A Scottish Shindig- Mike's memories

Sally, Eddy and I have recently spent 2 weeks in Scotland, climbing, scrambling and getting to know each other a bit better. Unfortunately Sari and Vanessa were unable to join us with work and several thousand miles getting in the way.

Eddy has gone backwards in time to relate his experience. I shall try to move forwards.

Day 1. After a bimble up Aladdin’s Mirror and down his couloir I met Sally in a coffee shop in Aviemore and learned not to let her get anywhere near laptops or other electrical equipment. Eddy turned up later by train and the party commenced.
Day 2. Sally, Eddy and I headed out to Corrie nan Lochan for a session on self arrest, digging holes and then to try a route. Milky Way looked in and despite being full of wet unconsolidated snow gave 2 reasonable pitches. Neil and Caroline joined us for the digging and sliding then went up the central couloir.

Day 3. Crap weather persuaded us to follow the advice of the nice folk in Cairngorm Mountain Sports and we all headed over to Cummingston for a gentle day of seaside cragging. Eddy was seen to climb in his slippers!

Day 4. Fort William was warm with a sea level temp of 9 degrees. Eddy and Steve headed off to the Ice Factor, Sally, Carolina and Beth went for a walk and Neil did something else. I had a relaxing day in the sun fixing odd faults on Sally’s car.
Day 5. After an hour or so working on bucket seats, buried axes and stomper belays, Eddy, Beth and I slogged up Observatory gully to the base of Tower Scoop. The freezing level was higher than forecast, recently fallen wet snow was sloughing and sliding and bits of cornice were tumbling down, all of which contributed to a decision to abb off after the first pitch and head home.

Day 5. Buachaille Etive Mor North Buttress and Agag’s groove were the venues for today’s fun and frolics. Awesome scrambling, great views and fine company.
Day 6. “This is smaller than I thought, we should get 2 routes in” “That pitch was the most mentally challenging climbing I’ve ever done” 2 quotes, 1 man, 1 route. Oh deluded eyes, overconfident toes. Slow careful padding. Eddy and I started up the Pause on Etive slabs around lunchtime and so began our ordeal of dry rock, slippery rock, comfortable belays, overlaps, freezing belays, blank rock, off-route, shivering, blanker slabs, wetter slabs and a final god given gear filled hold festooned corner. 9 hours. Thank you Roy and Sally for waiting so patiently, and to the guys who found my sadly broken camera.
Day 7. Resssss……zzzzt…….
Day 8. Rannoch Wall, B.E.M. Superlative rock, awesome positions, and sadly a goodbye to Sally, who headed home to resurrect her fizzed out laptop and save her MA!
Day 9.Chill, shop, slippers and a new camera!
Day 10. Glen Nevis, a different type of rock, sunburn and a rope that is now a bit shorter.
Day 11. Tower Ridge. Beaut! We appeared to be the only folk on the ridge which was just as well, my guts being in pretty poor shape. Strong winds followed us all day. Words will not do justice to the effect of sunshine, warm dry rock and solid snow where folk had gone before. Eddy attempted to set up a tyrolean over the Gap, but Paul and I elected to cross the normal way.
Day 12. The Boke.

So after a great 2 weeks up north, we know each other better and the day moves nearer.

12 weeks to go.

20 days and 1500 miles

This is a brief account of what I have been doing for the past few weeks and I’m writing this going backwards in time as I find it easier to remember that way.

For the past 20 days I have travelled from Avimore to Portland in search of trad, sport, scrambling and ice climbing. Using public transport and a little help from Sally, Bruce, Roy and my Dad, I’ve had 14 days climbing. The most recent of which was a trip to Portland where we were blessed by its micro climate giving us sunny but windy weather. The first day consisted mostly of getting used to the sharp overhanging rock, in the morning I flashed The Sod and after a few falls I got up Mindmeld. That afternoon the sea made its power felt so the deep water soloing was reconsidered. We went to Neddyfeilds area the next day with quality easy access climbing. Here The Accelerator was on sighted after some encouragement and Nameless after a few falls on the main cliff. After some nourishment I moved up to the boulder wall above the cliff and found out Pete, founder of Pete’s groove and Pete’s rib had a good eye for a line.

Three days were then spent travelling, reading and catching up with some emails when I could find time. I had a day to spare in the Peak and after a night drinking to the demise of Jasper my loyal dog I didn’t start early but I got to Newstones around mid day. My Dad and our dumb but fun dog Rupert joined me bouldering. The gritsone gave me a reminder I’m only human and Rupert played in the heather and rabbit holes. The Sly Stallone dyno was light relief and the awkward slab by it relaxing after the long routes in the mountains.

Rewind another 2 days for travelling and I’m in a lovely little wooden house facing Loch Linnhe being entertained by Bruce and Bruce aka Mike and Paul. From the 13^th to the 21^st this had been my base, 3 of these days where spent doing constructive tasks like creating a raft out of 2 recycling bins, a push bike, some wood, what we can find on the beach and lots of string. The result was a majestic beast called a Boke (boat bike). The other 3 were spent cragging on The Bauchaille north buttress, Glen Nevis Cavalry Buttress and the Etive moor slab and each provided their own entertainment. Agag’s Groove and January Jigsaw provided some good consistent climbing with The Pause and Mainbrace being great fun climbing in interesting positions. One day was spent on Tower Ridge on Ben Nevis and what a beautiful day it was! On the walk in the peaks shining through the mist as the sun glinted off the snow at the top, then climbing up to the base of the scramble emerging into a clear blue sky with the clouds below us lapping at the gullies. The route was mostly rock by this point but higher up some mixed terrain was encountered and the snow was in great condition so we summated with relative ease.

A few days earlier whilst we were staying in Corpach we had attempted to gain the summit but decided against it after watching 2 avalanches happen around us, though Steve and Carolina had managed to beat the rise in temperature and got up early and succeeded. After There initial early morning success the pair started again up Agag’s Groove. Those that wished for bacon and egg pancakes however got a bit of a later start and headed up a nice scramble up The Bauchailles north buttress where we could see Steve and Carolina topping out so we waited at the top for them to scramble up to us. The first time I Met Steve he very kindly took me ice climbing at the ice factor. We learnt a few things that day about ice climbing but mostly how to mount a suspended log with crampons and axes, I still can’t think of a real life situation for this but it was fun.

From Ice climbing to climbing by the sea in my T-shirt, Cummingstown provided a very nice bit of climbing in the dull rainy weather that had spread across the rest of Scotland. Here we met a group of climbers from Fort William who had done the same as us to escape the bad weather. The crag was small but had plenty of inspiring lines and the rock was good if a little sandy. Now were back to the first day of climbing and this was spent on Glen Coe. Here Mike taught me self arrests, something I have to say I enjoyed as I felt like a penguin sliding on its belly each time I went down our smoothed snow slide.

Over these 20 days I’ve covered around 1500 miles and done all the types of climbing I know how to do and some that I didn’t. Let’s just hope the summer keeps on giving like this. I am hopeful as I’m off to Wales in 5 days to do my summer mountain leader training with Plas Y Brenin.

The only way is up. Eddy

Musing

To quote Richard Turner from the article 'The Best Laid Plans' in the NZAC Journal 2008:

'It seems to me that you can't plan adventures. Trips get planned, whilst adventures unfold as a series of deviations from the plan.'