BEN NEVIS IN SPARKLING FORM

Beautiful day again in The Western Highlands and what a complete contrast on The Ben from only two days ago. Today it was almost unbroken sunshine along the CMD arete, the finest walking route onto Ben Nevis. The North face looks like mid March at the moment! With the sun now radiating on the face it looks positively Alpine. It was a day for strolling along the ridge and photographing the wonderful vistas. The clarity of air was superb with excellent views from the Cairngorms to Skye. There was snow on the Arete but it was melting fast in the heat. Still over 2 metres of snow on the plateau which will take a while to melt away.

GLORIOUS GHIUBHSACHAIN

After the winter comes the Spring! It was a glorious day today in The Western Highlands. Irene and I were in the beautiful Ardgour area and went up on to Sgurr Ghiubhsachain. We covered navigation, despite it being clear skies and bright, warm sunshine! We also went through scrambling techniques on the long North ridge over the lower Meall a' Choire Chruinn summit. This is one of the finest peaks in The Western Highlands, overlooking Loch Shiel with excellent scrambling and wonderful views in every direction, with out the crowds as there isn't a single Munro in sight for miles. It was t shirt weather all day with not a breath of wind and no midges!

WINTER ON THE BEN!

For the last few days it's been rather un -seasonable with heavy rain, snow above 800m and strong winds. I was on Ben Nevis today with Jackie and Geoff and you could be forgiven that it was mid December! We were on the Pony track up to the summit. After a very wet early morning, it turned to wintry showers above 500m and the cloud base was around 900m. On the plateau it was poor visibility and the foot prints suddenly 'ended' near the Tower gully area? We had the summit to ourselves for a couple of minutes before the crowds 'followed' us!! Still around two and half metres of snow on the plateau. On the decent the sun came out and things started to look Spring like.

BEN NEVIS - CMD ARETE, WINTER STYLE

A wonderful day on The Ben today. Jip, Peter, Yvonne and I were on Britain's highest peak in what could have passed for winter. We went up via Carn Mor Dearg and the superb arete which links to The Ben. This was Jip and Peter's first taste of Scottish hillwalking and what a grand way to start off! The temperature's had dropped overnight and it had snowed to 800m. During the day we had a few snow showers above 800m but also some excellent breaks and spells of sunshine. Jip and Peter tackled the snowy arete with confidence and enjoyed every step along. I have taken several groups along here in 'winter' but with less snow than we had this day. We 'picked' up Edward along the arete who was a little nervous and looking for a helping hand. The plateau still has 2 metres of snow and it was getting a bit icy with the passage of so many folk out this weekend. The usual colourful characters were seen on our way down the pony track, including a guy sporting a wedding dress, hopefully it was waterproof?

BEINN ALLIGIN

Not the best circuit of Beinn Alligin today, it was light rain through out and low cloud by afternoon. The views out to sea are superb but not on a day like today.

LIATHACH

I fabulous day today up in Torridon. Lorna, Alice and I were on Liathach, my second favourite mountain (after An Teallach). It started cloudy but by the time we reached the An Faserian pinnicles the sun broke through, clouds parted and it was a superb, clear afternoon with beautiful views. This was Fiona's pen ultimate Munro and she is due to finish her round of Munro's on Slioch. Well done to her and should be a good party on Slioch next month!

FAR OUT IN FISHERFIELD

I was out backpacking in the wonderful Fisherfield forest of the NW Highlands. The NW of Scotland was supposed to be the sunniest part of the UK today but there was still a fair amount of cloud about. So I changed my plans and didn't go onto An Teallach ( it deserves the best weather!) and instead walked into Loch a' Bhraoin and ascended a couple of quite remote Graham's (mountains of 2000ft-2499ft in Scotland) Groban and Beinn Beag. I had a quick look in at the Loch a' Bhraoin bothy which has recently been renovated and now boasts sleeping platforms, wood burning stove and a sink with water tap and inside toilet! I walked out to Kilochewe just as the sun came out.

TRYFAN NORTH RIDGE

It's been a fantastic spell of weather this last week, especially for the NW Highlands. I caught the last of the good spell in Snowdonia today with a day up the classic scramble up Tryfan's North ridge. Unusually I had the whole route to myself in glorious sunny skies and warm rock. There was some cloud as I carried on to a couple more nice scrambles on The Glyders, up and down Glyder Fach's North ridge then back up the Y Gribin ridge onto Glyder Fawr.