January was busy. The
gods of the Scottish weather conspired to make every weekend good
enough for climbing – so after the escapades on the Ben previously
mentioned, I managed to get out every weekend following.
After the unfortunate
incident with the Mx-5*, I decided to go with the slightly more
sensible option of a Ford Focus diesel estate. This turned out to be
a masterstroke, making weekend trips to the mountains easier through
the simple expedient of being a mobile tent – folding the back
seats forward allows enough room for two to sleep comfortably!
Glamping
Objective for Saturday
was North Buttress (IV 4) on Buachaille Etive Mor. Conditions were
good, and the walk-in was very civilised, taking under an hour. A fun
scramble up to the ridge put us third in the queue for the route, but
we were moving before long. 3 pitches of excellent mixed grooves and
chimneys brought us to slabby moving together terrain.
Alek on North Buttress
I had some fun on P3
when my crampon slipped off a spike I was standing on and I started
to fall, dropping my ice axe – which caught behind the spike. The
axe was attached to a bandolier (none of which ripped somehow) and I
came to a halt with a seatbelt-style bruise under my arm. Sometimes
you just get lucky.
Typical Scottish views
were to be had from the summit in the clag. The descent was OK – we
were worried of avalance conditions in Coire na Tullach (not unwisely
as it later transpired that four were killed in Stob Coire Nan Beith
a couple of miles away that day) but there was a well worn
thoroughfare down the coire and all was well.
Ahh, Scottish Winter
We headed south to the
Arrochar Alps, aiming for the turfy delights of the Cobbler. The
guidebook lured us in with talk of a straightforward and short
walk-in – this of course was nonsense, with the powdery snow and
750m of uphill taking the guts of 2 hours. Winds were vicious on the
col but we dropped down to the base of Central Peak and all was well.
We went for Cave Route (III, 4) which was good value at the grade –
the starting ramp was verglassed and tenuous looking, so I opted for
an overhanging start on good hooks, after which a wild swing out left
to good turf led on to the ramp. No gear for the first 20m
disappointingly, with the climbing consisting of scratching up a slab
while making the most of a seam of turf in the corner. One hex and
20m of snow-wading led to a decent belay, and another 2 pitches to a
ridiculous step down and dynamic swing over the void to good turf and
a crap belay. A reasonably straightforward belay led to the top. Some
craic.
The Cobbler
Alek stayed at mine for
a few days, generally buying meat and cooking with implausible
weetabix-based sauce. On his advice I cooked Brownies, which were
nowhere near as shite as I had expected.
The next weekend was
Fort William with QUBMC. I took a couple of days off work and met the
guys at Calluna – a lovely hostel owned by Alan Kimber. There was a
good crowd over, including Alek and Vladimir. John Orr provided
instruction for the novices.
The weather turned very
Scottish indeed, ruling out the higher climbs because of the high
winds. I went up to the CIC cascades on Ben Nevis with Niall, Conor,
Stuart and Thomas and had a play on some of the single pitch ice
there. Well worth it if they’re in and it’s a bit windy higher
up. There was a great looking grade V cascade on the left which I
considered trying but talked myself out of because of the
dinnerplateyness (definitely a word) of the ice.
A rest day then Beinn
Udlaidh with Thomas and Cecilia – a brilliant ice climbing venue
near Bridge of Orchy. This time the walk-in was actually not very
taxing, although things were starting to melt and our chosen route
(Quartzvein Scoop, IV 4) was not in the nest condition. The initial
ramp was quite hollow and had one section of snow over verglas, which
took a while. While what ice there was wouldn’t really hold
protection, it was very plastic and easy to climb on. It also had the
best Scottish belay I’ve ever seen – a little cave between the
rock and snow, with room for the three of us to sit sheltered from
the wind!
The second pitch was
disappointing, being banked out and quite easy. The top was very very
windy. I’ve never had trouble walking downhill before, but that day
it was almost impossible.
Belaying atop Beinn Udlaidh in breezy conditions
The next day the
weather turned crap again so we went drytooling on the granite under
Ballachulish Bridge. This is well worth it if the mountains are out –
but be warned, there’s a bit of looseness and it’s roadside so
watch out for cars and toprope only.
The forecast for last
Saturday was amazing, perfect for a long Scottish ridge. To that end,
I talked Alek into coming up my way again and we headed up to Glencoe
on Friday again. Up at 7 and off we went to do the Aonach Eagach
traverse (II) – apparently an ultra-classic. It didn’t
disappoint.
Scotland?
Weather conditions were amazing – clear, cold and calm.
The initial schlep up Am Bodach (a Munro itself) didn’t take too
long and the fun began almost immediately, with a tricky descent onto
the ridge proper. From here, it stretches a couple of miles westward
over pinnacles and tops.
Alek on the initial tricky descent
It was a great scrambling day out, peppered
with a couple of tricky steps and traverses. The pinnacles of the
Chancellor were quite sporting, with the added excitement of Alek
impaling his calf on his crampon.
Purposeful Soviet stride
Although wearing harnesses and
carrying the rope, we never bothered with it, and were at the top of
Sgurr Nam Fiannaidh by 1pm, far earlier than expected. We dropped
down to the col with the Pap of Glencoe and from there down to the
road, easily hitch-hiking back to the car.
Ridgetastic
The Aonach Eagach is a
brilliant day out – well worth keeping for a good day! Great views
in every direction and a ‘proper’ ridge for a lot of its
duration.
Glencoe and Ballachulish from Sgurr Nan Fiannaidh
Then the weather exploded again, so on Sunday Alek dragged me out trail running along the
first bit of the West Highland Way. We did about 7 miles but it
wasn’t long before he was well ahead of me – seems like it’s
time for some cardio.
Fingers crossed for
good weather next weekend to make it 6 weekends in a row in the
mountains!
*a disagreement with a kerb. The kerb won
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