Another classic late night descent about to begin.. 10:30 on the Buachille..
Al in extremis on Crows Nest Crack
Al seconding Engineers Crack
High above Glen Nevis
Dougie on top pitch of Traveling Man E2 5c
Spectacular 3rd pitch on Crag Lough Grooves, Glen NevisNow its raining. The Scottish monsoon season has started. Balls.
Did manage to get out before the deluge commenced, with a weekend in Glen Nevis, getting loads of great routes done, including 'All Our Yesterdays' E1 5b, 'Travelling Man' E2 5b,5c, 'Plague of Blazes' E2 5b, 'Crag Lough Grooves', HVS 5b (or E1 6a if your under 5'8) and loads more.
Another trip up the 'Buachille' with Al, ticked 'Engineers Crack' which is a really nice route but a gift at E1 5b, and another 9 pitches of climbing including 'Crows nest Crack' which was tricky with a big rucksack.. followed by an awkward descent in the dark.
Finishing of the trio of outings saw myself and Al head to the Isle of Arran, in a bid to escape the cold north wind and showers forecast. Was a very productive 2 days, and we climbed plenty of 'interesting' routes, interesting because of the abundance of chimneys and slabs, protected by gear in crumbly granite. Highlight routes were probably 'West Flank Route', a 155m E1 with some challenging chimneys, and the classic Sou Wester Slabs, which we practically soloed.
Which brings us up to date. Since coming back from Switzerland, by my standard i've done loads of climbing, and it's been the type of climbing that I want to do more of. I do generally prefer long mountain routes over short harder pitches, and overall find the experience of a big day in the mountains more satisfying. However, after living and climbing in the Glasgow area on and off for the last 3/4 years, the lack of decent inspiring local crags is really beginning to bug me..
Climbing in the mountains is great. Its like a mini expedition everytime you go out. And that's also the down side. The amount of time you spend driving, walking, and looking at weather forecasts to find somewhere dry begins to add up, and I cant help wonder how much more climbing I would get done living somewhere with access to decent local crags for the evenings.
There are some ok crags around, but when you've been to them all and done what you can, and the remaining harder lines don't inspire you too much, what do you do? Getting out cragging in the mountains is awesome, but what about the evenings or days when the weather is a bit gash and you want a quick fix? There is always the indoor wall, but, having worked there in the past and climbed alot on the plastic, i'm just not very motivated by the blue 7b anymore..
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Glasgow. We do always have Dumbarton Rock, home of E11, possibly the hardest trad route in the world that saw Sonnie Trotter sleep on a park bench for.
But having been to Dumbarton Rock plenty, I find that the mess of the place gets to me too much. It is basically an urban crag, with in-situ neds, glass bottles, rubbish, and so on. The nature of the rock means the climbing is hard, and good, with lots of boulders to work on, but I just cant get worked up enough to go down reguarly, as it's sometimes a bit of a shithole. Problem is, the routes and boulders don't give up their secrets without regular visits, and by the time I've managed to get motivated enough to go back, I've forgotten what I learned on the previous visit...
So, what does all this mean? Maybe I should just get out on the harder trad routes here, and push it more. Maybe I should relocate to Sheffield, or Wales, where there are 10 lifetimes of routes on you doorstep - however, this is unlikely to happen. Or keep doing mountain routes, where you try and squeeze as many big routes as possible into as short a time as possible. I don't know.. but in the long term, my climbing will suffer if I stay here!
Anyway, off to Dumbarton tomorrow, it's been a wee while since my last visit, think I can handle it for an evening!
Did manage to get out before the deluge commenced, with a weekend in Glen Nevis, getting loads of great routes done, including 'All Our Yesterdays' E1 5b, 'Travelling Man' E2 5b,5c, 'Plague of Blazes' E2 5b, 'Crag Lough Grooves', HVS 5b (or E1 6a if your under 5'8) and loads more.
Another trip up the 'Buachille' with Al, ticked 'Engineers Crack' which is a really nice route but a gift at E1 5b, and another 9 pitches of climbing including 'Crows nest Crack' which was tricky with a big rucksack.. followed by an awkward descent in the dark.
Finishing of the trio of outings saw myself and Al head to the Isle of Arran, in a bid to escape the cold north wind and showers forecast. Was a very productive 2 days, and we climbed plenty of 'interesting' routes, interesting because of the abundance of chimneys and slabs, protected by gear in crumbly granite. Highlight routes were probably 'West Flank Route', a 155m E1 with some challenging chimneys, and the classic Sou Wester Slabs, which we practically soloed.
Which brings us up to date. Since coming back from Switzerland, by my standard i've done loads of climbing, and it's been the type of climbing that I want to do more of. I do generally prefer long mountain routes over short harder pitches, and overall find the experience of a big day in the mountains more satisfying. However, after living and climbing in the Glasgow area on and off for the last 3/4 years, the lack of decent inspiring local crags is really beginning to bug me..
Climbing in the mountains is great. Its like a mini expedition everytime you go out. And that's also the down side. The amount of time you spend driving, walking, and looking at weather forecasts to find somewhere dry begins to add up, and I cant help wonder how much more climbing I would get done living somewhere with access to decent local crags for the evenings.
There are some ok crags around, but when you've been to them all and done what you can, and the remaining harder lines don't inspire you too much, what do you do? Getting out cragging in the mountains is awesome, but what about the evenings or days when the weather is a bit gash and you want a quick fix? There is always the indoor wall, but, having worked there in the past and climbed alot on the plastic, i'm just not very motivated by the blue 7b anymore..
Maybe I'm being a bit harsh on Glasgow. We do always have Dumbarton Rock, home of E11, possibly the hardest trad route in the world that saw Sonnie Trotter sleep on a park bench for.
But having been to Dumbarton Rock plenty, I find that the mess of the place gets to me too much. It is basically an urban crag, with in-situ neds, glass bottles, rubbish, and so on. The nature of the rock means the climbing is hard, and good, with lots of boulders to work on, but I just cant get worked up enough to go down reguarly, as it's sometimes a bit of a shithole. Problem is, the routes and boulders don't give up their secrets without regular visits, and by the time I've managed to get motivated enough to go back, I've forgotten what I learned on the previous visit...
So, what does all this mean? Maybe I should just get out on the harder trad routes here, and push it more. Maybe I should relocate to Sheffield, or Wales, where there are 10 lifetimes of routes on you doorstep - however, this is unlikely to happen. Or keep doing mountain routes, where you try and squeeze as many big routes as possible into as short a time as possible. I don't know.. but in the long term, my climbing will suffer if I stay here!
Anyway, off to Dumbarton tomorrow, it's been a wee while since my last visit, think I can handle it for an evening!
The line of West Flank Route, E1 155m
Abbing down a nice grotty chimney on Arran
Al at the start of West Flank Route, not really wanting to climb those chimneys
Another late descent, on Arran 
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