"And then I let you win bingo!"

So I thought I would write a big story to tell everyone what has been happening here since I have 2o minutes left on lunch break.

We were kind of busy and then tired after Christmas/New years so I had better tell you about that right?

Chapter 1: Christmas
Dan and I were at Chase the Wild Goose hostel (click for web page) that Susie and Eddie run. Also their friend Brandon was there (he is also from Australia). We celebrated Christmas day (food etc), Dan and I were both working eve and boxing day. Susie and Eddie were allowed to close the hostel for a few days to take a holiday.
We learned that the oven in the hostel is not very hot, but one side is hotter than the other. So we had a dinner instead of 2pm lunch. Oh well!
It was fun to talk on the web cam with the Holmes' and Dan's family sent us a video from their holiday!

Chapter 2: New Years
At the hostel once again, which was booked FULL! Most people went outside except one Dutch group that stayed in. Around 11 they came out of their room dressed up as ABBA!!! They had also brought with them a digital projector and Mama Mia sing-along! So that is how we spent new years. At midnight we did a Dutch tradition that is to stand on the furniture and jump into the new year, and then since we are in Scotland we sand Auld Lang Syne. We were across the Loch from town so we could see many different fireworks shows.

Chapter 3: Heather climbs Ben Nevis (4,400+ feet above Sea Level)
Dan drove me to town to meet Gary (my assistant manager at work) and then dropped us of at the parking lot for the North Face carpark (British for parking lot lol). We were walking up the path by 7am, it was still dark out! We walked until about 9:30 or 10 when we arrived at the CIC hut (belonging to the Scottish Mountaineering something or other) and took shelter from the wind there to eat lunch. It was a cloudy morning and by now we could take off our head torches. We changed into our climbing clothes and got all our gear ready to go.

We thought we would be starting our real approach now, but there wasn't enough snow! This section of trail should have been covered in deep snow with steps carved out from all the walkers, making an easy ascent. Instead we were walking on loose bits of rock. Eventually we found some snow and put on our crampons and harnesses.

The climb was very easy technically but it was very long. We did three pitches. This is where Gary climbs up first, placing anchors along the way. When we run out of rope, he stops to take in the rope for me. I follow and remove the anchors he has placed. After that the climb was not difficult so we just climbed roped together. We were not really 'climbing' because it wasn't vertical. More like crawling up the hill using our axes to dig into the snow for grip.

It got dark very shortly after we reached the top of the climb, so we left the hill using map and compass. It had also turned very cloudy so unfortunately I didn't get any good views.

The climb down took AGES! The trail should have been easy, but it had so many icy patches, but they were too small to really warrant putting our crampons back on. I learned many many different ways of crossing ice from walking to jumping to belly-flopping to holding onto Gary's axe with mine and him dragging me across! Very entertaining. My favourite technique is the "beached whale."

We spent 14 hours out that day. 10 of them we were in the clouds. I did not get all the way to the summit of Ben Nevis but there will be many more opportunities for that!

Out of time to upload pictures directly, but this link also has them all. It's a facebook page but you do not need to be a member if you use this link.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2211394&l=31bb6&id=121506517

There are more chapters to come, will have to continue after work!

Heather
x

Where's the ski hill??

That, believe it or not is what I was asked yesterday by a client who was standing under a chairlift.

Anyways.
It has obviously been a long time since we posted on here, Fort William now has a view of some snow. Up on the mountain there is lots of the white stuff. Which makes me a very happy boy. I have been teaching both skiing and snowboarding as well as running lifts, working on the books doing routers (scheduals) and learning how to set ski bindings. All of which means I am getting paid.

Heather is enjoying work as well and has been able to get up onto Ben Nevis ice climbing. I should be able to get up climbing soon as well.

That's about all the news I have right now, if you have any questions for us or things you would like to know, just post a reply on here and we will answer it for you. (you do not need to log in to do this)
We like getting messages back.

TTFN

Dan