from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
There was a really good atmosphere up on Ben Nevis today, its always great when you see lots of people you know. Kenny , John and I headed up into Observatory gully with quite an open mind. Word had got round that some ice routes were quite fat. They were not wrong. There were several teams ahead and behind us, all heading up into the same area. At first it looked like 3 teams were heading for Smiths but fortunately they all went their separate ways. One them headed up Tower Gully (I), Luke and Conrad went
published: 4 months ago
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downloaded: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today was a perfect for the outdoor and indoor combination. With a nice morning forecast, John, Johnny and I headed up into Glencoe to have a play around on some of the steep snow slopes within Coire nan Tulach. The aim of the day was to workshop our short roping skills and share ideas about ways of looking after people on steep snow. We played around with various techniques looking at the pro's and con's, discussed when each technique is best applied under different conditions. We looked at ascending and
published: 4 months ago
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downloaded: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today Kenny and I changed plans last minute and had a leisurly start up to Coire an Lochain on Aonach Mor. As Kenny is my mentor for the MIC scheme, he wanted to show me around the crag looking at different ways of getting into the crag, moving around the bottom and looking after folk on the routes. We climbed both Left Twin (III,4) and Molar Canal (III) which were both very nice routes. The ice was quite variable, most of the moist snowpack from the last few days had firmed up with the dropping ...
published: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Pretty wet and mild up in Scotland today, freezing level was above the summits and the rain just kept on coming! Katy and I opted for a nice ridge where we could keep moving without any difficulties but kept some interest. I had wanted to do the East ridge of Beinn a' Chorainn after Al had mentioned it to me a while back. Good fun for a foul day like today. The snow pack was saturated all the way through to the ground, there were some signs of old ice around but everything was pretty mushy. A few small ...
published: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today was my final day with Stephen and Andy so we opted for a journey day where they could put together some of the skills they gathered over the last few days. We headed up over the Carn Mor Dearg arete which exposed us to some wild conditions. After getting in to the snow line it was pretty steady going up to Carn Mor Dearg, on arrival we donned our crampons and descended onto the ridge which is great fun. The wind was blowing quite hard which so goggles and face masks were essential. There was a good
published: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Yesterday wasn't feeling very wintry, however today was a different story! Stephen, Andy and I headed into Glencoe and ascended the Zig-zags on Gearr Aonach. The snow line was about half way through the route but it was all slushy and wet so we were able to make a rapid ascent. It was a good option today as it remained pretty sheltered from the westerly winds, sleet and snow. It was Andy's first time out in the mountains so we wanted to give him a little variety in terms of something hands on but also give
published: 4 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today I was out with Stephen, Kate and Dexter who were super keen for a day out in some pretty foul weather. The aim of the day was to brush up on Stephen and Kate's navigation whilst Dexter ran around in circles and got under our feet (yes, Dexter is a dog). As the forecast was for high winds and gusts up too 100mph we stayed low and headed up behind Fort William. From the view point we headed south east up on to point 287m revisiting the basics of navigation and developing strategies that will work in
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
For today we were looking for a good grade 3 ridge leading to a summit. The weather forecast wasn't as good as yesterday but low winds and moderate avalanche forecasts gave us a few different options. After a recommendation from a friend we decided for the North East Ridge of Stob Ban. On leaving the Glen Nevis car park it was snowing heavily and this continued for most of the morning. The route began by crossing a snow slope into a NE facing gully. Whilst I was ascending I triggered a small slab avalanche
published: 5 months ago
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downloaded: 5 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today Katy and I headed into Glencoe armed with sunglasses an axe and crampons and hit Curved Ridge (III). I had thought (or hoped) that it had an ascent yesterday and put a nice tracks in, unfortunately there wasn't, so today required alot of digging. Fortunately I remembered where most of the spikes were and some of the cracks. Katy was keen for leading too, so she got on the sharp end a couple of times which was great. Saved me doing all the digging! We didn't see anyone else on the route but saw some
published: 5 months ago
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from Guy Steven - Mountain Leader
Today Katy had come over to visit and it was her first day out this winter after working no stop over in the North East. With a great forecast we had lots of options but we agreed that we wouldn't do anything too big and get too tired so we had a leisurely stroll up to the CIC hut, then onto the SW ridge of the Douglas Boulder (III). Today we saw Ken and his mate on Fat Boy Slim , John and his mate skied up ledge route and down something else, two guys headed to the base of number 4 and then headed back
published: 5 months ago
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