Some fresh snow in Snowdonia

I am off this week, enjoying some family time at home with the kids. It is pretty wild weather and still quite cold too, we braved a walk this afternoon and got this shot of the fresh snow that had fallen this morning on Snowdon.

LLMRT Training

Its a beautiful spring weekend here in Snowdonia. I have been out with LLMRT today doing some training in the Llanberis Pass and its been lovely!

Ski Touring

Whilst I am now home in North Wales our last winter course is taking place in the Cairngorms. Our ski touring course is being run by Di Gilbert and she has been out with 6 clients seeking snow to enjoy the spring like conditions, heres a couple of snaps from Di.

Green Gully, Ben Nevis

For the last day of our winter mountaineering course I have had a stunning days work on the Ben today on Green Gully (IV,4). We enjoyed wonderful conditions and it was a great finale to my winter season. Thats Morocco, two weeks in the Alps a week in Norway and 6 weeks in Scotland done. 
Many thanks to everyone who has shared the winter with me - its been amazing! Home to be a Dad again now, and of course the spring rock climbing season!

Thank You

Hi Rob
Thank you for taking me on with the group at Fort William on 9th - 13th March. It was an amazing experience - one that I have always hoped for and never quite achieved. You were so supportive towards the whole group that we were able to achieve more than we had expected was possible. I particularly loved getting up on to the icy snow on Aonach Mor and using the ice axe and crampons. I am looking forward to exploring more mountains in winter next year!
Rachel sent me your film of Ben Nevis - well done! It is very exciting. It must have taken you quite a time, with climbing the Ben as well as all that filming. I have sent it on to my sons and they are very impressed! They have both climbed the north face of the Ben, one in winter.

Keep up the good work!

Best wishes
Elspeth Brien - Winter Skills Feb 2015

Ledge Route

It has been another stunning day in the Highlands today. Unfortunately Huw has been unwell this morning so I teamed up with Dan, Al and Rich whilst Charlie decided to get another logbook day to allow him to finish his Winter ML. The boys and I headed up Ledge Route, inspired by the video from last week and remarkably we had near identical conditions - superb! I stupidly didn't take my camera but heres a shot of us all on the way up.

SC Gully & Twisting Gully

The climbing conditions in Scotland are superb right now. For the first day of our winter mountaineering course Huw and I took Dan, Charlie, Rich and Al up into Stob Coire Nan Lochain and climbed Twisting Gully (III,4) and SC Gully (III,3) giving a great start to the three days. The snow was beautiful and the ice was taking hero placements. The descent down Broad Gully would have made an incredible ski with fresh powder on a firm base! 

Ledge Route, Ben Nevis from the air - video

Here is the video that I made last week of Ledge Route on Ben Nevis from an aerial perspective:
Ben Nevis, Ledge Route - Aerial filming using a drone from Rob Johnson on Vimeo.

New Film - Ledge Route

Ben Nevis, Ledge Route - Aerial filming using a drone from Rob Johnson on Vimeo.

Here is the film from yesterdays filming on Ben Nevis. I hope you enjoy it!

Ledge Route, Ben Nevis

I have had a day off today whilst Huw takes the winter skills course out for their last day. I spent it doing some aerial filming on Ledge Route on the Ben. It has been a stunning day and I headed up Ledge Route (2) which gave some stunning views. Here are some screen grabs to wet your appetite whilst I edit the footage over the next day or so. I will put the film on my other site www.filmuphigh.com in the next couple of days.

Under the Ben

It has been another wet and wild day in Lochaber today, fortunately the last one in the forecast for a couple of days as tomorrow looks lovely! We decided our best bet was below the North Face of the Ben today and the team looked at shelter building and companion rescue whilst sheltering from the wind. Bring on the sunshine!

Beaten back!

The team and I decided to head up Stob Ban this morning, hoping to catch the summit early before the weather broke. It soon became clear that our plan wasn't going to work and once we had reached the stage where people were having to crawl to make progress we retreated down the mountain and looked at winter navigation tactics below the worst of the winds that were pretty wild! No photos today I'm afraid! 

Beautiful day in the Highlands

It has been stunning today in the Highlands. It was very windy this morning but the wind dropped this afternoon as forecast which meant we spent the morning covering some skills on a journey before bagging the top of Aonach Mor this afternoon - a great day.

Winter Skills in Glencoe

I have been joined for a 5 day winter skills course here in Scotland by Kerrie, Emma, Elsbeth, Rachel, Chris and Shane. Today we headed into Glencoe and had a great day of giggling and learning despite some pretty strong winds. There was fresh snow overnight and more forecast tonight so its all looking more wintery again!

Sunshine and snow!

It has been a much nicer day in the Highlands today. The temperature and the wind have both dropped and the sun has come out to play, along with a few snow showers to keep things real! We had a great day for the second day of our winter skills weekend, refreshing skills from yesterday, adding some new ones and enjoying some views. What a difference a day makes!

Winter Skills

I have been joined by Al, Simon, Lee, Ian, Adam and Martin for a winter skills course in Scotland this weekend. Its fair to say it has been pretty tough weather today with the freezing level well above the summits, high winds and some very heavy rain! I got wetter today than I ca remember ever having got before - I am sure the memory will soon fade though :-) It was perfect conditions to show how wild the mountains can be and we also looked at axe and crampon skills and avalanche avoidance. However wild it gets its still way better than having been sat in the classroom all week!

Flight School

Its a bit of a different week for me this week. I am down in Cardiff doing ground school training to get my pilots licence and then CAA Approval to use my quadcopter commercially. At least this afternoon we got to talk about maps & charts!