Festive Beinn Damh

Last post of the year from me, and it's a bit late as I'm updating with some pictures from Beinn Damh on Christmas Eve.  Wally and I spent Christmas in Torridon with our friend Hazel.  The weather was wild and daylight didn't put in much of an appearance, but we snuck a day out between the teeth of the storms and were rewarded with what are currently feel like fleeting wintry conditions and magic views.

Views of Beinn Alligin and Liatach

The craggy flanks of Beinn Damh

Wally looking festively snowy!

As I write this we are in the closing hours of 2015. It's been a spectacular year for us, with Wally joining the business, work for me in Malawi and hundreds of memorable hill days. We'd like to take this opportunity to thank our clients and colleagues for making our jobs so much fun and to wish you all a joyful and mountain filled 2016. Happy Hogmanay!

A Perfect Day

Bit of a late update this due to all sorts of exciting craziness happening with the Wildlife Festival taking up my time. The booking lines, website and leaflet all went live this week. Woohoo.
I still managed to snatch a fantastic day on climbing on the mainland on Tuesday. Heavy snow and strong westerlies limited our venue and route choice but as it turned out it couldn't have been better. We took the gondola up to Aonach Mor and traversed in to the West Face, where we spent a fabulous sunny day climbing Golden Oldie (II). There was still plenty of fresh snow and some ice was in evidence. The warm temperatures meant that the thinnest ice became a little sketchy higher up, but the routes was easy enough. A narrow knife edge with little fragile cornices near the top also made us pause for thought!
The beauty of the day was, with the cable car up and down, it was possible to do a 500m route and still have a little spring in our step when we got down. A beer and dinner with Max, who I haven't seen for ages rounded off a perfect day in the hills.

Summer Arrives for the Outdoor Festival

Perhaps it is true that if you hope for something enough it will come your way. This weekend's festival has been blessed by dry weather (almost) every day. It is Monday evening, and I'm about to go for a well deserved plate of fish and chips at the Pierhead Tavern, but before I do I thought I would post this picture of a group stomping up to the summit of Caisteal Abhail. It is a really exciting summit, with a little clamber to get to the very top, but the views and the sense of achievement make it all worthwhile.

The festival has been brilliant fun, and I have been loving getting out on the hill everyday. Everyone has been really up for it and for me, a big part of the fun has been meeting so many brilliant people who enjoy the outdoors.

Welcome and when will it stop raining?

It has been a damp and dismal few weeks across the whole of the uk, and Arran, sitting in the gulf stream as it is, has endured the worst of the wet weather. Luckily for us we have steep hills and rivers that run off into the sea, and so rarely suffer catastrophic flooding. This may not seem the case to the campers recently airlifted out of Glen Rosa! On a less disastrous level, the weather has hampered a lot of the work up at the Rangers Centre at Brodick Castle. I have been unable to get out and finish a fixed point photography project that I started weeks ago, as there has been so much mist and clag around. Last week's ptarmigan survey was limited due to apalling visibility on the hill which made it unsafe to spread out into a long beating line, instead keeping groups together, and impossible to see any birds with visibility down to a few metres. Some possible signs were discovered, including droppings and feathers, but nothing conclusive. I was up on Goatfell for this survey, with a team consisting of rangers from Glencoe and the Trust's ecologist. It was a great day out, with fantastic folk, but sadly no sign of the elusive ptarmigan.

As the summer season winds down it is a chance for everyone to take stock here, and try and work out whether it has been a good or bad summer overall. My guided walks are slowing down, but I'm still incredibly busy with work, particularly as we are now just days away from the Isle of Arran Outdoor and Walking Festival. This will be four days of guided walks and evening events. If you are interested in taking part, have a look at our website: http://www.arranoutdoorfestival.co.uk