Friday 17 June 2011

Midweek mid summer madness and hot aches !

16th June 2011

June should be about long balmy nights on the cobbler climbing till midnight. Dan and I used to do this, Craig and I did this last year and in April this year, so with Mid summers night approaching and BLUE forecast for the weekend, we shot the crow early and walked up the short sharp Glen Crow side of the mountain. Craig using the opportunity to pace and time, 1h 6mins to the Bealach. As we geared up the CLAG came in and as Craig led off up the first pitch of Incubator I shivered on belay with hood up and gloves on. I led the second pitch with cold fingers and had the hot aches at the next belay. With sensible heads on we retreated shivering and cursing the Scottish summer. Bizarre that you get more routes done in the winter than summer! Back at the car in 46mins and home for midnight.

No day or night on the hill is bad though, just means we need to go back and do it all again...






Tuesday 14 June 2011

Badger or 6 Fish

Sunday 12 June 2011
With the weather set to be fair the eager team meet at 5.30am and head to the Coe accompanied by top cat and trainee Navy pilot, Paul. The plan-warm up on the classic Agag’s groove, abseil down January Jigsaw, climb January and abseil back down. Lunch in the sun and head home happy. Result ! Love it when a plan comes together. Craig and I had been talking about doing this double Uber classic for a while. The abseil down Rannoch wall is a full 50m to the block belay of the first pitch of January then a further 25m to the base. It's not for everyone but saves time, is easy on your toes and it's exciting !






Thursday 9 June 2011

Kicking the habit...

Sunday 5th June 2011

Despite the rain and poor forecast we needed to get our hands on some rock. January Jigsaw was the plan and with an early start to beat the rain had us heading to the Rannoch Wall, but with Craig "micro - naving" in the CLAG (Cloud Level At Ground) and the not forecast rain we deployed plan B. Cold and wet scramble up curved ridge and abseiled back down (just to get the rope out). Not many people do this but it's great for honing your technique. We managed three full length abseils before heading to Jacksonville. Loads of early season alpines en route.

1 min per contour but how many contours...
Me, happy to be on some rock again
The way down
Common (carnivorous) Butterwort