Abacus Mountain Guides

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Abacus Mountain Guides

www.abacusmountainguides.com Abacus Mountain Guides Ltd, Registered in Scotland SC378703 We specialise in providing exactly what you want.

Instruction and guiding in Mountaineering, Scrambling, Rock Climbing and Scottish Winter Climbing, Canyoning and Mountain Biking. Be inspired by your Private Mountain Guide in the best hills in Scotland, Ben Nevis, Glen Coe and Skye. Creating the perfect trip for you based on the prevailing weather and conditions, your previous experience and aspirations, is our challenge and what gives us the most satisfaction.

23/03/2025

This is the Senja that chief guide Mike was keen to experience! Outrageous narrow ridges and super steep drops to the sea.

It's been very warm (+11°C) since yesterday, the snow was gloopy and the ice was melty so we shifted gears to "alpine" climbing.

The scale and feel of it is a lot like the Alpine ridges but you start at the beach and there's frozen turf and an occasional tree on the crux!

Huge thank you to Bent for the advice and to for the accommodation.

I do hope to return to when I can! Contact Donald if you'd like a guided trip.

22/03/2025

Smiles all round for James and Hannah today climbing with Mark. The rain held off (mostly!) and the climbing and abseiling were fun.

North Buttress on Buachaille Etive Mor is made of rhyolite, a clean rock that forms lovely spikes and positive ledges for hands and feet. It's also a bit over 400 million years old and was involved in a huge caldera subsidence event that would have been quite dramatic to observe.

Different species of humans have only been around for roughly 5 million years so no one was there to see the caldera collapse!

21/03/2025

Tired arms, legs and brain! That was a fantastic day of ice climbing and mountaineering, typically !

The SW Face of Hesten has a huge ice cascade falling down its central gully. It's a bit tricky to get to due to steep, exposed slopes and cross loading of snow. But this just adds to the sense of seriousness and satisfaction when it works out.

Well done and for keeping going!

20/03/2025

Big Blue is not fat right now so we went for Even Bigger Blue on recommendation from Bent

We had to stay focused on the work at hand without being too distracted by the jaw dropping backdrop.

Six pitches up to WI4+ on a wall that's as wide as it is tall with no other climbers anywhere near.

You've got to work for it but the ice climbing in is pretty cool.

19/03/2025

Now we know where trolls come from and mixed climbers are tested!

The Trolls, The Trolls (AI3, M5 250M) provided ample challenges in the form of wild weather, some poor turf (and some great turf), wild crux moves and the most amazing views all day.

We topped out into evening light over the sea and crashing waves, the pointiest of peaks in all directions.

Well done and , an emotional day! All made possible by

18/03/2025

Beautiful weather on Ben Nevis and all of Scotland right now is providing some fantastic days out.

Iain and team went for a long approach to some ice climbing. They went a long way up Observatory Ridge before going across to the top pitches of Hadrian's Wall Direct!

"It's like the Frendo Spur but without the cable car approach"!

Meanwhile Mark and Luca and their teams went up Number Three Gully and down Number Four Gully in Coire na Ciste. Super solid snow all the way.

17/03/2025

First impressions can be deceptive! What looks like a big, fat ice cascade turned out to be really thin for the first 50m, fat for the middle 50m, then broken and awkward in the final bits.

It's just as well we like a challenge.

Unknown ice route on Roalden above Senjahopen, three pitches of ice, a bit of snow then a nice walk off down the ridge looking out at the most amazing peaks.

16/03/2025

Senja is pretty wild! A big storm welcomed and Mike to this remote island in arctic Norway after 5 hours of driving through a blizzard.

Today was a day to calibrate and see what's what. We found some ice and we climbed it, having lots of fun. We even got a wee bumslide down the way.

If you like adventure, uncertainty and unpredictability, this is a good place for you!

Delighted to be working for the awesome

And really nice to see Bent

14/03/2025

12/03/2025

Cold air is good!

Cold air holds less water so the humidity can be very low, resulting in bone dry rock.

For the same reason, the air can be very clear so visibility is excellent.

You don't get too hot or dehydrated.

Marc and I had a lovely day on Curved Ridge enjoying grippy rock and fabulous views.

11/03/2025

Solid, frozen snow and a few blobs of ice that were well stuck in place are what we found on Number Three Gully Buttress today. There was also a good bit of rock and a little light time.

Generally it was a lovely, dry day. Just not what you'd expect in early March.

09/03/2025

Great classic ridges don't come much greater or more classic than Observatory Ridge on

Joe and Keith have had a great couple of days in lovely weather enjoying NE Buttress yesterday and Observatory Ridge today.

Cold next week!

08/03/2025

It's all change on NE Buttress from last week. Last week was properly snowy; this week it's rock climbing.

It's always an amazing place to be and the climbing is superb, even if it's a bit slimy. Take your ice axes and crampons for the occasional patches of snow but it's mostly hands on climbing at the moment.

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06/03/2025

Last week, when it was cold and snowy, Abson and I enjoyed some amazing mixed climbing including Gargoyle Wall (VI,6).

Coming from Switzerland, Abson has done a lot of ice climbing but not so much mixed climbing. Her intention was to enjoy the delights of Scottish winter climbing and do some mixed climbing. We were lucky to tick both boxes.

05/03/2025

Not a lot of snow in our climbing yesterday! Joe D and team went to climb the North Buttress of Buachaille Etive Mor which they also abseiled due to the strong winds on top. Joe B and Colin, and Mike and Sam stayed even lower down, dry tooling at Creag Dubh na Caillich in the forest above North Face car park.

The dry tooling venue is a great place for getting used to standing on tiny holds with your front points and the precise, meticulous way of climbing that works best for mixed climbing.

It's a weird experience standing in the mud in the forest with crampons and ice axes but it's very useful and lots of fun!

03/03/2025

It was all about the classic great ridges and gullies on Ben Nevis today for Abacus Mountain Guides.

Two teams climbed NE Buttress, one team climbed Number Two Gully and one team climbed Castle Ridge.

It's pretty busy on the crags at the moment with the excellent International Meet in full swing. But the weather is about to change for the worse for a few days too!

02/03/2025

The highest peak in Denmark is Møllehøj at just under 170m. So, if you are Danish and you want to go mountaineering, you need to travel!

That's what Kim, Casper and Claus did and Tim has been showing them the steep ways up Stob Coire nan Lochan and Bidean nam Bian yesterday, and Creag Meagaidh today.

One more reasonable day tomorrow before a few warmer days midweek.

28/02/2025

There are still lots and lots of routes that I have not climbed on Ben Nevis despite trying for a very long time! Cloudwalker (VI,6) was one of them and I wish I had done it a long time ago - it's excellent!

We were beaten to Lost The Place by another team so we shifted sideways to Cloudwalker. Steep bulges and great hooks all the way in a brilliant position got us up the two technical pitches.

This is such a cool mountain to climb on with so many more great places to search out.

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http://www.abacusmountainguides.com/

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