Four New Things - Part Four

Any morning like this is going to be special.  We'd paid our dues over the previous three days, taking the weather on the chin, making the most of the cards we'd been dealt and now we'd been promised a cloudless sky and plummeting temperatures.  That was going to make things pretty special.

But going to a new mountain?  That's what makes a day really special.  Around every corner lurks something new, yet another view to etch itself forever in your mind's eye.  Adventure.

But there's more.  Today's objective was the mysterious, legendary Creag Meagiadh.  Renowned for it's impeccable ice climbing but notoriously fickle and avalanche prone, none of us had climbed there, but we'd all yearned for it for a long time.

We could see our route glinting at us from miles away, beckoning us, tickling that urge within us.  We were powerless to resist.

It delivered everything it promised from afar.

And as perfect a day in the mountains as you could ask for

Four New Things - Part Three

Today a new mountain. Carried effortlessly past the early morning ski staff by the Aonach Mor gondola, you could be forgiven for thinking we'd gone for some convenience cragging. Not for us, the easy life though, no. With compasses in hand we swam through thick cloud to reach Aonach Mor's baby sister, ever hopeful that we'd be greeted with ribbons of ice. Instead we were mocked by enormous lumps of windslab snow, threatening to pounce on any climber foolhardy enough to approach them. Foiled again.

Four New Things - Part Two

Bad weather continuing in the Highlands, we decided to try our arm at a crag we've never been to before.  The gloom of high temperatures and rain showers can always be pushed aside by the anticipation of what this new venue might hold...

Quite often in Scotland, you'll walk through a damp swamp safe in the knowledge that the snow will still be clinging defiantly to the crag.  Sometimes you just have to hope...

...And sometimes there's just nothing to climb when you get there.  What does one do at this point?  It's only about 7 in the morning and you're now wide awake.  You can stomp off in a grump, or if you're a keen bean try and find some outrageous upside-down rock to cling on to.  If, like me, you're a learner driver, you can just get back in the car and go and practice your driving.  Up the highest road in Britain.

Those hills you can see in the distance are on the Isle of Skye.  This is the best place EVER to go and practice your hill starts.

Well, not according to the authorities.  Whoopsies:

Four New Things - Part One

The highlands have seen an outrageous amount of snow this year, which is bad for climbing, but great for skiing. Having never really used skis (silksworth dry slope doesn't really count) I've been a bit afraid to invest the time/money in starting out. Turns out there's a good way to learn without putting up with the queues:

If you want to ski down a hill...

You should ski up it first