Aonach Mor

The team and I headed onto Aonach Mor today. It was bright and pleasant this morning although fairly warm, the temperature has then dropped through the day and it was snowing heavily this afternoon as we made our way off the hill. We had a day looking at emergencies such as snow shelters, summoning assistance and what to do if you witness an avalanche which gave some tired legs a bit of a breather and worked the upper body digging muscles instead! 

Thank You

Dear Rob and Kate
Thank you very much for organising and delivering a great two days on the Winter Hills weekend course.
I definitely will be booking on the week long course, and keen to do one of the scrambling courses.
Look forward to working with you again.
Best wishes
Dhush  Winter Skills Weekend, Scotland, March 2014

Sunshine in the Cairngorms

There was a real East, West divide in Scotland today wit lots of rain and warm temperatures bringing a high avalanche risk to the West so we ran East to the Cairngorms. It proved a good choice as we enjoyed some lovely sunshine whilst we covered some further crampon skills, winter navigation, approaching an edge using a rope and enjoyed a journey into Sneachda, up towards 1141 and down Fiachall Coire Cas, experiencing some fairly strong winds on the ridge. It was gratifying to hit the wall of rain as we headed back to the Fort!

Stunning Stob Coire nan Lochain

It has been another day of superlatives here in the Highlands, blue skies, stacks of snow, sunshine and very little wind combining to give a brilliant second day out on our winter skills course. We headed up Stob Coire nan Lochain in Glencoe and I think the photos speak for themselves!

Beautiful day

It has been a truly beautiful day here in Scotland. The overnight snow fell with little wind giving ankle deep fresh powder across the mountains. The skiers were whooping and hollering with delight and we enjoyed the sparkle of fresh snow under the bright sunshine as we started our 5 day winter skills course. It was an ideal day to look at avalanche avoidance which became the focus of our day, along the way we introduced axe and crampon skills and found this very impressive lump from a recent cornice collapse. A stunning day. 

Winter Skills in Glencoe

For the second day of our winter skills course the boys and I used the avalanche forecast and weather forecast to come up with a plan for the day and then headed down Glencoe. We had a beautiful start to the day and brushed up on our knowledge of avalanche avoidance, when to use axe and crampons and route finding as we made our way to the summit of Buachaille Etive Beag. The wind really picked up on our ascent so we dropped down fairly quickly and looked at use of a rope to aid winter navigation and approach a cornice, emergency snow shelters and a bit of snow profiling too. Another great day out with great company, cheers boys.

Scottish Winter Skills

I am back in the Highlands this week and have kicked off with a winter skills weekend. I have been joined by Ben, Ian, Andy, Duch and Steve and we enjoyed some beautiful views, light winds, great neve and no rain or snow at the Nevis Range today. We looked at avalanche avoidance, ice axe and crampon skills including movement and ice axe arrest and it was a pleasure to be out in such great weather! 

Norway Thank You

Hi Rob,

Just a quick message to you and the team to say thank you for a superb week’s climbing and fun in Norway. It exceeded all expectations and I learned so much. It was great how you, Dave and Huw were able to cater for everyone’s differing aspirations and provide the arena in which we could push and challenge ourselves towards greater achievements. I’m not surprised that places for next year’s trip are being snapped up like hot cakes. (Its now full, Rob)

Many thanks,

Shae.

Welsh 3000 on Easter Monday

I am running a Welsh 3000 challenge on Easter Monday (21st April) and have space for 4 more people. This is a true challenge, aiming to climb all of the Welsh mountains over 3000ft in less than 24 hours.

It is often referred to as the 14 peaks challenge because there is some debate as to whether there are 14 or 15 seperate peaks over 3000 feet. The entire route is close to 30 miles long and involves over 13000 feet of ascent.

We walk the majority of the route, you don't need to be a fell runner. We will try and cover easy ground quickly and you do need to be comfortable on grade 1 ground as we traverse Crib Goch.

You need to be hill fit as you will be on the go for about 18 hours from start to finish. Some prior training is essential as its a tough day out. It is a real challenge and far more people fail to complete it than go all the way to the finish.

If you fancy it, come and join the fun! Full details including online booking are here:http://www.expeditionguide.com/Welsh3000.php

Norway Thank You

Hi Rob, firstly, massive thanks for arranging and ensuring the most wonderful week in Norway, full of fun and amazing ice climbing. I had not dreamed of doing such stuff, it was totally brilliant, the most fantastic sense of achievement every day.

Please thank Huw and Dave for me. They were great, the three of you making a dream, who offered encouragement and challenge in exactly the right quantities at the right times. I really enjoyed the support from the group, which made it a very fun and friendly trip. These are magic ingredients.

When I get to work tomorrow I will sort out booking for the 3000ers in April (tell Andy I need his top training tips) and Norway next February.

Finally, I am so jealous of people booked on your Skye trip. Should you get a cancellation, you'd be pushing at an open door.....

Thanks again, Rob. Another Expedition Guide triumph.

Jude - Rjukan Ice Climbing - Feb 2014

Read more testimonials on our website here: http://www.expeditionguide.com/testimonials.php

Ice Climbing in Norway

This week I have been joined by Jude, Sue, Andy, Shem, Shae and Ian as well as fellow instructors Huw and Dave for a week of ice climbing in Rjukan, Norway. One of the ice climbing capitals of Europe the ice never disappoints and this week has now become a firm favourite in my winter program. We have all enjoyed single and multi pitch routes around the WI4 and WI5 grades (Scottish 5-6) and climbed as many pitches per day as we would expect in a week in Scotland thanks to roadside ice and incredibly accessible climbing. There has been a lot of snow this year and we had a great day off in the middle where folk went skiing together at the beautiful local resort on fresh powder. Great company, great ice, great climbing - hard to beat! (Huw even managed to join a commando raid on the heavy water factory but that's probably another story!)

Thank You

Hi Rob

Many thanks for the last weekend. Tom, Rob and I thoroughly enjoyed it, we learned a lot more than we imagined and were very impressed with the whole experience.

As well as the technical skills with ice axe and crampons the main thing we got out of it is the knowledge of how to go about approaching and planning a winter’s day in the hills safely.

Thanks also to Bryn for a great day on Sunday, it was perfect. Fantastic to gain new skills and knowledge (who knew snow could be so interesting? ;) ) and have so much fun

We’ll be out in Snowdonia over the next few weeks to put skills into practice!

best regards

Alan

Thank You

Hi Rob,

Just a quick message to say a massive thanks for a great course. I learnt so much over the two days and Bryn treated us to an excellent day out on the Sunday. I will definitely be returning to Glen Coe to do the same route in both winter and summer. A fantastic course and many thanks again. Keep up the great work.

Simon
Winter skills weekend - February 2014

Great day on the Ice

We have had a grata first day on the ice in Rjukan, 9 pitches from WI2 to 4, blue skies, sunshine and no wind! Photos etc will follow next week as we have no wifi at the hotel. 

Thank You

Hi Rob, We just wanted to thank you for a really great weekend. The two days more than met our expectations of all the things we thought we would learn, but additionally taught us a wealth of things we were not even expecting! It was a very well planned weekend and we had a great summit today whilst being able to put into perspective all the things taught yesterday.

The weekend has helped us on many levels. Its our first step of winter climbing, our first step with you, but also all the relevance towards snow, weather, terrain and avalanche conditions for off piste skiing are a great insight.

You really have given us a love for Scotland, its our newfound secret playground!! Bryn was really great today Though he did organise better weather than you especially for our summit ;)

Thank you for a truely great experience, sadly my Go Pro was a no go today so i really look forward to seeing Bryns pics when they come through.

We hope you have a fun and safe trip to Norway

Luke & Bex - Winter Skills Weekend, Feb 2014

You can read more testimonials here: http://www.expeditionguide.com/testimonials.php

My most useful bit of new kit this winter

Heres the most useful bit of kit I have bought this winter. Its an inclinometer that fits to a ski pole. Most avalanches occur on slopes of 30-45 degrees and as humans we are pretty poor at estimating slope angle. This allows you to be accurate in measuring it. It also has a thermometer so you can keep an eye on the temperature during the day. I have used smart phone apps to do the same thing but having it handy on a pole is way better. Its called a Pieps 30 plus and I bought mine on Amazon having never seen one in any shops.