A fine ski-touring day on Cairn Gorm

 Wonderful weather, chilly but sunny on the tops.  

Skinning up above the ski area

Alma at the Cairn Gorm 

Wonderfull vies over the corries

The was some nice snow as we skied off the summit back towards the piste

Family day on the e-bikes

Even mountain guides take the occasional day off... a super day with Alma, Cara and Dave on the local forrest trails;

The occasional showers of rain on our nice 37 km round trip and light lunch at the Boathouse restaurant, Loch Insh.

Chamonix off piste and ski mountaineering

 A wonderful few days in the mountains. 

The Midi Arete 

Christophe and I discussing when we were younger with dark hair...

Descending the arete

Outstandingly fine conditions

Happy days indeed

Spiral Gully variation - winter climbing in the Cairngorms National Park

There was lots of fresh snow last week with high winds and low temperatures. The granite rocks were plastered with rime ice.

Me topping out, thanks for the photo Keith

Keith in the gully section

Crafty product placement, thanks Gore-tex Eu

 

From Beallach na Ba to Applecross to Torridon

Some fresh snow.

The buttresses are looking a bit more wintry

View to the sea

Beinn Alligin, at 986m, one of the classic mountains of the Torridon Region. Translates from Gaelic to "Mountain of Beauty" or "Jeweled Mountain'

This is Liathach shrouded in mist and snow showers, its 957 m or 6461 feet.  the gaelic translates to 'the hoary place'.  Freezing frost and coldness

 

A brief ski around Chamonix, Mont Blanc.

Thin but nice skiing conditions at Le Tour, Chamonix, Mont Blanc

Alma 

Chamonix

 Glaciers and aretes!

 

Some Scottish winter days , January and February 2023

Alma in Torridon

Creag Dhubh, Beinn Eighe, Torridon

Our dog Kirrie loves the snow.

First steps at winter climbing

Cairngorms

Sara and Oliver, Cairngorms.

 

Blast from the past- time to catch up.

 My apologies, Ive been so lazy with my blog updates.. so I'm refreshed, still busy guiding and mountaineering, enjoying the life and well I guess I needed to take a break from the life of media.  Some close friend passed, some in the mountains some in bed after serious illness!

Even although its so good to share and communicate, with all the wars and earthquakes, us mountaineers seem to live an amazing life with abundant freedom, and sometime I just feel guilty or truly blessed that I have such luck, and a wonderful family and the freedom for much of the time just to go about my wonderful daily life with good health and an open attitude.

So here are some photos from the past little while:

Rick Allen in Chamonix

Andy Nisbet and Steve Perry

Andy Nisbet on one of our last new climbs together, Ben Hope, Scotland

Rick Allan, on our return back to high camp after our first summit attempt on the Mazino Ridge

Me -guiding on the Monch, Switzerland

The Mazino ridge

Doug Scott, our inspiration!