Pinnacle Ridge

I took Richard & Tracy up Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean today, teaming up with Sandy, Steve and Shae who had the same idea. It has been a stunning day of blue skies and sunshine and this classic route kept on giving smiles all the way to the top. We enjoyed the West Ridge in descent and a dip in the stream to finish the day in true summer style.

Isle of Skye - Cuillin Ridge

I am on the Isle of Skye all week this week for my annual pilgrimage to the best scrambling in the UK. I have been joined by repeat clients Richard, Tracy, Julia, Tina, Steve, Shae, Andy and Gez and by instructors Huw, Dave and Sandy for a week of the best scrambling on Skye. We kicked the week off under blue skies and sunshine by linking the three Munros of Mheadaidh, Ghreadaidh and Banachdaich which gives some superb grade 2 and 3 scrambling and a great start to the week.

Advanced Navigation

I have been out on our advanced navigation course today using contour only mapping with Mark, Helen, Mark, Richard, Gerrie, Shaun and Al. It stayed dry for most of the day with just the last half an hour being moist! We spent the day around Cwmfynnon and the Horns using maps that only show contours and water features to improve peoples ability to read and understand contours. It is always a really useful day and lots of fun. I have an evening of packing now and then my annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Skye starts tomorrow, whoop whoop!

Mountaincraft Expedition

The last two days have been spent on the Carneddau for the wild camping element of our mountain craft course. Yesterday we walked into Cwm Eigiau and then up onto Carnedd Llewellyn (Snowdonia's second highest peak) before navving in thick cloud across the summit ridge and down towards Dylan Bothy. We used the bothy for shelter whilst we enjoyed a sociable evening meal and then moved away to camp wild in the mountains. Our night navigation exercise was a true test of skills since the cloud was really dense and visibility was limited to only a couple of metres but the boys and girls did a great job of circumnavigating us back to our tents. Its been a great week in lovely company, thanks to all!

Tryfan

I headed up the North Ridge of Tryfan yesterday with the mountain craft team whilst Huw took the intro to scrambling course on Bristly Ridge. It was a stunning day with some beautiful air clarity giving long reaching views in all directions. My pager went off as soon as we got back to Capel so after a couple of rescues and a driver training session I was home quite late. 

Scrambling on the Glyderau

Huw and I have been out with the boys and girls on the mountain craft course and the intro to scrambling course that we are running this week. We merged the two courses together today as they both had the same objectives and we have had a total of 4 people not turn up this week! Our aim was to get onto some grade 1 scrambling ground for the first time and equip people with some movement skills, risk assessment skills and the ability to get out of jail free if they get into a problem. The Met Office were way out again in their forecast of high winds (there were none) and so our low level plan to be in Cwm Idwal progressed and saw us head up Seniors Ridge and then down the Devils Kitchen. Although it was wet as I drove in it turned out to be a lovely sunny day and no waterproofs were required! This evening I did a guided tour of the rescue team base for all members of both courses to look at how mountain rescue operates in the UK.

New Minimag online now

The latest expeditionguide minimag looks at how to climb your first 4000m peak, refreshes navigation skills, looks at Mountain Rescue in the UK and gives some advice on ticks this summer. Have a look here: http://eepurl.com/TdBCP 

Mountaincraft Course

This week I am joined by Gerrie, Ali, Shaun, Mark and Helen for a 6 day mountain craft course. Our first day was spent looking at navigation skills, on and off the paths, using the Watkin Path on Snowdon to slowly gain height into the mountains and enjoying the bluebells and cotton grass along the way. It has been lovely and sunny all day with a nice breeze to keep the heat off - beautiful.