BEN LAWERS CHALLENGE

Down in the Perthshire hills today with Simon & Peter who are competing in the annual Kindrochit Quadrathlon Challenge in July. They wanted some familiarisation/navigation on the hill section. We went over Meall Greigh, Meall Garbh, An Stuc, Ben Lawers, Meall Corranaich and Meall nan Tarmachan. It was another cold day with sub zero temps and a high windchill on the tops. We had dry conditions witth just the odd snow flurry. After getting down off the hill, Simon and Paul got on their bikes to cycle round Loch Tay to practice even more of the challenge while I just watched from the Bridge of Lochay Hotel with a nice pint and cosy fire. Good luck to the guys in July- a 1.5 km swim, all the Lawers hills including Tarmachan, 12km canoe on the Loch and a 34 mile cycle round Loch Tay.

A QUIETER DAY

It was another fine day, sunny skies mostly with the odd light snow flurry. Christal, Susan, Jorgan and I went for a walk up Meall Chumann up above Steal Meadows, Glen Nevis. We had a touch of widerness after the hussle and bussle of Ben Nevis yeasterday. We hardly saw anyone all day, not that this would have concerned  Jorgan who felt like a swim on the way down as we sat at the beautiful waterfalls.

BEN NEVIS, AGAIN

Another glorious day with wall to wall sunshine, light winds and superb visability, despite a pesamistic mountain forecast. Fourth time up Ben nevis this week for me. Today Susan, Christal and Jorgan all from various parts of Europe had a cracker of a day on The Ben. It was another busy day with loads of 3 peak challenge events going on but with a latish morning start we managed to be behind the main 'rush hour' parties. To find a bit of peace and quiet we went over to the lip of the north face for some great views into the 'other' Ben Nevis. It was lovely and warm on the summit, basking in the sun and snow. I noticed one of the leaders on a challenge event was picking up all the plastic bottles, banana skins and other disgraceful litter left behind, good on him. Looks set to be sunny and cool for next few days, or maybe these snow showers forecast over the last couple of days may drift in, we shall see.

BEN NEVIS

Ben Nevis again for a change. Five ladies on a 3 peaks challange today, so we set off early and were rewarded with a very quiet hill, wonderfully peaceful and summit to ourselves. It was a dry, sunny day but cold on the upper slopes. We came across the 'rush hour' on the descent, the hordes were on the way upward. I only had a short ride back home to town in the minibus, thankfully, as there were potent aromas of foot gels, leg rubs, deodourant and whatever else the ladies were splashing on themselves for the next session in the Lake District.

CREAG MEAGAIDH

George and I headed over to do a scramble on Creag Meagaidh today. We headed into the lovely and secluded Moy Corrie but we were slightly dissapointed to find a vegetated and broken grade 2 'turf' scramble. Still it was an interesting route onto the plateau. It was a cool and windy morning with cloud down below 900m. On the descent down to the Window the cloud lifted and we got lovely warm sunshine, as promised. Still a lot of snow in the window area and looked like there had been a large snow holing party there recently with over 10 'holes' all over the place. Interesting to see the avalanche damage from February lower down the corrie with quite a few sizable trees uprooted. Good weather continues through to the weekend and beyond hopfully.

ALL QUIET ON THE BEN

Emily, Ross and I were on a much quieter Ben Nevis today. It was not the best of weather days and views limited in the low cloud. The forecast of high winds didn't happen, only a mere 5mph breeze on the top. There was light rain and above 1000m snow showers but by mid afternoon it dried up. Better weather for the west coast by the weekend though.

SCRAMBLING IN PEACE AND QUIET

Laurence and I were in Glencoe today and went scrambling on The Buchailles,Stob Dearg. Laurence wanted to get some basic rope skills out of the day as well as some terrific scenery of course. We went onto Great Gully Buttress and found solitude all day combined with good scrambling. What a contrast from yesterdays madding crowds on The Ben. It was another beautiful day, especially in the afternoon with constant sunshine and warmer than yesterday. The path down into Coire an Tullaich is now free of any snow. Looks like wet tomorrow but improving by the weekend.

BANK HOLIDAY BEN NEVIS

It was mad busy on the Ben today, the good weather and holiday brought out crowds of folk, I thought the tradition on Bank holidays was garden centres and DIY? Robert, family and friends were raising money for one of their relatives who requires medical treatment in USA. They also celebrated the summit in style with a bottle of champers, on ice. The weather forecast was spot on today, mostly suuny and just a very brief snow flurry middle of the day. A lot of snow on the plateau has dissappeared quickly since a week ago.

GRAHAM BAGGING

Another day of finding hills out of the cloud. Cycled up to Fasfern today and two 'Graham's' (hills between 2000ft-2499ft) north of Loch Eil - Meall Onfhaidh & Aodann Chleirieg. Pathless and no one around again, but that would be the norm on hills like this, great for solitude and if you enjoy pathless, wet ground. Brilliant for running as its all nice and soft underfoot. The last pic amused me, looks like the guys doing the fencing got wet one day, packed up and never came back judging by how rusty the saw is. Didn't even bother putting his fleece back on! Weather forecast was a bit wrong again, I don't think 3 hours plus of steady light rain is a shower and as I write this in the house at 5pm it's still cloudy-wasn't the forecast for showers and clear skies by late afternoon? Wind was only a breeze and temps weren't particulary cold. Good test for this new Paramo Adventure Light jacket I've been using this last few days, impressed-think I've been converted away from Goretex ( and no I don't get any freebies or payment for plugging gear!). Live in hope for next few days forecast of sunshine!