Blethering Blonde

This proper winter has made me think a lot about the kit that I routinely just carried for many a winter but not fully used. My Camp Corsa ice axe is one such item.   This is my third ice axe. Like most folk I started with the Grivel Munro but I really didn't know what to do with it. So I went on a Winter Skills Course with Kendal Mountaineering Services to give me the basics and build my confidence up on dealing with stuff in winter. The first thing I did after that course was go out and buy a new ice axe as my trusy Grivel at 70cm was too long for me to comfotably self arrest. Lots of research and talking to friends lead to the DMM Crque being axe number 2 in my arsenal. For me this is the hard man of my ice axes and ceratinly ticked all the boxes for what I needed it to do and more. Using it was a pleasure too.  Then a wee birdie started going on about these lovely lightweight ice axes. I started thinking about how many times I had the axe in my hand as compared ...

OK, here's day two of last weekend. A wee wander to make the most of the glorious weather on the way home. Whenever anyone does the West Highland Way for the first time its the Devil's Staircase that gets them twitching as its labeled as one of the toughest parts of the route. For any regular hill goer, its just a standard ascent which gives some great views, hence our choice of route. We also added the two wee lumps on either side in order to maximise our experience of the views - well worth it.  Not much else to say except enjoy the photies as we certainly enjoyed being up there taking it in for real :-)

What a weekend................... It started off as one of my whimsical " lets's get away - what about this place?"  Base was the Letterfinlay Lodge Hotel right on the shores of Loch Lochy and a lovely base it was too. We'll be back there. The hills to be climbed, the Loch Lochy Munros of Meall na Teanga and Sron a Choire Ghairbh. It was summer 2002 when I had attempted these two as part of my Great Glen Way wander but only managed Sron a Choire Ghairbh. Well I had done Ben Nevis and walked 23 miles in the two days before - doh! There are several options of how to approach these hills from Kilfinan, including being able to bag the Corbett Ben Tee. There was much discussion between us. Descision made, as we weren't sure what snow conditions were going to be like we would follow the standard route along the forrest track and take it from there. If things were going well a descent down one of the ridges may be on order. An old friend had been in touch the day befo...

Looks like this could well be perfect hill weather this weekend so plans have been hatched and the bag is half packed. Bring it on :-D

Some might say I could be likened to Imelda Marcus when it comes to my footwear on and off the hill as I do have a rather impressive collection. I put it down to the fact that I've not got standard size feet, especially for a female that means it can be a sod to get comfy footwear. When I was alerted to a bargain for a winter boot I decided to take a risk on the Kayland Apex Trek .  It's not a brand I'm too familiar with but I was impressed with what I saw when I opened the box. They are what they say on the tin, a 4 season B1 boot with what looked like a nice grippy vibram sole and an eVent liner. As always I had to endure wandering around the house in them for a few hours then looking like a numpty wandering the streets of Glasgow in them before I felt I could take the risk of wearing them on the hill. During these wanders my feet had to adjust to stiff boots again, something they haven't done for a year and thankfully there were no twinges from my longstanding issue ...

This was my first Munro so many years ago I can't even remember when. It's my local hill. But until today I'd never had a view from on top. There have been days in the past when I knew on leaving the car park I wasn't going to see anything. That was fine, I just wanted out on the hill. It was the days with the promise that I'd get my view and didn't that fed my love hate relationship with this hill. January last year was the last time we visited just after a huge dump of snow. It was a mini epic due to leaving too late, loads of fantastically deep snow and coming down in the dark - fun :-D The forecast had said best south of the A85 with cloud base over 1000m, maybe today was the day I would get a view. The route was inevitable, via Ptarmagin Ridge. For me the tourist route is only ever for descent. One day however I will try out ptc* route as it looks like fun, just not this time. From the drive in we could see that there was still a good covering of snow. It...