ALPINE MOUNTAINEERING
Sea to summit scrambling on Scotland's wild west coast
Bespoke trips tailored around your aims and aspirations
My alpine guiding reflects my passion for spending time in wild mountains. From a base in Chamonix, at the foot of Mt Blanc, I spend much of my time either exploring the quieter corners of the Mont Blanc Massif, or travelling to less-frequented areas of the Alps. If you've got specific objectives or want to climb some of the classic 4000-metre peaks, we can do that too - ultimately our time together will be steered by you.
Using Chamonix as a starting point, we have good access to the much of the Western Alps, with the Ecrins a few hours to the south, the major 4000-metre peaks of the Swiss Valais to the east, and the beautiful Aosta Valley just over on the Italian side of Mt Blanc.
During our time together we'll make plans based around the weather and conditions, travelling as necessary to maximise what we're able to achieve. I enjoy exploration, so climbing objectives which are new to me, in areas I haven't visited, features highly whenever possible. We'll make a plan together based on your experience and aspirations, and it's important to me that you're fully involved in this process - it'll help in you getting the most out of our time together, and means we're developing a partnership in which you're able to learn and progress in your own mountaineering.
Much of the joy of mountaineering, and indeed guiding, is about being in the right place, at the right time, with the people, developing effective partnerships in which we're all inspired by what we're doing, and I hope this feeds in to my guiding at all stages.
Cuillin Ridge Traverse
A traverse of the Cuillin Ridge captures all the grandeur of an alpine-scale objective. Sustained, efficient movement over moderately technical ground, at least one overnight bivvy up high on the ridge, a thoughtful approach to packing to achieve a pack-weight which maximises chances of success, All these elements combine to give a mountaineering objective unlike any other in the UK.
There are many ways to make a traverse - for some, visiting every summit and climbing every possible pitch in good time and good style is the ultimate aim, whilst for others, the objective is simply the process of undertaking a journey through high mountain terrain with an overnight bivvy looking out over the sea and summits. Each traverse is personal, an expression of our own vision of what being in the mountains is to us.
When organising a full Cuillin Ridge traverse, we typically take bookings for 3 days in a 4-day period, or 4 days in a 5-day period, giving some flexibility to deal with inclement weather and/or a rest-day if necessary.