Tag Archives: Dave Almond

Winter Begins!

Once again, it’s been a slow start to the Scottish winter season and most of November was unseasonably mild. There was a three-day window in late November when the snowed up rock routes in the Northern Corries came briefly on … Continue reading

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Mistral Early Repeat

On January 9, Dave Almond and Dave Keogh made an early repeat of Mistral on the West Central Wall on Beinn Eighe. First climbed in winter by Andy Nisbet and Brian Davison it has a fearsome reputation and is certainly … Continue reading

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End of Season Wrap Up

With settled high pressure and cool nights, winter climbing conditions have looked superb over the last month, but with the hills close due to Coronavirus, it is all been rather academic. However. I thought I’d take the opportunity to catch … Continue reading

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The Irony and Scotophobia

Dave Almond had an outstanding trip up to Scotland last week and came away with two new routes on Beinn Eighe. Dave takes up the story: “I drove up on the March 7 and started my week with a very … Continue reading

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International Winter Meet Day 4

On February 26, the wind dropped and all eyes turned to Ben Nevis with close to 40 climbers from the International Meet active on the mountain. The standout performance came from Peter Hoang (Canada) and Neil Adams who made an … Continue reading

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International Winter Meet Day 3

First of all, the big news from yesterday (February 24) was a new route on Minus Two Buttress on Ben Nevis by Maarten Van Haeren (Canada) and Andy Inglis. Calculus (VIII,8) takes a line directly through the overhangs that girdle … Continue reading

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International Winter Meet Day 1

After twelve months of planning, the 2020 International Winter Meet finally got underway last night when 55 climbers from 23 countries met at Aviemore Youth Hostel. After a slow start to the winter, the February storms have magically transformed the … Continue reading

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Trial by Satyr

Dave Almond and Jamie Skelton had an excellent run of routes earlier in December that included the second ascent of Dark Angel (VII,8) in Glen Coe, a near miss on Satyr (IX,9), and a very early repeat of Brass Monkey … Continue reading

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Berserker

Jamie Skelton and Dave Almond had an excellent two days climbing in Northern Cairngorms last week that resulted in an early repeat of The Snowpimp (VIII,9) in Coire and Lochain and a new route on Lurcher’s Crag. Berserker (VI,8) takes … Continue reading

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Three Excellent Early Repeats

“Having waited for what seemed forever for winter to turn up Simon Frost and myself drove up from Liverpool on January 20,” Dave Almond writes. “After a 4.30am start to walk over to Shelterstone to find it looking black we … Continue reading

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