lightening their load, planning to complete Ledge Route, with a much smaller rucsac!

Approaching the lunch spot on Ledge Route, before the mist clears

The day was misty and initially wet, so everybody had to wear waterproofs from the start, and nothing was visible to show them where they were.

Careful scrambling high on Ledge Route

At last, we've got a view - awesome

Eventually the weather did change, and I could take my waterproof jacket off, and eveybody got to see their tents way, way below.

The weather improved as we get higher

Sean looking after his group

After a successful ascent of Ledge Route, Sean leads the group off towards the summit

After a brilliant climb, in stunning and exciting situations, the happy group made their way up to the Summit for an awesome location for their evening meal. This definitely is serious adventure for ages 13-15, that they won't forget.

Castle Ridge

Matt Lander about to run up Castle Ridge with his Classic Adventure Outward Bound group

On Wednesday I was working for Outward Bound. Matt has a Classic Adventure Course group and he wanted to challenge them with the North Face of the Ben - so we headed off to Castle Ridge. Matt split the group between himself, Dave Buckett and myself. The weather forecast looked like we could be lucky and possibly avoid all the rain, thunder and lightening.

Dave Buckett

We did manage to enjoy the entire climb on perfect dry rock - wearing t-shirts and suncream - a fantastic climb.

Matt bringing his group up Castle Ridge

We had about 4 drops of rain on the way up, and the heavens nearly opened on us on the way down, but we were lucky with only a light shower. We did however see the thunder storms all about us. There was one particular storm over Loch Lochy which covered Lena and her group up a munro in the storm.

Storm clouds brewing - bringing thunder and lightening. One unfortunate group was at the top of a munro inside the storm - leading to a well managed safe outcome

Year 8 On The Ben With OB

Starting up the Ben track

This week at Outward Bound I was working with a Year 8 group from Battersea in London. There were 5 groups and yesterday we all set off on a mini expedition on Ben Nevis, with a target to get to the Summit. As it turned out, 3 groups arrived by chance on the summit at the same time for a mini celebration, before heading back down again. All the groups found different places to camp around the mountain. We were lucky with the weather and had a completely dry day yesterday, but woke up to slight rain this morning. A great end to their course.

Felix was in charge of the navigation for the 2 days

Approaching the CIC, the group get to see the scale of the North Face

At the exit of the Abseil Posts route, exiting Coire Leis - the new Cairn

At the summit, looking out towards the end of the 'Mountain Track' at another Year 8 group arriving - in total, 3 of the 5 groups got to the summit at the same time

On the way back down from the summit in high spirits, to the campsite

Tower Ridge

Sunset - view from my window last night. It's almost the longest day of the year.

Jon and Dan Curwin wanted to climb Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis this year. John has mountaineered across much of the world, but Dan has never climbed outside before, so John thought this would be a great outdoor introduction. They booked to make the summer classic climb in April, but with the late winter season this booking was re-scheduled for June. They had a mid week long walk in the Lake District in the middle of last week, during which they both got soaked. Luckily here in Scotland we have had some brilliant weather recently, which included Monday for our climb. The forecast said possible wintry showers on the higher hills, and summit temperatures of 1 degree, so we went prepared, but I ended up wearing sunglasses and suncream rather than gore-tex and fleece.

Looks like a stunning day on the rock

I started wearing sunglasses at about 8am driving through Fort William. The day started warm and got better! We made our way up to CIC for an ice cool drink, and went around to find the East Gully of the Douglas Boulder, to access the Douglas Chimney to start the ridge. Dan showed a few nerves at the exposure, but his indoor climbing paid off and he cruised up the chimney, and stepped onto the ridge in the sun.

Dan and John making a start on the ridge after the Douglas Gap Chimney

We had the ridge all to ourselves, with people only visible on the CMD arete in the distance.

Dan and John loving every minute of it?

Dan almost loved every minute of it. Dan had a couple of nervy moments during the day, but always found the climbing easy.

Dan in the shade, John in the sun. As we got higher we got hotter. Nobody else was on the ridge!

Dan Curwin starting the Eastern Traverse

Dan and John after the Tower Gap

At the top of the mountain we celebrated with photos, and Dan has completed his first outdoor climb, and at last John had done Tower Ridge. John has an impressive Alpine and International climbing logbook, but had yet to tick some Scottish classics. We all made it back to Fort William in time for a good meal. Hopefully they'll be back to enjoy the classic rock that Scotland has to offer.

Email me max@maxhunter.co.uk to book your mountaineering or climbing adenture.

Me, John and Dan

Aonach Mor

Sue and Alex Ekins

Jagged Globe - Intro to Winter Mountaineering

Will

Today we took the Intro to Winter Mountaineering course to Aonach Mor. The Gondola wasn't running - not a surprise really, it was predicted to be a windy day - so we started our day with a walk. There were also some climbers heading up to the East Face for a climb too. At the end of the day, the climbers said they got down Easy Gully, but didn't climb anything due to poor snow quality. We headed up to Aonach an Nid and found lots of snow. It was snowing with a strong westerly wind, so there was a great deal of snow being transported about. There were patches of slab building, but initially these were easy to spot and avoid. We started the day with building a couple of emergency snow shelters, including a shovel up.

Moving on steeper ground

Mark on steep ground

Sue about to get over the edge

We got onto a little steeper ground, still avoiding the slab patches. When we topped out onto the ridge, we were still able to avoid the scarp slope slab, and new slab on most of the lip.

Climbing over the edge on Aonach Mor from Max Hunter on Vimeo.

The wind picked up and made life exciting for the team - most people reached for their goggles. At the end of a great week, I think people have found new hobbies in indoor climbing, outdoor winter climbing and winter mountaineering.

Other teams were climbing on the Ben, Ed Chard climbed North Gully and Andy Owen climbed Green Gully. There's still a great deal of winter up there to go at.

Ben Nevis

Castle Gully area

Jagged Globe - Intro to Winter Mountaineering

Today was wet! The rain was persistant - and tested everybody's waterproofing system. Some people went for the double waterproof jacket solution, some people the hard shell / soft shell option, and some people the Paramo option. I went for the soft shell, soft shell, hard shell option, and was dry, but my hard trousers need replacing! We took the course to Ben Nevis and planned to go up to Coire Leis to look at snow anchors and ropework.

CIC, looking up past the Douglas Boulder

The Allt a' Mhuilinn was massive today and I would not have wanted to cross it anywhere except at the bridge, just below the top car park. It also rose through the day, but equally I'm sure it'll fall in height quickly in the next few days. There was running water everywhere. I didn't see any climbers (the top car park was empty), but saw 4 Germans, with ropes out who seemed keen, but after a short chat, they headed down again.

Looking up Observatory Gully

The snow patches are reducing, but the thicker ice lines hopefully will survive. Above you can see Zero, which is no longer complete, but the Point still looked complete from where I stood.

Douglas Gap and Observatory Gully

Dora

Spencer

We actually had a really fun day playing in the snow. It was surprising hard to dig out the hard snow for the buried axes and bucket seats. The snow is saturated but firm, and we couldn't make any snow anchors or seats fail. Well done Dora and Spencer for your hard work and fun company.