Go Mountain Goats

March 2016 7 day Lightweight Ski Mountaineering Trip With Es Tresidder, Jon Morgan and Ben Bardsley. From Menton (French south coast) to Aiguille (near Briancon) See trip report from Es: www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10156786800110145.1073741836.594220144&type=1&l=ac626d4bcf and from Jon Morgan: https://jonmorgandotcom.wordpress.com Hopefully a video of the trip coming soon(ish!)

On Sunday 28th Febuary myself and Tim Gomersall completed the Phillip Tranter Round in a time of 17hours and 35minutes. This is a classic running Round of 40miles and circa 6000m ascent along the Ben Nevis, Aonachs, Grey Corries and then Mamores ranges in Lochaber. We set off from Glen Nevis Youth Hostel at 0421hrs and finished there at 2156hrs. As far as I can see this is faster than the winter running record of 18hrs 59 mins and 6 seconds recorded by Dan Gay, Jon Gay and Paul Manson in February 2009. We used 'Skimo' lightweight ski mountaineering equipment, as well as trainers for the first approach and last run out. We were unsupported and had no gear or food caches. We estimate we were 'on skis' around 70% of the time. Tim Gomersall setting off Setting off up Ben Nevis in the dark we were very excited - the forecast for the day was perfect, and the snow cover looked good too. We had debated whether to do the round as a run or a ski, and even now I am not sure...

On Sunday 14th February 2016 myself and Tim Gomersall completed a Winter Cuillin Ridge Traverse from Sgurr nan Gillean in the north to Gars-bheinn in the south. Our route took in all 11 Munro summits, Bidein Druim nan Ramh, and included the TD gap. We started at Sgurr nan Gillean at 07.40am and touched the cairn on Gars-bheinn at 1.54.17pm. The summit to summit traverse took 6hrs 14minutes and 17seconds. Tim and myself in Glen Brittle after our traverse We had heard that the Cuillin traverse was in excellent winter condition, and were aware of several parties who had completed traverses in the past few days. The weather looked to remain good for Sunday, if a little windy, so we arranged to drive up to Sligachan and sleep in the van. I was excited to share this adventure with 23 year old Tim who already has many impressive mountain feats to his name including sixth place in the Glencoe Skyline race last year, the Cuillin Greater Traverse record, and an eight hour winter round of G...

A few weeks ago we headed down to the John Muir Trust 'Wild Space' in Pitlochry, to hang my first art exhibition 'Kaleidoscape'. It will run in the Alan Reece Gallery there for the next two months. It was great to see so many of my painting all up in the same space - 15 framed canvases and 5 framed prints.

The 2016 Skimo British Champs were set to take place at the Roc et Pic race at Thollon les Memises on the slopes above Lac Leman (Lake Geneva). I've done the Roc et Pic before, and remember some great sections with sunny slopes and expansive views down towards the shimmering lake with bluebird skies above. Unfortunately this weekend was not to follow suit. Things started badly for me as I expertly procrastinated on getting packed, and then for one reason or another ended up spending a pretty uncomfortable time in Glasgow airport as far from ideal race prep. Arriving in Amsterdam airport I was totally disorientated as I woke up to being climbed over by the guy next to me who was rushing to catch his connection. I just made mine, despite being in a sleep deprived, caffeine-addled, dehydrated suboptimal state. That done I was in Geneva. Or rather stuck at the outsized baggage area in Geneva airport. Eventually it transpired that my bag was delayed until the evening, so I aband...

We've had a few weeks of reasonable snow, followed by the devastating thaw on Sunday. On 16th January myself and Suzy decided to head up into the Mamores. From the forecast it looked like Lochaber could be a better bet than the Cairngorms, although the opposite was true in the end and the cloud came in early. The Mamores isn't really an obvious choice for ski touring, excepting spring skiing the bowls off Sgurr a Mhaim and a few others, as it's pretty rocky and scree topped, with a fair few narrow ridges. I have always wanted to head up there on skis however as the idea of travelling on skis along the ridge traverse appeals to me. There are also some pretty remote slopes which look like they would be amazing to ski in the right conditions. Also with an eye on the Tranter round, it was worth a reccy. We headed up from Achriabhach onto the slopes of Mullach nan Coirean. Getting the skis on it was straightforward to start with, but then as it got more rocky it became mor...