Centurion!

I had made plans with Andy and Sean to head out and go for a look at Centurion on Ben Nevis. This is a route that has been on my wishlist since I started climbing, almost a route that made me want to get into climbing.

As it turned out, Sean wasn't feeling too good so had to pull out but I met up with Andy all the same. We bumped into Callum outside Tesco who was heading to solo Tower Ridge, we had bikes and he did not so we headed off and aimed for Carn Dearg Buttress via the North Face Car Park. We were having a breather on the path when Callum had managed to catch up with us after taking a bus to Torlundy and it turned out that he had a harness and some rock boots with him so it would have been rude not to invite him along.

I had bagsied the first two pitches as my own and both Andy and Callum were happy to oblige. I got geared up and headed off on Latter's 5a first pitch. Tricky moves off the ground led me up 15m of superb, juggy and well protected climbing. Soon after the boys were sitting next to me on the ledge and I was about to head off onto the second pitch.

This pitch is super intimidating to stand under and it looked wet in the middle section. Great moves up the big open corner went by in a flash before I was faced with a tricky collection of moves on wet holds where things steepen up. I climbed up and moved for a hold but the jugs had just about run out, so I climbed down a bit and thought of my options. There was a fixed purple Camalot just level with the tricky moves so I aimed for that and managed to clip it and then found an incredible finger jam in the crack above it which I could move up on and reach the jugs above. I shouted and roared a bit after I made that move, I was so psyched to have made it through the hardest bit and then romped away to the belay. I ran out of quickdraws because it was so well protected, quite simply the best pitch of rock I've ever climbed in the mountains.

Sitting belaying Andy and Callum looking down the second pitch, I couldn't help but sit and smile at the fact I was finally there and climbing a route like Centurion.

Callum headed off on the third pitch and was gone and done in no time. I got the fourth 4c pitch and it was great climbing along the flakes with little for the feet. I got a bit confused here and ended up climbing way past the block belay which resulted in me having to down climb to regain the block belay a fair bit but it was never difficult. One more long rope length took us to the base of the last 5a pitch which I had nabbed as well. Heading over toward this pitch was intimidating but it turned out the gear was incredible and the holds were once again mega, soft for 5a I thought!

Callum dispatched the last pitch in fine style and soon after we were all sitting on the descent ledge proper buzzing! All that was left was a descent of the lower section of Ledge Route and a sketchy line down the side of No.5 gully which is still holding a lot of snow for this time of year.

Finally being at a standard of climbing a route which first inspired me to climb over three years ago was an incredible experience and I'm looking forward to going back and climbing more routes on Carn Dearg Buttress and elsewhere on the Ben.

Thanks to Andy and Callum for coming along and making it such a social day and for providing superb craic the whole way!


Heading off on the superb second pitch



Looking down the second pitch from above the crux move

 

Psyched on the last belay ledge 

On the last 5a pitch

Catching the evening sun on the walk off.

The Conquerors of the Useless

It's been a while since I posted here, been super busy. Climbing, uni and work piled up for most of April, and then I spent a lot of time climbing in May and I forgot to post anything.

To be honest, I haven't much missed writing here because I've been having a lot of fun with life and climbing. I've had the best leads of my time climbing so far, and soloed the Cuillin Ridge in 12 hours (an aim that has hung over me for a long, long time).

But just like back in January, I've came to the point of thinking, what the hell is the point? I love it more than anything else in my life but I can't figure out why the most useless part of each day is also the best? Whether it's a pitch on the side of a crag, a walk up a hill or a stolen hour at Kimbers, I never regret it.

I don't know if I'll ever understand why I do this stuff, it's useless and has no point, pretty much like everything else in life I suppose. But it never lets me down, whether it give me success or failure, happiness or sadness. Maybe that's why I keep going back, time after time, after everything it puts me through, it's always the one solid thing in my life. And I appreciate that more than anything.

Here's some photo's of my exploits from the past few months.

Failure: I wasn't prepared for the commitment of this route and I had to be lowered off.

The best night I've had, even if I didn't sleep much!

Nostalgia, a wander up the lump that sparked my interest in hills.

Cuillin Ridge: Glen Brittle to Sligachan in 12 hours 10 minutes starting from Sgurr nan Eag.

5 hour round of the Ring of Steall, enjoying hill walking again.

Dingle: A long awaited route for myself, and worth it.

My second proper E1 lead, Lava Lout. A run out exercise in thin slab climbing

My first new route, Spanglers Bunner Seevere,4b

On the second ascent of Jacobite Rising.

Life of Psyche!!!

Been another busy few weeks, lots of uni deadlines drawing ever closer and once again I've been avoiding them by taking advantage of some brilliant conditions up the hills and in the Glens.

I had a great day on the Ben with Joey when we did Green Gully which was in superb condition. Personally I thought it was a great climb with some superb icey neve pitches and never difficult, the scariest part being a top pitch of hard water ice and then a 30m run out on rock hard neve to reach the plateau. It was Joe's first proper winter route and he climbed it like a champ, even in a world of spindrift at times!

The following week Katie and myself headed up the Ben once again to have a look, there had been a fresh dump and all the big cliffs were plastered white again. We went with the intention of getting on Fatal Error on Pinnacle Buttress of the Tower but some dodgy slopes put us off and we ended up on the classic White Line. This gave us a sustained hard ice pitch at the bottom around grade IV (the White Line only gets III) but then we had some nice icy grooves and slopes to the top out on the upper part of Tower Ridge.

I spent the following day climbing a very powdery Dorsal Arete in SCNL in Glencoe. The walk in was super wet and I sweated more than I think I did on all the other walk ins this winter. It was worth it for the Fin pitch which was great mixed fun. Thanks to Al for letting me tag along and hold Ruairidh's rope.

Then a big warm and sunny thaw came in and washed lots of the ice away. This wasn't great but it meant we had great dry rock in the glens. I had been doing lots of training between going to the Ice Factor and bouldering at Kimbers place and was keen to see if the work had been worth the effort.

I had a quick hit one evening with Brodie which resulted in taking a fall on Clapham Junction, I was just really pumped. Not a great start!

I headed out the next day with Mark and we climbed most of the VS's on Styx Buttress at Polldubh and the mileage was greatly appreciated. Was great to see Mark back on the rock after his big fall last year and was glad to be holding his ropes when he went back and smashed out Hodad, the route he had fallen off. It's really quite hard and polished to hell!

The same day, Brodie and myself headed back round to Polldubh for an evening session. We headed towards Cavalry Crack Buttress with the intention of doing Storm. I'd had a mini epic on this route last year with stuck gear and rope tangles which resulted in climbing the last pitch in the dark. I was super psyched to lead the second pitch up the big diagonal crack with great gear and massive holds. Brodie then dispatched the top pitch and the E1 True Finish in great style, good effort on his second rock lead of the season, ha! I felt pretty smooth on it and I'm looking forward to leading it soon.

I had another couple of evening sesh's at Polldubh with Sarah. The first night we climbed Damnation and Iche. Sarah  hadn't been climbing outside for ages but she followed up them in fine style. The next night we went and did the classic Phantom Slab and then Flying Dutchman with the Direct finish, Sarah smashed both them again.

The following day was set to be a belter so with a plan hatched, Lou, Brodie, Connor and myself headed to the far away land of Ardnamurchan to see what all the fuss was about. All I can say is that the journey is worth it, there are some of the best single pitch routes I've ever done out there with the climbing all on incredibly grippy Gabbro. I was looking forward to climbing some of the VS's there and having a go at Claude which had been given soft touch HVS, 5a.

It was a super windy day but the sun was high in the sky to help keep us warm. We climbed about 7 or 8 pitches in total all on clean Gabbro. I enjoyed seconding Lou on Up Pompei which gets E2, 5b but felt pretty soft to me, small holds with poor gear but great climbing. I'd like to try and lead it next time I head out there. After climbing Claude and the classic VS, Yir, Connor and myself went to try an E1 called Volcane. I took the first pitch up a beautiful curving crack, the second pitch looked great up ahead. Connor went and had a look but after a couple of goes he wasn't too keen for it. I wasn't full of confidence after Connor had backed off from committing to the upper moves on the 5b pitch but I went for a look anyway. If it wasn't for Connors encouragement and positive attitude I probably wouldn't have gone for it but after psyching myself up for a minute and then pulling through on a two finger pocket to some small slopey crimps I was committed. I fiddled in a small wire and composed myself for a few minutes and then went for it. I've never felt a buzz before like I did when I reached the next jug and a big nut runner, my first E1 lead! I was grinning from ear to ear all the way to the belay and then probably for the next few days.

Doing that route showed me what can be achieved in climbing with a bit of effort and the rewards you get back are absolutely incredible, I'm looking forward to a summer of being strung out and scared above my gear!

Been a mad few weeks with some good routes climbed, time to be a hermit for a bit while I get these six assignments handed in...

The Ben in incredible winter condition in April!

 

Leading the first pitch on The White Line

 

Getting past the crux on Resurrection

Mark cruising Hodad

 

Enjoying Claude!

 

On the crux moves of Volcane (E1, 5b)

Psyched to be at the jug and a bomber runner!

 

Brodie enjoying the climbing on Volcane

 

 

 

 

A busy few weeks!

Been a busy few weeks, lots of deadlines for uni set. I've been trying my best to ignore them while we've had some great conditions up the hills.

I had a great day climbing with Mark in the Cairngorms a couple of weeks ago. We did The Message and then Honeypot, both superb 3* mixed lines! Great to get a few routes done in the space of a day.

Then it rained a lot and we couldn't climb for about a week, I ended up going home to visit family for a few days. Eventually the sun came back but I also happened to be working, I did manage an eveing climbing at Polldubh with Jack which felt great to get back on real rock.

The conditions were really good and settled but on my day off the cloud came in and shrouded most of the Ben. Regardless, Brodie, Mark and myself headed up and did Observatory Ridge. This was another brilliant icy mixed line, alpine feeling in both climbing and size. We pitched some stuff at the bottom and then soloed a bit which turned out to be slightly sketchy, then moved together and then pitched the last few bits of Zero Gully to top out. We got back to the car at 8pm and realised we had been on the go for 12 hours, a big day out!

I had to work the next day but the day after was forecast wall to wall sunshine. Cameron and myself headed up towards the Ben with the intention of doing Point 5, and as expected it was mobbed. We then headed round towards the Little Brenva Face but the sun was melting and dislodging lots of ice so we ran back round into Observatory Gully. The superb line of Smiths just jumped out at us and had no one on it. Cameron had a bit of history with this so we went and got on it. Quite simply put, it was the best winter route I have ever done. The route, the history, the reuptation, everything about it is classic. I don't know how Robin Smith did it with one axe. We topped out into sunshine and I didn't stop smiling for the entire walk out, and I'm probably still buzzing about it just now!

Out again tomorrow, forecast looks good so keen for another classic line. Maybe something a touch easier though...

Mark on the crux of the Message

Myself on the upper corner of The Message

The first pitch of Observatory Ridge

Looking towards Gardyloo Buttress and Smith's route

Looking down the first pitch

Psyched at the top out!!!

Great conditions to be out in!

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