Trip Tales: April 2010

Winter is over, long live winter 2009/10! Great season..

Spring is probably my favorite time of year, generally dryish weather, dry cragging, and still ice up high. The last few weeks have been a nice mix of rock and winter, mainly rock actually due to a lack of enthusiasm from some partners, probably beasted after the long season. After Tower Ridge at the start of March, a frustrating mix of weather, partners etc, meant no winter action till the start of April.. a bit disappointing. Winter finished for myself with a late season ascent of the classic Zero Gully (v,4) on the Ben, in great conditions on 18th April. Run out grade 4 climbing, and miles of unprotected grade 2 at the top ensured a quality day out, and an excellent end to the season.

Approach to Zero Gully

Pete sets of on first pitch, Zero Gully

Spicy 1st pitch

Pete running it out to the 1st belay

Pete coming up second pitch on Zero

Pete on 4th? pitch of Zero Gully

Last time down from the CIC this winter..

Other winter outings included a solo trip up the Sron na lairig in Glencoe, a nice ridge of about grade 2, in perfect sunny Alpine conditions, and an attempt on North East Buttress on the Ben again, which was thwarted by a huge dump of snow the night before, slow moving parties in front, and the 'short cut' of Slingsby's Chimney which was pretty desperate. Ended up on the CMD arete which gave a top day out anyways..

Retreat from North East Buttress, way too much powder..

Arriving at the CMD Arete

CMD Arete

John on CMD Arete

CMD Arete

The Lost Valley, Glencoe

View from top of Sron na Lairig, Glencoe

Also a solo ski tour in the Cairngorms, taking in Cairngorm, Ben Macdui, and Beinn Mheadhoin, with the skins becoming so saturated by the wet snow that they refused to stick, forcing a bootpack back to the carpark from Loch Avon - good fitness training! Light was a bit flat that day, so not too many good shots, but the amount of snow in some spots is crazy, and will be about for a long time to come yet. A few more walks in places I've not been before wrapped winter up for me.

Loch Avon, about the point where I had to practically swim through the meltwater

Artic landscape

Loch Avon

Ben Macdui

Snowy Loch Etchican

And that pretty much rounds off winter 2009/10. An awesome year, loads of ice climbed early season, some classic routes that never come into condition, bit of a disappointing March winter wise for myself, but finished of with some great April days out. Highlight routes of the year were probably, in no order, Monolith Grooves on Xmas eve in perfect cold sunny weather, Oui Oui and Steall Falls for the novelty value, No.6 Gully on Anoach Dubh, Sc Gully in perfect weather, Tower Ridge, lots of ice adventures on Ben Udalaih, Twisting gully early season, The Smirk/Organ Pipe wall, Zero Gully... the list goes on.. Roll on next year, hopefully with a little more mixed routes, and lots more on Ben Nevis..

Dawn on Beinn an Lochan, Xmas eve

Summer rock climbing has kicked of to a good start, with trips to Glen Nevis, Dunkeld, Limekilns, the Peak District, and various other spots. Tis good to be on the rock again, and feel im climbing not too badly, though could do with a bit more strength and stamina. But isn't that what every climber wants? Some sketchy E2 and E3 onsights out of the way, and a fairly straight forward E4 redpoint at the Mighty Auchinstarry done so far, miles ahead of where I was at this point last year. Still feel that there is nowt much left to do in the central belt without breaking the legs, though some routes that would be nice to get done are; Velvet Glove, satin finish, E4, Big Country Dreams E4, Through the Motions E3, Gorilla font6b+, and a few other gaps. We'll see how that goes..

3 days in the Peak was awesome, lots of mileage, and some classic gritstone routes ticked, including Tody's Wall, Goliath Grooves, Eliminator, Hargreaves original route, 3 Pebble Slab, Valkyrie, took the obligatory fall from Flying Buttress Direct, Downhill Racer second go on the top rope, and many, many others. Having not climbed much on grit before, was really good to get the millage in rather than concentrate on difficulty. Still don't like jamming though..

A roasting weekend in Glen Nevis was also great, again mainly concentrating on mileage. Climbed many unstarred and one star routes, finding them to be great anyways, repeated Storm, finding the crux pitch stiffer than I remember, and found Phantom Slab, a great stiff VS on Pandora's Buttress. There is so much to do in the Glen, it's amazing. Next time the Wave Buttress will be looked at, and a few others - can't wait!

Bring on Summer..

Some shots from the trad of the last few weeks: