Here are a few more pictures of our remarkable early winter. Temperatures plunged so low that most of the Ardessie Falls (Dundonnell) froze including most of this section not far from the road. The ice at the foot of this fall was about 14 inches thick, covering what is usually a beautiful deep pool.


This picture was taken when Colin was on a long traverse of Sail Mhor and part of the An Teallach ridge. This picture is taken looking south from Sail Mhor when the conditions were dry but incredibly cold. Two people were injured in an avalanche near here just days after this picture was taken after conditions changed.



Paul was on more film location duty this time with a crew from New York who needed to film some dramatic Highland scenery in the North West. Their timing couldn’t have been better when they chose to visit Coigach and Stac Pollaidh pictured above. Again, the weather was bitterly cold but the mist and blue skies made the pinnacles look even more magical.

Tags: Stac Pollaidh, An Teallach, Sail Mhor, Location Film Work, Wester Ross

Late winter in Wester Ross can throw everything at a mountain and so it was this weekend when we tackled Liathach with Dan and his friends. Hail, snow, bright warming sunshine, strong winds, gusts, hard ice, soft snow and dry rock below about 900m. Luckily the wind and hail held off during the scramble over The Pinnacles mid-way along the ridge. The large picture below shows the group on the western Munro top Mullach an Rathain with views west to Beinn Alligin. Two winter munros, a classic west-coast scramble in spring conditions, a mixture of snow, ice and rock and sunshine through the afternoon - what a day.

Tags: Liathach, Winter, Wester Ross

From time to time we profile some of the best climbs in Wester Ross so here are a few shots of gofurther’s Paul and Colin on Snowflake - one of the best routes on Goat Crag which is one of the best sport-clmbing crags in Scotland. The pictures, taken in the last couple of weeks, hopefully capture how steep the crag is yet, after the mid-height crux, the holds become a lot more forgiving as the climb leads diagonally up and left over a massive jagged flake.



The climb starts delicately up a steep face to a bulge above the second runner. The climbing is not hard for the grade here, but the holds aren’t obvious.



The crux section starts after leaving the obvious diagonal break. As the angle steepens the route goes left on good holds before turning back right over the obvious bulge above Paul in this picture.



The hardest section of the route from a different angle. Here you can see the obvious flake line at the top of the picture which takes the climb up and left to a second hard section at the top of the flake, just below the lower-off. A knee-bar rest is possible when you reach the flake.

Snowflake is the furthest left route at Goat Crag which now has more than 15 routes of the highest quality ranging from 6a+ to 8a. A topo should be available from Wild West Topos soon.

Interested in sport climbing or climbing instruction? See our climbing pages for more.

Thanks to local climber Ian Taylor for this bolted line.

Tags: goat crag, Snowflake, Gruinard, Gruinard climbing, Wester Ross

This great shot was taken in mid-February during Dundonnell Mountain Rescue Team training on Beinn Dearg. Not only does it give a good impression of the scale of this peak it also shows the extraordinary dyke that runs from the tip of the North West Ridge (in the distance) to close to the summit. The drystane dyke, often built with huge blocks, is between 3 and 5 feet high in places but only the top-most layer of blocks were visible above the snow. Just after these pictures were taken the weather turned colder again and, in the second half of the month, another huge fall of snow took the snow line back to sea level and it has remained there since.

The picture below includes ‘Skye’ - a local member of the Search and Rescue Dog Association.

Tags: Beinn Dearg, Wester Ross

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