Gwilym's Adventure Blog

  Graham and Geoff climbing Am Bodach     At the start Geoff and I on start of the ridge   Looking along the ridge     At the end Today Geoff, Graham and I headed to climb Curved Ridge on Buchaille Etive Mor but a last minute change of plan saw us heading up to do the Aonach Eagach Ridge II/III which runs along the north side of Glencoe between the two Munros of Meall Dearg and Sgorr nam Fiannaidh . The ridge itself is 4km and varies from easy walking to awkward and exposed climbing with the odd abseil. As a team we decided to solo the route together (ie climb unroped) but did get the rope out for a couple of abseils. An amazing day out in excellent weather and good company.

  The Ben from my Lodge      The Summit Ribs Today Geoff and I headed to The West Face of Aonach Mor to climb Daim Buttress III. It was plastered with some very poor consolidated snow and the approach skirts were unstable. This slowed us down and we didn't get near the route until10:45am. We started up it but got hampered by poorly consolidated snow in a thin layer on rock and the turf was not frozen. Just as we were considering our options (by now midday) we found some tat left by a previous party and decided to call it a day as progress was too slow. We abseiled down onto the nasty snow slopes and ran away. Seeing as we were able to descend on one double 60m rope with a short down climb I would estimated we managed to climb 40 metres in 1hr 15mins. Not a good start on a 500m route. As we walked out we saw two pairs on Golden Oldy making some slow progress. I hope they managed to get up it in time for the lat Gondola.

  Steall Falls On his last day in Scotland and worn out from the previous 3 days, Jonny chose to take a wander up Glen Nevis to have a look about, relax and take some photos. Steall Falls look very different to my last visit . On our enjoyable walk we found a small bird (a Great Tit or similar) that had no issue with helping himself to peanuts from my hand (no photo of this I am afraid) The icing on the cake today is that I have finally got my car back from the garage and although I have had a hire Ford KA for a week they aren't the most spacious of cars.

   Buachaille Etive Beag Today Jonny and I headed to Glencoe with the intention of climbing Buachaille Etive Mor via Corrie na Tulaich (thanks Jamie B for the suggestion) but on arrival there we changed the plan drastically. Jonny is a keen photographer and being as photogenic as The Buachaille is, we decided to walk up Stob Beinn a Chrulaiste on the East side of the A82 and make the most of the views and allow Jonny to get some great photos of Rannoch Mor, Buachaille Etive Mor and The Three Sisters in Glencoe. We also got great views across to The Mamores.

  Jonny on the Zig Zags     Jonny on the Trig Point   Jonny relaxing on the descent Last night Jonny said it would be wrong to come to Scotland and not climb the highest mountain so today I took him up Ben Nevis. Although we considered one of the gullys we finally settled on the Tourist Path and set of for the summit. Unlucky for us we didn't get any views whilst at the top but got a few on the way up and down. Temperature was -6.0 at the summit and Although we were fully equipped we didn't need crampons and the axe only came out very occasionally. A number of people were on the mountain including the usual under dressed persons slipping about in trainers. When I asked Jonny to sum up his day he said "My feet hurt". I am hoping for something more profound at a later date

  Me with Ben Nevis behind     Camera not exactly straight     Jonny at Aonach Mor Summit     View to The Mamores Today I took Jonny to Aonach more to winterise his summer hill walking skills. We started by looking at kicking steps and using an ice axe for support as we headed up the Nid Arete. We also looked at the snow pack as we found pockets of windslab here and there. We continued up the nid putting on Crampons and looking at French, American and mixed techniques. As we reached the ski patrol hut the mist rolled in and with a few jints Jonny was able to take a couple of bearing and using pacing skills got us to the Sumitt at 1221m. Just before we arrived the weather cleard and gave great views of Carn Mor Dearg and Ben Nevis. On the way back down we stopped and looked at Ice Axe arrest although Jonny was having some real trouble sliding due to his trousers being particularly grippy. This was Jonny's first Scottish Mountain, first winter Mount...

 Callum gearing up in the mist   Some thin Ice left on the route (water pouring down it)   Trident Buttress Callum on the Top Pitch Today Callum and I headed up The Ben to see what was climbable. The weather was not the best and we had rain, snow and even the odd bit of blue sky during the day. We climbed Moonlight Gully which is supposed to be grade II but in the current condition was easily a III. At the bottom of the route we were able to see the remains of a large avalanche in Number Five Gully that happened a few days ago, it certainly wasn't fresh debris. The route finished in the top wide section of Number Five Gully and we soloed out through some very steep ground to avoid the large cornice. The cornice has started to fracture in places so may not be there much longer and would certainly be a problem for anyone in the gully when it collapses. With the current avalanche forecast I will be staying away from this and other gullys on The Ben for the next ...