High Mountain Guides will be running the full compliment of mountaineering courses in the Scottish Highlands this coming winter season. From introductory training with ice-axe and crampons to technical winter climbing, we will be providing high quality bespoke courses for small groups and individuals. All courses are based in Fort William and will be starting between Christmas and New Year so why not blow the cobwebs away, get out into the snow clad hills and kick start 2015 with some fantastic winter mountaineering experiences. More details on Scottish winter mountaineering courses.

The North Face of the Eiger, a route that captures the imagination of most of the public let alone mountaineers, has been in fantastic condition for the last few weeks of the autumn.... Mike Brownlow finishing the Quartz Crack on the North Face of the Eiger Exit chimneys, Swiss Alps Seeing the end of an extremely stable weather window coming to an end Mike Brownlow and I decided that 'the hour was now' and made our way to Grindlewald for a 1 day ascent of the face and spectacular bivi on the Mittellegi Ridge.

Thanks to all those who have been in touch already about the forthcoming Scottish Winter Mountaineering season. It's easy to be inspired when there have already been a number of snow flurries in the Highlands. As usual we will be offering the full range of Winter Mountaineering courses from introductory winter skills and mountaineering to advanced winter climbing. These are all on a tailor made basis so please get in touch now to discuss your requirements.

Mention the Carn Mor Dearg (CMD) Arete to the dedicated Scottish hill goer and they will conjure up an image of the aesthetic curving ridge encircling the Allt a' Mhuillin and offering constantly stupendous views of the North Face of Ben Nevis, a real British Mountain classic. Michael and I felt like we were off-roading by breaking trail along the freshly whipped up pristine snow crest on the CMD East Ridge.

The winter climbing season is in full swing in the Scottish Highlands and there are currently some great conditions. Big dumps of snow in January followed by constantly sub-zero temperatures on the hills have given superb conditions for ice and mixed climbing as well as ski touring and winter hill walking. The big freeze looks set to continue and with so much snow and ice around we could be shaping up nicely for some superb late season winter climbing.

You can now view the short film about the 2009 British / Indian expedition to climb Nanda Devi East & Changuch in the Indian Himalaya. If you have any comments, it would be great to see them in the thread on the Guest Book.

The new 'High Mountain Guides' website is now on-line. HMG is Rob's new mountain guiding compnay to reflect that we are now running alpine mountaineering and ski touring courses in the European Alps. The High Mountain Guides Website contains a range of new ideas for alpine mountaineering and ski courses as well as a wealth of new photos in the gallery and movies in the cinema.

Three weeks of warm and sunny alpine weather has made it's mark on climbing conditions across the Western Alps. Rock routes, even at the highest altitude became totally dry and snow free whilst some of the glaciers and classic easy snow ascents became awkward icy challenges.

I had a few days holiday with my girlfriend Jenny in the Swiss Valais last week. We took the long and delightful stroll out of Zermatt up to the Arben Bivvi Hut which nestles conveniently under the impressive rocky South Face of the Ober Gabelhorn. The traverse of this small but proud 4000m peak is a real alpine treat to savour with a wide variety of terrain from perfect ridge scrambling, rock pitches, abseiling and down climbing snowy mixed ground aswell as classic snow aretes, the lot!