Early season scratching

Finally winter has arrived, and with plenty of free time on the cards at the moment there will be no excuses.. hopefully.

Firstly, things I will miss about working in Edinburgh:

1. It was a nice cycle when it wasn't pissing down with rain.

2. It was nice having some expendable cash.

3. Edinburgh is a decent enough city, looks better than Glasgow and there's not so many neds kicking about.

4. Bouldering at Sailsbury Crags after work was pleasant, for the 3 weeks before it was too dark.

5. Women are more attractive in Edinburgh - Fact.

6. There was a shop that sold nice baked potatoes with huge fillings at a reasonable price.

Secondly, things I will not miss about working in Edinburgh:

1. It was a long cycle when pissing down with rain

2. 4hrs travel to and from work everyday is way too much. That's 20 hrs a week - almost a day a week spent getting to and from work!

3. Getting my bike stolen that I've had for 5 years - junkie scumbag.

4. Driving in Edinburgh is like taking a step down the evolutionary ladder.

5. Pedestrians who shout at you whilst you are cycling on the road, nowhere near them. Why? Are they special because they 'live in the capital'?

6. General incompetence of motorists driving around bikes.

7. Working in a pretty wasteful company, that seemed a little lost in its direction..

But that's all by the by. This stuff has arrived, by the bucketload:

Winter comes to the Cairngorms

After a few too many indoor sessions, and stupid amounts of rain, it's been time to get out on the hill. Last weekend was the winter season kicked off properly, with loads of high mixed routes coming into condition. Of to the Gorms for the weekend and predictably into the Northern Corries to start things off. Al decided the best way for me to get my head into leading harder mixed routes was to lead me up some Cairngorm classics, Fingers Ridge IV, 4, and The Message, IV,6.

Fingers Ridge was easy enough, with decent weather, and the Message gave Al a good struggle and myself pondering winter climbers sanity. We abbed of above the main difficulties as the weather was closing in and the light was going, and beat a retreat back to the car park, with Al falling through some semi frozen small lochs on the way. Won't be leading IV,6 for a while, that's for sure.. An entertaining weekend and a good start to the winter.

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Nice weather on Fingers Ridge

Winter is here..

Al's not so comfortable van

Crux on 'The Message'

Winter climbing is bad for you

Also had a wild walk in Glencoe a few days later with good old Jamie, master of forgetting the map. Crazy windy weather and blowing snow up high put a stop to any climbing, but it was good to be out, and the Kingshouse hotel does a mean venison burger..

Snow is building up and starting to consolidate, and the beginnings of a base could be forming - The ski centres are looking good for the time of year, lets hope its a good season!

The intimidating East face of Anoch Dubh

This photo has not been desaturated, it really was as grey as this!

Not enough free time!

Not convinced I'm cut out for the 9-5, with 20 hrs of travelling a week. Eats into way too much free time, and gets in the way of more pleasant activities. Oh well, don't think this jobs going to last for ever, so best stash the cash for now and get the head down.. I'm pretty sure free time won't be a problem soon!

Have been out occasionally, not enough, but its always good to get out cragging. Was taking advantage of being next to the Salisbury Crags for a while, convenience bouldering in the centre of Edinburgh, and perfect for some post work de-stressing. Black Wall traverse out of the way at a soft font 6c+, and plenty of easy traversing/soloing done before the nights drew in.

View from Salisbury Crags, Edinburgh. Pic from Internet, never had a camera up there!

Headed up to Dunkeld some time in September, on a cracking day, and was completely shut down on Hamish Teds, a pretty impressive (for Scotland) F7b+. Long, pretty sustained and technical, this one will take some work. Just a pity its so far away, otherwise would make a cracking project..

Random on Hamish Teds Excellent Adventure, F7b+ doing it properly..

Also on the cards was a weekend trip to the Aviemore area with Jamie, and a visit to Creag Dhu, a crag I'd only ever climbed on once before, and a damn long time ago too. Chilly weather meant we stuck to the lower grades, climbing 'Brute' and 'King Bee' both pretty good value at V.S. 5a.. must be going soft. Next day Al joined us, and we headed over to Hell's Lum, in the Loch Avon basin in the Cairngorms. Excellent place, always impressive no matter how many times I go..

We climbed 'The Clean Sweep', again only V.S., but with a very sustained long crux pitch, which I managed to blag/was lumped with. Been a while since V.S. has felt that hard.. But all good fun, and was a great day out in a remote setting. Need to get some winter routes done over there this winter..

The impressive 'Hells Lum' crag in the Cairngorms

Jamie strikes a pose

Next up, after an obscene amount of time with hardly any climbing, (about 3 weeks), a Saturday with an excellent forecast appeared, and full advantage was taken. Dougie and myself headed up to the Etive Slabs, first trip there this year.. Why?? The Slabs were pretty busy, with teams on alot of the routes, including Swastika, our intended route. We decided on 'The Valkyrie' as it looked driest, and had a couple of stars in the Guide. However, at E2/3 5b, and 210m long, it was going to be a long day.. After much gardening, sketching on unprotected slabs, falling of overlaps, wet feet and mild hypothermia, we finally found a way out at the top, just as it was getting dark, and proceeded to sketch down the pretty dodgy descent path in the dark. An excellent day out, and some much needed adventure. Funny how climbs like this always seem better in retrospect?

Escaping the Slabs, through the choss at the top (almost..)

Always a nice view at the belays

Sepia belay view

While it was still warm..

Morning view, Loch Etive

Na, one headtorch will be fine...

Dougie fiddling in the most useless psychological bit of gear ever

And that is that. Autumn is not exactly the best time of year for climbing in Scotland, however you can snatch good days here and there. Now is a good time to make the most of the dark nights and get indoors, i suppose, and get strong again. Have been trying to get to Ratho regularly, hopefully this will continue.. And here's hoping to a good cold snowy winter! Bring it on..

Part of the cycle commute

The Glasgow Science tower, way home from 9-5

Soggy end to August..

August 09 was crap. Its official:

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/2009/august.html

read Scottish monthly "Highlights"

Wettest August in Glasgow since 1914, and 3rd wettest month EVER recorded. Summer in the normal way that people think of summer seems to end sometime around the start of July here, with May being the best month in recent years. Now that Autumn has started (or rather, started 2 months ago), we can look hopefully look forward to some decent cold weather and some winter routes. Que endless weather watching, walk in's in the dark, driving for miles to the middle of nowhere, hot aches sessions, getting ice dropped on your head, eating vast amount's of junk food, and walking for hours to get to the start of your route only to find its out of nick, but sketching up it anyway. Who said winter climbers were mad?

Work has been eating up alot of time recently, though its unfortunately an necessary evil, as without it the coffers would be running on fumes. It is mildly tedious, getting up at the same time every day and enduring the cycle to the train station in the rain, then sitting on the train for 50 min's with some seriously depressed looking people, then reversing the whole procedure at the end of the day, but I think it's kind of a novelty for me at the moment, and Edinburgh is a pretty nice city. There's even some decent bouldering in the centre of town, if it was ever dry enough to get down there..

Did manage a quick trip to Bowden Doors a few weekends ago, nice climbing there, if a little short. After some night soloing of the easier lines, next day saw most of the team soloing some E2's, being little more than high boulder problems, though boulder problems that are high enough that you really do not want to fall from, as somebody found out.. Nice crag, and some good climbing, just a little short!

Vicky on Lorraine at Bowden, a short but sweet Vs

Next up, a wee (optimistic) trip to Glen Croe and Ardvorlich sport crags. After fighting through head high bracken, falling in hidden streams and dodging rain, the Glen Croe crags were pretty damp and green looking, though with some awesome looking lines. Paul scraped up a very wet HVS which was v.poor, then we set about top roping the very sketchy and improbable looking (and well named) "The Edge of Insanity" which goes at E4 5C. All good fun.. Hard 5C, above a very nasty fall, don't think i'll bother leading this one any time soon..

The very overhanging Edge of Insanity. Good value at 5C!

Headed over to Ardvorlich after this for some slabby bolt clipping, but was pretty damp, and with a jungle like approach. One route later, and with a big black cloud looming overhead, the phsyce was gone..

Finally, a fairly succsessful trip to The Pass of Ballater. Again, pretty short, but steep, well protected climbing is always fun. Ticked loads of routes, and was even tempted to try an appealing looking E4 onsight, which was going well until past the crux, when there was a large unprotected section with only some crappy gear behind a loose flake, a long way down. Decided against continuing and scampered up the neighbouring E2, which was probably more sketchy than the E4. Should really have tried to commit to the final moves on the E4, Doctor Dipso it was called I think, but whatever. I was glad to get as far as I did! Should find some other well protected E4's and give them a bash and see what happens. Inspired by this, I tried an E3 5c that looked nice, and was longer than most of the routes at the crag. It went easily enough, though with pretty dubious gear.

Next up - "Anger and Lust " the crag classic and an awesome trad line. At E2 5c, it should have been easier than the previous route, but was anything but. Lots of sustained bridging and contortions lead to a huge roof, which is turned on the left. Reached just under the roof before having to rest, was gutted.. and came straight down. Hard E2, that's for sure. Considered giving it another go, but was pretty knackered by this stage, so will return fresh and get it done with no fussing this time. Think I took too long climbing the corner, and pumped out, though the pump was mainly in the legs, not the arms. Will be Back!! Think we managed to get about 15 routes, not a bad weekend, and some quality hard routes done too. Arriving back in a dark Glasgow in the rain was a little depressing though..

A rare glimpse of sun

Al bridging up "Little Cenotaph"

So that was Summer. Last month has been a washout, though with some excellent snatched days here and there. what will Autum bring? more than one dry day in a row? Would be nice..