While we have been enjoying great ice climbing in Norway and high on Ben Nevis, the sunny, spring-like weather this week has got us thinking about plans for the summer. We are super excited to be able to announce our collaboration with Morag and Steve who run . Their boat is a 1924 Brixham Trawler, part of the national historic fleet and one of the most treasured vessels operating in UK waters today. Our aim is to share the experience of being on this amazing boat and enjoy some wild, remote hillwalking. To infuse our guests with our love of sailing and to show you some amazing and beauti ..read more

Well that was a top weekend! The  was a real treat. We were blessed with stunning weather on day one and more challenging weather with lots of learning potential on day two! The aims were ​empowering, encouraging and enthusing women to explore the mountains in winter, and we certainly achieved this! ​​After a winter that has been a bit more miss than hit when it comes to snow and ice cover, we were very lucky to get a return to proper wintry conditions. So much so that, unfortunately, it was a bit tricky to get to Fort William with cancelled trains and tough driving conditions. Nearly eve ..read more

In good visibility, navigating up and back down Ben Nevis in winter can seem quite straightforward. It is a busy mountain and there is often a well trodden path to the summit, as well as cairns above 1150m about every 50m along the way. When you can see as far as Skye to the west and Cairngorm to the east, it is not surprising that you should be able to find your way easily. Even then, the path above 900m or so is usually covered in snow between December and May and can be nearly impossible to find and follow. If there is no boot trail through the snow, it can be quite confusing, even in good ..read more

October is Mountain Leader month for us at Abacus Mountain Guides. We have been training and assessing Mountain Leaders for very many years and it's a real treat to be able to work on these courses. Helping new leaders through their qualifications and setting them off on the right path (please excuse the pun!) is so rewarding for us. ​Our courses have developed over the years as well, with the new leadership model from Mountain Training adding great depth and structure to this aspect of the course, and many things that we have found work well for people in the delivery and content of the cours ..read more

Just two weeks ago I was in the Cuillin on Skye with summit temperatures of 16 celcius and dehydration was the biggest problem that we faced. This week was not the same for Alastair and Ali! This week there was more chance of getting washed away in a stream than of dehydration, and the conditions were described as disgusting! Lots of rain, very strong winds and summit temperatures just a couple of degrees above freezing made it very challenging indeed. Despite this, Alastair and Ali manage to visit all nine Munros on the ridge over three days. This a great achievement given the weather. When t ..read more

The UK government committed to reaching net zero emissions by 2050, but even according to their own climate change committee we’re not on track, and this affects everyone. The next elected UK government must make policy commitments that get us back on track to net zero. Policy commitments start with party manifestos, and you have the power to influence those manifestos! We need the entire UK outdoor community to send a virtual postcard to stand up for the places we love! POW have taken care of the hard part - POW’s postcard outlines the policy commitments needed to get us back on track to net ..read more

Tom was lucky enough to book onto one of our trips and end up being by himself for the week. This is less sociable of course but has meant that we can do just about whatever he wanted. Luckily, Tom wanted to explore the mixed up world of mixed climbing, lucky because there has been a lot of snow, continuous low temperatures and a persistent Considerable avalanche hazard. We need snow-thaw-freeze cycles to form snow-ice in our classic climbs. We have the snow and the freeze but without the thaw periods the snow has not transformed into ice or settled down into stable snow. So, it would have bee ..read more

Well that was a top weekend! The  was a real treat. We were blessed with stunning weather on day one and more challenging weather with lots of learning potential on day two! The aims were ​empowering, encouraging and enthusing women to explore the mountains in winter, and we certainly achieved this! ​​After a winter that has been a bit more miss than hit when it comes to snow and ice cover, we were very lucky to get a return to proper wintry conditions. So much so that, unfortunately, it was a bit tricky to get to Fort William with cancelled trains and tough driving conditions. Nearly eve ..read more

“Is this safe?” was the question asked of me as we descended Mont Blanc. At that moment the person I was with needed reassurance, not an assessment of the hazards, their associated risks and management. So, I said “Yes, totally safe”. This was a lie of course, descending Mont Blanc is never totally safe, mountaineering is dangerous and there are inherent risks. We got down to the Aiguille du Midi and took the telepherique down to Chamonix, an experience that was, to my client, more terrifying and seemingly less safe than climbing Mont Blanc! All this got me thinking about what is safe, how saf ..read more

While we have been enjoying great ice climbing in Norway and high on Ben Nevis, the sunny, spring-like weather this week has got us thinking about plans for the summer. We are super excited to be able to announce our collaboration with Morag and Steve who run . Their boat is a 1924 Brixham Trawler, part of the national historic fleet and one of the most treasured vessels operating in UK waters today. Our aim is to share the experience of being on this amazing boat and enjoy some wild, remote hillwalking. To infuse our guests with our love of sailing and to show you some amazing and beauti ..read more