Exciting times around Chamonix

Well, what fun, but the weather has been a bit bad out here, with huge lenticular clouds over Mont Blanc, lots of fresh snow which is great for making the photos overexposed and good too for the mountains and glaciers and the world in general. For Mountain Guides and our clients it means we have to navigate and change plans and try our best to find good, interesting and safe things to do..Its been a wonderful week in the mountains and here are some photos of climbing and scrambling between France, Switzerland and Italy... Brabra and Colin on Arete d'Laurance in high winds. Then one photo of us sfaely back at the Col superior Le Tour after navigating and over the Plateau du Trient and attempting the Aig du Tour. Finally a shot on the summit of the Gran Paridiso, with the Matterhorn visible in the back ground....

More Photos of Chamonix

Mike and Duncan here climbing last week!

A weeks guiding in Chamonix, France.

What a wonderful time we have had in Chamonix last week, the weather was a bit unpredictable but still we got lots done, including Crevasse rescue skills in the rain, to some wonderful rock climbing and ascents of the Gran Paridiso in Italy, Arete des Cosmiques, L'Index ,Tour Ronde, and the Table couloir on the Aig du Tour. We got caught in a storm there and one picture shows Mike climbing the final moves to the summit.

Cullins of Skye

What amazing weather Skye has had, its been dry there for over 7 days now! The Midges are out in force though but still they are not so bad on the mountains but a drag in the evening when you are cooking and lazing around the camp site! Here are photos of West Buttress on Sgurr Mhic Choinnich. This is a wonderful scramble with couple of steeper pitches where rock climbing skills are useful. We assisted in a rescue off a near by route and the Stornaway Coast Guard helicopter, piolets, winch men and crew plus of course the Skye Mountain Rescue team, who were all efficient and professional with this very complex and technical rescue and the casualy was in good hands and was soon, splinted up, tucked up warmly and secure on the streatcher and whisked away to the hospital.

Yesterday, we were still keen to climb although we were still a bit over whelmed with the complexities of the rescue so did a fantastic classic route on Western Butress of Scron Na Chiche, which is on the right- hand side of the Cioch . We did Mallory's Slab and Groove, a "very difficult" and really superb with some tricky route finding and wondefully exposed sitations.

Cairngorm Days

We have had interesting weather here in Aviemore, from cold misty days to really sunny beach weather. This allows for a fantastic mix of activities from Navigation courses, Mountain Biking and adventures on the rivers and lochs! We have all been having great time as you can see from the photos.

Rope Access day in Aberdeen

As an independant assessor for the Industrial Rope Access Trade Association ( IRATA) - Sandy was carrying out assessments at TRAC INTERNATIONAL in Aberdeen today, everyone passed! Francois Botha was the trainer and Mike Brushneen shadowed my assessmnet... The lucky candidates were: Jay Devine, Scott Barnett and Miguel Dos Santos Miranda... well done guys!