Easter 2014 was a busy time with trips to different mountain areas. The first trip to Scotland was with Giggleswick School CCF’s D of E training in Scotland. I was lucky to get a spell of very settled weather for the expedition and also fortunate to work with an excellent group of trainees – one […]

In early December, John Young and I headed to Chamonix for the BAIML AGM and some CPD. We decided to go a day early and stay a day late giving us four clear days in the mountains. On the friday, we decided to introduce John to snowshoeing and accompanied by a few other delegates, caught […]

One of our ML Training Courses in the Autumn of 2013 was with staff from Haven Banks Centre in Exeter and students from Exeter College. The course was run over two midweek sessions. The first was in the South West with an overnight wild camp on Dartmoor. We chose the same location used with Bicton College earlier in […]

In late August, Mark, Jamie, Kate, Cyrano and I accompanied Tim and his boat to Lundy Island to climb the Devil’s Slide. We had been planning this trip for a while but trying to match tides, weather and availability was always a problem. To get it all done in a day meant an early start from […]

After leaving the Vanoise, Cyrano and I joined up with Jamie and Nic for a weeks climbing in Chamonix. We were fortunate to be in the middle of one of the best spells of weather in Chamonix for a long time. We climbed mainly on the Aiguille Rouges and the highlight being an ascent of […]

At the end of July, I accompanied Norton Hill School Sixth Formers on their Duke of Edinburgh expedition to the Vanoise in the French Alps.  Their plans were not helped by having to rearrange their routes due to a hut being renovated and therefore no room to camp nearby. Another problem was the huge amounts […]

In July, James and I accompanied Giggleswick School on their via ferrata trip to the Dolomites. We flew to Venice, hired cars and camped at Canazei in the Val di Fassa. The weather was typical of the Dolomites as everyday it clouded over after midday and there were numerous thunderstorms. However, it didn’t prevent us […]

In April, Mark and I set out to try to ski the Haute Route from Chamoix in France to Zermatt in Switzerland. It is a popular route for Ski Mountaineers crossing a number of high cols, staying at mountain refuges and climbing the occasional peak. It can take up to seven days to complete. We […]

The Dolomites were chosen as Norton Hill School’s destination for their D of E Gold Expedition and Adventure Week in the summer of 2011. The base was a small town near the resort of San Martino de Castrozza. The plan was to do some adventure activities to acclimatise for their four day expedition before spending […]

  During Easter 2011, Mark and I along with Jamie and Kate, planned a ski tour around the Dachstein area of Austria. We met up with Lorraine and Andy Leivers of Austrian Alpine Activities as they were helping me plan a school ski trip to Radstadt the following year. When we arrived it was summer […]