BEN IN SUN

A nice sunny day on Ben Nevis and very, very quiet on the pony track. Kate and I saw no one all the way to the Lochan! Unfortunately the cloud was once again draped on the top and feeling chilly.

TOP DOG

A quieter and more pleasant day on Ben Nevis today. The promised day of sun never materialised though, at least it was dry but with cloud shrouding the summit. Jo and her

four legged friend, Daisy had a good stretch in the snow today. Only a light dusting above 1200m but below freezing on the summit. Unbelievable to see at least two people with shorts, trainers, no waterproofs and no rucksacks! We just got back down to the Lochan when the helicopter was buzzing around the mountain, mmmm. Looking forward to winter, we already have two bookings for winter skills and a winter ascent of Ben Nevis in January.

CREAG MEAGAIDH IN GLORIOUS AUTUMN

A stunning day today, after the wintry day yesterday the winds had eased and a beautiful sunny day was enjoyed. Jane, Kate & I had a good stretch on Creag Meagaidh and Stob Poite Coire Ardair. Lovely warmth in the sun at Coire Ardair with a fresh dusting of snow above 1000m.

WINTER JUST AROUND THE CORNER

The first 'taste' of winter on Ben Nevis today with 60mph winds on the tops, hail, sleet and snow above 1000m. A real shock to the system for some folk and of course there were the usual 'light wieght approach' folk trudging up the hill in all kinds of attire. Of particular note was a guy with trainers and a pair of Lidl shopping bags as waterproof membranes! Quite a few folk turning back today.

GLEN NEVIS

It was quite a pleasent day, despite a not too promising weather forecast. I had a group of six guys from Holland who wanted to see upper Glen Nevis and Steall falls today. The colours are stunning at the moment and it is much quiter on the hills, a great time to see The Highlands.

SUNNY AT LAST!

The sun finally returned to Lochaber today. After an ominous start of low cloud and drizzle the sun finally burnt off the cloud, as forecast. I was on the Mamores and walked up Glen Nevis to the foot of the East ridge of Binnein Mor. This is a cracking wee rocky ridge and as some easy scrambling on schist, granite and blocks of quartzite. Even better in winter. The sun and clouds were wonderful all day long and a superb broken spectre on the ridge to add to the atmosphere. Stags were roaring away in the glen, I came upon a golden eagle right on the NW summit top of Na Gruagachan, wonderful! Many ptarmigan about too and not at all bothered that I was close up and photographing them. The colours on the hill are quite stunning just now. I continued the traverse across Am Bodach and Sgurr a Iubhair returning to the bike in the glen just before dusk, a reminder to make sure the batteries are new in the head torch!

BEN LAWERS

It was another drizzly, rainy, windy day in The Highlands. John was helping me today with a large group of 13 on Ben Lawers. All the folk were from HSBC Bank on a charity day raising funds for Scottish Children's Hospice : CHAS. There aim this year is to raise £10,000. We had a family with two children on the hill today, aged 10 and 6! Well done to them, their first of many Munros no doubt! Sorry no pics, still got Internet problems!

BEN NEVIS WITH A BIT OF SUN

We were lucky on The Ben today, forecast of light rain and strong winds didn't happen though there was cloud down to 700m at times. My group of 7 were lucky as on the plateau we had a ten minute 'hole' in the cloud and the sun burst through with blue skies and a view! A rare sight these days!

WET!

It's been unsettled here in the Highlands this week again. Monday and Wednesday I was out with groups on the CMD arete Ben Nevis in very wet and very windy conditions. The Ben is getting much quieter mid week now that Autumn is here.
Sorry for no pics as having trouble with technology so blog updates are thin on the ground but don't worry we are still very active and anyway you don't want to be seeing pictures of grey, wet, soggy folk out on the hills, or do you?

CMD ARETE, BEN NEVIS

Another very wet day, forecast of showers ended up as 5 hours of rain with hail and 40mph winds along the arete. I took Anil along the CMD arete from Torlundy but unfortunately he didn't get the wonderful views. We did see some wildlife though, Fieldfare, Ptarmigan, Golden Plover and snow bunting all on Carn Dearg Mor within a 10 minute period, something you will never see on the Pony track route.

BEN AGAIN

It was another day of cloud, rain and wind on the Ben again today. Andrew was keen to do the CMD arete on Ben Nevis today but the high winds and lack of views dampened his spirits so instead I took him down to the CIC hut and up Coire Lies to the Ben. A very quiet day with only a handful of folk on the summit.

WET, WINDY,BUSY BEN

The good weather of last week fizzled out today as a weak front came to the west coast and brought some rain/drizzle, cloud and windy conditions. It didn't dampen the enthusiasm for my group of 6 on Ben Nevis as they celebrated their achievement with a bottle of bubbly on the summit, it wasn't the cheap Carva variety either!! very busy today with the triathlon and several charity events on the hill.

KEEP ON SHINEING

Another beautiful sunny and warm day here in The Highlands with blue skies up until mid day. There was a veil of cloud that suddenly crept in over the hills by the afternoon just as I got to the summit of Carn a' Mhaim in the Mamores. So it was a cloudy traverse of the Devils Ridge before dropping back down into Glen Nevis. Ben Nevis will probably be a bit busy this Saturday as the annual triathlon hits the Ben & Glen.

SUPERB STREAP IN SIZZLING SUNSHINE

It was a stonker of a day again here in The Highlands, after some early thin cloud it was blue skies and hot sun all day long. I was on the wonderful mountain of Streap, pronounced 'Strape' which translates into the brilliant name of 'Climbing'. This is a wee gem of a mountain, one of my favourites and one of the finest hills in the Western Highlands. The long, superb, rough ridge with plenty of false tops and ups & downs culminates in a beautiful narrow spire and the summit cairn with superb views all round, especially down to Loch Shiel. First day I heared the stags bellowing and the start of the rut season. Lots of deer keds about today too but no people, as Streap is only 909m, don't reckon the SMC will be altering this one to Munro status!

SUNNY DAYS AGAIN

Another glorious sunny, very warm day here in The Highlands. After a temperature inversion early morning, the cloud soon burnt off and it was blue skies all day. The picture is taken from Cow Hill, a short stroll up from Glen Nevis with great views of the South side of Ben Nevis. Good weather set to continue the rest of the week and the clear, cool nights will eventually kill off the midges.

THE PEACEFUL END OF GLEN NEVIS

Yvonne and I were on Aonach Beag today. We went up from Upper Glen Nevis and saw no one all day on the mountain. This is a beautiful way up onto the mountain from the Steall meadows and we did a nice circuit of the mountains south tops. The early sun was masked higher up with some thin cloud and a strong, cool Northerly wind. We were just heading down when the skies cleared again and very warm, typical! Forecast was Topsy turvey as it was supposed to be deteriorating as the day went on.

ABOVE THE CLOUDS

Excellent day on Ben Nevis, the sun was aove the clouds today and it was very atmospheric. It was very warm but a bit chilly on the summit with a cool airflow giving excellent visability. The high pressure will be with us for a few days yet.