More (wet) Cullin Action

I fished out the oatcake from the camera and found a partially chewed battery that seemed to work so here are some damp pictures to look at from the confines of a warm armchair. It actually wasn't as bad as it was advertised in the weather forecast; the high winds were manageable if you stayed in the lee of the slope but great care was needed with areas of the lighter coloured fine grained rock and we were roped up on sections that we would usually saunter down 'hands in pockets' so to speak.

I'll be in North Wales till midweek next week and then i'm back home to the growing chill of Autumn. This is usually a quieter guiding time and a good time to catch up on the filing cabinet full of admin that has built up. I'm aiming to design a logo and re vamp the website but don't hold your breath; the technological wheels turn slowly in my household.

Skye peaks and thunder!

No pictures i'm afraid as whilst my camera is weather proof it isn't 3 year old proof. He and i have both learned that half an oatcake, whilst it fits nicely into the battery compartment isn't a real substitute for a battery.
The weather has been biblical on Skye this week with a few shifty looking animals lining up two by two... Today we were on the Northern End of the ridge and took it nice and steady on the wet slippy rock. The day had very nasty squally showers come through off the sea and in one hailstone shower a lightening strike struck the North end of the ridge. No where near us fortunately as we were timing our ascents in between the squalls.
We're at the Glen Brittle end tomorrow and hopefully things will be a little calmer. We will see.
I wonder if he preferred the taste of the battery rather than the oatcake? Hmmm, i better ring home and check.

North Wales

I'm currently hiding in Pete's Eats in Llanberiss watching the cars sail passed as the rain lashes down. The person oposite me is wearing a damp t-shirt which declares "Better a wet day on the hill than a sunny one in the office". However he does look thankfull to be drinking his tea in the warm fug of the busy cafe.

The weather in the pass has been very wet and showery for the last few days but as my mandate isn't extreme rock ticking on this trip so it hasn't been much of an issue (other than running out of dry footwear). We've been making use of the bad weather looking at scrambling, bad weather navigation and night navigation techniques big book climbing and crag rescues and rope tricks.

It looks like there is a break in the showers so back out we go....

Cullin ridge Traverse

Finally it has stopped raining and we made a successful traverse this week. The hills were very very quiet; we only met one other traverse party and 2 or 3 other people on the ridge.

We made very quick time on the second day and i was very impressed with Gordon's unflinching ascent of Naismith's route on the Basteir Tooth. This is usually my plan A to get up to the summit; it is the quickest and purest line to take but it is fantastically intimidating to a tired ridge traverser. I haven't made an ascent of it this year on my traverses but Gordon was made of sterner stuff and cruised it with ease.

I'm off to North Wales for a few days before coming back next week.