LEDGE ROUTE & CMD ARETE, BEN NEVIS

Another fabulous sunny and warm day with unbroken sunshine and only a slight breeze. A day out alone today, a rare treat, went up Ledge Route on The Ben and down the CMD arete. A great day out to see a lot of Ben Nevis. Ledge Route was quiet with only 3 folk on it. I managed to stay off the Pony Track up as far as Tower Gully, yo avoid the noise and dogs, etc. So only 2 minutes with the crowds to the summit, or less if you run it. Peace and quiet again over the arete. High pressure and good dry, sunny conditions for the next few days, enjoy it!

BEN NEVIS AGAIN

It  was a much better weather day on Ben Nevis. Colder and cloud with the odd shower in the morning. Afternoon was bright sunshine, the wind picking up and feeling chilly. My group of 5 today included David, in his 72nd year and just completed the West Highland way before having a rest day yesterday! High pressure next week so hopefully some nice days to come.

BACK TO THE BEN

A rather soggy return to The Ben today, with showers and low cloud most of the day. This didn't seem to deter the hoards of folk up the hill, though we had an early start so it was relatively quiet on the way up. The sun did come out in the afternoon. Good luck to my couple on their 3 peaks challenge.

STAC POLLAIDH

We were up  in the Ullapool area, NW Highlands with a day out on Stac Pollaidh. A cracking mountain with a lowly height of just over 600m but the position and steepness that puts many bigger hills into the shadows. To top all of that there is fantastic scrambling all the way along the ridge, with easier options in places. To reach the true highest point there is a great little scramble which puts many folk off, indeed how may folk have actually got to the top? Weather was superb and a clarity of light for great pics,  Mr. Midge was hanging around on the top but this didn't spoil the day.

RAIN & SUN

Back in The Highlands and a week long trip around various areas, Cairngorms, Skye and back in Lochaber. Today we all headed up to Meall a Chumainn. It was a very wet morning with heavy rain but the sun came out afternoon and it was glorious. Steall falls looking great and the Ghuibhachan burn well in spate.

Off in Ullapool area all next week, no stop for the wicked!

TOUR MONT BLANC

 Some Tour Mont Blanc shots....From a couple of weeks ago

PICS FROM TOUR MATTERHORN

Belated shots from the Tour of the Matterhorn I was leading last week. Mixed weather, hot sun mostly and couple of wet days. Great trek round the most iconic mountain in the world? Mix of high passes, glacial traverses, steep ground, lonely valleys

THE TARMACHAN HAS LANDED

Back home, in middle of a week long 'strolling' in the hills with a group of 7, mostly from Canada. Pics from The Alps coming up soon!

TOUR OF THE MATTERHORN

Just out on the first day round the tour of The Matterhorn. Warm and sunny, cool on the tops in the cold northerlies at the moment. Settled weaather maybe on its way after a very changable two weeks on the TMB. Good day out last week on the Hellbroner, most folk travel up on the gondola, thought I'd scramble up its ridge which gave a good day out on my day off. Still no facilities for uploading pics.

ALPS

A mixed bag of weather out in The Alps. Camping trip. Days of  hot sun, rain, then  cool, great clarity for pictures but unfortunately cant upload any at the moment. Nearing the end of the Tour du Mont Blanc, then over to the Valais and Tour of the Matterhorn for a week.

LEDGE ROUTE &CMD ARETE BEN NEVIS

Another beautiful summers day in Lochaber, after some early morning cloud. David had never been up Ben Nevis and wanted to see and scramble in spectacular scenery and he wasn't disappointed today. We had an early start, seeing no one up the Allt a' Mhuillin and had Ledge Route to ourselves, this most spectacular of easy scrambles on The Ben. We were quickly on the summit of Carn Dearg at 11am. After a quick 'mingle' with the summit ravers on top of The Ben we quickly departed the noise and were soon on the CMD arete with peace and quiet again just in time for the sun to shine and warm up. As well as the scrambling there is always time to find other interesting things such as Alpine Mouse Ear and Golden Ringed Dragonflies to add to the day. A long day for David, up from Dundee and back in a day!

That's me off to The Alps till 15th August. I am leading a couple of treks, Tour Mont Blanc and Tour Matterhorn. Will update blog when I can - I'm not into iphone thingies yet!

BIRTHDAY ON BEN NEVIS

It was a glorious wall to wall sunshine day today. After over a week or so of poor wet and windy conditions we were blessed with a fantastic day for Gillean's Birthday walk up Ben Nevis. Linda, her mum, also carried the cake up for the summit and just by pure chance there was a piper piping away on the summit when we arrived, a Birthday  treat Gillean will remember for a long time, (video on Facebook). Looks like another cracking day again tomorrow.

DRYING UP ON BEN NEVIS

Another rainy morning in Lochaber again today with low cloud and windy but improving conditions for Yamya and I. The not so good weather did mean less folk on the hill which was very welcome. We got a whole 20 minutes of warm sun near the end. More flowers spotted than litter today, yellow saxifrage in abundance.

BEN NEVIS - HIGHEST RUBBISH DUMP IN THE UK?

Back up the hills again today after a week of low level walking. Ben Nevis of course! Today I was with Alison, Norman and James in  what was probably the worst weather on The Ben this year. Rain most of the day, breezy and low cloud to 700m in the morning. Onnly ggod points was the absence of the midge. Still busy despite the horrible weather and good to see most folk were well kitted out for the rain. The Red Burn was looking spectacular with all this rain recently. Shocking to see the litter on the summit area (see last picture), what filthy folk would leave beer and champagne bottles?  I also brought down three separate charity events t-shirts which were adourning the trig point. I picked up so much litter in the space of a few metres around the summit that I had no room left in my rucksac, disgusting.

LOCH SHIEL

Today was the final walk for my group on their 'Highland train and walking holiday'. The family from the USA 'bailed' out when they saw the rain and low cloud this morning. Australians Marita and Adam persevered and we had a lovely day over at Glenfinnan and Loch Shiel. Most of the day was dry and we got good views along the south shore of the loch.  We spotted a few black throated divers on the loch. Ended the day in luxurious comfort with coffee's and beers at the Glenfinnan House Hotel, in front of a roaring log fire-is this really July?

SKYE WITHOUT THE MIDGES

A wet, breezy and cool morning on Skye. Today we did the lovely low level walk from Elgol to Camasunary then over to Kilmarie. After a few hours of light rain the cloud lifted, it went dry and the sun even appeared for a spell in the afternoon. Enough to enjoy the splendour of the black Cuillin from an easy walk. Not a single midge to be seen or felt this last couple of days on Skye due to the wind! This ranks as one of the best low level walks in The Highlands (and Islands!)