Tales from the hills

2010-01-10T17:03:00.002Z

Will's funeral is to be held at 1115hrs on Wednesday 13 Jan at Culduthel Funeral Home, Culduthel Road, Inverness.

All are welcome.

Will Wilkinson

2010-01-03T13:05:00.003Z

It is with much sadness that I have to report Will’s death in an avalanche on Ben Nevis on 30 December 2009.

I met Will 2 years ago when I first moved to Inverness and we quickly forged a strong friendship sharing a passion for all things climbing, a love of the outdoors and an ambition to climb harder. In this short time we had a great number of memorable adventures, many of which are catalogued here.

I can not hope to do Will justice in my few words here - he was quite simply a brilliant guy and an absolute pleasure to spend time with. Will was a particularly popular member of the Inverness climbing scene and will be sadly missed by many. More than anything, Will was a loving and devoted partner to his fiancée Becky who he was due to marry later this year.

We extend our sympathies and thoughts to Rupert Rosedale’s family and friends who died in the same accident and our appreciation to the survivor and all those in the rescue services who did so much to try and help.

Will primarily maintained this blog as a diary but he enjoyed sharing his adventures and was both surprised and flattered with the number of people who followed it. If any comfort can be sought, it is fitting that Will died doing something he loved so much but tragic that he died so unexpectedly and with so much left to accomplish.

Andy Wardle.

Queues and Views.

2009-12-28T18:17:00.006Z

Another perfect day on the ski slopes, well weather and snow wise, crowds were a differnt story. We escaped the mayhem of the pistes and lifts this morning with a walk to the summit of Cairngorm to catch the fresh powder on the way down, and was treated to some magnificent views.
The queue police were out in force this afternoon. Letting us all know where we were in the lift queue in case we forgot. To make things worse the M1 poma blew up! So by the end of the day it was taking a while to get from the bottom to top. Well about an hour if truth be known, so my patience was wearing a little thin. Coumpounded by people driving at 10mph all the way down back to Aviemore. Still its hard to complain when we are in such a lovely spell of weather, the snow is currently falling hard again outside the window. Im going to need a rest day at some point if this continues.

Back to join the mayhem, crowds, and pistes.

Staying Local at Christmas......

2009-12-27T16:41:00.004Z

Another good bealy view.

With so much snow making driving and walking in a nightmare, Davy and I headed to our local. 8 miles from the door, along some pretty bad roads saw us geared up for a rare winter ascent (possibly second?) of a 3 pitch route. A little vegetated in summer this provided 3 great pitches, one of ice, one a cheval for 10mts along a brilliant flake, and a final steep chimney. Excellent fun and I think we made the best of the conditions at the minute. Tech 6 moves and tree belays what more could you ask for!

Pitch 1

Davy on Pitch 3

Christmas day.

2009-12-25T15:42:00.003Z

After two hours of trail breaking in knee deep powder Becky and I decided to give up on our attempt of little Wivys just below the summit, and head for dinner. Another gorgeous day in the Highlands though. We met this young chap on the way down, and tried to explain we would be avoiding roast beef for dinner!!

Happy Christmas.

Christmas Eve fun.

2009-12-24T23:06:00.003Z

The belays had some good views today

In an attempt to avoid the masses of powder in the East Davy and I headed West today. We ended up on the Bealach na Ba, towards Applecross, and climbed the brilliant Cobalt Buttress. Without a breath of wind, a cloud in the sky, snow at sea level and temperatures touching -17 on the drive over, conditions couldn’t have been more perfect.

The route itself is well worthy of its 3* and the best I have climbed this year. The crux is quite nippy and the other pitches all provided worthwhile and thoughtful climbing. Topping out just as the sun was setting over Skye with every square inch of land covered in snow it was impressive end to a good day.

Davy happy after the crux wall.

Davy about to top out of the overhanging chimney on pitch 4.

On the way out we noted another headlight with about 60mts of climbing to go on a buttress nearer the sea with Martin Morans mini bus in the layby I suspect he was out new routing.
As I type the snow is yet again falling heavily and Santa is on his way!

Powder days!

2009-12-21T20:03:00.006Z

With 5 more inches of fresh snow overnight and the magic words on the radio that school was closed Becky and I had a powder day on Cairngorm.
Becky finding some fresh powder early in the day.

What a day too, the early morning cloud sank into the valley to leave a perfect inversion and the hill covered in freshies.

The all knowing eye!

A bit of a walk or explore soon reveals the untouched stashes and we had a fab day in the snow. The odd rock still stuck it's head up though and at one point sparks were reported from the underside of my board!

I don’t think I will be lucky enough to get any more snow closures this week so the climbing will have to wait to Thursday, but psyche levels are high.

Becs at the End of a good day.

Let it Snow!!

2009-12-20T14:54:00.003Z

At 3am this morning there was 6inches of fresh powder on the car, getting to and back from any climb would be the hardest bit today. The decision to cancel was confirmed as a good one, as snow has continued to fall on off, virtually all morning here in Inverness.

On Drumossie Mor

Becky and I made the most of it, by a little walk up and over Drumossie Mor from the house. It felt quite wintry indeed up there, and it inspired us enough build a Snowman once we got home!

When it stops snowing, things could really start to look good, especially if we get a couple of gentle freeze thaw cycles.
The skiing on the other hand could be fantastic, this week. So it's typical that I am working for the rest of this week up to Christmas Eve. You never know though, a snow closure might well just give me the opportunity to go for a slide.

Stirling Bomber.

2009-12-17T21:47:00.005Z

Fiacaill Buttress.

Roger, Andy and I headed back into the Northern Corries for another short day. Overnight the freezing level fell to around 400mts and the crags are now well and truly plastered in rime and verglass. We opted for Stirling bomber a short but utterly brilliant V7. Although perhaps more like VI in todays harsh conditions.

Yes up there!!

After our trip out last week, it was Rogers turn to pull the trigger and he dispatched the main pitch in a very cool and calm style. Gear of any kind is a real battle and Roger showed some real tenacity to find some and pull out right to the mid way ledge.

In the chimney

Whilst belaying I saw a team fall from the top pitch of Invernookie, after apparently their belay failed. The two cart-wheeled the entire length of the crag. The good news is a apart from bruising and a few small fractures the two are fine, which is good news because it was a very sobering sight. In an attempt to communicate with them and offer help, poor old Roger had to climb the crux of our route 3 times!!!
In the end I ended up finishing well after dark.
Still a brilliant route in the dark.

As a note on conditions the Coire is full of Rime and Verglass that makes the climbing good, but very scary. Gear is hard fought at the moment. Not teaching Grans to suck eggs, but take care.

A day for Ducks, and Marigolds!

2009-12-16T20:17:00.005Z

Ok its official, today was wet. With rain from car park to climb, on the climb, and on the way out, interspersed with a little sleet on the plateau it was very wet. We looked like 3 drowned rats stood at the bottom of Fiacaill Couloir about to head up to give Burning and Looting a try. Anyway, a quick decision was made to return to the ark as quickly as possible. So we headed home, via the couloir, which was in easy II nick today, if you don’ t bother with the gear, if you do be prepared to dig.
The 4-5inches of rime meant gear placements on any of the routes we saw would be a real struggle.
Hope tomorrow is a drier day!

Photo thanks to Andy, my camera isn't waterproof or indeed working now!

Equinox: Carn Etchachan

2009-12-13T21:43:00.006Z

Andy and I spent much of the morning fully orientating ourselves with the upper cliff of Carn Etchachan on magical mystery tour. Still a morning well spent as the face is full of various chimneys, gullies and buttresses, that take some working out on your first visit.

As for conditions, what a difference 3km as the crow flies and a couple of hundred metres of altitude make. The snow was useless today, sugary crustry crud that just needed removing before you could climb. I don’t think either of us found a placement in snow. The neve and first time placements of yesterday were replaced with scraping and blind faith.

Anyway with that said we headed up Equinox VI 6, the climbing was both hard and bold, well for me anyway. Andy pulled out a fine lead of the slabby second pitch in particular. By 3pm and with still 40m? of climbing to go we decided to bail and try to get off the upper face in daylight. The snow conditions was simply making the climbing to difficult to go fast.
So two and half pitches and little to show for our effort, but the climbing was good and the place is now well and truly logged in the memory maps for next time.

Andy on the first chimney pitch.

Rime, Views, perfect weather, oh and bit more rime.

2009-12-12T18:33:00.004Z

Davy and I headed off in to Coire an Lochain today to kick start his season and make the most of the fantastic weather and conditions. We romped up Andromeda in helpful conditions and was on the top by 11:15 to enjoy the views.
Number two buttress is plastered with good useable ice and snow, however the rime and verglass, which was considerable, make gear placements worrying.
An utterly brilliant day, with perfect weather, and so worth making the effort to escape the fog of town.
An earlier start tomorrow for a little bit of a longer trip.

A few pics from today

Lazy Days!

2009-12-03T21:52:00.004Z

Roger Andy and I headed into the Northern Corries for a leisurely day. Rain at the carpark soon gave way to snow which didn’t abate all day.
Anway as we left the car at 10:15 we fancied a short day. The direct pitch of hidden chimney made for a good start. I then spied a groove going up the left wall of the upper pitch of hidden chimney. After a steep pull over the roof this lovely pitch led through to the plateau and we were back home for tea and cake at the new café just above the adventure shop opposite Mountain Spirit in Aviemore. The cakes were fantastic. As for conditions, improving and snowy would be a good term, the snow was useable, and every bit of turf we found all day was set solid.
With no mention of this upper pitch in the guide, it was so obvious, it must have been done before, so any hopes of new routing were slim! Anyway after an email to the winter guru, otherwise known as Andy Nisbet it seems the groove and roof I took us on was the final pitch of Andy N's new route from last season called Technicoloured Dream Crack, the whole thing goes at VII 7 but the upper pitch was around the V6 mark and worth a *. The gear was good but felt strenous to place.
Worthwhile if you are stuck in a queue for Hidden chimney upper pitch and you don’t fancy the VII7 start to Technicoloured Dream Crack. Take the first steep exit groove on the left as you head up hidden chimney and pull over the roof (40) mts.
A really good day in the hills with great company and good climbing,

Andy on Pitch 1

Hot Aches!

Roger on his way up to join me on a windy shelf!

Chocks Away Chaps!

2009-12-01T22:06:00.006Z

Another early start this morning. Today Andy, James and I, headed over to Beinn Eighe in search of a little less snow than Cairngorms. Anyway the North West gave us a brilliant day. With conditions good for the steeper upper quartzite tier, we poked around on Far West Buttress which gave us a new route. Probably in the V6 area Chocks Away gave 3 sustained pitches and just enough for one each, which was good.
A superb day, and route that is well worth a couple of stars. Details to follow. In the meantime a few pics.

The weather never came in quite as Geoff was forecasting!

Andy on top of pitch 4.

Me heading up pitch 4

Coming up the first corner of Pitch 1

James on Pitch 3

Andy on Pitch 4

Coire Sputan Dearg

2009-11-29T15:15:00.009Z

A few pics from yesterday when Andy and I headed over to Coire Sputan Dearg. Despite lots of snow and cold temps things really do need a little bit of consolidation. Anyway the pictures tell the story better...

Every winter climbers favourite sight on a Saturday morning!

With the visibility poor, navigation was to the fore from the start.

Some nice views.

Glissade gully provides a quick and easy approach to the coire floor.

The coire looked good, but be warned the snow was about as much use as...........

Take the guide book grades for this Coire with a pinch of salt, well we discoverd a sandbag or two! In it's current condition this little chimney is at least two adjective and technical grades out. Go and try it and see if you agree?

Finishing about 12 hours after that alarm clock!

Now only 3 hours back across the plateau and Andy looks really pleased about that little walk home in the snow and lovely Cairngorm breeze.

Loading the Guns!

2009-11-19T13:48:00.004Z

About a week ago I was in Pete MacPherson’s shop in town and he pointed out Ian Parnells blog post to me where he highlights a winter training programme. Have a look here.

Anyway the concept is simple a set number of pull-ups on the minute every minute for 30 minutes. Somewhere between 2 and 6 was suggested. Now subsequent posts on Ian’s Blog, suggest Pete has done 270 an impressive 9 a minute. As Ian points out good training to be cranking out those IXs.

Back in the real world, I have been motivated to start properly training for winter. So 3 seemed a good starting point, 30 minutes later that’s 90 pull ups done and dusted. A couple sessions down and I intend to do some form of active rest in the recovery time, perhaps a set number of squats? All we need now is some glimmer of hope on the horizon that winter is on its way. The long range GFS data doesn’t look too promising, for the next fortnight at least.

Lovely day to be high in the hills.

2009-11-08T19:54:00.013Z

A cheeky look into the Northern Corries on Friday morning was very fruitless, but with a blue sky day forecast Andy and I headed in for another early season inspection this morning.

The result Almost, but not quite, getting there slowly would be a better phrase I think.

Though there is obviously a lot of water in the hills it was nice to see the cold of the last few days had frozen the exposed ground and turf. The odd drool of ice and crusty snow made for a scenic walk.

As for climbing conditions it really is a question of a little more time, snow and cold weather. High east facing crags were starting to form, lower crags on other aspects no where near.

A tale of two halves-both taken on number one buttress today.

So with that in mind, and a bit of insight, we headed over to what we hoped would be the only pitch in a well frozen condition today.

Andy making the most of the day.

But still a lovely day to be out in the hills, with not a breath of wind, and a real crisp feel to the air. No doubt Andy will have some more photos on his blog, have a look here.

Monadh Liath: A Chailleach, Carn Sgulain, Carn Dearg.

2009-09-21T18:08:00.005+01:00

Carn Sgulain.

Becky and I had a quick stroll over the 27km round of these three Munro's in the Monadh Liath.

Carn Dearg, from Carn Ban

Perhaps not the most exciting of hills, but in an attempt to get fitter, we did them in lung bursting style which added to the fun, though my thighs are paying for the uphill runs today. Winter was definitely around the corner as the wind was Baltic yesterday.

The lonely coire of Nan Laogh.

Roof, Fly, Nail and Bridge.

Alpine Adventures continue.

2009-09-11T10:58:00.006+01:00

In Switzerland follow the signs!

With the settled weather of late summer you would think alpine objectives were easy to come by, however the very dry spell has made the approach to many routes difficult if not impossible and many of the mixed routes are simply too dry to be considered stable, so it has been a time for the thinking caps.
Rock in the Valle Blanche provided much of the entertainment in the first week or so, or though the usual stroll across towards the Torino is worthy of a note to say that is has some pretty nasty holes. Much of the North Face of the Tacul was a shooting gallery with blocks the size of cars comming down on a regular basis.
　

Perhaps the most stupid place to pitch your tent, extreme sleeping a new sport?

After a brief Swiss interlude, and the South Ridge of the Lagginhorn, the 0 degree isotherm also fell right down to around 2300 mts meaning it was pretty Baltic up high, but still no sign of any meaningful snow.

However the Contamine routes on the NW Triangle of Mount Blanc du Tacul provided brilliant long and relatively objectively safe mixed climbing. The lack of neve and more water ice surface just added to the fun.

Andy and I having fun on the 10 or so pitches of ice.

As you might imagine lower rock routes were very pleasant indeed and the odd sports crag allowed for a productive rest day now and again.
Anyway Andy is still out getting stuff done whilst I returned to do some proper work! Check out his blog for the latest take on conditions and few more pictures.

focusmountaineering blog

Alps- Week 1

2009-09-02T11:34:00.006+01:00

Hot and falling down would sum it up. Still having fun. Time to move on? Switzerland has a better forecast for the next few days.

Euro Challenge and a Sponsorship Request.

2009-08-10T22:24:00.005+01:00

A bit of a blatant appeal, but Becky has decided to enter the Cisco Water Aid Challenge, a 3 day adventure race in Tromso Norway at the end of September.
So why bother? Have a look at the video.

In simple terms Water Aid attempts to tackle poverty through access to clean water, sanitation and hygiene education. I’m not going to give you a big blerb here, suffice to say you can make your own decision.
If you do decide to sponsor her its best to do it here.
http://original.justgiving.com/scottishwater09
If you are interested in the details of the 3day adventure race then have a look here.
http://www.theeurochallenge.com/
Thanks for having a look.

A nice relaxing week at home!

2009-08-10T11:22:00.008+01:00

In saving for our big trip next year we decided to have a relaxing week at home this year.

It started with Becky and I heading off into the Cairngorms for the lovely hill of Beinn Mheadhoin, via a detour of the ever pleasant Loch A`n.

The summit tors were a perfect place to practice a bit of wing suit flying!

The next day we cycled in from Tomintoul towards Beinn a Bhuird, the cycle ride was deceptively uphill. Once leaving the track we set up over Stob an T Sluichd to find these rather strange bits of hill debris, before heading over the long exposed plateau to the summits of Beinn a Bhuird.

A pair of engines from an Oxford plane that crashed in December 1945. Killing all seven on board.

　
　
Wednesday we headed over towards Bonnar Bridge and the coast to coast cycle ride to Ullapool. A really nice ride on mostly good track with a few “fun Sections” , 3hours 40minutes of cycling saw us across the mainland!

Despite Becky’s optimism when we arrived in a damp Fort William the next day we still ended up getting wet on our scramble over tower ridge on Thursday, indeed tower gap was more like tower waterfall! Still it really is a nice hill scramble and a lovely way to reach the summit. We headed off back down the tourist path towards the halfway lochan, passing some pretty horrendous cairns in the mist, and the odd family parked on the side. All credit to many too as there were lots of smiles along with the red faces. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the hills, just a pity the path and that side of the hill is just so dull.

At the weekend Andy and Laura joined us for a trip south to do a bit of sport climbing at Kirriemuir, which I will not dwell on. I think I was in need of a rest day. Still the others were in cruising mode. The Indian restaurant in the town is worthy of particular note for being officially the worst restaurant I have ever eaten in.

Then finally yesterday we nipped a round what has to be the easiest Munro circuit. Dreish and Mayar through the really nice Coire Fee, and up and over a lovely plateau with fantastic views of the Southern Cairngorms.

Today I decided on a rest day, Becky I think is off enjoying the delights of our countryside again!!

Beinn Eighe and The Pass of Ballater.

2009-07-28T11:50:00.005+01:00

Becky and I had a nice walk over the black carls of Beinn Eighe on Saturday, one of the few days in the last month it hasn't been raining. Yesterday I drove out to the Pass of Ballater to meet Andy. I forget how quality this crag is, we did a few very good routes. I was pleased with the onsight of Stinker and Little Cenotaph, and equally dissapointed at getting completly spanked by Fingerwrecker.

Beinn Eighe

On the South West Ridge of Creag Dhubh Beinn Eighe.

Sea Cliffs, wet mountain crags and silly runouts!

2009-07-12T12:44:00.010+01:00

A busy week. It started with a trip to the Camel with Rich and Andy, these two looking very strong on their project, which no doubt will fall pretty soon.
I'm told the new line is somewhere in the 8a+ region, and with a redpoint attempt in two clean overlaping halves, it will be no longer than a couple of more fully rested attempts before these two have it the bag. My efforts were concentrated on the Stone of Destiny, a fantastic route and perhaps the best sports route in Scotland at 6c+? A pretty poor effort on the redpoint saw me quit after the first 5clips, especially poor as I had just done the route clean with the security of the top rope.

With a reasonable mid week forecast, and the school holidays in full swing Andy and I headed over to Skye. Day 1 turned out to be sea cliff day, dodging the showers we climbed the outrageous Spantastic that takes the obvious thin pillar above the tunnel here.

The outrageous Spantastic.

How much longer it will be standing is another question and I certainly felt it shake a little when a big wave booms in. Fortunately the gear is on the rock above the Pillar!!

We then headed south to the magical Kilt Rock where Andy dispatched the classic Grey Panther in fine style. What a route, as much gear as you can carry, fantastic rock and sustained for all 45Mt's of the pitch. A true contender for best single pitch route in Scotland at E1 I reckon. With the showers set to continue the next day we cut our losses and headed back to Inverness.

Grey Panther
Yesterday the sun came out once more which allowed for a very quick raid into Binnein Shaus in and out in under 5 hours. The Keep was the objective and despite being a little scrappy, and the ridiculously runout second pitch (25Mt's without any gear? Another good lead Andy!!), we had fun and ticked another route in the sun.

The views and the run out pitch2

The Needle: Shelterstone.

2009-07-03T09:59:00.007+01:00

Yesterday, saw Andy and I head over into Loch Avon in the Northern Cairngorms and tick the utterly fantastic Needle, well worth the 4* for the top needle crack/corner pitch alone. A route well worthy of the "Classic" name tag banded around. By all accounts with tales of flash flooding in Drumochter and Inverness, we were very lucky with the weather, with warm winds and the odd cooling cloud to keep things perfect.
The route makes you smile for 265 mts including the micro caving at the top to thread the needle itself. All the pitches are varied, well protected and contain quality climbing, with the only the "crack for thin fingers" perhaps suffering a little, from a bit of Polish. Still no complaints. A thoroughly fantastic day on the hill.

The beautiful Loch Avon.

Start of pitch 2 with 230mts still to go!

The brilliant top corner/crack.

Andy "Threading the Needle", the gap under this chockstone is pretty tight, a real jigsaw puzzle to fit yourself through.

The upper half of the route in the evening sunshine.

June: A few highlights.

2009-07-01T10:12:00.009+01:00

Wow that's June "Been and Gone" as they say. It felt like I perhaps hadn't done a great deal, other than DIY, new windows, garage door, utillity room now finished. Yet sorting out the pics, it doesn't seem it has been too much of a wash out.

It started with Becky, Juliana, Peter and I, making a weekend out of cycling the Dava way, this is the old dissused railway line that runs from Grantown on Spey to the Coast. Two days of Hardwork as we set off and returned to Inverness.

On the Dava way.

A few days later Andy, Charlie, and I hit the Old Man of Hoy in a day raid from Inverness, well not quite but we managed to top out 12hours after leaving home, and return the next morning via a midnight walk over the Island. A truly magical route and the achievement feels so much more than than the sum of its parts.

Somehow the Fulmars managed to miss me, but the other two got a bit of a fishy soaking, including one that soaked Andy whilst it was in mid flight, which I could'nt help but laugh at. It has to be said the rock itself is pretty intimidating, when you stand at the bottom with waves crashing, birds all over the place, and a crick in the neck as you strain to see the top. However we were up and down with minimal fuss.

Other highlights include a fantastic day on Skye getting in some alpine training, moving together on the three classic routes, below, upto and above the Cioch. With a brief pause for a sandwich on Scotlands best picnic spot.

Davy and I went up the Cioch nose in Applecross, the local crags have had a bit of revitalisation with my discovery of Tynrich Slabs.

Becky and I had a very wet weekend attempting to go sport climbing, Whilst the rest of the country basked in glorious sunshine we sat under a blanket of drizzle! Still we managed a few routes.

Finally the month finished with the Ben in perfect condition yesterday, Centurion providing the days entertainment, and some very hard pitches for the grade, or maybe I was just having a bad day? Still Andy "Opted!" to be rope gun for the crux pitch which was harder than I anticipated. Despite climbing like a fish in a pair of badly fitting Scarpas, it was worth it, just to see that place without a cloud, the view has been a long time comming.

So all in all a few things done this month.

Monthly update.

2009-05-16T21:13:00.004+01:00

A busy month but perhaps with not as much climbing as I would like! The house move has thrown up lots of DIY, Andy came over with young Joe to make the most of a poor Bank Holiday forecast and help us knock through a door in the Garage to the new drying room.

The work continues, plastering as I Type.....A steep learning curve! Hopefully the new utillity room will be up and running in the next week or two.

Davy took me on a top secret mission to a crag up North. Quality granite let down by a lack of protection, especially if you are a wimp like me. 3 Rps in 20mts is not enough for me!

Top Quality Granite, A shame about the gear!

Andy and I had wall to wall sunshine on a trip to Stac Polliadh, a shame the 70mph winds froze us to the core and put pay to harder things. We did the awful VS Release the Bats, 140mts of choss and the excellent HVS Vlad the Impaler, a two pitch classic.

The top Vlad the Impaler, and the best thing about the Release the Bats, the view.

A few trips to Duntelchaig, some bouldering at Ashie fort and a return visit to Huntlys Cave sums up the month!

Glan Marksie: With no ticks!

2009-04-12T19:49:00.005+01:00

A sunny Glen Marksie (Proteus)

With the gates open through to the Dam, GlenMarksie is only a 10minute walk from the car. Another good sunny forecast, ensured day two of the trad season went well.
Despite needing a good brushing, the crag revealed itself to be good, with 5 routes ticked. The routes varied from awkward, to slabby, to silly awkward to hard!
Sea of tranquillity was my favourite I think the classic two pitch 3*HVS . Andy was on good form, making light work of some other awkward numbers. Proteus makes you wish your legs are 6inches longer, fortunately Andy’s are.

9ft Wing Span

Callisto

I also found Callisto hard for it supposed 5a! Still 6 pitches in the afternoon sun.

The really nice Sea of Tranquillity.

Trad Season gets off to a start.

2009-04-10T22:54:00.003+01:00

Andy and I headed over to Huntly's cave to make the most of the place before the midges arrive! A good afternoon ticking the major lines such as Double Overhang, Diagonal, Dead Tree Wall, Hanging Groove etc... I was not on the best of form, but a nice afternoon non the less, with a couple of non too stressful routes. Thought Diagonal, was top quality, Dead tree wall has a real sting in the tail for the very last move. Still you can sink your entire rack en-route! The day finished with a go at Petes Wall, but that one will have to wait!

A few shots.

End of Winter: Trad Season!!

2009-04-10T12:59:00.004+01:00

Winter seemed to fade very quickly, so no more routes to report since mid February, very disappointing. However, Bec and I did have a fantastic time in France, and returned to spend a lovely week in the lakes with Becky’s family.
The skiing was fab with sunshine on most days and a couple of days of heavy snow in the middle of the week. Not quite as much powder as last year, but still good enough!
For some reason all we videoed was pretty boring slopes, but the fun stuff including my full front flip and 30 seconds of unconsciousness, and my 20minute adventure through the woods off piste, the best run of the week, remained off camera.

As for the lakes we managed one climb, I’m not allowed to say Becky enjoyed it but I think she did really, she just doesn’t perhaps know it yet. Anyway we nipped up the Classic Little Chamonix before spending a day in Keswick.
So with winter gear put to bed, we better have a good spring, it is Trad season afterall!

I think the look says it all!

Frustration.

2009-03-10T23:52:00.001Z

Nothing else to add really the title says it all, a combination of moving house and mid season thaw means it really is about time I got a route done!

Family Fun.

2009-02-21T20:39:00.004Z

Hebs and I had a lovely walk along the ridge above Strathpeffer today, followed by a really, really rich and indulgent hot chocolate at Maya in Strathpeffer. Mum, Dad, and Aunty Becky also came a long to keep an eye on us.
It was very mild, and the snow was disappearing off of Ben Wyvis rather fast, as we pottered along. Looking colder towards the end of the week though.

Perfect training for a winter pack!

Aonach Mor: Solarwind, Jet Stream, Aquafresh and Whiteshark

2009-02-19T20:53:00.008Z

Andy and I had a very busy, but fun day on Aonach mor today. We both set off with low expectations but the climbing turned out to be very good, on steep snow/water ice allday. It ended up being a 7* day with 2 and half routes in the bag!
The temperature was still warm this morning when we dropped into the climbing col and traversed around toward Solar Wind. After the excellent first pitch, the ice in the groove ran out, so after Andy had a look over the rib to the left we decided to finish up Jet Stream. Although I did this the other day it looked complete so made for an obvious finish. Before we could head off that way I had to climb out of the guides variation chimney below after I unexpectedly fell down on the traverse to finish Jet Stream, nothing hurt other than my pride, but still it added another 10mts of climbing to the day!
After topping out we made a quick dash around to easy gully and towards the Shark Buttress, where White Shark looked really quite good.
Andy was chief photographer today, so a few pics of me for a change!

The first pitch of Solar Wind.

On the finish for Jet Stream.

Andy on Aquafresh which we used as an alternative start to WhiteShark.

Me on the steep last corner of Whiteshark.

The top corner was quite steep and felt more like V5 on the day. Topping out it was 4:40 and with the gear in the bag at 4:44, the last Gondola was at 5:00, we made it by 5:03. That gives you a good indication how extreme the bum sliding was!
In terms of conditions although wet-take plenty of gloves, the ice was still pretty fat and took the odd cosmetic screw here and there, the buttresses were wet and black as you might expect. Still lots to go at if you fancy a trip up there.

Warm and slushy: A day to ski!

2009-02-16T09:41:00.004Z

With this thaw starting to set in, I gave up on finding anywhere to climb on Sunday, and went for a slide in the slush instead. A group of us headed over to the Lecht, to try to avoid the tales of monstrous queues on Cairngorm. Though the 6:30 alarm felt like I was off climbing again.

A busy hill, but no too busy!

We had a good day, with good snow, if a little heavy off piste. As the day went on the surrounding hills lost some of the uniform whiteness and a few patches started to show. With all the lifts open, good visibility and a wait of never more than a few minutes, the Lecht provided for a good day of Scottish skiing, it is just a shame that the longest runs are still so short.

Bec and Claire.

The week ahead looks warm though a small window of opportunity of cold weather looks like popping up at the end of the week, and the synoptic charts for next weekend and just beyond look cold again with snow, just very windy at this stage.

Jet Stream: In the rain.

2009-02-12T21:08:00.004Z

When I picked Davy up at 6:30 this morning it was snowing heavily, by the time we reached Aonach Mor and had walked to the top ski lift it was raining heavily. After a few cornice dilemmas we dropped down to the climbers col to traverse across a fairly slabby slope. The fresh windblown snow was sitting on top of the hard neve underneath. Saturated by the rain, it wasn’t the healthiest looking slope. Anyway we ended up opting for Jet Stream, which was in very good nick with fat chewy ice, thanks to the rising temps. I thought it was a top class route and well worth the 3*. The steeper second pitch was probably the best bit of ice climbing I have done in Scotland.

Davy on the first chimney pitch.

Once at the belay I could see Davy would have some cornice capers to pull through a now dripping monster, which he did as calm as you like. The snow was now completely sodden and should be stonking if we get a freeze.

Cornice Capers.

As a bonus we were able to bum slide virtually the entire lift of the unused Warrens tow, to get us back to the warmth of the café pretty quickly. A really good day on the hill despite the foul weather.

An Teallach: New Route for Glas Tholl.

2009-02-09T19:11:00.004Z

The Corrie on Approach

It was a long old day yesterday. Davy and I headed NW to poke our heads in and have a look at Glas Tholl on An Teallach. Once out of the woods, it was clear the walk in was going to be hard work, every foot step was sinking in powder, the higher we got the deeper the powder. Eventually we reached the Coire, a little longer than the guide book recommended time!

A long approach

We spied an obvious unclimbed buttress between the Third and Fourth Prong. A good long route with a surprising finish, up a gully. The turf and neve on the route itself was very good, and we dispatched the 300mts or so, pretty efficiently.
I climbed a chimney of about tech 4 on the lower buttress but this was avoidable on the right and as it turned out not really in keeping with the rest of the route, which ended up being in a way, disappointingly easy, but still a good mountaineering line.

Davy in the groove!

On Route!

It did pass some spectacular rock scenery though, and the gate way through up to the upper gully was quite atmospheric.

On top we were treated to a spectacular sunset, and a few magical views with every piece of land insight being covered in snow.

A fantastic view.

Once finished we attempted to climb up and over Bidein a Ghlas Thuil but the powder was simply too deep so we dropped down towards Loch Toll an Lochain, a little unnerving on the loaded south facing slope. Once down we flogged out from the Loch. Despite being thigh deep in powder most of the way until past the loch, and also falling in a stream or two, and having to wrestle out of the occasional 4ft hole! We managed to get back to the car a couple of hours before midnight.

As for the route.

Post Hole Prong Phewy!

300m II Will Wilkinson Davy Moy 8th Feb 2009. Follow a turfy groove up the right side of the obvious buttress in between the third and fourth prong. At 150mts the Buttress splits with a through route up a 3mt wide gully in the centre of the buttress. Climb down and right into this gully and follow it through the gateway and exit right at the top(35mts). Continue up the obvious gully to the top (130mts).

Shelter Stone: Success on Western Grooves.

2009-02-01T21:17:00.006Z

The morning approach

Andy and I had a really good day over on the Shelter Stone today. It was bitter on the walk in, and the whole of the ridge upto p1141 was sheet glass. We plodded on into quite a strong southerly breeze, that made us both look like an icicle, and dropped down to the Shelter Stone. 2 hours 20 from the car, including soloing the first 40mts of our route and being geared up ready to go, was quite amazed how easy the good snow made the going underfoot.
Anyway we opted for Western Grooves, a really nice route, a couple of short tricky bits, and some quality mountaineering up the Shelter Stone.

Andy on a couple of the tricky bits.

The highlight was perhaps the best straddle seat belay in the world, with a couple of hundred feet beneath each foot.

Andy on the brilliant belay onto of our second pitch
When we topped out some guys reported that Sticil face was good, as they and another team just behind them had enjoyed some good ice.

Looking accross the cascade looked abit sorry for itself, but there were quite a few teams out enjoying Hells Lum.

Hells Lum and the Cascade.

We found the snow a bit cruddy, but good enough, and things are only going to improve once this cold spell really gets hold.
Back at the car for 6 so a 10 hour day. As we dropped down the goat track things looked much whiter in there, Fiacail buttress was especially hoared up.
The path out of the coirries was an ice rink and I fell at least 5 times on the flat!! Much to the amusement of everyone who just seemed to cruise past I am sure.

PS check out my spare axes on ebay. Aztars on Ebay.

Bealach na Ba...Failure for the second time!

2009-01-25T11:30:00.003Z

For the second time this year Andy and I chanced our arm with a visit to Meall Gorm, the north facing crag on the left side of the Bealach na Ba today. At least this time there was snow. Skirting past a couple of 'road closed due to snow' signs, we got as far as one of the small parking areas about 30minutes from the climbs. Before sheet ice on the road had us sliding backwards with the brakes on!

Things from this distance looked really good, plastered in snow, with it sticking to the steep walls, and ice streaks pouring over most of the ledges. We opted for Blue Pillar, such a tremendous looking line up a conspicuous narrow pillar. As we swam our way to the start it was pretty obvious things were maybe not going to be as good as they looked, but hopefully better on the steeper stuff. Half a rope length up it was pretty obvious, the cruddy snow, rotten ice and soaking turf wasn’t going to improve.

Just before we bailed.

The road in need of a good plough.

The sight of the sun warming the top of our route still further was enough for us to say enough is enough. So we bailed and returned to Inverness by 2, handy the wall was open till 6. Such a cracking line, I will be back when it really is frozen, whenever that might be.

Stag Rocks: Albino and Final Groove.

2009-01-21T20:38:00.004Z

The early morning walk in.

Shelter Stone looking good and Hells Lum looking loaded.

Davy and I had an explore over on Stag Rocks today. Although there has been a lot of snow it has been on a southerly wind and so this crag was scoured, with concrete turf, bullet proof neve, and plastic chewy ice.
Anyway it’s not every day you can hitch a lift, on approach to a winter climb, so a lift on the Piste Basher to the top of the Cas was very welcome, before we nipped over p1141 and down onto the top of Stag Rocks.
The other crags in the Loch Avon Basin looked good too.
Diagonal Gully with really good neve.

Diagonal gully provides a grade 1 approach to many of the climbs on stag rocks that start on its right wall. This was full of really solid neve, and was a real joy to climb down.
To cut a long story short we ended up doing two routes, final groove at the top of the gully, which was a slaby little route, and a very good route called Albino. (I sent us off up the wrong route at the start of the day, yes it was my fault Davy!!!, but it was all a cunning plan to ensure I got the lead on Albino!)

Davy on Final groove.

Albino route is a little cracker with good climbing all the way. Steady at IV 5 with one or two thinkers but loads of gear. There is a very good picture of this route in the SMC guide, and it lived up to the picture expectations.
By 3pm as predicted the wind picked up and virtually blew us back to the car park in one move! A rosy face evening!

A belay with a view on Albino.

Original Summer Route. Winter Highlight

2009-01-08T19:27:00.004Z

The morning view

Davy and I made a quick visit into the Northern Corries this morning. Things looked pretty white from the off but the forecast was for warmer temps as the day went on. The crux of the day was perhaps the path that was a complete skating rink this morning after a bit of thaw and overnight freeze.
Ran into Murdo on the way in, and Nick on the way out.

A climber on the slant, spot them?

Well rumour had it the Original summer route was hard for the grade, I concur.
Though the route was frozen solid, it was also covered in a couple of inches of powder which didn’t help matters. Still we did it in two long pitches, both containing good moves and good climbing. Though different, the first being thin and balancy, the second steep with bomber hooks. The traverse on pitch two was really good fun, a long step with a hundred feet of air beneath you. We rambled up to the top of Aladdins Buttress before walking back down the couloir. I thought the route was a real gem and packed some top climbing in 100mts. The highlight of the winter so far. It only gets 2** it doesn’t top out, I guess but the climbing is brilliant, get on it.
Not for the first time this winter the Coire was buzzed by a big yellow budgy on a training flight, we think.

Davy a giant of the mountains!

Taxi for two!

On the way out things were warming up rapidly and the ice rink path was becoming a slush trail! Looks like that might be the last of winter for a few days.

Glen Shiel and New Route for Lurchers.

2009-01-03T12:49:00.006Z

The Lovely hills of Am Bathach and Ciste Dhubh.

Happy New Year. Busy couple of days. New years day Becky and I headed into Glenshiel and did a lovely hill just above the Cluanie Inn. The First hill of Am Bathach was a well defined grassy ridge, with lovely views and good walking, this drops down to a col before a final steep pull up to Ciste Dhubh. Any climbers thinking of heading this way, the rock was black, but well frozen, and the central gully of Coffin gully was complete.
A steep grass descent saw us back on the valley track and back to the car within 5 hours. Every drop of moisture on the hill side was frozen solid. With vast areas of ice in the streams and on the paths.

With that in mind Andy, Joe and I headed into Lurchers yesterday in the hope of finding a bit of ice to climb, the crag was as a dry as a bone with very little obvious ice to be seen. A traverse of the entire crag found us below a very thin ice fall and a voyage into the unknown. (we were off the topo in the SMC guide). Not recorded in the guide this obvious gully feature looked to have just enough ice to make it climbable, so off we went.

Andy on the thin first pitch

After about 100mts or so the gully ran out and after another 50mts of route finding we found ourselves in a very definite cul-de-sac. With a steep headwall all around, a bit of a puzzle. The only problem being it was a little loose in there, anyway we found a way through via a back left corner and very large and conspicuous loose flake. From there our mountaineering adventure continued to the top of Lurchers after 250mts of climbing. We await to see whether anyone as done the route before, I know a lot of new routes were done up here last year, and the first pitch is a very obvious feature. We shall see. A full day on the hill though, with a moonlight walk off.

Andy below the steep mixed crux.

Had an email from the SMC so this is a new route,
Desperate Measures IV4 250mts.

Route details:
Desperate Measures IV 4 J Omond, A Porter and ME!
Takes the obvious depression at the back of a small bay right of deerhound ridge. Climb a thin ice pitch for (25m), to gain easy angled ice for a further (75m). From below a small island of rock take the increasingly steep right fork (60m) to a steep step into an obvious and well defined ampitheatre (30m). Here the back left corner provides an exit via an obvious and dubious looking flake(crux)(10m loose) Continue along easy ground to the plateau(60m)

Good fun on Grooved Rib.

2008-12-29T19:08:00.005Z

A little whiter than of late!

Davy and I had a walk in to Coire an-t Sneachda this morning, with one half rope and a light rack, with the intention of playing around on the easy gully lines. However when we got there, the crag had been in the cloud overnight, and after a light dusting, and hoaring from the cloud, a few other routes had come into reasonable nick. There was a strong wind blowing from the south all day, and by the end of the day, things were looking a lot whiter still.
We started with Grooved Rib, a good fun route with a couple of nice grooves, the right hand one had a little steeping before the top of the second pitch, and a good chimney to finish. Spindrift, frozen eyebrows, it was a proper winters morning on the route. Top fun.

Davy on the Middle pitch of Grooved Rib.

Top Pitch.

Rob and Murdo just so happened to follow us up the route, a small world this climbing one!

Rob and Murdo having fun.

We finished the day with a solo of Crotched Gully, again top fun.
Davy told me it was a fair number of years since he last soloed Crotched Gully, I wont say how many , but enough that I was impressed anyway.

Davy at the top of Crotched Gully.

The snow was not quite as firm as it has been in the last few days, so perhaps things just warmed up slightly by the end of the day. Still good enough though.

Concrete Neve In Coire an-t Sneachda

2008-12-26T19:35:00.007Z

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Day Ben Wyvis.

Well we had a quick dash up Ben Wyvis yesterday, before Christmas Dinner, and it made for a lovely start to Christmas Day. Becky and I shared a mince pie on top!

Today after a year of pestering, I finally got Becky out to do a winter route! The snow in the Northern Corries is absolutely concrete neve. The easier gully lines are full, with rock solid snow ice, and the odd patch of water ice here and there. Ideal sport for an easy day, we left the carpark at 10:00 am, and the Coire was busy with 3 other teams! All doing the Runnel! Becky and I did Central Left Hand, which had a bit of ice to play on just before the cornice on the top pitch.

Ice Shocker in Coire an-t Sneachda. (central left hand)

Just informed Becs I forgot the Mince Pies!

Becs on the top pitch.

New Self Arrest technique displayed by Becky.

Aladin’s Mirror was complete, as was Goat Track Gully. Red Gully looked good as did the Runnel, Spiral and Central gully. Crotched gully needed a small step to be avoided, but otherwise was complete, if you want a day of easy fun then all the major gully lines will keep you busy. The buttresses could all be climbed as rock climbs, so you really could have a mixed bag if you fancy it.

Aladdins mirror direct.Anyway we had a fun day, back home in time for the family boxing day tea too.

Sax Appeal

2008-12-20T22:47:00.005Z

A day for making the best of things. Andy was stuck at the snow gates at the Lecht whenI left town this morning, a run in with a friendly local saw him through, and by 9:00 a little later than planned we arrived in a very black looking Coire an t-sneachda. Plans to get further put on hold thanks to the Lecht snow gates. The best looking buttress was Fluted Buttress. Some of the other buttress looked very black indeed, but out choice held an onious snow and ice line. The snow was concrete, and freeze of melt water meant all the cracks were chocked with verglas. In the end Andy and I went for Sax Appeal, I pulled the straw for the first pitch. The old guide had this route, as poorly protected and V4 a very odd grade for mixed. After a short excursion into cruising and a hairy traverse back left I can understand the poorly protected bit. Not sure it was an overall V, but the gear is a little sparse and the climbing thin. Anyway somehow, and despite the late start and the fact there were 3 other teams on Fluted Buttress Direct, once we joined that route, we managed to top out by 3pm. Another really good day on the hill though. The snow lines and gullies in the Coire were excellent, and may be worth a trip back as long as things don’t warm up too much in the next few days.

Andy on the middle pitch of Fluted Buttress Direct, after Sax Appeal.

Cairngorm Skiing: After a failed attempt to find winter conditions out west.

2008-12-13T21:27:00.003Z

Bit of a silly mistake this morning when Andy and I left Inverness at 5:45, instead of turning left for the Cairngorms, we took a risk and went west.
Well when we had enough light to see, at 8am, it was pretty clear we were not going to be doing a winter route this morning. Things were wet and black, so we turned around and headed back to Inverness. Back in Inverness by 9am after a 180mile round trip, Becs and I headed for the slopes of Cairngorm instead. After a strong Southerly wind all night the gorms had had a top up, the plateau providing a good snow store for the wind to collect from.
Becky tried her hand at recording a run today, the results you can see below, she made a pretty good job. a good steady hand to say she had to watch where she was going too. The Ciste provided the best snow.
On the piste, where bashed the snow was nice, off it, it was a little scoured, and in other places wet and crusty. Still we had a good day out and made the most of it.
On the way down I spoke to a couple of teams coming out of the Norries where reports were of clearing, clearing, and more clearing.
Hopefully be out to play in the morning, probably a short day in Coire an-t Sneachda, but will wait and see how much snow comes down overnight, the forecast is for a fair bit. We shall see.

Short Circuit: Fiacaill buttress.

2008-12-07T20:53:00.000Z

Jamie and I had a fantastic day out the other day. We headed into the northern corries and despite the recent snow, things looked surprisingly black, but Fiacaill buttress had been out of the teeth of the thawing wind so looked white, well hoared and covered in rime as a result of the thaw and refreeze. One team had set off up the couloir, so we were left to do something on the right of the couloir. We opted for Short Circuit. A good little route, with the pitches getting progressively harder as you go. The top pitch was a cheeky little number, I quite enjoyed the steep crack but the slab was thin, I suspect it may have had more turf at some point in the past. A good short day out, good fun and good company, what more can you ask for?

Frustrating day in Loch Avon.

2008-12-06T18:06:00.006Z

View of a frozen Loch Avon from the 1st belay on the Shelter Stone.

On approach to the shelter stone.

Hells lum-Two parties on a very icy looking brimstone groove

Cascade area.

Stag Rocks

Conditions are fantastic at the moment in Loch Avon Basin. Stewart and I headed for a route on the Shelter Stone, but after the first pitch he was keen to head home. Despite one or two desperate pleas, I almost thought about begging things looked so good, I couldn’t convince him to carry on. So we abbed off after the first pitch and started the long walk up and out.

We had made excellent time on the way in and was on the route for a little after 9:00. Thats about 2hrs 30 from the car.

The slog out was hard work, post holing every step. There was a layer of windslab on top of the powder and it just made life hell.

As a result we were back at the car for early afternoon.

The positives, all the crags I could see looked good.
Anyway the turf was bomber on the Shelter Stone and everything was lightly hoared up. Stag rocks, and hells lum were cacked in ice, couldn't comment on its quality though. Cascade area was also in.
We did see two people ski across the loch though, so the ice must be ok.
Anyway a few pics from a frustrating day out. The weather was excellent too.

Meall Faur-Mhonadh:

2008-11-30T13:39:00.004Z

Becs and I had a lovely day out above Loch-ness. The views were stunning and the weather fantastic. A few pics from our afternoon out. Some sledging action was also had on the way down!

Dissapointing day in the Cairngorms!

2008-11-29T10:53:00.006Z

A quick dash into the Cairngorms at the weekend, saw Davy and I very disappointed once the cloud lifted and dawn was breaking. We could see a very black looking set of buttresses in Coire-an-Lochain, We picked the whitest line we could find, many routes really were as black as you could imagine.

Anything steep had held no snow after the thaw, and the dry air meant nothing was hoaring up. The line we spied from the floor was Ewen Buttress, it really is a short and quite poor route. 2*???

One very easy pitch followed by one or two moves, followed by 60 mts of plodding. We untied at the top put the stuff in the bag and walked off to find we still had a nice looking horizontal arete to complete the route.

As it wasn’t quite mid day, we dropped down the goat track and ran up goat track gully. This as usual had the wee ice pitch which was fun. The turf is like concrete, all over the Northern Cairngorms, this should be good once the snow arrives. Still a quick successful day out.

Aonach Mor: Early season action.

2008-11-24T12:47:00.003Z

Jamie and I left Inverness at 4:45 on Saturday to head down to Aonach Mor. With a better weather forecast, and perhaps less snow I thought that West might well be best this weekend.
Missing out the finer points of walking up the downhill track, in the dark, we arrived at the top Gondola station after an hour and half, why oh why these places do maintenance with snow on the ground is a different story.
Contouring around from the climbers col things looked good and we settled on Force 10 buttress. The weather was also settled with zero wind, and the cloud just lifting off the summit.

I was expecting a romp. I was wrong.
The gear was well, er, poor, and the whole thing was sustained at 4 with quite a lot of 5. The guide book says it climbs steep and surprising ground for the grade, and it does, whatever grade that might be! I think it may have been graded for Neve and good snow, as the powdered up route we found was quite a challenge. There was a mention of excellent protection, 10mt run outs above dodgy pro, gave me a different story. Still we had fun. If you are in the Coire this winter check the route out, well worth doing. The crux sequence of chimney and crack is well protected.
A torch light descent of the world cup mountain bike trail just added to the days entertainment. The view from the 1st belay, the only pic to have survived the thaw in my bag!

Fannaichs: Meall a' Chradgaidh

2008-11-16T22:34:00.000Z

The other Sunday Becs and I had a quick wander into the Fannaichs, despite the late start we managed to bag Meall a’ Chrasgaidh and be back to the car before it was too dark. Some lovely views on the way especially to the north and Beinn Dearg. Sgurr Mor also looked good too but I couldn’t see resurrection just yet.
We did very nearly get caught out with an Iron Hard patch of snow, just below the col that leads to the plateau, we left the axe and crampons back home. A few delicate steps and a few big kicks to make some of our own and we were on the summit. A nice gentle day out, and a good day to be in the hills.

Hidden Chimney: Direct start

2008-11-12T19:00:00.004Z

The other day Jamie and I headed into the Northern Corries. Arriving in the car park at 8am to a warm, foggy and wet vista. The presence of the local winter climbing elite made me feel a little better. Despite the tight lips for possible destinations and routes I knew these guys would get something done. So we trudged into the mist. The muddy path gave way to a few signs of snow after 30minutes walking, but things weren’t looking good. The low cloud meant we saw nothing of the crag and we arrived at the lochain of Corie an-t-sneachda things looked a little more promising. This was only Jamie’s second ever winter route, but he was keen to try something a little bit harder than the stuff he did last time out, so I opted to go for the direct start of Hidden Chimney. Although I have done this twice, the guide book mentions another variation to the start, up a chimney just right of the direct start at about the same grade of IV 5. Although they only came in short bursts, the difficulties were steep and quite thin, a good solid IV 5.

Within no time at all, and after only one or two expletives Jamie joined me on the belay, smiling so I think he enjoyed it. Conditions underfoot were good with some useable snow and everything really hoared up for that full on winter effect.
I lead through the next two pitches and surprisingly for the first time actually got around to doing the top chimney pitch of hidden chimney.

This is a lovely pitch and well worth its 2**. The chockstone is a little awkward and was over come with a neck and footing chimney technique!!

A very good day out after such low expectations on the walk in. On the way home the cloud lifted to give us a nice view as we dropped back down to the car park.

Cairngorms: North and South for a weekend of winterfun.

2008-11-02T20:16:00.011Z

A busy weekend! Yesterday Andy and I were driving up Glen Muick at 6:30 following a Car and I was thinking the place would be busy. The other car was slick and they were off before we had parked up, but that was to be a bonus!
On the snowy walk in this guy gave us a low down on conditions, snowy was his take on things.

Thankfully we had team slick in front and they broke trail all the way to the coirre lip, waste deep powder and breaking trail, and still only the 1st of Nov.
Anyway the helpful other team looked liked they had other plans and we were left to swim down into the Coirre and the start of the routes.
Lochnagar was officially plastered.

An hour or so later we were at the bottom of Shadow Buttress A, a classic 300mt IV5 mountaineering route. We opted for the alternative start of Bells route to give us two routes for the day. This was an old fashioned route, with good turf, and little gear!

Andy dispatched the Crux of the whole route on the second pitch with one gymnastic move over the overhanging Iron shaped face you can see here.

The rest of the route is long! 6 pitches in total saw us top out just before it got dark, after being visited by the Mountain Rescue Helicopter whilst we were still on the route.

All that remained now was the 2hour walk back off the hill in the dark. To complete a fantastic but tiring day.

Today Becky and I headed off to Cairngorm to make the first few turns of the season.

What a day, the Gorms looked magical this morning, and the weather was brilliant all day. Surprisingly despite being open yesterday, Becky still managed to sniff out some fresh powder and we had a good day, in good snow! Lets hope there are many more weekends like this one, as winter sets in!

Coire Sputan Dearg: A winter attempt.

2008-10-23T11:26:00.003+01:00

After snowfall on Tuesday and a cold night Andy and I headed out in search of the first winter route of the season yesterday. With lines like “they give good climbing after a fresh fall of powder between October and May” in the guide book, we headed for the rocky buttress of Coire Sputan Dearg. This is a high south facing Coire on the back of Ben Macdui. The only issue being the 3 and half hour walk in over the Northern Cairngorms.

The weather played ball though, and we were treated to some fantastic views on the way in. The Northern Corries looked good first thing as we scooted past. 3 hours later after crossing the top of Ben Macdui, it was pretty obvious our target for the day was far from in winter nick. Snow patches on ledges was a wintry as we were going to get. So we opted to climb Flake Buttress. In big winter boots and gloves, the crampons, and my new ice axes stayed in the sack!
Well I hated it, a slabby natured route with some big holds and big moves. Problem was I didn’t trust my feet in the stiff B4 winter boots on any of the smears and so ended up doing some really big moves from jug to jug. The ball bearing gravel ontop of sloping shelves didn’t help either. All in all after 10mts of pitch 2 I was happy to bail off, but Andy lead through and we finished the route around 2:30 as the wind switched around to the Southwest. It was like someone had turned the hairdryer on, and by the time we were back at the car much of the snow had melted. Nice to be out in winter conditions again, the long walk, big sack, and bits of micro nav have to help.

Coire Sputan Dearg.

Back to Basics

2008-09-22T21:09:00.006+01:00

A truly wildlife bonanza this weekend. Finally got myself back on some trad routes with Stewart at Redhyte point near Portsoy. The crag itself is pretty unremarkable, but the setting is excellent. Although the routes are short you can pack a lot into the day and I thoroughly enjoyed a chilled day out on the rock, watching little boats bob about as I belayed.

We started the day with the sea level traverse of the crag, and whilst out on the seaward end we saw thousands of Mackerel topping and playing in the crystal clear waters. Despite a bit of a sandbag HVS that felt E1 to me, we had a pretty relaxing day. The grades are a bit all over the place, VS that feels vdiff and HVS that felt..well hard! The day finished with Dolphins in the Firth as the sun began to set on a long autumn evening, and hand made ice-cream at Cullen.
Sunday Becky and I stormed our way around the hills that make up the Meall a’ Bhuachaille ridge behind Glenmore Lodge. The wildlife theme continued when we saw this little fellow pop his head out to say hello.

Last weekend as we cycled around Glen Afric Bec ran over a slow worm too, poor bugger! We think it survived as it slithered away into the bushes.
Not much else to report really.

Mountain Biking and Moy

2008-08-25T23:04:00.002+01:00

Becky Out in front, on the trail up at Abrichain.

A quick weekend dash to Abrichain meant Becky and I got lost on the mountain bike trails, after a false start or two we sorted ourselves out and cycled a couple of routes. To describe them as boggy would be an understatement, a good test of your technical uphill ability. I was sadly lacking, anyway we had a good couple of hours, and well worth a visit for a good bit of single track biking within 15minutes of town.
This evening Rich and I headed out to Moy and I climbed the new line I bolted last week, Pebble Party and about 5+ , I may have gone a bit mad with the drill as you seem to spend much of your time clipping, but still a good introduction to the type of climbing Moy has to offer. Be warned though it needs a bit more of a clean, and there is the odd pebble that may pop still. Rich onsighted the last two routes of the crag he had left. This now means he has onsighted the lot. No mean effort the last route he did tonight (the furthest right 7a+) was bloody hard, a real bouldery start, sustained in the middle and steep to finish. I flailed around for a while and dragged myself 3/4s of the way up it just to realise how strong an effort it seemed to me. Measured against onsighting the crag anyway. Despite a pebble popping on him Rich held the swing at the start to claim the fist “Man of Moy Award!”. Who’s next? awarded to anyone who onsights all the routes up there.

Rich completing the Man of Moy Challenge!!

Midge time!

2008-08-17T22:37:00.005+01:00

Busy few days. Went up to Pinnacle crag with Becky and did a few routes in the evening sunshine on Thursday, we had a go at the Davy Moy chop route, The Brazilian E35c, the gear and landing is unthinkable and due to a healthy dose of cowardness I opted for the top rope. Managed the onsight (that is I managed to onsight the moves, obviously not a proper onsight as on the top rope!) and the climbing is good, but in no hurry to lead this one, a fall is simply not an option. We were forced to run back to the car in the end thanks to the midges, I forgot just how bad they can be.
Saturday we went for a walk in the Cairngorms up through the Challamain gap and onto Lurchers crag, a nice little walk without the weight of a winter pack. Would be keen to get back in there this winter and do a couple of the routes that seem to form quite readily.
Today went upto the Tom Riach Boulder until I ran out of skin! Which was'nt very long, that boulder has some very sharp holds! Bit like the teeth of the midges that drove me mad and home in the end!

Done and Dusted.

2008-08-13T21:47:00.004+01:00

Well that was a quick four weeks.

26 Days
30 degrees plus everyday
55 miles of hiking
4 4000mt peaks
27000 ft of ascent
25 climbs
17 burgers
1 bear attack (artistic licence)
Elks, Chipmunks, Eagles, Marmot.
The worlds worst thunderstorm
100+ mosquito bites
2673 miles of driving
23 miles and 4000ft of ascent on the mountain bike trails
1 traffic violation (Maybe?)

We had a fantastic time, have put all the pictures up on the Pisca gallery.

Road Trip: Colorado

2008-07-10T15:40:00.005+01:00

Off in search of some Sun, Mountains, Lakes, Buzz-worms, and Bears, oh and er... hot rock too. The countdown to our month long road trip is almost over. A couple of days to endure the pleasures of Heathrow, and away to the outdoor capital of the USA. Cant Wait.

Moy: Loch Tollaidh: Grass Crag

2008-07-06T13:06:00.009+01:00

Busy couple of days. Spurred on by Rich’s comments that I would do alright up at a Moy (Thanks Rich). Stewart and I headed up there on Thursday and much to my surprise it wasn’t too bad. My first attempt on Little Teaser at 6C possibly 6b+ saw me within two feet of the lower off. With the sequence sorted it fell next go!. The 6a possibly 6a+made for a fun sustained route too. I hope to meet Andy up there one evening this week and have a look at bolting a few otherlines. I spied a nice arete and a couple of slabs which looked nice. As the camera was left at home I have borrowed this image of Andy on Little Teaser from Rich.

Yesterday saw Jamie and I head up to Loch Tollaidh in the morning, with wall to wall sunshine forecast all day we were in no hurry, and a good job really as we pulled over to change a puncture just outside Kinlochewe. To add a little spice to the rest of the journey the puncture was a result of some serious tracking/suspension issues with Jamie’s transport. As a result the other “good” tyre was down to the canvas, and offering a nice body shake if we went over 61mph. Still we arrived safe and sound.
Loch Tollaidh had been recommended to Jamie as possibly containing a good first E6 for him, it did all look a bit bold and hard to me but I wasn’t going on the sharp end so it didn’t matter. Anyway I warmed up on the lovely Rough Slab of Gairloch Wall, VS4c and 5 bits of gear on the 30mt route, so not one to do if you don’t like run out slabs. Which I don’t! After the turmoil of the morning we changed our minds completely and went for a some sport at the nearby Grass Crag.
With some words of encouragement from Jamie (not to be underestimated, as I would'nt have got on this without them)(Thanks Jamie). I managed my first 6c flash. All the Arts only 12mts but top fun. A powerful boulder start to a side pull and eventually a jug and awkward rest, from there a steady wall to a final awkward mantle and the lower off. So that’s this years target of flashing a 6c done!
The 7a’s felt a good deal more than a grade harder and indeed one was so thin that both Jamie(who can climb 7a) and I thought it perhaps has never been climbed because it was so stupidly thin. A great day out, in the lovely sunshine of the West Coast, if only more days could be like this.
Right time to start pushing the grade a bit and actually look for some 7a routes rather than avoid them!

Almost forgot but I climbed Duntelchaigs newest route on Monday with Davy, A slab he has cleaned to the right of Excavator. He has called it The Bonzai Slab, E3 5c. Sustained at 5b with a big run out past a sky hook to a good wire and final 5c move. Well done Davy.

The search moves on to crag Y.

2008-07-03T12:41:00.005+01:00

The search for a sports crag within the realms of Inverness continues. Its amazing how something can be almost perfect but not quite. After having doubts in the quality of the rock at Crag X on Monday night, I have spent the morning taking some photos of Crag Y. Another conglomerate crag ripe for bolting and provide us in Inverness with a handy after work sport venue. Today Crag Y (once found it took a while) seems to almost fit the bill, it doesn’t seem to have the lines of Crag X but there is a very steep face and some good looking routes. About 40mts in height, the crag is more vegetated! Mainly I think because its lower lying, though the hammer test along the bottom did seem to ring a little hollow, but the main face sounded solid. It was also perhaps the most midgey place I have ever been, but it was a very still sticky morning. I remain to be convinced, one of those magic ingredients seems to be missing, not least because you would be happy to be short roped to reach the base, well not quite but it is a bit of an epic. The walk in is 15minutes one way from the top, and about 15minutes up a very steep hill side the other. The bottom walk in is off the main road though and a few miles nearer town. Still have a look at the photos and video and see what you think.

Some Images of Crag Y.

Mountain Biking on the Moray Monster

2008-06-29T22:18:00.006+01:00

Becky and I headed off to Fochabers today to try the Monster Moray Trails. The trails offer all sorts of grades of single track mountain biking. Despite the rain we had some muddy fun on the Fochabers Ring, a 8km trail through variety of terrains, but mostly woodland mud and roots. We both commented on the lack of stonework challenges, and the Lagan Wolftrax perhaps offer slightly more variety. Still, the rain added to the complications and it has to be said wet roots have perhaps the lowest friction properties of any surface on the planet.
We came across the worlds largest cairn, on perhaps the smallest hill. With a keen eye I noted the arêtes offered some great bouldering opportunities and perhaps a good dry tooling venue for Fochabers.

Afun afternoon out and worth a visit if you are in the area. I need to get some more technical trails under the belt to build some confidence again. Perhaps something I can do if this wet weather continues.

Kirrie Hill: Sport Climbing

2008-06-28T12:35:00.003+01:00

Kirrie Hill, just outside the Angus town of Kirriemuir is Scotlands best kept secret in terms of varied sport climbing in the easy to mid grades. Routes from f3-f7a. The crag is very well bolted and offers you the chance to push your grade, and well worth a visit if your operating at any grade below on-sighting 7a. The sandstone is soft and has delaminated in a couple of places, still the most of it is very solid. Caroline and I had a good day here on Friday, and I am now in the process of convincing Becs we should head down for a weekend. We completed a dozen or so easy routes on a lovely day. Compared to Weem last weekend the grades do massage the ego abit, still I am going to take the ticks! Only one other team on the crag, all day. I look forward to going back and ticking the crag, over a long weekend!

Weem rocks: Sport Climbing

2008-06-22T10:59:00.005+01:00

Becky and I had a day at Weem rocks yesterday, just outside Aberfeldy. This is a sports climbing venue with 23 routes on it. We did 5 in a day, so enough to keep us busy. Perhaps a visit in winter would be more aesthetic as the thick trees blocked the view south over Perthshire, still no midges and warm breeze made for a nice day. A few onsights and a run out beyond a joke, I came down for a few wires, and in the end a my “clip stick”, all made for a fun day. Note: Fish shop in Aberfeldy is not in the top 10!
Some pics of the day.
Bec

Cummingston: Evening sunshine.

2008-06-19T09:27:00.003+01:00

A quick dash for the sea cliff outcrops of Cummingston was on the cards last night. With rain all around the Moray coast lived up to its record and remained dry until we sat back in the car at the end of the evening. A couple of sandy severe’s were dispatched and I moved on to the very spikey arete of Stegosaurus, a lovely VS that got me back into leading at this place and helped dispel some of my distrust of this very soft rock. The spike are very thin and er, well spikey and the fact they have survived a few decades of people heaving away on them is perhaps proof enough that the rock is perhaps a little better than I give it credit for.
Paul finished with a quick dispatch of Giraffe Corner E36a after a quick inspection, he was off and finished this surprisingly well protected route in no time. I followed and onsighted a 6a route for the first time, albeit second. Anyway back to the car the heavens opened and rain fell all the way back into town.

Giraffe Corner E36a

Creag Na H Eighe: Perthshire

2008-06-15T22:05:00.004+01:00

The nice line of A Votre Sante-Dickie 4b

Andy and I went to a crag in Perthshire today, Creag Na H-Eighe. This is infact about 9miles north of Dunkeld, and the much more well known Polney Crag. It has about 25 routes at all grades, and although short made for a fun day. Loose in places the climbs could do with a little more traffic, though perhaps this is explained in the history of the crag, where it claims the place was kept secret in the early years. We did 8 routes today. Ranging from 4a right through to 5b, and from delicate crimpy walls to thuggish overhanging cracks. The badge of courage was awarded for standing holding Andy's ropes on Diagonal whilst he proceeded to launch large chunks of the climb down on me. He did quite a nice job of tidying up a loose line, and it probably deserves a * or two now.
The weather varied from roasting to raining back to roasting in less time than it took to get up a route.

All in all a good day and for future note, or any further visit the following come with at least a * or two.

Separation VS 4c
A Votre Sante-Dickie S4b
Diagonal E15b
Jugs Direct VS 5a
Jaggy Bunnets S4a (prob HS4b) has lost a chockstone on the top cracks.

Andy on the E1 5b Diagonal.

Creag Bheag: Sport Climbing

2008-06-04T08:51:00.004+01:00

Stewart and I went to a newly developed sports crag near the Mound on the A9 last night, Creag Bheag. It takes a little less than an hour from Inverness, and provides a good spot for an afternoon or evenings climbing. There are currently 10 routes here, on this conglomerate crag, we did the 4 furthest left ones as you look at the Crag. The grades were about 5+ 6a+ 6b+ 6c, the last two not really being done in style, and were really quite hard to be honest. The home made clip stick worked a treat though!

Loch Quioch: Munro bashing.

2008-06-02T09:36:00.004+01:00

The low water levels in Loch Quioch.

Katy, Donnie, Becky and I went for a walk in the hot sun yesterday up the hills north of Loch Quoich. The Munros’ of Gleouraich and Spidean Mialach were the objective, and provide a nice circuit north of the Loch. The baking sun slowly gave way to cloud and ultimately rain just as we set off for the drive home. Perfect.

Acheninver Pinnacle, Coigach

2008-05-26T11:08:00.005+01:00

Becky and I had a great day yesterday out west on the hills a couple of miles north of Ullapool. We did the strangely named route of Acheninver Pinnacle, odd as it doesn’t look like a pinnacle nor contain one. It is the left buttress on this picture.

Having no idea about the route, I did stop in Tiso’s for a look as I don’t have this guide, but none of it made sense, although at one point I do think we climbed the “wide crack” mentioned and the right hand crack of 3.

It doesn’t matter we had a lovely relaxing day and followed our nose up the sandstone. It was a little lose in places and could do with a bit more traffic but that was all part of the fun. The views over to the Summer Isles were fantastic.

Sometimes you can get caught in the trap of having to climb harder and harder routes and simply forget the fun you can have on a nice solid mountaineering line. I had a great time today, and more importantly I think Becky enjoyed a Multipitch for the first time! After 5 pitches, I used every big shelf we came across, we topped out into quite a strong wind and realised that we had been sheltered all day.

By the evening there wasn’t a cloud in the sky and fish and chips were enjoyed in Ullapool, not quite as good as the ones in Gairloch, chips were a bit too greasy. We arrived in Inverness to a lovely sunset and spotted dolphins out in the firth as we came over Kessok bridge.

Busy day.

2008-05-20T23:25:00.005+01:00

Had a busy evening with Gordon, on the shires newest boulder, after getting out with Andy this morning my arms were feeling it by the end of the night. Jamie has spent some time cleaning up a large eratic, that has been returned to daylight after some forestry clearing in Farr. Some good lines at all grades, bit disturbed by some large spike stumps near the landings, though a good use for an empty rucksack was found. Jamie has obviously put in a lot of work to clear this thing up and it is well worth a visit, a good find. After a couple of hours we headed over to the Ruthven boulder to check it out and get a few routes in before the light faded on us…Had a busy

day to day, E2(well almost!) and V2 on the same day.

Gordon on the thin slab of Lust

Catch up.

2008-05-20T15:57:00.002+01:00

Catch up time, Saturday saw Becks and I cycle upto the conglomerate crag of Ashie Fort, apart from the awful tree belays at the top we had a good couple of hours. Doing the archetypal “world hardest Vdiff” Website, overhanging all the way, and a nice E3 crackline called Flutterbye to China. This morning Andy and I headed over the top, to find a little east facing crag at the back of Duntelchaig, not that inspiring really but worth a look, we finished the morning with Monolith Recess. The second pitch of overhanging jamming I found very hard until I discovered the hands free rest right in the middle of the Crux! ;o) (photo to follow). I have to say I was impressed with the ease that Andy sailed up this route, high levels of style and grace, to watch good climbers is a worthwhile use of my morning.

Teeth clenching work on the crux of Monnolith Recess.

Before finding the tricky hands free rest.... :o)

Blue sky day in the West.

2008-05-14T11:15:00.001+01:00

Glorious weather in the west yesterday, a full 10 degrees warmer than here in Inverness. Davy and I headed off towards the Gairloch and climbed at the Thorsdale Crags. Nice routes made better by glorious blue sky day. I was almost sandbagged, but still all water under the bridge as they say. More warm weather to come, great……

New Route for Coire an T-sneachda?

2008-05-10T19:14:00.005+01:00

A busy couple of days. Thursday was a fantastic evening, still warm in the shade and no midges! With views like these from Pinnacle crag it is easy to see why Gordon and I had a good time.

The views from Pinnacle Crag
Friday Andy and I headed into the Cairngorms. After one false start and a retreat to Ellis Brigham due to early morning gales, our original plans for Stag Rocks were shelved and we headed into the good old Coire an T-Sceachda, and towards the Mess of Pottage. The crux of the day soon followed, ascending increasingly icy snow before arriving at the base of the lovely granite buttress.

Andy on the wet groove of Mariella.

Route one was Mariella a nice VS that takes a big groove with an overhanging roof. The guide book describe this as “often wet” have a look at Andy in the photo and you will see what they mean. The move to swing out left under the roof is wild and really good value, but spot on for VS4b. The rest of the route ascends Cracks and Slabs, and on pitch 2 another deceptively awkward corner at 4b. Well worth the 1* it gets and maybe more.
Route two was a complete contrast. This time we headed off into the unknown, thinking we were about to do a route called Pot Doodles, VS 4c. The route itself was a typical granite slab. With lots of padding, and pushing off and little steps, Andy remarked there was one jug on the route! The gear was at best “marginal”, and to be absolutely honest, not great. Having looked at the topo in the new SMC Cairngorms guide it is obvious we had climbed a different line, the obvious thin crack between Yukon Jack and Pot Doodles. A new line for the Mess? Well we think so based on the evidence we have, so its Tasker VS4C 45mts(just, but right at the top end). The name comes from the fact we ran into the Vet of Andy’s dog Tasker when we topped out.

As this route finished half way up the crag we decided to finish up hidden chimney which makes quite a nice diff, if you ignore the pitch of choss lower down. I wonder if this has had a summer ascent. By the looks of the crampon scratches I am the only person not to have climbed it in Winter, it is perhaps the most scarred piece of rock I have seen.

Hidden Chimney in summer! Not quite where I expected to be.

Kingussie Crag: An afterwork Bimble.

2008-05-06T23:38:00.002+01:00

Stewart and I went down to Kingussie Crag after work today and did 4 routes in lovely evening sunshine, with daylight enough for the drive home too. Quartz wall is a lovely VS slab, on the right of the Groove.

Stewart on "Quartz Wall", a bit of an eliminate but worthwhile.

The highlight of the evening has to be finding the gear that protects the crux move of grooved arete. A lovely little VS 4c on the left of the Groove. After starting up the steep wall, you pull right onto the arete just before going up into a short corner. Here I found a home for 00microwire placed sideways in a pea-hole of quartz, not convinced it would of held, but if it didn’t, I was decking from 8mts up, so was careful to make sure I didn’t test the gear. Still I think its really quite a nice route and worth it just to check out the gear placement!

Bank Holliday Sunshine.

2008-05-05T12:36:00.000+01:00

The bank holiday sunshine was enjoyed in Deeside. Andy and I headed off into the Cambus O' May quarry in the morning to have a look at a disappointing venue. Despite the hot weather the quarry was wet through with much of the back wall seeping heavily. The dash for the Pass of Ballater was postponed slightly, as we had a go at Sharp Practice. A 6a sports route that makes it way up a lovely flake to a very reachy crux. Anyone over 6,3 would find this route easy for the grade. I being of (slightly) less stature had to make a few extra moves a bit harder than 6a to reach the finishing “jug”.
The afternoon was spent in the “Pass” here we did a few routes, the highlight for me being Convoy a lovely VS that finishes in a wild position crossing the roof of a niche some 20mts after leaving the floor. Nice of Andy to hold the ropes on this one as I think this may almost have put his repeats of this route into double figures. Still it was a top route and worth much more than the 1 * it gets in the NE Outcrops guide. As we were so busy enjoying the routes and the sunshine, the camera never came out, however on return to Andy’s I enjoyed the hardest problem of the day on the “green” traverse on Andy’s home wall. A nice crimpy 6b traverse across the length of his wall. You can see from the photo he has built himself quite an impressive bouldering venue in his shed.

Andy's training venue!

Mallorca- hot rock trip!

2008-05-01T21:50:00.003+01:00

Andy on his attempt of Buf (Alaro)

Martin putting the clips in again.

Just returned from a hot-rock trip to Mallorca. The sun and limestone made a nice combination, and routes were done on all seven days away. Despite feeling strong before we jetted off, I have well and truly been taught a lesson this week. I don’t think I found a pushover once. With hard grades, long run outs on some routes, and old rusty bolts, I was cruising backwards, my hardest flash was on day one! Still it was a fun trip with lots of stuff learnt, very much an on-sight ethic was adopted and perhaps on reflection next time I would have got something from a few redpoints! Still should set me up nicely for the lovely weather to come this summer. Just need to let the fingertips recover first.

The boys before the hardwork starts at El-Fumat.

Bolt Clipping in the Sun.

2008-04-20T19:35:00.005+01:00

Just look at that smile, despite what she says Becs finds herself having fun on the top end of the rope!

Whilst locking off to clip the last bolt on sun-kissed rock on Saturday I was thinking why we need to bother heading out to the Mediterranean on Wednesday. Bolt clipping in the sun is not solely the reserve of Mediterranean Limestone!
Saturday was a glorious day with not a cloud in the sky as forecast! Becky and I were out on a little sports crag just North of Gairloch, Kuhjo Crag. A great crag with routes from 6a to 8a, well bolted and with the sun from about 3pm. Just next door is a little slab bolted with some easier stuff to warm up on. The rock is a Lewisan gneiss, rough with pockets, and many features that lend themselves well to climbing.
An attempt to onsight 6c was, well, not too successful. A hard route, with a very hard sequence by the first clip, failing to not unlock this was really frustrating, as the rest of the climb went, with effort, but went.
Oh well, the other routes here, that I did manage to complete, were lovely.
The day finished with fish and chips in Gairloch, whilst enjoying these we were blessed with a view of Beinn Eighe covered in snow, and bathed in evening sunlight. A truly magical view. A really good day out, and glad to see progress from the training, pulling on plastic.
Flying out to Mallorca on Wednesday, and right on queue I am sat here with a heavy dose of cold and enough energy to sip my tea. Typical!
Still at least I can browse the guide book for some suitable targets!

The view over to Beinn Eighe at tea time.

Cairngorm: In search of the "perfect" conditions!

2008-04-13T18:53:00.003+01:00

The weather is certainly playing games at the minute, today has seen two aborted attempts to get on “real” rock at Brin and Tom Riach. In contrast Friday was pretty good with sunshine from start to finish at Cairngorm.
It was a fun day and the mountain was just about skiable anywhere which added to the fun, though despite what has been said on the official web site and few over excited reviews on the Web, the snow was heavy with a bit of crust, and not quite “perfect”, but still good enough.
The corries looked very white and indeed to be honest it was pretty difficult to spot any features from the car park. Still stuff to be done no doubt. If the snow on Friday was anything to go by though it very much needs a little thaw and a big freeze. Possibly next weekend?
Though with only a week to go until my Spain climbing trip I am keen to get some time in on rock. The wall is wearing a little thin at the minute, but still at least it’s dry.
Still messing around with the camera and video package and this little offering for some reason refused to upload the soundtrack. So hum the Birdie Song if you watch it and you might get the full effect.

Logie Head

2008-04-03T23:00:00.002+01:00

Today was a bit of a washout really, the sun and warm weather were in short supply this morning and when we arrived around ten, Logie head was shrouded in a sea mist. This ensured the rock was dripping wet, so we took our packs for a walk upto the castle just beyond the crag. The silly idea to continue the walk to Redhyite point was aborted an hour in! By the time we arrived back to the crag the rock was a little drier so a few routes were done, three in total. A new, for me, and still wet VS concluded a bit of dissapointing day all in all.
Cold weather to come!

Benny Beg: Sport Climbing

2008-03-31T21:57:00.005+01:00

Me on one of the 6a.

Warm temperatures and indecision sort of made our minds up for us this morning. So with little confidence in good winter conditions, Davey and I drove past the Aviemore turn off and continued all the way to Benny Beg. A little sports climbing venue just outside Crieff. The day was spent basking in the sun and ticking the crag! The routes are pretty low grades with 4 6a and 10 5s!. The rock is funny however and it does take a route or two to get into the strange nature of the rock with flat incuts, and a few side pulls. Still the weather held out and the sun shone all day. A nice day to be back in rock shoes, and hopefully back on some trad routes before the end of the week. Be nice to get a few E points in before the Spanish trip in 3 weeks. Hope So.

Davey enjoying the sun!

Geal Charn: Nethy Bridge

2008-03-29T20:19:00.003Z

Despite the onset of rain by the time Becky, Claire, and I were less than half way back from the summit of the Corbett Geal Charn just outside of Nethy Bridge, we still managed to make the most of a little sunshine this morning. The sledging down was a little less sucessful though. The walk to be fair isn’t that inspiring, mostly following a 4x4 track that seems to go to the summit. In all fairness I think this is more the sort of hill you would do as a run, but to add some interest you do pass a variety of buildings en-route.

Including an abandoned croft and a couple of shooting shelters, that make for good lunch spots!
Weather is looking not to bad for the next few days and the snowline is still quite low, so hopeful of another route or two before the rockshoes come out to play!

Becky and Claire on the top!

Nevis Range:- Back Corrie

2008-03-26T20:50:00.004Z

All the lifts were up and running at the Nevis Range as Andy and I had a days fun sliding about. The main focus of the day was to grab some fun in the Back Corries. First time I have been able to get them open since Becky taught me to board a couple of years ago.

The drop in on approach from the summit tow is not for the faint hearted and it took a second or two of contemplation before dropping in off the cornice. I could see why "Yellowbelly" was used for the name of the run, as I am sure a few others have stood at the top, thinking "should I shouldn’t I". The first 40-50mts is fairly steep before levelling out to a nice run, with untouched powder.
After lunch we headed over to the summit cairn to ski down summit gully, passing a couple of climbers who had done Whiteshark and were about to ab back into easy gully. They reported soft crudy snow ice, but also said conditions were good?~?
Anyway after use of map and compass, (Andy was obviously in the scouts to bring these on a day of lift served action), we simply couldn’t be 100% sure we were at the top of Summit gully, so the committing drop in was just a bit too much. So we hoofed back over to the lifts to make
the most of the Afternoon.

Applecross- Meall Gorm

2008-03-25T21:19:00.005Z

Turquoise Gully our route for the day!

A good weather forecast was enough to get me out on the hill today, Davey and I headed upto Meall Gorm on the left side of the Bealach na Ba Road in Applecross. When we arrived at 8am the road was closed, due to drifting snow just past the Kisshorn Junction.

We forced the car as far up the pass as we could, but was still left with a good hours walk up the road. So much for Scotland’s most accessible winter climbs.

Conditions were far from perfect with the dry powder blown off the buttress and 10ft deep in the gullies. Anyway plans for anything difficult, were soon out the window and we went for a mountaineering romp up a ** III gully called Turquoise gully. The first pitch went from 10ft deep powder to unconsolidated and broken ice to a little neve, from then on it was a romp to the top.
Things warmed up as the day went on and I think a day or two of slightly warmer weather, would help to settle things down. With this much powder about it would be criminal not be skiing really, so that’s the plan for tomorrow.

The snow covered road leading upto Bealach na Ba.

Scheffau Austria 2008.

2008-03-24T12:00:00.003Z

We have just had a very good week in Austria with fresh snow everyday! We arrived back to a snowy UK too, so time to pack the sack and head off into the hills in search of a few routes I think.
However first things first I also have a week of 3 course meals to work off!
Hopefully some climbing posts to follow during the easter holidays before returning to work under the guise of an English teacher! Should be fun.

Fantastic day on Beinn Eighe.

2008-03-04T20:29:00.003Z

Sometimes it easy to over complicate these things with long descriptions and wordy accounts of days out. So as today’s outing into Beinn Eighe (Coire Mhic Fhearchair) and onto Fight or Flight (** V 6) on West Fuselage Wall with Pete was simply.
“Bloody Fantastic”
I will let the pictures tell the story.

Windy tales from the Cairngorms.

2008-03-03T16:47:00.006Z

Today was one of those if only days. We headed off into the Coire an t-sneachda, in the hope of grabbing a route or two before the worsening weather set in this afternoon. Two flaws in this early start plan, one the car couldn’t get up the hill till the plough had been up a couple of times and being first in after a bit of snow, spells- trail breaking!
Anyway we were at a very very windy stretcher box by 730 to 8. With spindrift all around and a strong wind-chill, and even stronger wind neither of us really fancied hanging around in this coire so we went in search of better conditions in Loch Avon valley.
The snow was good underfoot with a firm feel to it. The goat track area was well banked out and with good snow we were soon on the top.
At the top of Stag rocks in the Loch Avon valley, we could see the Shelter stone and Carn Etchachan looked good, but our second objective, one of the routes along the wall of diagonal gully were in the teeth of the strong Northerlies blowing over the top.

As a result the routes would disappear under a plume of spindrift. The descent looked decidedly dodgy too with a good two to three feet of windblown powder and a nice slab forming. Down the length of the gully you could see debris from stuff that looked like it had released this morning, so we opted to continue our walk and explore the plateau, and head off back via Cairn Gorm. On the way down the skiing looked good and out of the wind the sun was warm and provided us a bit of respite from a bitter wind-chill. All in all a bit of fitness gained and a bit more of a clue of conditions in the Northern Cairngorms, so a lot of positives out of the day. Lets see what the North West yields tomorrow!

Ben Rinnes.

2008-02-24T19:08:00.004Z

Today was another one of those dictated by the weather. Original plans of a walk amongst the Munroe’s of the Northern Cairngorms were soon changed as we passed the Slochd Summit. The low grey cloud and persistent rain forced the car in a North East direction and we were soon at the car park at the foot of Banffshires biggest hill.

Ben Rinnes is a Corbett of 840mts with a very nice path from car to Summit and back again. As a result our day in the hills was restricted to a few hours of Corbett bashing. The view south into the Cairngorms was very depressing, with warm rain and very little snow. As a thought I do wonder if we will be able to get the winter climbing gear out again this year? A Scottish winter climber is certainly a person of patience this year, oh well we have booked a ski holiday in Austria today! :o)

Next stop Norway.

2008-02-19T17:11:00.007Z

The Corrie of Mael-Rjukan-Norway.

A weekend of fun and ice was planned and on Friday I joined the hundreds out in Norway. With only two full days of climbing, I knew we were going to have to be canny to get in as much as possible.
On Saturday we headed to the area known as Mael, which is infact a small corrie towards the North of the Valley overlooking the town. With a 45minute walk uphill and an abseil approach we guessed it would keep the masses at bay and we were right. The Corrie itself was pretty majestic, with 4 very obvious icefalls across it’s back wall. These would come in somewhere between 200 and 250 mts so it is a full day out.
We climbed the route of Isoroser which is the left most line on the photo. A WI3 so the guide said. The first pitch was nice, with a steep wall for about 25mts before laying back into a bay. My first all Ice Screw belay, this winter! Anyway after leading the second pitch, Andy my partner for the day had a blow from some ice and wanted off, luckily the other team were able to split and as Andy went off (2 hours in a hanging belay waiting for this to be sorted) John joined me. I then went on to lead the rest of the route which was magical, thick steep ice that took screws, albeit some of it was rotten in places. The route was full on Scottish IV with a sting in the tail, I took a right hand finish up a vertical pillar for 15mts before topping out onto a small shelf. WI 3 certainly has plenty to keep you busy!
Whilst up there I saw a very dodgy team on the route to my right, I say dodgy because it was obvious they were not strong, moving on wobbling sticks and looking a little gungho about it all. This resulted in the leader taking the biggest fall I have seen, it must have been over 80ft with 50ft of it free fall. To my relief he just got up and abseiled off! I thought he was dead.
Day two dawned and we went to the craging area of Krokan. The day started ok with a quick, very, very easy WI2 route upto set up a top rope on something “nails“. I dropped off and let Andy sort the top rope, this was a mistake as it took over one and half hours and by the time he was done I was ready for home with lots of pent up frustration. We climbed around this area till about 1pm with a few WI4 and WI5 being done! By then my faff patience had run out and I needed to escape. The very busy nature of the area and my mood made for a pretty forgettable day to be honest.
My lesson for the weekend is to ensure on a trip like this you are out with like minded individuals as it is easy for aspirations to be different and to be left feeling disappointed.
Still a good introduction to get my bearings, I will be back, to get some of the harder routes done.

Ice bouldering at Kroken area-Rjukan

Summer arrives in the North West Highlands.

2008-02-11T20:43:00.001Z

A Typical February View in the North West Highlands.

What a day! The weather today has been positively tropical, with a forecast of a balmy 15degrees and wall to wall sunshine I headed off to the North West Highlands for a spot of trad climbing and some Mediterranean style bolt clipping.
The first venue of the day was a crag called Aztec tower, which is an outcrop of metamorphosed sandstone just north of Gairloch. The routes were clean and quite slabby in nature and we did several lines. The guide book had them down as HVS, VS and even E1 though we both thought these grades were a little on the soft side. Still good to be feeling strong on the first proper rock trip of the year.

Enjoying a VS route called Cortes.

Martin solos an E1 Conquistador.

After lunch we headed over towards grass crag a small bolted outcrop of Gneiss about 5 minutes away, these routes provided a complete contrast to the morning with some very steep moves and painfully sharp holds.
We did a few routes on this crag, the grades make no comparison to the wall and the routes felt a good two grades harder. I was pleased to work 6b+, to get it clean by the end of the afternoon, and onsight a few 6a`s which felt an achievement due to the hard nature of the grades. Still the winner of the day had to be the weather, and although it was niggling away at the back of my mind that this sun and warm winds would be stripping the snow from the higher crags. I have to admit to enjoying climbing with the warm sun on my back.
Excellent preparation for Norway and two days of Ice Climbing I think!

On Human Sacrifice HVS 5a

Bouldering at the beach.

2008-02-10T19:43:00.001Z

A wet and dreary start to the morning put pay to plans to get out and do a hill or two, the weather was wall to wall grey this morning. With little motivation to slog around in the clag, Becky and I opted for a more gentile way to pass the afternoon. A spot of bouldering along the coast at Cummingston, this was combined with a bit of beach walking, and rockpool investigation. All in all it was a very pleasant afternoon and although the grey never really lifted the rain did just about stay off. The area know as the Prophet walls seemed to be our venue of choice, and I was pleased I managed to complete the traverse girdle, after several efforts!!

Crimping on a hold on an unkown problem at Cummingston.

This is a 6B problem known as Baywatch. It has some very crimpy moves and few rests from start to finish. The rest of the day was spent looking for something to catch my eye with the camera, this effort I was less pleased with, but still all a learning curve, there is so much to learn with photography, but my starting point seems to be composition!

On an attempt of Bay Watch 6b.

An almost powder day!

2008-02-02T19:22:00.000Z

Heavy Snow on the Ski Road.

With the heavy snows on Friday, climbing looked like it might be hard work today, and with an avalanche forecast of 4, Becky and I decided to head off to Cairngorm with the snowboards in tow, in search of some powder!
The ski website talked of all runs and lifts being open and fresh powder. As we discovered pretty early on there was quite a bit of fabrication in these claims. The drive down the A9 was entertaining with the snow still lying on the carriageway. The snow gates were still closed at Glenmore when we arrived at 8:20 and after 40minutes wait we were on the hill.
Yesterday's snow did arrive on the back of strong winds, so some slopes today were scoured, and others had some large drifts. By mid morning we had gone through the plum powder we could find and were keen to head over to the West wall. In true Cairngorm style the lifts over that side of the mountain were closed and so we had to content ourselves with runs down the Cas and back to the carpark.

Busy on the lifts.

By 2pm the winds very very strong on the top and the funicular stopped running, by now we had enough of people dodging on the busy runs and decided to call it a day.
Still good to get some runs in on some nice fresh snow after our holiday of ice!

Fluted Buttress Direct.

2008-01-22T19:49:00.000Z

The weather forecast talked of an approaching warm front today. Perhaps as early as midday, so we opted for a climb in the good old Northern Corries. Coire an t-sneachda can allow you to be on a route an hour from the car park. Today are objective was a *** route called Fluted Buttress Direct. It is marked in green on the photo of the crag.
The route is a IV5 and was good value for money for the grade, I found the second pitch up an obvious chimney quite stiff, and the third pitch taking the right fork continuation of this chimney was also no pushover.

The sustained nature of the climb adds to the fun and I can see why it gets ***. Topping out onto the plateau was not so much fun though , as I pulled over I could feel it was a little bit breezy up top. The winds must have been in excess of 60-70mph and nothing else but getting off was on our minds. The gear was dumped in the bag and we made a quick dash down the goat track, which had formed a nice little cornice due to the strong SouthWesterly winds.
Once down in the Coire we were back in the car within an hour or so, walking through a very rapidly thawing Coire as the temperature had obviously risen during the day quite markedly. The climbing today was top fun and makes me want to get on some more of the Cairngorm mixed classics.

Biking through the forest.

2008-01-20T18:58:00.000Z

Feeling tired from a long day yesterday a leisurely day was in order. So Becky and I went biking along the off road trails in the Abernethy Forest around Nethybridge. These trails stretch from Grantown in the North down through towards Aviemore in the South and open up millions of acres of forest.

Not too technical they provide some good terrain for x-country biking and although today was only a short visit of a few hours, it has given us insight into a new venue to perhaps explore for a biking/camping weekend.

The only down side to the day was that any standing water was sheet ice and at times we resorted to pushing across some sections of the paths. Although I don’t do it very often today reminded me that I enjoy getting out on the bike, and indeed that I should perhaps do so more often.

Central Gully Lurchers Crag today.

2008-01-19T20:38:00.000Z

Juan, Davey, and I headed off to Lurchers Crag on the Western side of the Northern Cairngorms this morning. Parking at the sugar bowl car park we were soon off in the direction of the Chalamain Gap.

Passing through the gap the climbs are situated on a crag on the east side of the pass that runs the length of the cairngorms known as the Lairig Grhu. The target for the day was a two* grade III. Climbing as a three is never that quick and as we were still in the carpark at 9:30 this seemed the best option.
The climb itself is a very large gully running in the centre of the crag. Its first lower pitches were nothing more than a snow plod, however higher up the gully redeems itself with several small ice pitches, which though never too steep do provide some good sport. I lead the first 5pitches, leaving Juan to lead a final ice bulge.

Though not too steep these ice pitches did serve as a timely reminder to tidy up my ice technique before Rujkan as the mixed stuff of late requires a whole set of different skills. As we started late we returned back to the car after dark to complete a 12hour day door to door.

Home in time for tea and medals.

2008-01-17T00:30:00.000Z

Today, it was a case of making the best of the conditions. I was out with Davey today who only last week had surgery on his elbow, whilst my surgery on Tuesday to have my wisdom teeth out means none of us were up for a major difficulty day. With an approaching warm front, we opted to make a quick dash up to Meall Gorm on Applecross. The beauty of this corrie is that you can drive right the way into it, and therefore be at the foot of the climbs a tiring 15minutes from leaving the car.
The temperature rose slowly from Inverness at –2 to a steady 5 when we left the car. Still the crag looked white and we opted for the complete gully of Mono Six Track Blues, a steady II snow plod!

The line of the route is the right hand of the two gullies. A nice looking line from the car!

The climb itself was pretty non descript but the snow had consolidated in the gully and was not too bad.

After topping out we took in the summit cairn and nipped back to the car, to be home in Inverness in time for tea and medals, for the wounded! A good day out and a handy venue for a short day.

New Routes on Lochnagar

2008-01-12T06:55:00.000Z

Saturday was an early start with the alarm set for 4:30. By 4:45 I was on the road for a two hour journey to meet Andy in Ballater before heading off to Lochnagar. Made only slightly longer by the untreated roads and few inches of snow that had fallen.
As usual I forgot how long the walk in to Lochnagar is, today it wasn’t helped by a very breakable crust on top of some deep powder. This should have given us a clue for things to come.
The weather for once was fantastic with wall to wall blue skies the order of the day. Crossing the col we had our first glimpse of the crag, very plastered was our take on things.

As we dropped into the Coirre we could see avalanche debris everywhere and lots of windslab still to release. Not fancying the track across the debris to the heavily plastered crag we headed up to a small buttress on the left of Coirre directly beneath the area known as the ladder.
Here we found some good rock, and new lines!
Andy climbed the corner, now known as Sonshine corner III, a good route with perhaps a move of two of tech 4.
I then had a go at the inset face left of an obvious buttress, this was a slabby climb in nature and used some helpful cracks to get established underneath an obvious roof. I turned this on the left through a bulge to finish up the arete and a shared belay with the top of Sonshine corner. The route was called fluffy face IV4. Partly because the face had tufts of turf sticking out and partly because I hadn’t had a shave for a few days and Becky thought it apt.

The routes provided us with a good safe days climbing when the Coirre is full of windslab like it was. My first, first winter ascents so we sent an email to the SMC for good measure.
The long walk out and drive home saw me complete a 15hour day door to door.

Lessons today.

2008-01-11T07:10:00.000Z

I was out with Nick of Alpha Mountaineering today. Having decided to try and push the grade a little this year after several IV5s, I thought I would use the services of one of the guides down the wall. We went for Pot Of Gold on the Mess of Pottage, at V6 it would be just the sort of thing I would be looking to lead in the not to distant future.
The day was good, full of useful tips and hints and importantly a good insight into some steeper harder terrain. The conclusion was a few more IV’s wouldn’t go a miss. Still the route was good, technical and well protected where it mattered. One to consider for the future.

Late start and a dark finish.

2008-01-06T19:26:00.000Z

Juan joined me this morning for a walk in to Coire an-t Sneachda. The weather was forecast to be good, so we opted for a slightly later start. Feeling not quite so easy about walking in at 9am we headed straight for Fiacaill Buttress.
Our route for the day was a little known IV5 which takes the left edge of Fiacaill Couloir. After sharing the opening pitch with the gully the route breaks off left through some broken ground to gain the buttress properly.
Juan was feeling a little uneasy on the more technical ground and was happy to give me the lead on the last 3 pitches.
The climbing on the route is very good, thought provoking and well protected. The last chimney pitch is hard, and I felt quite committing to make the last few moves for the capping chockstone. This must have taken me over 30minutes to lead and its only 10mts!. Still once over this the route is over and we made our way back down to the Coirre floor just before the light failed for the dark walk out. A lesson learnt about early starts I think.

Hiking pays off for the best runs at the Lecht.

2008-01-05T19:32:00.000Z

Becky and I headed over to the Lecht today for a bit of fun on the snowboards, despite moaning about the lifts and queues I had a good day. The best runs as usual were sniffed out by Becs as she had me off walking from the top of the chair to the old lift station over on the right as you look up at the Lecht. From here we were able to make our way down some unlisted runs and put the first tracks into powder albeit wet.
The weather was great, and once away from the crowds the place had a spooky feel to it. The ease at which Becky shot down the off piste let me know I still have a lot to learn. The best way is to watch the masters though!

Dry and very cold rock in the North West.

2008-01-04T11:51:00.000Z

A very cold day today, and after covering half of Scotland in search of winter conditions yesterday with no luck, we opted for a safer bet and some dry rock. Davey and I went off towards the North West. Our search took us to a small sports venue just south of Gruinard Bay. Kuhjo crag contains a few lines, some with a bit of seepage, perhaps 15. Right next door a small slab called Clown slab has a few easier sports routes. These crags were to be our venue for the morning.
After the mornings sports climbing, a spot of easy trad was the order of the afternoon. A small slab near the parking area for Gruinard bay itself lent itself well to this task. Here we did 4 or 5 short trad routes in big boots to provide a bit of winter practice.
On the drive home the snow line was sat at about 500mts and perhaps bodes well for getting something done in the next few days.

The view from the crag just above the car park is lovely and helps add to the appeal of the Gruinard Bay Crags.