Mont Blanc Summit

Ewan (Team Ascent Guide) with Kit and Martin on the summit.

Wonderful views

Looking down to the Aig du Midi.

Another Mont Blanc week with Kit and Martin being guided by Ewan all week. The weather has been reasonable in Chamonix, so a fantastic effort by all.. congratulations! Details of all our trips and private guiding can be found on http://www.teamascent.co.uk/

Climbing at Logie head

Rainbow at Glenmore

Climbing on the stack, Logie Head

Andy on the main wall at Logie Head

Yesterday the weather was perfect at the coast so we did some nice climbs. My arms are still incredibly weak from the Haimalaya but they are bound to improve soon, or perhaps I have to accept that I am just a hopeless rock climber! Today the weather was more than wet, but I did get a nice photo of rainbow over Glenmore .

Creag Dubh again

Och well, Joe and I went back there this evening but after a few glasses of Bordeaux Rose ( 2007!!) with our evening meal we were prudent and climbed "Brute" a one star VS. T. Sullivan and N. Collingham did the first acsent in October 1959.

Creag Dubh, Newtonmore, Scotland, third rock from the sun!

" King bee" direct HVS 5a. The normal non direct route goes at VS and was first climbed by D. haston, J. Moriarity and A. Ewing in 1965, I am not sure who first led the direct route over the small overhang - had better find out!

Andy leading Inbred: a four star HVS first climbed by D. Haston and T. Gooding in 1964

The top pitch of Inbred.

With more than a 100 routes of up to 100 meters in length it's said that Creag Dubh is the finest crag in Scotland. Only 5 kilometers from my back door the horizontal stratified mica schist gives steep and exposed climbing on well spaced with often hard to obtain protection. It's exhilarating and more often than not, quite scary. My Naga Parbat high altitude weakened arms were suffering today!

Arete des Cosmiques, Chamonix, France

A few more photos from last week in Chamonix.

L'Index

Some images from mountain guiding around Chamonix

Alpine days

Aig. du Chardonnet, the Forbes Arete climbs the skyline ridge from left to right.

Crevasse rescue training: Shane hauling Neil from a crevasse on the glacier du Tour

Neil, Sandy and Shane on the Aig du Tour

Mountain Guiding in Europe

The Italian side of Mont Blanc from The Gran Paridiso

Stevie and Vinny in the summit of the Gran Paridiso

The North face is still in good condition and if you enlarge the photo ( click on it!) you will see a guide with his clients on the climb.

I have not updated the old blog for a while, although i have been guiding a lot. I seem to forget my camera on a regular basis, however my brain must be recovering from climbing above 8000 meters with out oxygen and the other day I remebered to pack my Olympus! Here are Stevei and Vinny in Italy!