January - Scotland - Lochaber Winter

In the New Year I went up to Scotland with the mountaineering club from Warwick Uni. For the second year in the row we were very lucky with the weather. Almost every day was clear and sunny...but very cold. Great for ice climbing!

We stayed in the Ben Nevis Inn at the bottom of the tourist track up Ben Nevis. But unconsolidated power snow and considerable avalanche risk but the Ben out of conditions. Luckily the cold conditions meant a lot of low level water ice was nicely frozen. Like many other people we managed to bag a rare ascent of Steall Falls in Glen Nevis.

Another highlight of the trip was a days skiing/boarding on Aonach Mor. The snow was pretty good (for Scotland).

Me on pitch three of Steall Falls in Glen Nevis

Panorama looking towards Fort William from Aonoch Mor ski centre

Will on the crux of Twisting Gully (III) in Glen Coe. After the next pitch we bailed due to unconsolidated snow and a big looking cornice.

Amy looking forward to her first ever day of skiiing!

December - Fantastic Welsh Winter!

Before you get too excited, these photos where taken back in December!

As I'm sure you'r aware this winter has been one of the best in recent years. I was lucky enough to be home in North Wales over Christmas the enjoy the great conditions. There are not many places you can spend boxing day winter climbing (Cwm Cneifion) then Christmas day bouldering in a t-shirt (Porth Ysgo)!

Here are a few of the best photos that my self and friends took.

Glyder plateau looking towards Crib Goch and Snowdon

Panorama taken from Crib Goch looking towards Snowdon

Descending crib a Ddysgl after a fantastic winter traverse of Crib Goch

Crib Goch and Snowdon from Glyder plateau

I have my fingers crossed for a return of winter in the coming weeks.

December - Spain - El Chorro

In December I went for a short week of sport climbing in El-Chorro in Spain. It's a fantastic place for warm winter(ish) winter climbing. El-Chorro is located an hours driver north of Malaga in Southern Spain. This year it was colder than it usually is was that time of year. Temperatures were hovering around the 5-10 deggree mark. Warm the the UK but not for Southern Spain, the locals were suffering!

Me redpointing Viejo Traidor 7b+ in Poema De Roca

Strong man Alex Fry flashing Los Zauden 7c in Desplomania

Our super cheap villa even came with a cat!

October 09 - Cratcliffe - Fern Hill

Sorry for the neglect of the blog since the summer. This is party due to laziness and partly the result of juggling the final year of an Engineering degree with a healthy dose of climbing.

Since I'm having a relaxing weekend I thought I would update the blog with some photos. These photos were taken back in October of me climbing the classic Fern Hill E2 5c at Cratcliffe in the Peak District. I was pretty happy with the ascent as past experience has told me that gritstone climbing is not something I excel at! Although I really enjoy it!

The first few moves out of owl gully was the crux, the rest of the route was on relatively positive holds but pumpy. Luckly for me the topout was not a proper grit slopefest! Awesome route.