Today we summited Narnia. Well ok it was a mountain called Ben Narnian, however I am assured that its pronounced Narnia.

We arrived back at the Arrocher car park for anther early start. Sarah had decided to come join us and wanted to navigate the way up. As we blasted our way back up the forest tracks I began to curse the zigzags. Honestly I'm sure they get longer every day! Anyway long story short we beasted our back to the weir, then along to Narnian Boulders. From there we boshed our way cross country and stated navigating our way up a gully line to the bealach. The snow was a bit wet and it was very hard work making our way up. 

After some time spent finding our way through a boulder field and round little craggy out crops we finally reached the bealach. From here it was a simple case of walking on a bearing and heading up hill. Or not. we ended up traversing below a crag line, squeezing through a gap under some boulders and finally topping out up a fun little gully. 

We topped out into the white box. That is to say the visibility was very poor and the wind blowing a hoolie. Fun Scottish times. After a bit of faffing around we headed off to find the summit trig point. After a hasty summit selfie we all turned tail and ran away. 

Ok we didn't run away. We took a careful bearing from the map, then retraced our footsteps to the bealach (descending the gully was a bit fun). From here we took another bearing down the ridge and headed off, still hoping to make Arrocher in time for tea and cake. Once we reached slushy, wet snow again it was time to take crampons off and get down the slope in the best way possible. BUM SLIDE!

From the valley floor it was a case of retracing our path back down the forrest track. I can't stress enough how glad I am not be to going back on that track for a while. 

Unfortunately I'm heading back down South for 10 days so no more blog updates till I'm back in the land of Bonnie Scotland. Cheerio for a while. 

Hmmm.... where to start. I did not want to get out of bed. Hearing the alarm was horrific. However after snoozing for a short while I realised the error of my ways, coffee was the answer. 

After dosing myself up with caffein life was better. We jumped in the cars with our new dry kit (we used the cottages tumble dryer last night) and zoomed round to Arrocher. 

Arrocher has a very expensive car park, but being good people we put our £1 into the machine for the days parking. The most worrying think was the line of seaweed that marked the high tide line. It was the wrong side of the car park. So we headed off wondering if we would ever see our cars again.

We made our way through the forest along the track. It was super fast. For once Sue, Nick, Tom and I were all racing along in just T-shirts! Nick was over the moon because for once it wasn't raining on us.

Anyway we motored along the path between Ben Narnian and the Cobbler. The sun was glinting off the fresh deposits of powder on the Cobbler as we made our way to the bealach between; the Cobbler, Ben Narnian and Beinn Ime. 

As we started the assent of Beinn Ime the clag came in and we were engulfed in a proper Scottish winter day. That is to say there was no visibility. Once again snow and sky had merged into one. Up and down eluded us, and we stepped forward the ground would rise up to meet our feet at an alarming rate. Depth perception was nil. 

Upon summiting it was decided that we should simply "get out of dodge" and we turned tail and headed off the mountain. What had taken us an hour and a quarter to get up took a speedy 30min to descend.  

We dropped below cloud level and the valleys opened up before us. Stunning. It was a simple and fast bosh back to the car (although I'm fairly sure that someone added some zigzags to the forrest track while we were up the mountain).

We got off the hill for 4pm. Time for Tea and Cake at the Tarbet Hotel on route back to the Cottage. A superb day out.

The weekend was spent at Glenmore Lodge as a participant at the Mountain Training Association’s Winter Continual Professional Development weekend. It was interesting and the cake was included in the price. Enough said about that.

Last night (Sunday) Tom, Nick, Sarah, Sue and I all travelled from Aviemore to Crianlarich. Here we have taken a self-catering cottage for a very reasonable price.

After a late arrival last night (due to snow) we decided on a later start up Ben Vorlich in the Arrocher Alps.

We bought all the maps of the area in the local Londis (4) then off we trotted up the hill. The Avalanche forecast for today was dire. Almost all slopes were out of the question except for South and South East aspects. That said Ben Vorlich has a long and undulating ridgeline that runs on a South/South East bearing so we went and had a look.

We micro navigated our way up to the ridge then along to the summit. It was pretty grim if I’m honest. It rained heavily. There was a lot of snow on the ground and most of it was heavy and wet from the rain and a higher than predicted freezing point. However we made our way to the trig point then a further 150m to the Summit proper. Last time I was up on Ben Vorlich I didn't get to the summit (the trig point isn't the summit!).

Visibility was a bit short and time was against us, so we made the decision simply to retrace our footsteps and thus cut down on unnecessary navigation. Consequently we made a record time to the end of the ridge. It was then a case of slipping and sliding our way down the sodden heather to the access road.

As we reached the Cars by the power station on the banks of Loch Lomond full dark was setting in. Another Quality day on the Mountains.    

After the long day out on Lochnagar it was a mad dash by Sarah and I back to Ballater in a successful attempt to buy maps of the Southern part of the Cairngrom plateau. Lee, Nick, Sarah and I had an epic 3 day bothy trip planned. Unfortunately my driving had given Sarah a serious bout of travel sickness (It was a long and very windy road), but after a little while breathing the crisp highland air she returned to something like her usual self.

We took a more leisurely drive over to Breamar to meet up with the others, where we ate dinner, packed expedition packs and wound up in the pub getting the latest weather and avalanche forecasts. Finally at about 8:30ish we drove over to Lin of Dee to set off to the Bob Scott bothy by Derry Lodge to spend the night. 

Lee (the man with the plan) assured us that the bothy was a short 30min walk away so we sett off with good gusto, looking forward to an evening playing Uno in the Bothy. Tom joined us for the walk in and to spend the night at the bothy just to play the game!

Unfortunately 2hours later we were still searching for the Bothy. It was pitch black. The house at the grid reference that we had for the bothy was, in fact, the ranger post. Nick had braved a gnarly river crossing to check it out. We ended up finding the bothy at midnight. It was a very nice place to spend an evening, shame we had walked past it at 11. As it was we didn't play Uno, we all simply crashed out on the sleeping platforms after a bit of polite conversation with the chap who was already set up for the night. 

Tuesday morning dawned bright and blowy. From inside the snug bothy we could see the trees taking a battering from the wind. At this point Lee decided to join Tom in the walk out and went back to bed. Nick, Sarah and I decided to stick to the plan to get up Derry Cairngorm, over the Bealach at Macdui and down to Corrour Bothy. 

It was a walk in the park (literally) to the summit of Derry Caringorm. However from when we left the summit things got interesting. After leaving Derry Cairngorm we didn't get another view till we were defending into the Lairig Ghru. Exhilarating. 

Navigating in a complete whiteout is challenging. On top of this we were being hit by very strong winds. It was a less than pleasant experience. 

That all said and done it was a fun experience (for me) and a terrifying experience for others in the party. But we made it down to the base of the Lairig Ghru before nightfall. 

I have never been so glad to see a building as when I saw the Corrour Bothy. What I wasn't so pleased to see where the 7 people who had got there first. Corrour Bothy is a small bothy. It would fit inside most front rooms. Its sleeping platforms hold 4 (if you are very cosy). All 10 of us literally covered every inch of floor space. 

The guys already at the bothy were very, very nice. Tea was handed out before we could even take our boots off. They really were very welcoming. 

It was a warm night and for some reason everyone was in bed by 7pm! We slept a flu 12 hours not getting up till Sarah's alarm viciously dragged me from my slumbers. We had planned a long day for Wednesday stopping at another Bothy that night, however one look out the window at the 3inches of fresh snow put a stop to all thoughts of new summits. Besides, we were all shattered and soaked after the day before. We decided to walk back to the cars. 

Sounds simple. The thing is that Corrour Bothy to Lin of Dee is a long old walk. Not high, just long. By the time we made it back to the vans I was ragged and looking forward to a day off in Aviemore.

Despite my protestations that I would have a day off, I didn’t. After a few hours relaxing in coffee shops in Aviemore, and a look at the weather forecast (just to make sure) I was convinced to head up an “easy”, “Roadside” Munro with Sue and Nick. It was to be a relaxing day practicing navigation. It was an “easy bag”.

So I agreed. At an ungodly hour my alarm went off and I dressed and went to meet Sue for a day on Meall Chuaich.

And it was. We measured our paces and worked out slop angles and practiced our timings. All important stuff to practice. Anyway we popped up the Munro navigating our way to the summit. All too often it’s easy to fall in to the trap of following the path or just heading “up” till you reach the summit.

The summit was a wind blasted plateau with a massive cairn at the top. The cairn looked spectacular coated in its rime ice. (Rime ice is super cooled moisture particles in the air that freeze on impact with a surface).

From the Summit we decided not to re trace our steps, but instead to head straight off the side of the hill till we reached the quad bike track that the estate’s beaters used.

An hour later we were back at the car, just as heavy snow started to fall. It was a jolly good day out! “Off the Hill for Tea and cake at 4 o’clock” as a national outdoor centre would say.

After a lazy day visiting coffee shops and borrowing wifi we planned a day climbing and mountaineering in Lochnagar.

We decided that the conditions were favourable to climb The Black Spout on Lochnagar so headed off to Breamar for the night. Lee, Tom and Nick went off to try and find a bunkhouse in Breamar, while Sarah and I decided to head round to Loch Muick to park up at the start of the route for the night. A short while later the boys all turned having failed to find a reasonable priced bunkhouse. Car camping it was. 

The next morning we set off on the long walk in to Lochnagar. Its a very long walk to Lochnagar. After about 2hours of slogging along a 4x4 track we cut cross country to and found ourself at the loch at the bottom of Lochnagar (confusingly both the mountain and the loch are called Lochnagar). 

We had to wade through knee deep powder snow to reach the bottom of The Black Spout, once in the Spout however, the snow transformed into bullet hard nevé. 

Towards the top of the route it steepened up and was closer to grade 2 ground than grade 1. It was fantastic! Sarah did extremely well getting up and refused offers of ropes or pre kicked steps. I was very proud.

After a successful day out with Sue and Sam yesterday we headed back up to the Cairngorm Ski Centre car park. It was simply grim. Sue and I jumped into Sam's van to discuss the options for the day. As we sat there the van shook in the  wind and part of the camper van next to us blew off and hit the van.

We ran away.

At the lower ski car park we went for a walk to practice kicking steps, cutting steps, building snow anchors, digging snow shelters and looking at wildlife. It was a fun day but cold and wet. It was so horrid I was actually happy to sit in an emergency snow shelter and get out of the wind and griness.. We walked off the hill for about 4pm and retreated to the Active Cafe in Aviemore. 

This morning Sue and I met up with Sam Leary an MIC friend of hers. We were heading in to do some winter walks/climbs in the northern corries. It was snowing heavily as we walked it. So we had lots of discussions of the snow, wind, and aspects. Anyway, after the usual walk in we had a look at the slopes and decided on Aladdin's Mirror. Off I plodded, kicking massive steps up the the route. It was a fun route with Sue and Sam following up in my steps. 

There was a fun traverse and an interesting step round a boulder then it was bosh, bosh, bosh up to Aladdin's seat. Fantastic. Really really enjoyable! 

We then down climbed Aladdin's Couloir. 

After returning to the bottom for a bite of lunch. we decided to climb up the Goat Track and nav round the top then down to the Ski centre. 

The Goat Track really was a climb. It was banked out and steep in snow. We topped out through a hole in the cornice (which someone else had nicely cut for us). 

Again sorry about the lack of photos, I simply forgot. 

Last night we decided to save £20 a piece and Tom, Sarah, Lee and I decided to spend the night in Rovan Bothy. Its as short 45min walk in and a pleasant little shelter. Bothies are free huts maintained by volunteers in remote and wild locations of Scotland. Have a google and look at them.

Anyway we wandered in and were the first there. Result! We pottered around the little house and lit our candles and made dinner. It was very pleasant. We played several hours of Uno. I won. Later that night more people stumbled in found places to sleep on the floor. 

In the morning we had an early start then headed back out to Glenmore. Outside the Bothy we found some poor sods who had turned up even later and had been forced to camp outside. Fortunately they had a tent. 

We jumped in the cars then headed up to the ski century car park. After a speedy gear up we boshed into Corie an t'Sneachda.  

Tom and I roped up started up Aladdin's Couloir while Sara and Lee followed up after us. It was a fantastic rout in perfect condition. Tom and I reached the top and decided to down climb the route and head round to Hidden Chimney. 

Tom led up Hidden Chimney Direct while I dutifully followed up afterwards. Superb. I don't have any photos as they are all on the GoPro. I still can't get the photos of the Gopro. 

All in all a fantastic day out.

Lee, Sarah and I decided attempt to get to Bidean nan Bian on the Three Sisters of Glencoe (a lot of sisters in the Highland Mountains). So we thought we would make things interesting by going up The Zigzags on Geàrr Aonach then up to Stob Corie nan Lochan.

Sarah and I decided to sleep at the start point the night before to allow a bit of a lie in before starting off (just one advantage of being based in a van). The walk in was interesting, it was my first time walking in to this part of Glencoe. Very dramatic. The Zigzags are a classic grade 1 winter climb. If I'm honest I wasn't very impressed. while the views were dramatic the route as a slight let down, being nothing more challenging than an easy summer scramble. The three of us decided that a bit of alternative route finding was needed to spice up the excitement, we finished up a fun snow gully but ended up coming on to the shoulder further up than the actual route.

At this point the route became spectacular. Tramping over virgin neve we headed along the shoulder and up the dramatic ridge to the summit of Stob Corie nan Lochan. The ridge proved to have a couple of cheeky rock steps and steep snow sections which provided a bit of excitement. Again this was another day of stunning views over the Highlands. Unfortunately my photos are all still on my GoPro. Hence the lack of photos in this blog. They will follow.

As we reached the summit of Stob Corie nan Lochan the weather started to turn. I was pretty shattered by this point and Sarah was beginning to get quiet so we decided to complete the traverse and miss off Bidean nan Bian. (Its a massive mountain, it will always be there for another day).

The second half of the traverse was quick but fun. A worthwhile route! The most disappointing thing is the looooooong walk out. From the Corrie basin it took us an hour of relentless downhill slog to get back to the car. We were fit to drop, in fact I did, I took a bit of a tumble on the wet rocks of the path and bruised my hand and leg and grazed my arm. Ouchie! Once back at the vehicles we retired to the Clachaig Inn for hot chocolate and to meet up with Tom another friend/instructor who had been having a day off.

Fantastic day out.