Trad Roundup

The Link Boulder, Cairngorm

Line of The Executioner E2 5b, Reiff

It's raining now, as it's July, so the summer monsoon has arrived right on time. So time for a brief (photo) roundup. May and June were roasting, the way it should be.. Trips to Reiff, Etive Slabs, Creag Dhu, Ben Nevis, Aonach Dubh, Lakes, Glen Nevis, The Cobbler, The Buachille and North Wales were all productive due to an abundance of sun, which we are paying for now..

Highlight Routes:

Inbred HVS 5a on Creag Dhu, wanted to do this route for years, quality.

The Excecutioner E2 5b at Reiff, and many more at this great wee out of the way place.

Swastika E2 6a Etive Slabs. Last of the Etive classics falls! Aid may have been used on last pitch..

Crack Attack E3 6a and Edgehog E3 5c(ish) at Wave Buttress. Good leads from Dougie.

Power of Endurance E5 6b, Cambusbarron. Top roped clean - now for a lead..

Yo Yo E1 5b, Aonach Dubh. Wet, classic, sustained climbing. Awesome. Hard E1.

Ressurection E4 6A, Dinas Cromlech. Belaying Irish John whilst he decided to lob off the top was interesting. What an awesome climb, clean on the second, should really lead this..

Diagonal HVS 5a, Dinas Mot. Great to lead all pitches on this hard rock tick, and topping out just as darkness fell after starting at 8pm.

Gladiators Groove Direct E1 5b, The Cobbler. Cobbler sketching at its best..

Torro E2 5c, Ben Nevis. On possibly the best possible day to do it on. Bone dry, immaculate rock, one of the best routes i've done.. Hard 5c crux though..
The Chasm VS, The Buachille. Classic day out, great adventure, very dry conditions but still got a little wet..
Aphasia E2 5b, Sergeant Slabs Crag. Awesome sustained slab climbing, with supper grippy rock.
Terminator 2 HVS 5a, Sergeant Slabs Crag. Another awesome route on a great crag.

And many, many more..

Have picked up a wee tendon injury on my left arm, probably due to bouldering without warming up properly, so we'll see how that goes. Also in the middle of all this was the MIA training at PYB, which filled my head with more ropework senarios that you should ever need. Now for an assessment..

The Evidence: (some of it)

Dougie on 'The Dude', font 7a Ruthven Boulder

The right lip, font 6c (not) on the Link Boulder, Cairngorm

Reiff Landscape

Dougie on Inbred

Sun drenched rock at Reiff

Pitch 1 Yo Yo

Me nearing the end of Pitch 1

Spot the climber..

Dougie gets eaten by the chimney on pitch 2

Cramped belay

Me setting out on pitch 3, YoYo

Yo Yo pitch 3

Dougie comming up pitch 3, YoYo

Glad to be at the top after the very loose vs pitches to the summit..

Top out on Yo Yo, cheers to Vicky for the pictures

N. Wales tyrolean

Sea level traverse

Tyrolean not tight enough..

Terry on the Zip

MIA Zip Line

John on pitch 2 of Gladiators groove Direct, The Cobbler

Mina on the Cobbler

Mina on Pain Pillar, Hawkcraig

Irish John coming up pitch 3 on Torro

Irish John approaching the crux of Torro, pitch 4

Amazing looking unclimbed(?) arete

Starting pitch 7 Torro

Pitch 7 Torro, common with Centurion

Me on Pitch 7 Torro

Irish John surveys Carn Dearg

The Ben in perfect summer nick

A very dry Ben

Easy Introductory pitches

Chasm Entertainment

Unclimbed walls of the Chasm

The Piano Pitch

High up the Chasm

Converging walls - sketchy

The Converging Walls

John at home in The Devils Cauldron

In the Devil's Cauldron

Escape from the Chasm Pitch 16

UFO's over Rannoch Moor