Monday 26 March 2012

Rock n' roll summertime ...

Time sprung forward today to British summertime and with the promise of a good forecast Craig and I kept our 'alpine stars' heads on and headed to the Coe to lay hands on an old friend, Agag's Groove. Agag's never disappoints, especially as the first rock climb of the season. As planned at the top of the route we abseiled down the full length of January Jigsaw with the intention to climb this uber classic as well. Finding a rope of three readying at the bottom we coiled the ropes, had lunch in the sun and decided we had enough excitement (the abseil) for one day ...

Me high up on pitch 1
Craig leading pitch 3
Craig standing on a nubbin of rock at the top of pitch 4
The first of 2 full length abseils...

Tuesday 20 March 2012

Intrinsic motivation ...

18 March 2012
1hr and 10mins from leaving the upper car park in the Coe and I was in Stob Coire nan Lochan. Only the easy gullies looked complete so being on my own I headed for Boomerang. The climbing was on good neve due to the low overnight temperatures. The weather turned wintery with some light snow showers to make it feel like winter again. On the summit the blue sky came out again so I went on a bit of a ‘journey’ taking in the tops of Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire Sgreamach before traversing the ridge of Beinn Fhada and dropping into the Lost Valley, 9.6 kilometres later. This is my favourite Glen Coe ‘round’ and a true classic.


Stob Coire nan Lochan


Boomerang Gully from the top
The summit cone with Gearr Aonach in the background
The ridge leading to the summit of Bidean nam Bian
The ridge leading to Stob Coire Sgreamach
 Looking back to Stob Coire Sgreamach from Beinn Fhada 


 

Monday 5 March 2012

Simply Stunning...

4 March 2012

Bill dropped Craig and I in Glen Coe. The plan was to take advantage of the overnight wintery conditions and traverse the Aonach Eagach. Famed as the narrowest ridge on the British mainland it links the Munros of Meall Dearg and Sgorr nam Fiannaidh.
The snow fall abated and we quickly gained height on Am Bodach reaching the summit of Meall Dearg in 1hr 20m. The views across to SCNL were stunning. The ridge was straightforward, but care was needed with every step,  so we roped and pitched the final pinnacles before picking a line and dropping to the Glen Coe roadside in super quick time. We rendezvoused with Bill who spent a great day micro navigating on Garbh Bheinn near Kinlochleven. Great day all round but Bill’s knee needs some TLC.

More from Craig on the Simply Epic blog here http://simplyepicadventure.blogspot.com


Looking over to Stob Coire nan Lochan









Looking back along the Aonach Eagach ridge