West Coast, best coast?!

The Woodland Trust Scotland hope to purchase the 10,000 acre Sheildaig estate, and Donald is interested in this project being an ecologist. I've always wanted to explore this area, so tagged along hoping we might spy some unexplored crags...

The slog..

The weather was great and I did looked longingly at the snow and ski possibilities as we motored through  Achnasheen heading to Torridon.

Finally on the shoulder

We passed Jack and Jenna heading to the Torridon boulders en-route, if we had time we may have stopped off on the way back.

Beinn Alligin behind grumpy (who was now cheery) 

Donald informed me that Sheildaig has a substantial Birch temperate rainforest at sea level, which then blends into the worlds most westerly Caledonian pine wood - impressive.

sorry couldn't lose my shadow

It was very beautiful, the main issue I saw was that Ben Shieldaig is very steep and craggy on 3 sides, with no paths marked on maps, so I wasn't convinced that the exploration walk would be enjoyable.

Beinn Damph

And I was right, well initially! Ben Sheildaig is only 534m high, and the slog up it was awful and hard work, being steep, boggy and overgrown. Donald declared near the top, after a considerable time that he hated walking, and threw his poles away in disgust... eek..

Liathach

At this point I wasn't sure about the success of the day! But luckily we made it onto the broad top, or ridge and moods picked up at this point. Stupendous views to Raasay, Torridon, Applecross and beyond.

The top, although small in height, was large in area and grandeur. Really interesting, with the beautiful loch nan Eun, rock sheets, and glacial erratics to marvel at. We savoured the views before the awful decent! A 5km walk that took 4' 30"!!

Ski Weekend

Bumper snow in the NW of Scotland meant we headed to the East obviously!

mountain closed

reindeer action

But there was a reason for this... Loz fancied another go at ski touring and trying his battered old ski's
again.

happy chappy

Ciste run 1

I hadn't realised that he has quite a ski pedigree, racing as a child, but last year when he tried his free ski's he couldn't ski for toffee on them.. or at least that's what I heard.

man down

winter skills

He got given the touring ski's and skins, but hasn't got any boots, and there are only 2 places in the Highlands that hire boots - Aviemore and Braemar.

quite like this shot.. not sure what he's doing

Ciste run 2 - more aggressive!

Interestingly when he booked the boots to pick up from Aviemore, he enquired about hiring ski's, but they were cagey and reluctant to hire him ski's as the snow cover was quite patchy with limited base so they were very concerned about what state they would come back in.

So I sharpened his ski edges with earnest (and wine) the night before, and he decided to give them another go to see if a) he liked ski touring b) the ski's are okay or for the bin.

Plenty of tourers out

third time up

We headed to Cairngorm mountain. After a coffee skinned up M2 onto the shoulder, passing the reindeer herd on route.  The cloud was sitting on top of the hill most of the day so instead of heading over the back we went round to Ciste Gully. Brilliant snow and skiing with 4-5" of fresh snow on a hard base.

ice station zebra

now he starts to show off. fence jump start

There were lots of folk out, tourers, walkers struggling in the snow drifts, people on winter skills courses. It was great to be out. We did another lap of Ciste Gully, before skinning up a third time and skiing down through the ski run area.

brilliant snow - top half of mt

The Ptarmigan top station is clearly closed due to the funicular being off line this year so it was quiet at the top. They were running skiing only to the mid station, so the whole top half of the mountain was pretty untouched and the ski down in powder was brilliant.

the master (of disaster)

first tracks

We got down at 3.30pm, I wanted to skin up again for another run, but Loz didn't have the legs and wanted beer, so we called it a day. Oh and his ski's were pretty good now they have an edge so he's going to buy boots! He reported that they were excellent on piste, not bad off, but got a little buried in the powder as they are quite short and narrow! A great days skiing.

...................................................................................................................................................................

With the forest looking snowy I thought that Abi might want to try xc skiing on the Sunday. So another non-lie in day saw us back in the Cairngorms. You can't pre-book xc ski's so we collected them at 9am, then went for coffee and a breakfast roll sit was snowing!

Setting off from the car near the hay meadow Abi looked a little scared and even though we have all been there its nerve racking see someone on ski's for the first time like (bambi trying to walk entered my head).

means business

They pre-cut 2 loops in the forest to follow and we went on the Southern one. Abi quickly improved, but didn't enjoy the down hill bits, which is reasonable as it's quite hard to stop on xc ski's (I fell on one decent).

It was nice cruising around the forest and Abi quickly got into the swing of things. On some down hills I would take off my ski's and run alongside her to give confidence and get used to the speed and her balance on the ski's.

checking the competition

On the second half of the loop she was fine and looked like a pro. A great 2 days skiing in the Highlands.

seasoned skier..

Time for some cross training!

Winter has appeared at last! Not much snow, but a dusting and some consistent cold temperatures this last week mean that mixed climbing is very good at present. Loz had a free day, and Shaw couldn't resist coming up from the Lakes so we agreed to climb in the Northern Corries due to its easy access and the fact that we knew 'it would be in'.

gearing up at the lochan

Interestingly there was a lot of chatter from some folk that stuff wasn't in good condition. Sure there wasn't much snow in gully's, or much ice, but boy the rocks were heavily rimed, and turf well frozen so stuff is in early season 'nic' even though its nearly the end of January.

Belting conditions

I don't do that much winter climbing, so had hoped we could do a couple of steady routes at grade III or IV, but I sort of knew Loz wouldn't have any of this!

Hoarmaster is the deep square cut chimney

A 5.30am get up saw us pick up Shaw in Aviemore at 7am, and at the Cairngorm car park at 7.30am. We were clearly the late arrivals with at least 10 teams ahead of us. But this was our deliberate tactic (yeah right).

Loz checking out the start

We headed into Coire an Lochain. The crag looked fantastic with many teams in situ on various routes. We originally aimed for Deep throat, but with a team on it instead of waiting we went across and climbed Hoarmaster VI, 6.

me getting to the first belay

Pretty steep and challenging, but a great route! Loz led it, I consolidated my skills (or lack of). My first grade VI (not done any V's either!). A team on the nearby 'The Gathering - IX, 9' were impressive to watch from our route, talk about steep!

looking across to Katie and her pal on Deepthroat

We topped out at 1pm into the sun. We did have time for a second route, but the will wasn't there from the team, and we made the decision to head back to Aviemore for cups of tea! No cycling but good cross-training today.

2nd pitch of 'The Gathering'

Orrin Odyssey

The (bike) training is going well, but its early days to boast as consistency is the key! With the weather favouring sticking to lower altitudes we decided to bike from Aultgowrie to the Orrin Reservoir, which is pretty close to home.

morecambe or wise!

The initial 10km is gently uphill to the dam wall. It's nice because it's a good track and there's plenty to see enroute. Abi spotted a Sea Eagle, which was great to see so early in the year.

the bothy

I very much like the dam nestled into the landscape. It feels a bit soviet, or maybe a combination of industrial and nature combined and I always think of the film 'Where Eagles Dare' at places like this!

Soon enough you come to an old cement store which is now a bothy or shelter and we lunched here. Interestingly 2 other bikers had already signed the visitor book today - we didn't see a soul all day.

now ride that once more...

From here its 10 -12km of single track all the way back. This track is great, but obviously much slower than the approach. Today it seemed pretty fast flowing, and once Abi got her eye in she coped with it in good form.

Abi definitely has a strong puddle game... I suspect she could ride puddles at a county if not international level... she seeks them out, trying to slay them as I try and avoid them. Shallow or deep she takes no prisoners and I struggle to follow her through some monsters.

Abi didn't get a good vibe about this particular puddle

We set off quite late, but were surprised when we realised it was 3pm with 1 hr of light left and we had quite a way to go... time to hustle. We made it. 25km / 3 hour ride (approx).

Finnmark 2019 here I come!

I've always wanted to visit Norway, and also I'd heard about a mountain race in the Arctic Circle - Offroad Finnmark. I thought that if I entered the race it would give me a reason to go, and a real challenge for 2019. So after a couple of drams one night when Abi was away I bit the bullet and signed up online (what had I done!)!

Time to get shot!

I've entered the easiest category, 150km in a 16 hour cut off. Interestingly I'd asked someone who attempted it last year and they said 'if you are going all of that way do the 300km at least'! I think that the 150km will be enough of a challenge for me...

the lovely bit, good track, sunny!

I've spent the last 2 weeks hassling cycling friends to help come up with a training programme and I now have an excel spreadsheet that may well take over my life in 2019! My training officially starts in 2019... but I feel excited by going to Norway and it has inspired me out on my bike already.

Looking at North Kessock, Kessock Bridge and Inverness 20 miles away!

So yesterday I went for a leg spin in the wilds of Srathfarrar, a nearby glen. The route was only about 22km, and I'd read some of the tracks were much better after a dry period (its been mild and wet lately). It started off well, on a good track that gained height and gave great views... But soon deteriorated and because wet and boggy!

Lush forest - if only it luted longer (before the swamp)

I pushed on (literally), seeing lots of deer and I think an Eagle soaring high up in the sky... After an eternity of hard slog (eventually) I started the descent back to the tree line on a great steep track in the old forest - yip yip. But the good cycling quickly ended. The last few miles were very rowdy, wild river crossings, barely a trail, swamp riding, shoulder high bushwhacking, fallen tree's, wet roots, hidden holes to fall in!

One of the interesting crossings!

I rode carefully and I thought afterwards this was probably the slippiest most difficult trip I've done in 2018! The 22km took 3.5 hrs!!! But I really, really enjoyed myself. So glad I got out :-).