With hardly any rain now since mid-april the ground is parched and dusty. This picture shows how dry the peat is in the notorious 'bog' between Larachantivore and Shenevall in the Fisherfield Wilderness. The picture was taken in mid-May.

With the weather perfect for long mountain routes and cimbing gofurther has had a busy May. This picture was taken in the middle of the month during a walk through the Fisherfield Wilderness following the route of the Great Wilderness Challenge (GWC). The GWC is an annual sponsored walk and run held in August organised to raise money for local charities. The longest GWC route leaves Dundonnell in the north and ends 25 miles later at Poolewe in the south. Here Clive and Jan are enjoying the stunning view from the path above the Dubh Loch.
This walk normally takes around nine to ten hours. See our pages on guided walking for more.

Tags: Great Wilderness Challenge, fisherfield

The settled spring conditions have given way to .....settled hot weather with temperatures well above 20c for the past two days and a high pressure system set in to the East. This picture was taken looking North West towards the mouth of Little Loch Broom at just after 9pm on Wednesday.

Tags: Little Loch Broom

April has brought some of the best mountaineering and climbing conditions we've seen for a few years. The month started cold and dry with a few frosts down to sea level. As the days turned increasingly sunny, a sharp easterly breeze with very low humidity meant the North West Highlands had the best weather in the UK. All of these pictures were taken in the last two weeks. The first shows the snow-capped Torridon mountains taken from the Melvaig peninsula; the second is action at the sheltered south-facing Kuhjo Crag near Gairloch; the third is An Teallach taken on a guided day out to the summits.

Tags: Kuhjo Crag, An Teallach, Wester Ross

The recent spell of incredible weather saw some new sport routes added over the Christmas period. After Murdo, Paul and Colin first equipped a series of 7s on the main wall a few other lines are now established on Goat Crag. Most recently, Paul Tattersall finished a line left of Teepee - Tom Paine's Bones at 6c. Nearby, Am Fasgadh finally has a sensible warm up thanks to Ian Taylor - The Groove 6b+, the right hand line of bolts following the groove - vaguely.
Right of The Crack (7b) Paul has also bolted The Shield at 7a+ which has rapidly become a classic. Left of The Crack, Ian Taylor and Lawrence Hughes equipped Primo - 7c - which goes all the way up the headwall of perfect rock above the quartz band to a lower-off at 25m. Thanks also to Murdo for sorting out several of the lower-offs at this crag before he was injured. More on Goat crag and Am Fasgadh soon.

The picture shows Jenny Cunningham and Paul 'Storkey' getting to grips with Mac Talla and The Prow respectively at Goat Crag.

Tags: sport Climbing, rock Climbing, goat crag, Am fasgadh, mac talla, the sheild

The settled spell clung on until Christmas day before it broke down completely on Boxing day. This picture was taken at about 1.30pm on Christmas day looking North East to Beinn Ghoblach. Again, it was taken from close to the summit of Carn na Glaic Buidhe where we stumbled on this promising sandstone erratic. It doesn't look like there are any decent vertical problems but, as it overhangs on three sides, it may be worth a visit to train on the 360 degree traverse.

Tags: Bouldering

Winter Solstice in the North West Hightlands was spectacular this year. Not a breath of wind, wall to wall sunshine and bitterly cold in the shade. It was a stunning end to a long, dry, cold and sunny spell of fantastic rock climbing weather. In the picture (which was taken at about 1pm on Winter Solstice) Colin is standing on one of the many gneiss boulders that are a feature of the Gruinard, Poolewe and Gairloch area. Very often these large boulders are found on, or near to, the summits of small hills near the major rivers or near other natural features. Some of us find it difficult to believe that these boulders are simply the result of natural erosion. It's almost as if they were carefully positioned for reasons long forgotten. The one above is near the summit of Carn na Glaic Buidhe above Badlurach and the one below is found on the knoll just south of the Carnmore bothy.

Tags: solstice, Winter

The gofurther team were hoping to bring you some news about new routes on some of the best sports crags in Scotland; but that will have to wait. Instead we have some bad news at the end of the year....This is a picture of Murdo on Mac Talla (7b) at Goat Crag. Taken the day before he had a serious accident in Torridon. While we're assured he will be fine, he's expecting to be out of action for at least six months and probably around a year. We all wish him as fast a recovery as is possible and a complication-free 'rest'.
Murdo will be sorely missed at the crag, on the mountain and around the table afterwards.

Tags: murdo, goat crag

The weather has suddenly turned much milder but the sunrises are no less dramatic. Forecast is for a long spell of settled sunny weather for the far north.

A spell of more settled, frosty weather has brought with it a series of stunning sunrises and sunsets in the North West. This picture was taken today looking South East along Little Loch Broom, Dundonnell. The peak on the right is Mac is Mathair which is part of the An Teallach massif - the most dramatic mountain on the Scottish mainland. Sometimes spelt Mac 'us Mathair this unusual Gaelic name means 'Son and Mother' in English. Some local people think this explains the title 'An Teallach' because 'teallach' may derive from the Gaelic word 'teaghlach' which means 'family'. Nearly all mountain guide books, however, reckon An Teallach means the 'forge'.

Tags: Gaelic

Welcome to the revamped and updated go further Scotland website. We'll be using this new news page to keep you up-to-date with everything mountain, climbing, and mountaineering related in North West Scotland: news about conditions, the weather, our activities, offers, trips, new courses and much more......

First of all happy birthday to our newest guide - Murdoch Jamieson - who joined the team this summer. Murdo is a local climber and all-round mountaineer who just happens to be an awesome guide. See about us for more on the go further team.

We spent more time on Skye and Torridon in 2007 than any other year so check out these pages for the heads up on our new three and five day guided trips to some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in Europe: Ridge Walking, Torridon Munros, Skye, Sky Munros, Skye Scrambles.

Lastly, while go further tailors most of its guiding to suit individuals and small groups, we've decided to schedule in a few organised three and five day trips in Torridon, Skye and the Fisherfield wilderness. More on those soon....

Tags: murdo, skye, torridon, fisherfield