Coll is a rocky island with some of the best beaches in the UK.  There is a mass of bouldering and a few crags that are worth roping up for…

We climbed a range of quality existing routes and added some new routes, there were, and still are some great unclimbed lines on Coll.  The routes are on perfect quality rock and usually full of interest with a boldish feel!

 New HVS

 FA of the arete of ‘Lost Lands’ E2

New routes in red and the one existing route on the crag in blue

We have just had an awesome stint on Skye!  The weather has been like nothing I can remember, hot and clear with views over the western Isles.  Climbing on crags such as Sgurr Alasdairs South Buttress and being too hot in a t-shirt is new to me…

Amongst the various outings there was an early morning ascent of the Inn Pinn for Skye Guides, Mike Lates, a ‘Classic Rock’ day on the Cioch  Face clocking up 14 stars, a 4 star route on Sgurr Alasdair and a coastal outing at Kilt Rock….

The past few days were Skye at its best, when like this there is probably no better place to be climbing in the world!!!

For the final day with Chris on his ‘Alpine prep’ course we decided to have a more static day focusing on using trad gear to protect a route as all Chris’s previous experience has been on bolted routes.  We had covered plenty of mountain miles over the week so the shorter routes and approach gave us plenty of time to focus on gear and leading.

We headed to Glen Nevis and had another dry and eventually sunny day on the crags.  We climbed various routes in big boots including the Gutter and Pinnacle Ridge.  With lots of focus on gear placements and belay construction Chris went on to make his first few leads on trad gear, finally managing to lead ‘Severe’ in big boots with no drama!

Thanks to Chris for a great course and best of luck with the big plans in the Alps and the very big plan in the Himalayas….

Also below are some photos sent through from Simon and Matt who joined us during the week and had a great day out with Mark on Tower Ridge.  Thanks for the photos and a great day out.

Great on the Ben again today, some cloud about but we were above it most of the day.  Seems there was a lot more moisture in the air though and there had been no overnight freeze so the ice was running with water with lumps coming off now and then.

We changed our plan from Smiths Route and went for a dash up Gardyloo Gully, then looked at snow bollards with an ab into Tower Gully.  We then finish with a couple of pitches of grade III ice just left of Tower Cascade left-hand.

A freeze is now needed to help secure much of the ice that is still about.  Ridges and rock routes were still looking good with fairly dry rock, Centurion has been climbed a few times over the past few days.

Today I was out again with Chris on day 3 of his 5 day Alpine training Course.

Today gave another warm and clear day on the Ben so we decided to do another of the classic ridge/buttress routes and headed for NE Buttress.  We looked over various ways of moving efficiently over this type of ground and at retreat anchors etc.  Again the summit was warm and clear.  Not many out climbing now though, No.2 Gully was climbed and was said to be good.  NE Buttress was also great but is now passable without crampons or axe all the way.

The last few days have been clear, warm and sunny on the Ben.  We have been out doing a mix of rock routes and ice.  There have been teams on the classic rock climbs enjoying warm rock whilst others have been on good ice higher up.

The ice is obviously getting limited but whats there is still good.  Smiths, Tower Cascade and Shot in the Dark have all been climbed over the last few days.  The first pitch of Tower Scoop is now incomplete and seems very unstable and worth avoiding.  The biggest problem currently is ice/rock fall.  There have been some big falls over the last few days, some big lumps came off Tower Cascade Right-hand yesterday as the sun catches the route.  Today a big fall came out of Gardyloo Gully and it was good no one was in there or even in Observatory Gully.  Tower Ridge, Castle Ridge, Observatory Ridge and NE Buttress have all been getting ascents and are mainly passable on rock, definitely still plan to pass some snow though so not time to leave the axe behind yet.

The last few days out have seen the Ben with blue skies and wall to wall sunshine.  The summit temperatures have been incredibly high and climbing on the north side has been warm with short sleeves and no gloves.  There has been a few people out enjoying the weather, some on the classic rocks climbs on warm rock and others on ice.

Ice is now getting limited but whats there is good in places….

Lots of stuff to go at on the Ben, the ice routes are as they were though a bit more solid after colder weather, the fresh snow though has given the whole crag a covering and there is plenty of mixed routes looking good now.  Many people out climbing and looked like a new route possibly going up left of Smiths Route.

We did Tower Ridge which was great and was well snowed up and mixed from the start.  The fresh snow on bare rock below meant it was not in its easiest condition and we climbed many variation pitches out right to pass the crowds….

Well done Jill, great effort for your first 2 winter routes!

There is a full crag shot from yesterday on the Epicentre Facebook page.