Self reliance is a fundamental principle of mountaineering. By participating we accept this and take responsibility for the decisions we make. These Conditions Reports are intended to help you make good decisions. They do not remove the need for you to make your own judgements when out in the hills.

Monday 7 September 2015


Sometimes you need to keep the faith in the weather forecast. Looking out from my window this morning it looked grey and dull but as I walked up the Allt a'Mhuillin to meet Gordon the clouds seemed to turn a little blue before I walked through the layer of cloud in the glens into spectacular sunshine. It was one of the best cloud inversions I have seen in Scotland.


Gordon has spent many great days in Scottish hills and on Ben Nevis. Today was his day to climb Tower Ridge and he could not have chosen a better day. The rock was bone dry, there was no wind and the sun shone in a deep blue sky all day. Down below, the sea of clouds lapped at the CIC Hut until midday.


Despite the great weather there were few people around. We had Tower Ridge to ourselves but for one other person and there was one other team on Observatory Ridge. On the way down I also saw a pair of climbers on The Bat, enjoying the rare dry rock.


We could see Skye over the clouds quite easily and the cloud layer seemed to stretch out over the sea beyond. Eventually it did break up and disappear as Gordon and I went down Ledge Route back to his tent but the sun was still brilliant and warm. We have another few days of sunny calm weather with the current high pressure and it might still be dry at the weekend too.







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