Tuesday 3 December 2013

Sliding doors …

24 December 2014
I humped the bag into SCNL (68mins) for a wee look yesterday. With Craig on his death bed it made sense to solo something easy and I knew Boomerang or a variation of it would go. There was a surprising amount of snow and neve and the turf that was exposed was frozen.

I climbed the first 150m of Boomerang and then moved out onto the Arête. Two teams on dorsal and one on Ordinary (CB) , but otherwise just me and an arctic hare for company… or so I thought, Gerry and Murray were shadowing me all day.






Tuesday 19 November 2013

Fly guys ...

Nice day climbing on Curved Ridge with Craig. The hill was quiet apart from some speeding flyers… we beat them down right enough, but we are fast for a couple of older* guys…

Winter had left the westcoast but will return this week…

*ORIGIN Old English ald, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch our andGerman alt, from an Indo-European root meaning ‘adult’, shared by Latin alere‘nourish’.




 

Monday 11 November 2013

Déjà vu ?

10 November 2013

A good day hooking and wading our way up Invernookie on Sunday… (one day we will get the seam in acceptable condition (for us)).

The big dump of snow and rime looks wintery enough, but to consolidate the loose blocks we need a couple of freeze thaw cycles.

All in, a good start to the winter season for us, with a tramp over the Fiacaill Ridge to get back to the ski centre.












Thursday 31 October 2013

Rigging in the rain


Quick look at Kingussie crag at the weekend, some nice looking lines but too wet to climb so Craig tied some knots…








Wednesday 23 October 2013

Rainbow but no turtle …

20 October 2013

A weekend at Peter's chalet on Loch Fyne started well with some good home cooking, beer, wine and plans made for the Saturday morning paddle on the water.

Dreich described the weather the next morning but we kitted up and headed onto the water with Stuart taking a team shot to give to the coast guard just in case !

We paddled across the loch and hugged the coast before finding a spot
for lunch.

As the tide turned we headed back across and arrived at the Oystercatcher in good time for refreshments and rest before the obligatory eskimo roll session… the new 'dry kit' got the thumbs up from everyone.

Great food and beer helped reconstruct the days events to tales of 2m high waves and storm force winds, tiger sharks, sea eagles and knife carrying seals.

The  weather on Sunday didn't disappoint the bike ride with heavy rain for 70 kilometers. A quick coffee and cake stop before we loaded the kit and headed home.

Thanks Peter for being a great host and the font of all local knowledge.

More here on the Simple Epic website and blog


 








Monday 30 September 2013

A long and winding road…


Meeting Craig at Stac An Eich (South Ballachulish) he was already fighting his was through the undergrowth to get to the crag. We found the rather damp and lichen covered HS 4b that is Appin Groove (its got 2 **). Coin (double headed) flipped and off I went in search of the top. Some clever gear placements settled the nerves and some nice moves had me up the layback and heading for the silver birch at the top. Nice route that would be better if not damp, was climbed more often, and was easier to get too !







Thursday 19 September 2013

Its twins !

Doubles (or halfs) actually but 8mm x 60m long, nice looking, feeling and dry treated ready for some early winter action. Edelrid is a new brand of rope for me but I am impressed already. Thanks guys...


Sandbag …

10 September 2013
No pics but a great night at Auchinstarry Quarry with Craig leading the Scream (S 4b) and Mister, Ye Can Walk Up Roon The Back (S).  Me twanging my ankle again (its not getting any better) but I did manage the "sandbag" that is
Slinky Lizard (HS 4b*) … Great route but next time I am taking a brush for the top section.

Bonjour, buongiorno, buenos días, guten morgen, hello…and all that Jazz...

24th August
Arriving in Geneva to the expected poor forecast we headed to Chamonix for a quick fix and some supplies before the drive to Griments in Switzerland our base for this years climbing trip.

High above Sierre and just below the Moiry
glacier this is a great summer base for some high mountain walks if the weather is poor but has easy access to higher peaks of Zenal, Sass and Zermatt.

We had a great week and made the most of the conditions with a mix of high mountain walking when the weather was poor and Glacier peaks when there was a weather window.

Scex De Marenda (2,960m), Becs De Bosson (3,148), Zermatt, Castor (4,223m) (abort due to freezing fog, groupie and slab), Breithorn for the 3rd time (4,164m) Col Du Tsate (2,868m)and the Pigne de la Le (3,396m) in one push from the
Moiry dam.

Packing up we descended the 1000 odd hairpin bends from Griments and headed to Annecy for ice cream before a late flight home.