Something different!

One of the guys enjoying the swell with Eigg and Rhum behind.

So at the moment I'm instructing a three week Classic course at Outward Bound Loch Eil which has a bit of everything. The course started on Saturday and after a couple of days of getting to know the group and them getting to know each other we set off on the first of their three expeditions. Their first expedition was a sea kayak exped and we put in on Loch Moidart and had a little explore of this area before we headed out to sea along the North Channel at high tide. Once out of the channel we got some fantastic views out to Eigg, Rhum, Skye, Muck and Ardnamurchan. We paddled round the coast a little bit further as the swell started to pick up and made for the white sands of Smisary beach.

The view from my tent, I can see why people enjoy this Sea kayaking stuff.

This first exped is a good opportunity to take a first look at camp with the group and cover a lot of skills that they will need on their final unaccompanied exped. There was quite a bit of cloud around so we didn't get to see a spectacular sunset but as always the west cost didn't let us down with a beautiful orange light covering the campsite for the evening. The next day we continued North and made our way round to Glenuig to meet our pick up.

Enjoying the evening sun from the beach.

Bouldering in the Glen.

After spending most of the day feeling a bit lethargic I finally manged to muster up enough energy to go up the Glen. Dan joined me too and we headed to the Cameron stone. We both had a bit of a play on this but after a good session in Alan's wall yesterday our arms were feeling it and we decided to go for something a bit slabbier. We headed up the road a bit and did a couple of routes on a slab by the road but nothing too challenging.

Success on Hoy.

Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner have completed the Longhope project on Hoy. Check out Dave's blog for more information.

Press release.

I helped out The Outdoor Capital a couple of months ago with a press release that they had with Outdoor Enthusiast Magazine. Well the magazine has hit the shelves or you can veiw it on line here. Some of you might notice that they have kindly promoted me to the lofty heights of 'Mountain Guide'. If only becoming a Guide was that easy.

Sun in the South.

With the weather in Fort William so changeable at the moment and a quite spell before a very busy period I used the opportunity to head down to the Lakes and catch up with the family. Yesterday I had a full day to kill and with the weather out the window looking fantastic I headed to Hutton roof just south of Kendal. This little limestone crag has a lot to offer, with a short walk in and catching the sun all day. I spent most of the morning and early afternoon soloing and managed to tick off about 15 routes from Diff to VS. The nature of the crag means that most of the crux's on the routes are in the first couple of meters with easier climbing to the top.

The piece and quite was disturbed by a group from Morecombe High School so with my plan at the end of the day to head back North of the border I headed for Carrock Fell near Penrith. These Boulders are situated right next to the road and are Gabbro so have amazing friction. I spent a couple of hours here working on some old problems before I carried on North to Ayr.

Back in Fort William today and back to the rain. I've got a couple more days off before I start a Classic course at Outward Bound.

A dry start, and a damp finish.

I was working on the Ben again today for Maximum Adventure with a couple who were just out for the day. It started fine this morning, better than was forecast and stayed like that until about 2pm. From then on it just rained and rained and it's still falling. That hasn't deterred the crowds again with the usual busy Saturday traffic on the mountain.

It stayed dry!

So the forecast for today here in Lochaber was for thundery showers to start about lunch but we haven't had a drop yet. So I headed into the Glen for a boulder just after lunch. Unfortunately my shoulder is playing up again and started to shout at me as I moved onto the very strenuous over hanging moves, so I packed up my bag and decided to go for a bit of a solo instead. I soloed some of my usual trade routes and bumped into Al who was out with a couple of folk. Whilst on the gutter I came across a new bit of ab tat on the small Birch tree on the first pitch. I thought about removing it but had second thoughts thinking that Polldubh Climbing Club might have put it there. The tree would probably be fine to ab on but it won't be around for long if it gets used heavily. A beautiful day in the end and with the forecast similar for tomorrow it is hard to know what to plan for. 

Looking down pitch one of the Gutter with the 'new' tat around the tree.