Mountain Sit Rep

ARCTIC GREENLAND - The view from Korsbjerge, 1400m Regular readers of my blog you just may have picked up on the fact that I love wild, cold and snowy mountain ranges. These...

Welsh 3000ers Record - Write up to follow soon... Stats: Welsh 3000ers 16/5/19 start 0900hrs 35.35km 4h10m48s Snowdon 0 Carnedd Ugain 05.20 Crib Goch 09.44 (15.04) Blaen-y-nant...

Kirrie Hill - Ivor and I had a very pleasant morning sport climbing in the sun at Kirrie Hill, Kirriemuir today. It’s a very sheltered crag and a real sun trap. The natu...

The upper hand. - I’m rock climbing close to the Pyrenees in Catalonia at the moment. The elevation and the spring time add to the clear and fresh feel. The climbing conditi...

Winter! - The cornice picture! Even in poor snow years impressive features can form. I took this shot of fellow avalanche forecaster Graham Moss in early February....

Season’s End - Hopes for good late season conditions were thwarted by another major thaw in March. By way of compensation, a heavy snowfall in the Cairngorms followed by ...

Vlog #14 Motivation to train - A vlog on how I motivate myself to train. It’s pretty simple. Dave MacLeod My book - 9 out of 10 climbers make the same mistakes

Winter Traverse conditions back again! 23 January 2019 - Heads up to all Traverse aspirants that the Cuillin Ridge is in full winter condition and that progress is comparatively fast. Blips of freeze thaw have le...

It all came together on The Hoarmaster and The Message - When it all comes together there really is nowhere else I would rather be winter climbing than Scotland. Even if that does mean another trip to the ever-re...

Sublime on Solitaire - Haven't blogged in quite a while but today was so good I've got to put some pics up: Its getting tough to find routes Claire hasn't done as we've been hitti...

Synergy Guides - Vertical Fever is no longer – come visit our new site here: https://synergyguides.com/

Gift Boxes Now Available - ...

Winter climbing courses 2019 - We are looking forward to the winter climbing season of 2019 and we hope you are too, we are also looking forward to seeing some of our regular customers c...

Laying some demons to rest - Sat in the passenger seat of Tony’s car, I asked him the geeky question of what was his favourite route of the trip. He then bounced the same question bac...

Cape Wrath return - Getting home from Durness might be the trickiest part of this wonderful trip. Try these links before you travel. Fortunately, I imposed on a good friend to...

Training and Exploring - With more ankle surgery on the horizon in August I've been trying to get fitter in the hope I recover quicker so last week I headed up North Buttress with ...

Scrabble - *Scrabble* Our eyes met. Neither moved. Slowly the slender leg of the heron reached forward and delicately stepped closer to the water. Still our eyes lo...

End of the Blog - This is just to say that while the pages here will continue to exist, I will no longer be publishing anything. Feel free to view the past posts but for no...

Antarctic Expeditions 2017/18 - ALE's Union Glacier Camp is up and running for the 2017/18 season so time for an overview of this years Antarctic & South Pole Expeditions. Alongside the u...

Eventful so far! - So the first half of 2017 has been pretty awesome so far, and super eventful to say the least. I think the best way to show what I’ve been up to is throug...

Summer so far... (Part 2) - Back from Skye I was back with Alan Halewood on a very busy SPA Assessment. Kingussie was our venue for personal climbing followed by a day in Glen Nevis...

Grand Rocheuse N Face and a little more - Following the excellent climb with Uisdean, Keith arrived for a solid week in the mountains allowing little room for a break. Day 1 resurrected a love for ...

Manchester University Mountaineering Club winter courses weekend 2017. - Well the snow returned in Glencoe right on que this weekend. We were working with twenty two keen students from MUMC on their annual winter safety and skil...

Winter so far.... - The winter might have been slow to start this year, with limited snow and too much warm weather, but that hasn't stopped us. We have been as busy as ever a...

Indian Himalaya, Miyar Valley Expedition -

Jordan - My first visit to Jordan was through a work trip for a project set up between the UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) and the Jorda...

Possibilities - For an avid winter climber like me, Autumn is always a time of possibilities. The reality of course is that proper winter conditions are a long way off, b...

James Edwards (1976-2016)... - It was during the summer that I learnt of the death of James Edwards following a fall hillwalking on Ruadh Stac Mor. He was in the remote area of Fisherf...

Westonbirt Masterpieces - Not my pictures but the incredible trees - mainly Acers that were in full Autumn display today at Westonbirt Arboretum http://www.forestry.gov.uk/westonbir...

Busy day on the Aonach Eagach - Quite a few teams making the best of the decent conditions and last of the summer daylight days today in Glencoe. A pleasant dry day if a little greasy und...

Catch up - After injuring my finger last November, it has been struggling to recover fully. I've had time out climbing, but it just doesn't feel right. So I've take...

Thursday 12th March 2015 Intro to winter climbing - Been working in the North West highlands for Martin this last week...

NEW BLOG - I have recently been working on a new website and blog. You can find the new blog, with all of the old posts on this blog, here: http://www.expeditionguide...

Scottish Summer but Still Winter in the shade! - Back in Scotland working on a 5 day Intro to Winter Climbing course for Mountain Magic, www.mountainmagic.co.uk Blue Skies, no wind, warm sunshine but fort...

17-02-16, Aonach Eagach, Glen Coe - Winter Mountaineering - After a mini thaw, wet, stormy weather of yesterday, lush weather has resumed today in Glen Coe. Aonach Eagach was in a fine winter condition, some new s...

Glenshee intro - Today Ana and I decided to try ski touring together in Glenshee. I had my touring ski's for a bit but Ana bought them at the end of last season. Here is An...

- Sorry, we're not here any more. We've moved to - http://www.abacusmountainguides.com/blog Make sure you bookmark the new page. Mike

America - Swimming with dolphins, meeting the Queen, falling in love, standing on the moon. Everyone seems to be talking about "bucket lists" nowadays. If a climber ...

Goodbye Apple Mountaineering, hello West Coast Mountain Guides - Running Apple Mountaineering up until now has been good fun, and an interesting learning curve, and it will be a bit of a shame to sideline it, however, ...

Orkney ‘Sea Stacks and Sea Cliffs’ trip 2015 - We had another great trip exploring the sea cliffs of Orkney recently. We climbed on Orkney itself, South Ronaldsay, Hoy and the Caithness coast. Lots of...

FUNdas, Assessments and Training oh my! - After a blustery flight to Kirkwall on Thursday morning I have been busy with work in the Islands two main climbing walls. Some PPE inspections and meeting...

Sochi - photoblog! - Andy hasn't got a computer with him out in Russia - so here's some pics to whet your appetite for when he gets back and writes up the trip……. Today the ice...

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