Back up North again...

No sooner had I got home from Ullapool last week, but it seemed I was out the door and heading back up the road to the Far Northwest. This time I was heading up to Torridon to meet up with Jim Sutherland from Nineonesix Guiding, for a spot of shadowing in the winter hills. Spending time with other outdoor professionals is a great way to keep skills current and to learn new ones, especially when they have the wealth of experience and superb mountain venues that Jim and his company have to hand.

Enjoying the view from Beinn Eighe

And so it was that I found myself heading up on to Beinn Eighe on Thursday morning, with Jim and his two lovely clients Gavin and David.  It was pretty clagged in, and mild, but high up in Coire An Laoigh we found enough snow to look at the basics of self belay, arrest and safe movement before heading up on the the ridge for the summit of Spidean Coire nan Clach. On the way down, the mists parted, and we were treated to fabulous views of the Torridon peaks and a golden eagle flypast. We stomped back in to the coire, taking a bit of time to look at bucket seats and some basic ropework on the way. This was a fun day for all and Gavin and David were quick learners, hopefully this is the start of many more winter days in the hill for them.  There is a bit more about this day up on the Nineonesix Blog too.

Gavin and Dave looking comfy

Friday was a rest day for me and my pal Reuben came down that afternoon for a spot of bouldering.  I'm not much of a boulderer, but even I was well impressed by the quality of the rock around Torridon- dry, clean, and solid, with grades of problem to suit everyone.  We went to the Celtic Jumble and enjoyed a few hours clambering about in the cool winter sunlight.

Bouldering at the Celtic Jumble

That evening I headed east, to be in place for some more shadowing with Nineonesix- this time on a winter skills course for the SYHA in the Cairngorms. Directed by Dunc Maclennan, this was a two day intro to the basics of winter walking for a team of five clients.

The great white room on the Cairngorm Plateau

They were keen to do plenty of navigation, so we spent a day working our way up on to the plateau from Coire na Ciste, experiencing the full drama of a Cairngorm whiteout. On the second day, strong winds kept us low down on the mountain, providing us with a great opportunity for some practical skills work in a sheltered gully system in Glen Feshie.

Dunc proves that navigation is fun.

Ice axe braking and sliding practice.

Big thanks to Jim and Dunc from Nineonesix for sharing their skills and time with me as well as letting me loose on their clients.  It was superb experience and great fun. They are based in a fantastic part of the world, and have an encyclopedic knowledge of some of the finest mountains and mountaineering that Scotland has to offer.

Eight Days

Go-go gadget Lucy- I don't seem to have stopped this week.  It kicked off last sunday with a fantastic training exercise with Arran Mountain Rescue Team.  I don't usually blog MRT stuff, but it was a cracking way to get a super week going, so this time it gets a mention.

HMS Gannet buzzing in.

Rescue 177 from HMS Gannet dropped the team in the hills on a beautiful day.  It was an emotional occasion, because depending on what happens with the handover to private helicopter SAR which is being phased in over the next year, this could be our last exercise with her. The partnership between civilian MRT and our military SAR services is a long and mutually supportive one.  Gannet will be missed on Arran.

That night I was propping the eyelids open on a long drive to Ullapool with Wally for a week in the hills with friends.

Hills on the north side of the A835 plastered with snow

Monday I was good for very little so Wally and I took the skis for wander in the hills on the south side of the A835. The touring was good, and I skied my first proper powder. Heaven!

A snow covered Beinn Gobhlach across Loch Broom

On Tuesday I was still feeling a bit useless, so while the rest of the team broke trail part of the way up Gleannn na Sguaib (they didn't get too far), I took the bike for a Jantastic spin, exploring the coast road North of Ullapool. I was treated to rolling hills and stunning views like this one across Loch Broom.

Suilven's western peaks. Where's Wally?

By Wednesday I was getting my mojo back, so I joined the team on a bike/hike mission in to Scotland's most striking mountain- the lovely Suilven.  It was a big day, and the conditions were interesting with plenty of exposure on the snowy ledges along the ridge.

Bone Caves of Inchnadamph

Thursday was thawing badly and we all needed a rest so we sauntered up to the Bone Caves of Inchnadamph for a spot of speleology and botanising, followed up by tea and cake in the cafe above Northwest Outdoors (recommended).

Above the Inversion on Beinn Dearg

On friday things got very good.  We battered our way in the Gleann na Sguaib, following the trail broken by many hapless folk over the week.  None had made it beyond the final lochain, but we soon found that the snow thinned towards the bealach and before long we were stood in the mist contemplating the final snowy cone to the summit of Beinn Dearg. Miraculously, the mists parted as we climbed, and we were soon above an incredible inversion!

Scrambling on Stac Pollaidh

On saturday it was back to the clag, and a soggy scramble along the ridge on Stac Pollaidh.  We baulked at the final technical section to the summit, which looked horrible- something to come back for on a dry day!

Lonely and lost

 Finally there was yesterday.... I should have been resting but I was up early for a bike/slog back up on the the Beinn Dearg ridge to retrieve my lost ice axe. Doh! 

41 Things

I must be having a midlife crisis. Not only have I signed up to some crazy internet fitness thing (Jantastic), but I just wrote a list. Not a bucket list exactly, but definitely a list.  Last year I turned 40.  It was an improbable birthday, I saw it as an achievement just getting there, and to celebrate I went climbing in Morocco with Wally.  At the time, that seemed like enough, but friends asked me if I had a list of things for my 40th year, as this seems to be all the rage with milestone birthdays....and initially I recoiled at the thought.  Bucket lists have always seemed a bit greedy, tick lists a little anal. Don't get me wrong, I seek adventure and set myself targets, but I'm not a list maker. Until this morning. When, on a whim, I asked myself, if I had 40 things I'd like to do this year, what would they be? And I wrote a list...just for fun you understand....  Then  I added one more  because technically this is my 41st year...

And I thought- why not try and do some of these? Can I achieve all of them? The list is pretty long, but not everything on it is huge- but there are some things on there that feel massive, and it probably won't be possible to fit them all in to a busy year.  But I'm going to have fun trying. The rules are that it has to be done in 2015.. so I'd better get cracking as I've missed a month already.

The Jantastic thing is ticking along, and so far I've not regretted signing up, although I had a wobble last week when I struggled to fit bike rides in amongst big hill days.  Yesterday I had a miserable and short box-ticking ride in the Pentlands, just to make my minimum for the week.  Today I remembered what it was all about and grabbed a couple of hours in the sun on my bike up in the hills. It was great to put in a few km and spinning my legs felt easy. Next month Jantastic ramps it up with some minimum workout distances.  I'm preparing for some longer rides and looking forward to a bit more daylight to do them.

Dumyat Navigation Coaching

Yesterday afternoon I was out in the Ochils doing a bit of Nav coaching for some friends. It was super cold in the wind, but beautiful weather with superb visibility. Perhaps not ideal conditions for learning navigation techniques, but the terrain is a perfect mix of accessibility and contours. Great views of Stirling and the Trossachs too!

The Wallace Monument, Stirling and the central belt. 

Enjoying the view from the top of Dumyat.

Ski Arran

Hen's Teeth..... Tigers in Africa..... Snow days on Arran are pretty rare, and ptarmigan sightings are even more elusive.  With tales of bottomless snow drifts on the hill and also a reliable ptarmigan report, Wally and I met up with Zabdi from Flying Fever this morning and donned our skis at the top of the String...

Skinning across the plateau towards Beinn Nuis

Not Ptarmigan- Red Grouse.  Close... but...

Once we had crossed the plateau, Wally and Zabdi played around on their skis in the deeper steeper stuff, while I went for a sprackle amongst the rocks to see if I could find any evidence of ptarmigan.  No joy unfortunately but it was really just an excuse to get out....  On the way back I fell in every drainage ditch I could find and face planted every 100m or so.  Skiing is hard...and I have a lot to learn.

Three days up West...

What a fantastic cold spell of weather we are enjoying!  It's a cliche, but when Scotland is like this there is nowhere better. Wally and I managed to coincide with the fantastic conditions this weekend, firstly for a two day MRT course on Avalanche Rescue in Fort William/Aonach Mor, and then a little jolly,  reminding ourselves how the touring skis work on Rannoch Moor.

On the subject of avalanches, the snowpack is a little spicy at the moment despite the settled conditions, with cross loading on a variety of aspects.  Always check the Avalanche Forecast before heading out. It sounds obvious, but be sure to read the text as well as looking at the "pizza of doom"- there is generally essential information tucked in there that will help you stay out of trouble.

Good conditions for Avalanche Rescue training on Aonach Mor.

Skiing the West Highland Way on Rannoch Moor.

This might be heaven.

Jantastic

Happy New Year!  It's 2015, and at this time of year we are bombarded with new years resolutions which can feel a bit wearing after a while. Normally I tend to avoid this sort of stuff like the plague, and if I do subscribe to a notion of self improvement, its privately and with a dose of personal guilt and psychological lashings, plus generally I never make it past the end of the first month. This year, I'm doing things slightly differently, and I'm first of all going to apologise for adding to the seasonal burden of enthusiastic "New year, new you" blogging. A friend has persuaded me to sign up to the Jantastic challenge, a three month extravaganza of enforced exercise and personal goal setting.  It is mildly competative, and more so if like me, you join a team. My initial reaction was admittedly fairly negative, but I agreed to take part as I am constantly impressed by my friend's willpower, and as a mate, I'd like to support her considerable efforts to improve her personal fitness. Besides, when I think about it, although I'm relatively active and fitter than many people, I'm still a long way off my ideal fitness target and there is plenty I'd like to achieve this year that won't be possible without some additional physical effort.

I've set my goals for the first month pretty low, at two workouts a week- its hard to find the energy to exercise when you already spend several days a week on the hill (please Jantastic, next year will you include "walking" as an accepted form of exercise?). I gave up running a few years ago after my poor knees begged me to stop, so my chosen workout is on the bike.  It's already paying off. Yesterday I dragged myself out in dodgy weather and with the tail end of a cold for a quick 10km around my local woods.  I'd never have left the sofa if Jantastic hadn't made me. Today was a good day, so a longer 30km mountain bike ride, and I'm feeling very satisfied. I exercise a lot, but if Jantastic makes me move my body even more, I'm only going to benefit. Plus I have some long term goals, such as putting in bigger distances on my bike, (I find long rides very hard work), and perhaps a cheeky little tour or two.

I actually love riding my bike on Arran. The hills may be brutal, but you get views like this:

Jantastic isn't for everyone, the run/bike/swim options are restrictive, and it would be great if it could be extended to walking, kayaking and other outdoor sports. But if you enjoy these activities it could be for you. Our team is made up of a cross section of people that includes some talented athletes, and folk who are looking to lose weight and turn their health around. I guess I'm somewhere in the middle of all that, but we have all set our own goals and every time we move, we win. If you want a bit of inspiration, check out this wee vid from a hero of mine, Will Gadd. (I've noticed the vid doesn't work on some android devices- if you have problems accessing it, try this link to the Youtube site: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCpowcXopKE)