So it begins...

I spent friday afternoon gazing out of the window as swathes of snow emptied onto the grass . Rory burst through the door; plastered in wet snow and grinning like an excited puppy. The central heating has broken again and winter seems ever so prominent in Froghall Terrace.

At 5.30 we squeezed into Steve's estate,  wedging ourselves among his bikes and by 9 were standing in Coire an't Sneachda, marvelling at the sparkling white buttresses and pink morning glow. Steve and Rory headed for the Mess of Pottage while Mike and I, considering the approach to Pygmy Ridge a little uncondolidated, made an ascent of the classic mixed line of The Goat Track in order to abseil from the plateau.

We racked up quickly in the cold wind, considering ourselves a well oiled machine but were soon reminded of the neccesasry winter faff as our ropes jammed on the first abseil.. An hour or so later, Mike was wedged into the starting groove, and following a couple thrutchy moves, was well set onto an enjoyable stepped slab. We disregarded leashed axes in favour of knees, fists and  gloves, which made the transition from a summer of trad a little easier. I lead the bouldery ridge to a flat, sheltered belay where i sat out from the strengthening wind and relieved my bladder over the precipice. 

Rory and Steve got stuck into Pot of Gold, apparently cruising the 'juggy hooks' and  finding jammed fists as useful as picks. We counted 10 teams in 'Sneachda alone, including a handful of friends, all climbing lines in apparently great early condition.  They were as delighted as we were, with a good start to what will hopefully be a long season! 

Pics by Michael Cross and Steve Walls.

Autumn and 2nd year.

 Rory just outside the new flat

Iv'e been putting off writing in this for a long time. Not because i have nothing to write about, but because all too often, theres something more interesting and inevitably less urgent that takes my fancy. I am sitting in the library (lecture slides and notebook aside) having just read an article on 'Active Procrastination' and concluding that i would inevitably write something here in the next week (or so).

So without further a due, a quick round up, a couple sentences and a few of photos.

Rory following Bobs Overhang.

Summer is officially over. I spent a cold session on a north facing belay while rory romped up some esoteric Aberdeen classic. The sun was bright in cloudless sky, yet  I shivered and yelped as if i were 800m high on a February morning.  I have therefore decided to curtail my trad climbing stint and focus on bouldering until it gets warmer and i can feel my hands again. After all - trad is about sitting around in the sun as much as it is the climbing, right?

Me - sticking to the  scottish ethics and getting the sun on insect groove

 

Worth missing a couple lectures for!

 

Rory on the Hedonist , I'm perched on a ledge, inches from the sun

After recovering from freshers week, the Lairig club drove to Glen Clova. The red crag offers a great range of routes, and the intake of new members included lots of keen climbers. With only 30m of single rope we werent quite spoilt for choice, but managed to despatch some less frequented chimneys and shorter routes. 

 

'The beanstalk' 

  

Computer simulated lake district? 

Sam and his crew on red wall

 

Me fiddling with the gear on witches tooth

Sam giving Cinderella a shot. The sky aptly reflects the intensity...

Glen Coe

A fortnight later,  with a high pressure forecast and a bus full of psyched bodies, we endured the long drive to Blackrock cottage and the foot of the Bhuchaille from which a  weekends boozing and mountaineering ensued. We set off as two teams, both intending on climbing Crypt route - a classic diff.featuring some intense caving and a rather steep approach. We were  soon separated as Rory, Ali and Sarah sped up towards the giant obelisk of Collies Pinnacle and to cut a long story short, we didn't make it much further.

The approach to Church Door Buttress

 Despite good intentions and an early start, Findlay, and I arrived at midnight with a rather knackered Linsday  A first abseil and a long evening descending in the dark certainly brought out the inner comedian, and being greeted by a band of blazing students stumbling out of the Clachaig certainly cheered us up! Needless to say, I have never eaten a tub of cold chilli mince so quickly and feel almost prepared for winter climbing!

Acrocarpous.. megasporangium? (insert Latin phrases)

Findlay looking unimpressed

Pitch 1 of crypt route before abseling from the chockstone..

Sunday morning began with broad sunshine and a delightfully short approach. While scrambling up curved ridge the intricacies of the buttresses are revealed, with towering spires  and deep cut gullys. The routes are generally short and impressively steep, offering momentous views across the  expanse of Rannoch moor.   

He needed no convincing!

Curved Ridge

The perfect collumnar slants of  Agags Groove are some of the best mountain climibing I've done - steep and exposed, with carved nut placements, clean rock and easy climbing. It was a delight to  climb, without fretting about direction or difficulty and feeling totally absorbed in the consistency of the route.

Stevie high on pitch 3

Kascia topping out on her first mountain route!

We topped out on Stob Dearg as the sun set over the western Isles and descended to the prehistoric groan of horny stags reverberating around the coire. The long drive home was split perfectly by a large Punjabi curry and an excellent back massage courtesy of Sarah. 

Sunset from Stob Dearg.

Lairig Annual Dinner 2012 - Erraid

A wee (big) video i made for y'all. HD/Full Screen it!! 

August in the 'gorms

After exploring the pathless expanse of bog lying slightly above the glenmore treeline (intentionally and without the aid of a map, of course..) Marcus and I packed our camping gear and pitched ourselves at Ryvoan bothy. Maell a Bhuachaille made a good evening's ride, with sections of the new path providing steep steps and smooth gravel singletrack. The waterbars were a perfectly 'hoppable' height compared with recent additions in the Cairngorms; often closely spaced and distressingly high -  extended lifespan, plyometric trainer or dare i say it, mountain bike deterrent?! A quick dip in the Green Loch was followed by far too much free bothy tea and an inevitable 4am bladder relief/midge slaughtering.

Swimming with the midges, leeches, and Marcus.

 We set off the next morning with the intention of riding a loop  up and over Braeriach, but quickly convinced each other that the cloud was marginally low and that the sun in the Aviemore basin would make a second breakfast rather more enjoyable. Rory and Sinclair met us at Tesco and, after picking up Stevie who had fallen asleep on his train, we headed for Creag Dubh. 

Creag Dub. 

The imposing walls comprise some of the best schist around - despite lacking in protection, the climbing is secure and postive, following horizontal breaks and 

thin crack's. Fortunatly the intense sun meant it was a bit sweaty so bold, harder routes were avoided.  We spent the day enjoying the vista of pine and dappled sunlight and left later that evening for the elusive 'A9 bothy'.

King Bee direct. I thought the second pitch was rubbish.

I pretended to sleep for another half an hour before stumbling out of my sleeping bag and heating up some stodgy, reduced price soup. Rory had set off for the car while i finished gulping my potato chunks and by 8.30am we were pounding the track into Coire an t'Sneachda - tops off! The hot morning sun illimunated the dewy heather and the tumbling streams were  a glittering silver. Wisps of cloud flickered in and out of Coire Etchachan, and were simultaneously repelled by the streaming sun.The warm, windless plateau had a cool alpine feel.  How often was this boggy, rock tundra so quiet and warm?  

I had visited the Avon basin as a detour on a lonesome bike trip last summer. After dragging my bike along the loch side and up the loose gravel path, outraged at the rough, unridable terrain, i caught glimpses of the beastly crag and shuddered at the thought of climbing its steep faces. Dropping down the newly built path that morning with a pack full of climbing gear felt a little surreal.

Bike trip Sept 11. My helmet neatly cuts off the crag.

The climbing was consistently interesting, with a crux pitch on the lower slabby sections providing the most strenuous part of the day (minus the approach). I was glad Rory had  lead the steep and exposed 4^th pitch and the crack for thin fingers was awesome, if a little short lived. We soaked up the panorama of Loch Avon, and the odd looking encampment of the path builders. It seemed we could see 6 parties of Afterthought Arete, including Iain and Gemma from Aberdeen. Reaching rory below pitch 7 and having only led 4b pitches, i felt keen for something more testing. Rory kindly lead through to the base of the needle crack, where i started up the prominent off width corner feature, becoming gradually aware of the intense exposure! 

Me enjoying myself/getting scared on the needle crack. 

Taken from within the needle crack. Note the little encampment by the loch.

The climbing was delicate and well, protected and i felt relieved, having pushed on  through the most exciting mountain pitch i’ve done. After squeezing through the chimney and ‘threading the needle’, i was delighted to see rory’s big grin and sit down on the warm granite. Hungry, and eager to get back to the car, i finished off  my bourbon scraps and banana (could i have taken any less food for a day on the hill?). We were no sooner dispatching a fish supper in Aviemore, parting ways for climbing and in my case, a weekend of retail doom.

Seemed a good idea at the time. Rory said the block moved ...YOLO?

Moray Roast

We left the veil of sea mist behind us as we drove north towards Fraserburgh and the square cut cliffs of Rosehearty. This section of the Moray coast gives a sense of exposure that is less prominent in the hidden inlets south of Aberdeen - the expansive fields meet the cliffs at right angles and the bays are wide and sweeping. 

The only drawback (apart from the drive) is that Roserhearty takes a few days of sun to vapourise the sea grease on its lower sections. We started on the south faces where Callum cruised his 3rd trad route and I lead Nitrox.  We then moved to the smooth, steep seaward faces. Rory had an epic battle on Shapeshifter - having used his only useful gear in the lower section he slowly pushed on with forearms like the incredible hulk and unable to respond to me telling him he'd clipped the wrong rope. The grease eventually got to his head and instead of finishing up on the jugs in front of him he showed us his clock impersonation with a big pendulum - it was awesome on second! Tactfully I had chalked up the lower holds of Afterglow earlier, making the bouldery start marginally less slippy. The climbing was superb, with as much overhead gear as you could want, consistent powerful moves and a vocal commentary from myself - certainly the best route iv'e done in the NE.

Rory trying to rest on Shapeshifter

Me on Afterglow

West is Best

The 5 of us left Inverness for Torridon in regular style - cramped, late and slightly hungover -  and after setting up base in the Youth Hostel campsite, we made light work of the notorious vertical bog and were soon stood at the mighty Seanna Mheallain terrace. After a glance at the guidebook, I lead the awesome Seems Obvious, and Rory dispatched the ultra-classic-bridge-fest  - The Torridonian (with a little grunting of course). Rory then suggested I try Crack of Ages as 'one of his first E2's that was well pumpy'. So i ambled up, and  despite the route living up to his description, I sat on the square cut ledge 15 minutes later, delighted with having fought my way up my first E2.   I lapped up the vista of the west while the sun set between the tiered sandstone hulks and was soon joined by Marcus and Rory.

Crack of Ages

The Torridonian

We went to bed content, although admittedly anxious on my part after realising I had forgotten my sleeping bag. Wednesday brought showers to Torridon so we drove to Shieldaig where me and Rory spent a few hours on our debut spearfishing/snorkelling venture. We swam among the vast seaweed forests and fretted about picking up little crabs, but left empty handed without sighting our 12 ft salmon. At lunch time, we decided on the buttress of Sgurr a' Chaorachain  in Applecross and a classic Patey route - Sword of Gideon - a suitably traditional choice for 5 Aberdeen University students - especially in the rain. Marcus and I made up the second team - content that the Sally, Rosy and Rory would plaster it with enough chalk to negate the effects of the steady showers. Marcus ran pitch 2 and 3 together which made for some consistently good climbing at the grade. Although it wasnt that enjoyable in the wet - we were happy we hadnt chosen it for the better forecast the following day, and we set our sights on the less frequented Rolling Wall on the Diabaig penisula. 

Psyched for a seafood bonanza (note the pro counterweight rock bag)

Rolling wall basked in sunlight

Intent on getting a better sleep, the majority of the trips alcohol was consumed that night, which made for a 'treasure hunt' style approach to the hidden crag in the morning. This was made only more difficult by conflicting premonitions about the guidebook description and we eventually turned up at the crag well warmed up and psyched for some gneiss!

Me on Brave New World

Rory on Aquamarine

The crag was stunning in the late morning sun. Perfectly placed - south facing, low lying and isolated with was a steady sea breeze to perfect our little paradise. After an hour soaking up the sun on the warm rock, Rory lead The Ice Bulge, a little bold in the grade for our weary limbs and in need of a clean but enjoyable none the less. We wandered around the summit knoll, soloing some perfect cracked slabs and wondering about the limitless potential of this Scottish gem. Brave New World, the striking  crack up the center of the bulged face had been my ambition as far as trad was concerned since i began last year and, after a little whining about my hydration levels, I set off up the friendly cracks. The route was superb - featuring a delicate traverse, strenuous cracks  and a satisfying crux just metres from the top. As Rory topped out - we gazed west and spotted a massive white bellied beast flop across the sea (maybe an orca)  - awesome!! Rory started up  Aquamarine while the  contrasting striped rock lit up in the late afternoon sun. He made a valiant effort on the bouldery start but struggled to get established in the impending steep crack,  taking a reasonable fall and managing to finish up after a rest. I shied away from seconding the route and we finished the day on some of the splendid shorter routes while Marcus lay around commentating in the sun. Rosy and Sally climbed some longer routes on the far sides of the crag and Sally managed her first E1 as the sun began to sink into the sea.

Rosy and Sally on the Epsilon, Gamma, Delta wall

 On Friday we began the drive east, where we stopped at Moy for a wee sport session. The west had fairly spent us but we had  fun and having now done my first sport route, i feel a little less bitter about the concept of having to participate once or twice a year. Unfortunately, only 20 miles from Inverness, the car decided to kick the bucket with an apocolyptic electrical fault, and no less than 6 hours later, we all rocked up at my house for dinner and a well earned rest. 

Me and Sally at Moy

Pictures by Marcus and Rory Brown

Luath Stones

Keen to escape the haar that envelops Aberdeen for the summer, Me and Rory made a trip out to the Luath Stones, near Alford. The limited bouldering to do is good, and determined to finish the line up the striking prow, I managed my first 7a (featuring tip bursting teeth/crimp). We won't be returning in a hurry, but it's worth a n evening.

 Above: Rory Brown on 'A Little Less Conversation' (Rory made it B/W because I'm useless at taking pictures).

 Below: Me on 'North for a Day'