Little by Little - Getting back into the swing of things (literally)

Its been a pretty busy few weeks. Getting back into college timetables, working, and finally wanting to get out climbing again. Can't say with everything that has been going on besides college, work and climbing has made things easy but they are slowly getting there.

I haven't posted here for a while due to lending my laptop to my 'dear' mate Sean Dunigan so he could edit (sterling effort) our video presentation for our skill acquisition class. It was a bit of an effort to get everything done and dusted but it's good to have it out the road. 

A few weeks ago I was climbing on the Buachaille. Kate, Emma and myself headed to climb Curved Ridge but after seeing it was more Moderate standard than II/III we decided to give it a miss and head for home. On the walk out we spotted a line of gully/groove lines which had some decent looking ice in them so that was the direction we headed in. We didn't know what it was and we only had Scottish Winter Climbs which wasn't much use in finding out what the route was but it looked fun all the same. Kate was handed the leading reigns but unfortunately for us the snow was more like slush and the ice was detached so it was decided to call it a day and head for home, getting back to the Fort by lunchtime! A quick look in the guidebook and I think the line may have been that of Infected, will go back for it before long.

I had a practical day with college which involved a trip to Glencoe again, this time heading for the top of Stob Coire nan Lochain. This was a chance for Gregor and Cormac to put the skills they had learned the previous week into proper use on a journey style day. We had a good pace heading up and we geared up just before the steeping to get into the Coire proper. After a steep climb we headed for the bealach between SCNL and Aonach Dubh and then up the ridge. The ridge was nice and scoured and quite icy so a good test for both the lads to use their crampons properly. Back down the ridge, a quick bumslide and a steep jaunt down hill later and we were back at the van, impressive timing in about 5 hours! We were out with Dave from Lochaber Guides again, top notch instruction and craic!

The next chance I had to get out was on Thompson's Route with Mark. It was a super grey day with lots of cloud swirling high on the mountain and we had a job finding the bottom of the route. Once we got there though it was nice and sheltered and the ice was good and fat. I haven't done much in terms of climbing steeper ice so let Mark enjoy the first and second pitch then I took the third. One really enjoyable but cheeky move on No.3 Gully Buttress and a 40 meter run out later and we were on the plateau. We had another route in mind as it was only just passed lunchtime but stupidly we ended up wandering a bit too much without having properly navigated and were lucky to end up in the Red Burn (lesson learnt). A few icy bum slides later and a wander back to the NF car park and we managed to catch a lift home, a short day for such a big hill! 

The following day I headed to Nevis Range with Kate, Brodie and Magnus to climb in Coire an Lochain. This is a superb crag which is really accessible, with a pair of skis you wouldn't need to do any walking other than between tows and to the head of Easy Gully! We went down towards Web Buttress and Brodie and myself tried a fairly steep route with poor gear from the selection we had so we bailed off and took Kate and Magnus up Spiders Rib which is a fun little grade II climb. All the ice routes just now are super fat. Once this thaw goes away, get out and play!

The past few weeks have gone a long way in reminding me of how good things can be. The place I live in and the people I get to experience it with are all amazing. Again, I want to thank everyone who I've spent time with, talked to or climbed with over the past three weeks, you make it what it is. I keep thinking back to when I lived on Skye during summer 2013 and how simple life was. I didn't make lots of money, I worked hard when I needed to and I climbed routes because they made me really happy. There was nothing complicated about it, and that's probably the most important thing, it'd be good to get back to that mindset again. One of my favorite quotes is from Steve House, alpine climbing beast; 'The simpler you make things, the richer the experience becomes.'

Here's some photo's I've taken over the past few weeks;

Looking towards the line of what I think is Infected(?)

Heading down from the top of SCNL

Ice everywhere, superb conditions on the Ben!

Myself heading off on the last pitch of Thompson's Route/No.3 Gully Buttress

(Thanks to Mark Chambers for the photo)

Big run out, good ice for axes but rubbish for screws!

Looking towards Fort William and Loch Eil from Aonach Mor, hidden underneath the clouds!

Winter Skills - Back to Basics

Today I was at Uni and as first day back doing practicals we were doing some winter skills. This was Cormac and Gregors first trip into the winter hills without board or skis and a good opportunity for them to get to grips with the equipment and skills needed to look after themselves. We based ourselves around Nid Ridge on Aonach Mor, great area for a short day of winter fun!

We started the day in college going over some risk assessment stuff and had a look at the avalanche forecast. Then it was out on the hill to cover plenty of the necessary stuff; kicking steps, cutting steps, ice axe arrest and walking with crampons to name but a few. A good day up the hill and welcome refresher of some rusty skills I hadn't practiced for a while, always good to brush up!

Thanks to Dave Anderson for some great coaching, instruction and banter today!

The lads enjoying the snow

Gregor prepping for ice axe arrest!

Getting used to walking with crampons!

Hung In A Bad Place - Losing Psyche

The plan was to go climbing this morning, but everyone in the situation agreed that none of us had the psyche to go out into the fresh snow and go climbing. Sometimes its better to forget about it before you've even left the car. I've not felt psyche for winter climbing for a few weeks now, but that's not because I don't want to go climbing in winter anymore.

January has been an interesting month, for more than one reason. For anyone who knows me, they'll know I haven't been myself lately. I've been stuck in a rut, or hung in a bad place, whatever people want to call it. Some folk will know why, others won't.

Everything started out well, especially for a January, but then after a week or two things went downhill. 

I managed to get a run of good routes in and some of them in the most amazing winter weather I've experienced since moving to the Highlands two and a half years ago. Some of them were nothing but spindrift and windblown hellish nightmares. During this good period, I managed to set off an avalanche and even though I walked away unharmed, the whole thing stopped me and made me think quite hard about why I do the things I do. I struggled to justify the reasons to myself, but sometimes you need to make decisions in life you think are right and just to get on with it.

I still don't have an answer for why I do these things. I have lots of reasons but can't put it down to one single thing. All I know is that I love it and wouldn't change it for the world. 

Being and living in the Highlands has had some very serious lows, but also times where I thought I'd never experience sadness again, such was the highs. Those days where you and your mates are up the hill and the sun is shining and the climbing is amazing, or even the days when you are on your own, they make all the low points worth it. 

I'm by no means out of the woods yet but, I just want to say thanks to everyone who has helped me out this month and got me through, it would be hard without that help. 

Here's some photos I managed to get this month!

The debris of the avalanche I managed to get myself caught in and from the angle I got caught up in it.

Myself on the top pitch of Anvil Gully (thanks to Katie for the photo)

Katie heading towards the Ben with incredible light conditions

Looking towards the Ben from the first belay on Twinkle

Walking in to the West Face of Aonach Beag