[Fiend]

Hush 

Now where is good cragging in the North West when it is stupidly hot??

Current list is:

Rubha Hunish
Staffin Slip
Kilt Rock

Tollie Crag (/Loch Maree etc)

Reiff Bouldering Cliff
Reiff Leaning Block Area

Sheigra 1st Geo (/2nd Geo in morning)

Caithness (in afternoon)

Anything else??

[Ian T]

Avoiding a long approach you've got most places on your list.

You could add the following
Loch Tollaidh (shade till mid-afternoon)
Gruinard Crag (shade till mid-afternoon)
Bay of Pigs (shade till mid-afternoon)
The Balcony, up near Ridgeway View Crag (shade till mid-afternoon)
Creag an Fhithich (shade till mid-afternoon)
Creag Shomhairle (maybe too far for you) (shade till mid-afternoon)

Do you see a pattern here? Scotland faces north west.

Unfortunately. to add a further complication, the shade loving midge has reared it's ugly head.

[SA Chris]

I even felt it's fair caress whilst in the back garden this week.

[Fiend]

Cheers Ian, had considered most of those....Scotland does indeed face North West. Went to Creag Nan Shormalie pre-DVTs, pretty good change from Sheigra. Keen to get to the Balcony, only minor but sounds very nice.

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Getting Nuked in Glen Nevis.
24 May 2012, 10:07 am



Fuck me it was hot out there. The temperatures must have doubled in a few days, from huddling in vest+t-shirt+hoodie+beanie+downie on Skye, to melting in just shorts (+ compression stockings) in Glen Nevis. Ridiculous....obviously this is glorious height of summer weather which is all rather nice, but it does take some adjusting when spring lasts 2 days! All of which might explain why we ended up sitting in the Clachaig at 6pm drinking lime and soda and Grozet gooseberry wheat beer instead of crushing les crags. This was after a day of slogging up to Wave for the second time in a row, realising that On The Beach would be particularly unwise in my current state and the weather's current climate, doing Crackattack the easy way instead, and having a generally good time climbing, so we could justify some relaxation.

Although I'm shying away from the harder climbs on the wonderous Wave, exploring around the Gorge itself has cemented other inspirations: Aquarian Rebels and Quality Street in particular, with the Gorge Crag for warming up en-route. The best rock in the Glen and the best scenery...





Source:  fiendblog

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Scorching on Skye
1 June 2012, 12:18 pm



Second weekend in a row, racking up about 1200 miles total. But it's a miraculous slice of spring / summer / searing sunshine, so it's worth it. This time I assumed that the North East facing sea-cliffs of Trotternish would be a great escape from the sun. This was partly right, apart from Staffin being a great escape from any form of breeze and thus a haven for midges as well as sweaty shade-seekers. So we went swimming off the slipway and for an excellent cafe lunch in the Granary Restaurant in Portree instead and I had a nap and slogged up to the Old Man Of Storr which is the most bizarre and Alien landscape in the UK and Staffin stays on the wishlist along with further days at Neist and Elgol.

This rest day was sandwiched between some highly rewarding crack climbing at: Kilt Rock, which contains one of the 3 so-called "essential" bits of climbing I was belligerently determined to avoid in Scotland, Grey Panther (along with the over-hyped Reiff, which I have been to and enjoyed despite it being obviously inferior to Caithness, Sheigra, Ardmair, Gairloch, Gruinard etc, and Etive Slabs which still have no appeal). In it's defence Grey Panther did look very good when I abseiled down (apart from the shocking amount of crack-avoidance going on, looking at the chalk), so I did Edge Of Beyond and Skyeman instead. Rubha Hunish, the most Northerly point in Skye (Neist is the most Westerly, the Easterly and Southerly don't have any promoted climbing), where I did the intimidating but utterly excellent Whispering Crack, which took some determination to get on but a lot of pleasure once on it, and finally:

An Sgudan (sp!) boulders beneath the Cuillin, where after an epic slog in in my underpants (I now have burnt thighs with a pantline), I flashed the 10m 8m tape-up tapeless hard-as-nails pretty easy 7a V4+ mega-classic Pump Up The Jam. In the end there was very little climbing per day but it was great enough to be worthwhile. I'm feeling a bit less punterly, my elbow feels good in the heat, and I'm taking advantage of the weather.



Source:  fiendblog

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Shivering at Sheigra.
7 June 2012, 12:48 pm



...well at least it gave time for the sunburn to settle down! This time the temperature halved in a few days, but once again the weather stayed dry enough to have a great trip away. I'm not going to be complaining about Scottish spring and early summer this year - I've had 18 days away in the North West so far!! This trip was more North than West, taking advantage of the 4 day weekend (enough to turn anyone into a royalist) to tackle a Sheigra mission.

And it was some mission to start: We left from Perth in Simon's van, the A9 was closed so we had a grindingly slow detour via Fort William, getting to Inverness so late that we had to crash out in the dogging spot (plenty of COCK FUN on offer apparently - but I didn't see any....who knows what happened in the back of the van though...) just past Garve. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the van's clutch started going at Inchbae. Simon managed to limp it to Ullapool, where of course it turns out the clutch/gearbox work would be hideously expensive and maybe could be started the next Wednesday. Gulp.  Tried to find a hire car in Ullapool - none available. Get a bus back to Inverness - the only buses are timed to coinicide with the Stornoway ferry and arrive just after all the hire companies close. Taxi (!) - £80. Double gulp. But....as we were enquiring in the tourist information office, the lady's partner casually said "Oh yes I'm going to Inverness soon, I'll give you a lift just after I've had me breakfast". What a GENT. We got a nippy little Astra from the airport, cained the fuck out of it back to Ullapool, packed it to the brim with all our kit, and resumed the journey, 5 hours later and one van down. Got to Rhiconich, got to Rhiconich Crag, a nice wee sheet of undulating gneiss, and...

...

...CALM. Calm and syke and the simplicity of good climbing after all that debacle. Did a few routes, went to the Rhiconich Bloodstone, did a few boulder problems, went to the Scourie campsite (very nice, good value, good vibe), ate a few meatballs (okay a lot of meatballs), had a few hours sleep (okay several, but not enough!). The days then followed a similar pattern: wake in the morning to 4am sunrise and rain showers, grumpily go back to sleep, wake again a few hours later and realise everything was dry, brave the bracing breeze and go climbing on great gneiss, inland or sea-side. Second Geo was as good as usual, The Balcony was a great hidden gem slab, the Akita Boulder was surprisingly where the guide said it was and a great bit of rock somewhat marred by atrocious climber-crushing landings and amusing "Dave Macleod tries to grade V4s" grades, our fingertips couldn't cope anyway, and the First Geo was as fucking STEEP as usual but I managed to scrape up Monkey Man by the skin of my teeth - or more like the skin of my hands....I lost a lot of it in the undercling jam "rest". Having backed off the start of MM on my previous Sheigra trip in 2008 (then with a fucked left elbow rather than a fucked right one), this had been a main goal for the trip (despite not being a very big number, it is clearly adjectivally harder than steady slabs like Unleash The Beast at Ardmair and Big Country Dreams at Cambusbarron!), and I'd been worrying about having enough fitness, determination, and the right rock conditions to get it done. A fitting end to the trip.

Not sure what the weather is doing next....but at least I'm narrowing down my aims for the next 4 months: Week in Lewis (tricky), long weekend on Orkney/Yesnaby (tricky), 3 days on Skye (doable by weekends), 3 days around Reiff (doable by weekends), and the usual Gairloch / Glen Nevis / Creag Dubh / Aberdeen bollox (all weekend or even day trip friendly). So only two logistically difficult trips. Just need to keep organised and keep fit (my climbing is still fairly balls but getting a bit better with the mileage I think).

P.S. No photos as the blogspot photo inclusion thing is so bloody awful, I can't be arsed fighting with it, go here instead: http://www.ukclimbing.com/photos/author.html?id=4478



Source:  fiendblog

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Lack Of Velociraptors at the Lost Valley
11 June 2012, 1:46 pm



I have put up with many....difficulties....using Bouldering In Scotland. Approach times and maps have been taken with a pinch of salt, grades, lines and descriptions with a shovelful (although surprisingly the descriptions for the Lost Valley are spot on....and the grades are only 2 grades out). Although it's got me to some great locations, it's often taken trial and error and imagination to get on some great problems, and I've put up with that (mostly by whining about it on this blog). But this time my patience has run out...

"When you finally step down into the Lost Valley after a hike through the gorge of Allt Coire Gabhail, you might expect to see Velociratpors running around in packs, such is the hidden mystery of the place."

Well it might be full of hidden mystery, but I didn't see ANY Velociraptors. Not a single one. Nor Brontasaurii, Diplodocii, Stegadons, Triceratops, Tyranosaurs, not even a fucking Pterdaton.

WHERE ARE THE FUCKING VELOCIRAPTORS??

I WANT MY VELOCIRAPTORS!!

HMPH.



Source:  fiendblog

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Rapid Reiff Raid.
14 June 2012, 3:41 pm



Rapid indeed - Saturday morning until Sunday night. For all the traditional Reiff convenience, it has a certain atmosphere at 8pm on a grey, windy Sunday, standing above The Leaning Block facing an hour walk and a 5 hour drive with little chance of a hot dinner. Tiring, but worth it.

So Reiff, somewhere I had belligerently intended to avoid it as it's one of those "essential" cragging places that everyone whitters on about even though it's not quite as good as it's neighbours of Ardmair, Gairloch/Gruinard, Caithness, Sheigra etc. I went for a few days in 2010, the popular Pinnacle area seemed to confirm suspicions of being overrated, but the further one gets away from there, things improve exponentially in proportion to walk-in length - that hour trek to the Peninsula being a landmark for me as the first time I braved the now immensely fashionable shorts and compression stockings look, and was rewarded with the very good sandstone cragging up there.

Saturday was the Stone Pig cliff. It has a stone that looks like a pig by the parking, that is enough for me. The highlight was: Headstrong - after a huge tantrum resting on Sonique (god I really do suck at this super-steep trad bollox), Headstrong went totally smoothly, and despite being a grade over had some great climbing, the moves to, onto, and above the rest ledge being some of the best I've done recently.

Sunday was the Peninsula area, and after a good long warm-up at the delightful and only slightly steep Golden Walls, the highlight was heading over and doing: Headlong - despite only aiming for a mileage day had seen that the Aberdeen old skool gnarlers had done this the other weekend and....well it was chalked up, the tide was out, I was warmed up, I had to try it. Again it went pretty fine after the "kick in the bawbag" starting moves, really nice to do the easiest line up a big sheer face.

Pretty glad I headed up really. I am feeling slightly less like a complete fucking bumbly now. Although this week I've had little chance to maintain momentum, with minor food poisoning, a day in bed and another day doing little. Still it's proper rest for my body....and a bit of weight loss....and encouraging me to eat light healthy stuff for a while....will hopefully hit the ground crags running cranking in a bit...



Source:  fiendblog

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Skye Strike.
20 June 2012, 1:34 pm



5th dry weekend in a row, 20 days climbing in the North West this spring (forecast looks to be bolloxing out for a bit so I am really glad I persisted in making the most of the freakishly dry weather), 3rd trip to Skye in those 5 weeks, and the trip in which I finally wrapped up most of my inspirations from Autumn 2010.

Poverty Point, Neist - My ticklist was, in order: Golden Shower (whichever one the rear pillar is in Gary's fucked up ordering), Bad Dream, maybe Fight Club, and just possibly American Vampire. After semi-warming up on various thrutches and generally feeling somewhat knackered, I shocked myself by grinding up the least likely American Vampire, the hardest route I've done since Rat Race last Autumn. The gentle angle of the start gave me enough momentum to "give it a look" and once I was involved the prospect of overhanging hand-jamming was enough reward for me to commit through the route. At the top I had a stitch from the exertion and a lot of grazes :). Golden whatever will have to wait for another time...

Staffin Slip - My aim was mileage and/or giving Jugs Of Deception a go, well I gave it a go but since it was pumpy, blind, committing, relentless and generally a bit fucking hard, I didn't do it but I did the mileage thing instead, 45m each of Gorbachev and Woman Of The Eighties felt like bloody miles especially the latter which was quite an epic battle. Rounded off the day with a couple of shorter jamming delights but unfortunately just missed dinner at the splendid Granary Restaurant in Portree, oh well more tuna pasta heavily seasoned with midges at The Slig.

Suidhe Biorach - My clear desires were Digitalis and Mother's Pride, the former I was pretty confident and relaxed about, the latter I was just plain shitting myself about, remember how I moan about super-steep Scottish trad, will this motherfucker has pride of place in the steep trad stakes. Well it was worth the mental effort of getting on it - the first roof is a battle and probably the crux, the rest niche is plentiful, the second "roof" is a technical delight, and the arcing top wall is as super-juggy as it is super-steep. There's even a perfect jamming rest squatting on a wee knobble, all of this perched well out above the sparkling sea. Just brilliant. Digitalis is equally brilliant, great wall climbing with a spot-on "just enough" crux. A great end to a great trip.

~¤~

Each day on this trip I faced a good challenge, mental or physical or both. Each day I managed to get fully focused and engrossed in the challenge, and each time I really enjoyed the state of mind and the climbing situation I got into. Now I finally feel that I am climbing a bit more normally, a bit truer to the inspirations and challenges I enjoy. Now it's time? to focus on a few other things, but also to try to capitalise on my climbing with additional training (wall, gym), some diversification (sport, bouldering), and quicker but hopefully equally intense fixes of day trips and weekends. This trip has wrapped things up nicely and at the moment I feel in a good state for progression via a flexible focus.

Going along with this, I did learn some useful lessons:

1. Oooomph and determination - I've been worried about the lack of this in my climbing, and thus a lack of confidence to tackle harder routes. I think this is perhaps a chicken and egg situation....I generally haven't been tackling harder routes, so I generally haven't needed much ooomph....so I generally haven't had any! Just getting on some challenging routes this weekend seemed to bring out the required determination by virtue of simply being in that situation and rising to the challenge.

2. Breathing - I seemed to both forget to breathe quite often when seconding and then find things distinctly hard, and also sometimes really focus on my breathing while shaking out during lead climbing battles and then find things distinctly improving. A clear and unsurprising lesson perhaps, but having some awareness of it over consecutive routes highlights it as something useful to focus on.

3. Footwork - Watching my partner Ross, a young hotshot from Ratho (but thankfully skilled and competent on the trad despite a tendency to forget ropes and probably his head if it wasn't attached to his body), I tended to notice how much he focuses on digging his feet into the tiniest of footholds (and therefore gets up routes, including ones I'd struggle with). My technique is good and my footwork fine, but I still could be more confident and trusting with small footholds, so maybe I can take that on board....if one can teach an old dog new tricks, hmmm...



Source:  fiendblog

[ShortRound]

  Strong, positive blogging there Fiend.

It's nice to see the impact a sustained period of dryness has upon a climber's wellbeing.

[Fiend]

Thanks  It's been a positive time....I'd forgotten just how good Scotland can be when it stays dry...

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Current Concepts.
27 June 2012, 12:12 pm



It's raining. A lot. The forecast is dire. I have stuff to do. I'm still totally syked for cragging but that has to be on the backburner. In the meantime there are a few things to consider:

• There are plenty of options for good single days out or weekends, especially if I maintain my current form and can do some of the radder routes I've spotted. I'm going to keep in mind the following plethora of options depending on weather and wind:
• Day trips: Glen Croe, Allt Doire-Bheith / Stac An Eich (Glen Coe), Creag An Fhithich Beag / Polldubh / Gorge area (Glen Nevis), Glenfinnan, Creag Dubh, Huntly's Cave, Pass Of Ballater, Weem, Glen Ogle, Glen Lednock, Abroath, Roslin Glen.
• 2 day / Weekend trips: Gairloch, Reiff, Caithness, Cummingston, Tarlair, Rosehearty, Red Tower / Whisky Cliff / Berrymuir / Floor's Craig / Johnsheugh (Aberdeen).
• I need to remember to warm-up well and actually try challenging stuff as I've probably got enough mileage under my belt to summon up the syke to see it through.
• I want to do more 6a on lead. Only one so far this year and it was really more continuous 5c. I'm feeling warmed up enough to start having some technical challenges....I want to get into the habit of harder moves. Mostly because they're fun :)
• Bouldering....as the weather and conditions fluctuate manically, I want to keep my eyes open for good bouldering days. Although I am still far too injured to push my limits, there are still plenty of high quality problems I haven't got around to throughout the country, and if the weather sometimes suits them more than it does trad, sobeit.
• Training....I'm keen to do plenty of training at the moment, hopefully I can build on trad mileage with a training kick up the arse. Indoor routes + lots of falling practise, indoor bouldering endurance sessions, gym weights + cv sessions. Restarted this in the last week (Ratho - good, weights session - kinda fun, TCA - sweaty weak and horrible) and need to keep it up.
• Elbow....still fucked. As per usual. Expect the same injury report for many more months. I am managing it though, and keeping up with massage, taping, and theraputic eccentric wrist curls. It's been fine on trad (especially in warm weather), but a lot less fine with "casual" bouldering, so I need to take extra care with that.

That's it really....keep training....keep open to all the various days out options....keep careful....keep syked.



Source:  fiendblog

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Keeping my hand in #1
18 July 2012, 10:06 am



In accordance with my general plan of keeping training while circumstances and weather are preventing proper trips, I had a flying visit to Aberdeen over the weekend. After a couple of weeks of fairly regular indoor wall, and less  regular gym training, I wanted to keep my hand in on the trad, and of course just do some fun climbing ;). No big plans, just a weekend of steady mileage on surprisingly dry rock in surprisingly good weather. Hidden Inlet, Promontory Wall, Dykes Cliff - all the classic Aberdeen hallmarks of short, steep, pokey routes with fiddly gear and either obscure moves or shocking pump for their size, or sometimes both. An acquired taste which I still find curiously irresistable, and intricate enough to keep a good trad focus.

I actually got quite syked in the end, and I'm assuming that if the weather reverts to Met Office's ominously predicted "normal conditions" i.e. being fucking shit in North West Scotland, then the East coast will get some respite and I might be back there more often. Which although it's a consolation prize is no bad thing as I have quite a few inspirations along that coast.

My elbow has been fairly sore recently. 2 weeks ago it was fine when I was doing 3 gentle sessions at TCA. Last week I went to Ratho and it was sore (not sure why?) and again doing row weights on Wed (a bit of a mistake) and again on a slightly stiffer circuit at TCA on Thu (overuse by then). The weekend it felt tweaky with the odd nagging pain, but I was careful with warming up and massage, and I think the Easy Trad(tm) was fine as the last two days have been better. I think I got a bit carried away with the TCA training - again! I had to start off easy because I was such a fucking punter after not training for ages, and then climbing-wise I moved smoothly on to more challenging circuits, but I don't think my elbow was quite ready for that. I need to stick to more stamina stuff, if I can find anyone to go to the bloody lead wall with!



Source:  fiendblog

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Keeping my hand in #2
21 July 2012, 8:21 pm



Another brief day out, this time at The Pass Of Ballater. Did a couple of easier routes, felt fine on them, felt on reasonable trad form, and that's what I really needed to know. I had hoped to get on some harder routes there but the conditions were pretty odd. Sunny and cloudy, breezy and still, cool and muggy, dry and sweaty. It just didn't feel the right time to push harder. The Pass is a funny place. I've realised I don't actually like the granite much - awkward, angular, and polished, and thus pretty conditions-dependent - but I do really like the look of some of the harder routes there - Peel's Wall, Smith's Arete, Cold Rage and Doctor Dipso - which take more stylish lines up more elegant rock. Unfortunately neither I nor the weather were up to those lofty tasks today, so The Pass remains a sort-of project crag for me, despite it's seeming crag convenience I will have to carefully take advantage of just the right time (a cold, fresh time!) to make the most out of it. Ah well.... More mileage somewhere else next time.



Source:  fiendblog

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Keeping my hand in #3.
29 July 2012, 8:38 pm



Same as before, but in ever decreasing circles of localness, this time ending up at Limekilns, sandwiched between a late start, a torrential storm, and seasoned with only the briskest of breezes. Just another afternoon mileage route out, and I did manage to get a few routes done as well as getting inspired for future challenges. A couple of steady routes and a slightly harder that got my surprisingly pumped for a vertical wall. All good training, and adding in a different style to previous weeks, so the hand is kept where it should be, in the rock (ideally in a good jam ;)).

Hmmm, if the horrible new Blogspot interface isn't too much of a dick, I might even have some photos...









Source:  fiendblog

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Pulling my finger out #1.
8 August 2012, 5:39 pm



....hopefully the next stage in this year's slow progression. I've trained over winter, got injured, had a good spring getting back into the trad, stayed injured, trained more steadily over the last couple of months, kept doing sporadic trad so I don't forget how to fumble wires in and get scared, and now I have the opportunity to hopefully capitalise on that. And I'm still syked!!

This last weekend was the start of the next stage: Getting more focused on the trad and starting to push myself a little bit, in volume and intensity. I had an enjoyable but very slow trad progression over the spring - although I got out lots on some great days, it took weeks and weeks to feel confident and determined to tackle harder climbs. Now I do feel more confident, but it's tempered with a caution that a slow pace might be required, so I'm giving myself the opportunity to do that, with slightly more intense mileage.

The weekend was good, constant monitoring over the weather forecast (THAT is why I finally got a smart phone) allowed us to avoid both the torrential storms that swept across Central Scotland, and the swarming hordes of midge death that would have driven us insane if I hadn't revised Northern Highlands North enough to find a useful East-facing crag. An evening at Rhue, a day at Road Crag and Gruinard Crag, and a short day at Morning/Evening Walls (rather good little crags) gave a good variety of venues and routes, a few of which I pushed myself on and did pretty well :).

Next time: More cautious crushing, I hope.

In the meantime, here's a toad:





Source:  fiendblog

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Pulling my finger out #2
15 August 2012, 8:55 pm



Apparently I have been on this last weekend trip. Forgoing the inevitable delights of the North West, I headed back into the furthest North East and the hidden delights of the Caithness coastline, the only delights of note in this otherwise curiously soulless area of the country. The seacliffs themselves are a curiosity, reasonable of access, diverse of rock type, full of great routes and empty of fellow climbers. More fool them, because in my now 9 days total climbing in the area, I have concluded that it is really bloody good, for all the aforementioned reasons.

This last visit I have perhaps reached the pinnacle of my climbing in the area, as I managed to climb my longer-term desires of Occam's Razor and A Paddler's Tale. The former was particularly enticing in line, situation, and the promise of a distinct crux around a jug with rests before and after. It all went pretty smoothly, the crux took some working out but was reasonable, the rest after took a long time to get to but the finish was easy and fun. The latter was climbed pretty much by accident - abseiling down at the end of the day, it was still, midgy, and the rock was getting smeggy, the route looked steep and intimidating, so I only started up for a look, with the firm intention of getting scared and retreating into the adjacent chimney. Somehow I completely failed to do this and somehow I managed the climb. Quite a surprise and a real bonus after Occam's.

That was pretty much my raison d'etre for the 9 hour round trip, but in an extended weekend I also managed to fit in introducing Geoff to the delights of Mid-Clyth and getting a wee bit of mileage myself, introducing Brad to the delights of Ardmair and getting a wee bit of mileage myself (and a lot of inspiration for future visits, I'd forgotten just how relentlessly good Ardmair was), and introducing James and Colin to the delights of Loch Tollaidh and getting a wee bit of mileage myself. I probably could have kept my finger out and stopped bumbling around on mileage, but I was pretty knackered by the time I headed back West, so just coasted along on my Sarclet success and relaxed a bit.

Actually, the knackeredness was probably a harbinger of things to come. I now have the punterflu again, due to being too punterly. This is not particularly welcome at this time of year (or at any fucking time!) but I will just have to ride it out with a lot of rest and recuperation and a bit of training and a bit of getting back to the action soon.



Above: Chillaxing at SOFTmair on a bright and breezy day.



Above: The glorious Gruinard Bay (visited on a previous weekend), with about a dozen good crags in view!



Source:  fiendblog

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State of play.
17 August 2012, 3:35 pm



2/3 of the way through the main trad season and my route list is looking as follows:

...

Lewis: - not got to yet!

Dalbeg:

Tweetie Pie Slalom  E5 6a ***

Limpet Crack  E3 5c ***

Neptune  E2 5c ***

Blessed Are The Weak  E5 6a ***

Various routes

Mangestra:

The Prozac Link  E4 5c ***

Various routes

Skye:

Neist:

Supercharger  E3 5c ** - unrefined but a good adventure

Wish You Were Here  E2 5b *** - quite stiff and rather good

Have A Nice Day  E3 6a ** - saw detatched holds from WYWH, decided no.

Golden Shower  E4 5c ***

American Vampire  E4 6a *** - exhilerating and exhausting jamming

Fight Club  E3 6a ***

Rubha Hunish:

Whispering Crack E3 5c *** - fantastic mega-pitch, loved it.

Northern Exposure E2 5b *** - no time and put off by rock.

Elgol:

Digitalis E3 5c *** - brilliant, perfect crux.

Mother's Pride E4 5c *** - brilliant, quite steady, amazing second pitch.

Staffin Slip:

Various routes. - did several, good value good mileage.

Caithness:

Sarclet:

Occam's Razor E4 6a *** - great, quite steady, good position.

A Paddler's Tale E3/4 5c *** - great, sustained cruxes, not sure how I made it in greasy conditions.

Reiff: - more to go back for!

Headstrong E4 5c ** - steady but rather cool, good moves.

Wyatt Earp E3 6a ***

Crack Of Desire E3 6a ***

Various routes - did Headlong E4 5c ***, excellent wall climb.      

Ardmair: - added to list because it's awesomeNeart Nan Gaidheal E5 6a ***Twisting Twitcher E3 6a **Burning Desire E5 6b ***

Wester Ross: - not really got there in the right weather

Tollie Crags:

Each Uisge Direct  E4 6a ***

Murray's Arete  E3/4 5c *

The Shimmer  E4 6a **

Loch Tollaidh Crags:

Flag Iris  E4 5c **

Various routes.

Stone Valley Crags:

Demon Razor  E3 5c *

Flashing Blade  E3 6a **

Gruinard Crags:

How The West Was Won  E3 5c ** - cool, was a bit unsure about parts but a rewarding pitch.

Stand And Deliver  E4 6a **

Diabeg:

Edgewood Whimper  E4 5c **

Porpoise Pun  E3 5c ** - good bold wall climbing.

Wall Of Flame  E4 6a ***

Instant Muscle  E4 6a **

Rough Justice  E2 5c * - more like ***, great pitch.

Glen Nevis: - been going further North instead but need to get to soon!

Aquarian Rebels E4 6a ***

Quality Street E3 6a ***

On Some Beach  E5 6a ***

Freddie Across The Mersey  E5 6a **

Crackattack  E3 5c *** - pretty cool, worked out the easy way.

Mutant  E4 5c **

Triode  E5 6a **

Risque Grapefruit  E4 5c **

Fingertip Finale  E4 5c * - backed off as too scared of horizontal swing onto skyhooks.

Precious Cargo  E5 6a *

Creag Dubh: - been going further North instead but need to get to soon!

Colder Than A Hooker's Heart  E5 5c **

Harder Than Your Husband  E5 6a **

The Final Solution  E5 6a **

Acapulco  E4 5c ***

Bratach Uaine  E4 6a ***

Case Dismissed  E3 6a ***

Ayatollah  E4 6a ***

North East: - been going further West instead but need to get to soon!

Moray Coast:

The Prow  E5 6a **

The Essential  E3 5c ***

Senakot Rose  E4 6a **

Old Fashioned Waltz  E3 5c *

Aberdeen Coast:

Red Army Blues  E4 6a **

Downies' Syndrome E4 6a **

Sair Fecht  E3 6a **

The Pugilist  E4 6a ***

Johnsheugh routes

Various other routes

Pass Of Ballater:

Peel's Wall  E4 6a ***

Smith's Arete  E5 6a ***

Central Highlands: - been going further North instead.

Glen Lednock:

No Place For A Wendy  E2 5b ***

Pole-Axed  E4 6a ** - horrible rock and approach.

Gabrielle  E4 6a *- horrible rock and approach.

Diamond Cutter  E3 6a ***

Glen Croe:

Edge Of Insanity  E4 5c **

Short Sharp Shock  E4 6a **

...

Which means:

1. I've done a great job of getting to Skye and a decent job of getting to the North West. Finally getting to grips with Skye sea-cliffs is a big tick off my list.

2. I've eventually managed to work up to doing some more challenging climbs and hopefully this can continue to the rest of the season.

3. I've still not managed to get to Lewis and will make that a priority next time weather and partners coincide.

4. I've generally ignored the closer / Easterly / more weather-sure options in favour of heading North West, but there are still plenty of things that inspire me in those areas so I will need to get more focused on those venues too.

5. There's still plenty of routes to do including the North West, but many of them are at cool-weather-friendly crags so hopefully will be in condition later into Autumn.

6. There's probably some more training I can keep doing to top up my climbing to tackle some harder routes, so far I can think of:  

• Falling practise
• Stamina
• Steep route practise in general (always useful in Scotland)
• Lock offs and reaches (based on experience)
• Toe / calf training (based on experience)
• More falling practise...  

Unfortunately I've still got punterflu which is driving me mad as I'm still syked and want to train and climb and not just rest up like a fat gelatinous lump of mucus!! It should be over soon...



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Tradless Training
24 August 2012, 4:07 pm



The last couple of weeks have featured a lot more punterflu recovery and general relaxing than proper climbing involving cracks and nuts and stuff. But I have managed the odd bit of pottering to keep active if nothing else:

Kishorn Boulders - great location, great rock, great selection of easy problems. Mid-grade stuff a bit less described managed a few cool problems (see below).

Ardmair Beach - a nice circuit here, did a few things I did before and a few things I didn't. I like the Ardmai roof problems, although they are all fairly similar, it's good fun having the trickery involving powerful crimping and devious heel-toes, rather than grunting around sloping lips.

Tom Riach - wow this is erratic as erratic comes, a highly singular bloc of conglomerate casually dropped in a forest a long way from it's nearest potential origins at The Camel or Moy. A nice circuit of "easy" wall climbing which is quite cranky and crimpy, good fun.

Ratho - first time training for ages, and I did okay. As part of "angular overcompensation", I stuck to mostly steep stuff, in the hope that when I get back to the horrors of Rosehearty or South Aberdeen schist, they will seem less outrageously overhanging in comparison. In theory...

Legaston Quarry - meh. Back here for the first time in 9 years and it might be 9 years before I can next stomach it. I kinda like the idea of the sandstone wall climbing in theory, but relentlessly morpho climbing and a veritable turd of a mis-grading system reduce my enthusiasm pretty quickly. Oh well on to some TRAD next I hope :)



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Covesea Crushing.
27 August 2012, 5:31 pm

Hands on the good edge beneath the roof. Grab the big fat pinch with left hand and bring right hand into the angled finger jam slot in the roof crack, thumb in to the crag, little finger away from the crag. Lean way out and reach left hand around to the sharp rib running up from the jutting block ledge from the lip. Right foot on the good edge, and try to reach the high slanting ridge with the right hand....can't reach, drape hand on non-hold and slap left hand higher up the sharp rib. Lunge and get the right hand on the small ridge, bring right foot to smear on fat pinch and desperately flail left foot around on the lip until it can be teased on to the jutting ledge. Match hands on the small ridge area and grunt into a rockover to a victory stance on the ledge.

If you don't want the beta for Urban Gorilla at Covesea, don't read the above paragraph! Although really it is quite easy to work out from the ground (the only difference from what I had precisely planned was a lower right foot and higher left hand for the crux reach). This was probably the highlight of a rather good day at Covesea - it was a line that definitely inspired me, but definitely played to a couple of my weaknesses of long reaches and pulling around roofs, thus a satisfying surprise to do it, and do it well (I guess I find it easier to commit to hard moves when there is perfect protection next to me and a big rest coming up ;)).

Other highlights included Bottle Republic (actually E3 5c but a good **), Dancing In The Dark, Banana Republic which were less challenging but equally high quality in both strong lines and strong climbing. The time of Covesea being mis-regarded as a sandy, dodgy, greasy esoteric backwater is OVER, and the now 11 routes I've done there confirm that.

As a punctuation to the day we also went to Tarlair, following the enticement of the guidebook photo. This turned out to be more of a line of dots or random ungrammatical squiggle rather than a satisfactory exclamation mark to the day. The sheer face of smooth rock and hard grades put an end to both the so-called warm-up route and any further challenges. Although I did learn I need to be able to detach myself from grade expectations and try to fight harder on the actual challenge, irrespective of how ludicrous a sandbag it might be.

On the plus side, since the crag sits below the infamous 13th hole of the Tarlair golf course, I did find 8 golf balls beneath the crag!

Today it rained, we got one route in early in the morning, recced Cummingston for future challenges (still inspiring, I definitely like the sandstone!) and had a spectacularly good moccaccino with whipped cream at the Mambo cafe in Aviemore.



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Battered at Ballater.
31 August 2012, 11:37 am



Battered - arms and shoulders still tired.

Bloodied - ground-up little fingers from fingerlocks.

Broken - a cracked torn nail from falling over and bashing my finger.

Bruised - swollen and stiff knuckle on the same finger.

Beaten - by 2 out of the 3 challenging routes I tried in a day.

Finally a day at the Pass in good fresh conditions - a slice of mid-autumn crispness at the end of August, maybe a sign of things to come? - but was it enough....not quite. It's still just plain hard there, and despite (or perhaps because of!) the short gritstone-esque style of climbing, I still don't feel that comfortable with it. But I've given it a good go, and that's something. Also, despite twice as many failures as ascents, it was actually a decent and interesting day.

I warmed up, inadequately, and tried Doctor Dipso, a cool, short, open wall climb, and failed just before easy ground due to being immovably pumped. It was very close  - with a bit more determination I could have done this. But with a bit more cunning I would have not paid too much attention to a veteran E6 leader with 20 years experience of Aberdeen climbing who said it was "not pumpy really", and warmed up a lot better. Although the style of climbing suited me well, the sustainedness definitely warranted a further warm-up. I need to heed that.

However that dismal failure was a warm-up in itself, so when I got onto Cold Rage next, it was a different story - after several times up and downclimbing at the lower (and hard!) crux, and a lot of huffing and puffing in the upper groove before a merciful back and footing rest, I managed to grind my way up this exhausting and satisfying route. Despite the hard unnerving start, having a good rest above and sensible gear for the rest of the route made it mentally comfortable if physically tiring - and the experience made the day worthwhile.

Finally, I mentally tossed a coin as to whether I had enough energy and dry skin and light left to try Peel's Wall, lost the flip and failed on the route. This was one time when I should heed the E6 Aberdeen veteran who said it was okay (it's not) but a bit pumpy (fucking pumpy). Equally I shouldn't have heeded rumours of it being safe and technical - it's only safe if you can place the very limited gear, instead of being totally out of balance on the lower flake, or blocking the crucial wire placement in the upper with fingers. A nasty experience trying to avoid groundfall potential before I could get to slump on the gear. Maybe I was a bit tired from other routes, but I definitely need to heed warnings of pumpy, and be wary of local climbs with local gear placements!

So: Warm up better, be warier of pumpy routes, don't take protection for granted. Don't go back to Ballater for a while!



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Aberdeen Assault
7 September 2012, 5:45 pm



As I suspected the weather has turned to balls in The West - regular checking of Fort William and Ullapool forecasts shows only sporadic days of thick grey cloud and humid south-westerly winds to provide intermittent respite from light or heavy rain as the weather gods deem fit. I still keep my hopes up for the odd two day trip to Wester Ross, or the famed but elusive one day hit for Glen Nevis, but in the meantime I've initiated my Plan B: The East, including the Aberdeen Coast, Moray Coast, Central Highlands and Lowlands. Whilst this doesn't have the seemingly endless choice of excellent rock that the North West does, it does provide a curious variety of interesting rock types (or more like an interesting variety of curious rock types!) and plenty of surprisingly enticing challenges.

Following tangential warm-ups at Covesea and Ballater, and some emergency "steepness over-compensation" training on the Ratho comp wall, I had a few days in the area this weekend, and briefly they went thusly:

Red Tower & Grey Mare Slabs: Nice day by the sea, visited two crags to give Simon a good taster of the gnarly granite, and did a few classic routes - Neanderthal Man and Vulture Squadron both being worth an extra star for their sustained quality. I tried something harder but was a bit too warm. Will be back!

Berrymuir Head: Nice day by the sea but curiously too greasy. Warmed up, failed on some slopey thing, Simon didn't fare much better on his route, so we called it a day after a couple of easier things. Curious that sun and a seemingly fresh breeze didn't give good conditions, but chatting to a local local afterwards confirmed my suspicion that the SW breeze was just too warm and humid.

Johnsheugh: Nice day by the sea and this time much fresher so had an ace day out. This revamped crag is where all the cool kids hang out, and even uncool unlocals are allowed here so I was keen to sample 25m of diverse bulging wall climbing, and certainly did that with a steady warm-up and 3 fine and satisfying routes.

Coble Boards: Nice day by the sea and still pretty fresh, the NWer getting even this crag in decent nick (not quite decent enough for the burly Jihad whose slick angled slopers are tucked under a sheltering roof). Is it a bunch of coblers? No it's quite a cool wee crag in a nice setting with a good viewing platform. The routes are short steep and sometimes pretty weird so classic Aberdeen schist then. We had fun and saw a pod of at least 6 dolphins cruising south along the coast.

Next on the agenda: Berrymuir in fresh conditions, Floors Craig, Sickle Row, Whisky Cliff, Rosehearty...



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Creag Dubh Diversity, Brin Rock Rambling.
10 September 2012, 9:48 am



Another weekend not in the North West, but not that far away either. The sinuous A9 pass bisects the Central Highlands and the Dalwhinnie to Inverness arc curves determinedly enough from the Fort William direction to the Ullapool direction to align itself with the North West, the quality of the climbing available confirming that. Weatherwise it seems somewhere in between and guessing the forecast for Creag Dubh is a matter of triangulating the Aviemore, Fort Augustus and Fort William forecasts (old Metoffice site, of course), and having a little faith.

That faith was rewarded this weekend, with dry and breezy weather and reasonable conditions, even a bit warm in the sun on Saturday! So how did I end up completely drenched mid-afternoon? Belaying under the Waterfall buttress waterfall, that's how. Whilst the climbing was dry the breeze was strong enough to provide intermittent showers and spray at the base....the novelty wore off by the time my downie was soaked, and put me off doing any of the harder routes there, although I am more inspired than ever. I did manage a couple of fine and highly contrasting routes in other areas: Case Dismissed on the Barrier Wall is steep, safe, and super-pumpy, only a crucial hand-jam got me up this, whilst Ticket To Ride on the Lower Main Wall is sheer, juggy, and steady but super-bold higher up. Having had a good explore and reacquaintance with the crag, I am declaring Creag Dubh season open and am determined to go back soon!

The next day we went to Brin Rock, which now has a full complement of trad, bouldering, and sport - although in the grand tradition of Scotland's clannish and insular local scenes, the seemingly popular sport climbing, whilst listed on UKC, is not usefully described anywhere, so for an outsider to actually climb there the usual veil of secrecy has to be penetrated....or maybe just ignored. The trad climbing itself seems to be ignored, as we soon found that highly starred routes looked undeservedly neglected. Maybe the approach slog puts people off, 10-15 minutes of boulders and heather is pretty grim although to be fair it's mostly the leg-murdering angle that made it so hard for me, I'm sure the able-bodied could cope with a bit of moral fibre. Anyway the crags turned out to be worth the effort - a pleasant belay perch at The Needle gave access to Gold Digger, an soft-touch but fine and varied route in an excellent position, and a return to Zed Crag pointed us at The Wild Man, an action packed wee route that was good from start to finish. That, and an easier warmup, was all we did, but it was cool to check out the crag. I still have to go back for Brin Done Before of course!

Following this weekend, although my right elbow is feeling okay, I tweaked my right shoulder when my foot slipped seconding Muph Dive, and got stung on my right forearm by a bloody wasp at Barrier Wall, which is still sore and itchy. I'll need to keep up with shoulder AND elbow theraputic weights now, ugh.



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[SA Chris]

Floors Craig

Can get quite greasy, but a nice crag. Just beware although it's non-tidal any swell swamps the ledges at high tide, and they become really slippery!