North West

So I spent my weekend up in Reiff climbing. After a later start we used our work bus for a 3 hour journey up to the rock. There was eight of us in total and we headed straight to the pinnacle area. Sam and myself got on 'westering home' (E1 5b**), then Sam made good work of 'Earth Shaker' (E2 6a**) which had a great start. I then had a go on Immaculate Deception (E1 5b**) which had some hard initial moves then eased off.
After a break Sam and I spent a while soloing some of the easier routes and just enjoying the Sun and the grippy rock. We finished on 'Sip from the wine of youth again' (HVS 5a**) and went looking for a different climbing area. Didn't have the energy to keep going, so we called it a day.
After a good pub meal and a night in the Buckingham Palace of tents we went to the West Buttresss of  Stac Pollaidh and climbed 'Jack the Ripper' (E1 5b**) which had lots of dubious rock but good climbing on exposed situations. By the team we got to the last pitch the rain started and had we had to climb the crux in the rain, which took some enjoyment away and added some scariness.

 

Lower Roy, Middle Spean and Spean Gorge



There was a lot of rain last night which meant most of the rivers were up all over West of Scotland. Sam, Allen and I started at the Lower Roy which is great fun in big water. We continued onto the Middle Spean and Spean Gorge which was at a brilliant level (it was sitting at 3 on the gauge) and good fun.

Inspecting and running Constriction.

Garry Again

It was just Ron Cameron and me on the Garry this evening, literally. It was much more relaxing compared to the Morriston on Tuesday. However I am having much more fun now that I have a proper play boat.
Unfortunately Ron was still putting me to shame but he has 40 years on me!

Ron Cameron

Morriston

Well I have been working my way up to running this river for sometime and I paddled it rather successfully today. That is after the first attempt didn't go quite to plan. However I am really excited to go back and have another go because I am still buzzing from the first attempt.

There is a video of the Morriston on the Videos page.

Tri-Cep-Chord?

It was a scorcher today and I was on Aonach Dubh. The weather was supposed to break later in the day o it was good to make use of the weather before it changed. Lawrence and I wanted to have a go on Trichord (HVS 5a*). I don't think we stuck completely to the right line, we may have strayed onto the easier pitches of Triceptor but we still had a good time.

On the second pitch.

Lawrence on the walk off.

No Midge Yet





Guy Steven on The Web (E2 5c**)

Finishing early from work today meant I had time to make use of the dry conditions. So I met up with Guy in the Glen and who had a shot on The Web. Then we headed to after crag  and I climbed what I thought was Rubberface but turned out to be Sauer (VS 4c).
Midgies haven't come out yet but it wont be long before they do.

Creag Dubh

I was desperate to get out and climb this morning. As the weather forecast seemed to have missed the mark because I had nothing but blue sky and sun greeting me through the curtains. So I spent the morning looking for a climbing partner, that wasn't hung over from the previous night.
Eventually Sam threw his things together and picked me up then we headed to Creag Dubh.
After I realised I forgot my camera Sam and I started Phellatio (HVS 5a**). Once we did that we moved like a Man on Fire (E1 5b*) because we thought it was starting to rain. Luckily it didn't but there was still Gouttes d'Eau (e2 5b**) on most of the routes.
It was time to get out of there so we headed back to the fort. My prediction is that the next time I get a chance to climb it will be midge season.

Up and Down

Craig and I headed up to the ben to have a look at Carn Dearg Buttress which was dry the a couple of days ago. However after cycling up to the top car park and then some we were sure the cloud wasn't going to disappear so we headed back down the trails towards Glen Nevis.
We headed up to Styx Buttress and Craig climbed Damnation (VS 4c**) and had a look at Kraut (E1 5b*).
The crags were pretty busy pre-midge climbing best kind of climbing there is.

Craig on Damnation

Dave and Lawrence on SW Buttress

Back To the Garry

I was out with Nevis Canoe Club on the Garry with my new (to me) boat, the Dagger Kingpin. It was great to be out on the water again and the river was nice and warm but I am already starting to dread the idea of midgies.

Craig on one of the last rapids

Summer is Coming

During work today we were getting trained by the BTO (British Trust for Ornithology) on how to recognise birds. Not much was left of the winter and there was a team doing a rock route on Douglas boulder and Carn Dearg Buttress looked bone dry as well.
After work I threw my kit in the back of the car and headed down the glen to get a route in before midge season kicks in. The glen was still busy and had plenty teams making the most of the longer nights.
I met up with Sam and Allen and had a quick play on Storm, which I have done many times now but I never been bored of it.

Sam Leading the Crux

Allen seconding

Rum Diaries

So not updated this for a while and I will get round to updating it soon.......
So recently some friends from work and I headed out to Rum for three days. Managed to get really wet, really tired and really emotional.
Leaving from Mallaig we got the ferry across to Kinloch. To kill some time Craig, Lawrence and Neil went on a tour of Rum castle, which was the highlight of there three days. While on their tour the rest of us hung out at the community hall and made use of Rum Shop which is like Tesco except it has no trolleys, self checkouts, aisles or customers.
After Craig and Neil had the tour of their life we headed to Guidril Bothy for our first night. This bothy is in a gorgeous location and is well kept.
Due to the long days we didn't leave at the crack of dawn. However we did have a 16km day with lots of hills to take in so we started around 10am.





Dibidil Bothy

Making our way to the start of the Rum Cuillin

Approaching Dibidil Bothy

Neil getting close to the end

The weather wasn't terrible but it wasn't great either we were glad to reach the last bothy and didn't take long before we hit the sack.
Overnight there was lots of rain which made the river crossing more interesting. There was one which included a jump over a gorge, which was fun. We were all very soggy on the ferry but glad to be out of the rain.

First routes of the season

Jamie and I headed up to Aonagh Mor this morning to get my first winter route of the year in. I have spent my winter practicing for my Winter Mountain Leader, which I passed but I haven't been able to get out climbing this entire winter.
So I was desperate to get out and use the tools. At the gondola station we were informed we might be walking down to the winds increasing. Then during the walk in we got a shout from Davie asking if we want to get some routes done in the glen.
We felt guilty about leaving the mountain on a blue sky day but the wind was making us think we wanted to enjoy the sun.
We met up with Davie in the Glen and started ticking some routes.

Me on Phantom Slab (VS 4c***)

Me on Half Sheet (HVS 4c) great route on Repton Buttress deserves a few stars

Jamie topping out on Three Pines