Tollaidh Crags, Lochnagar and the Big Bad Ben

I had thought that working freelance would give plenty of time, but that seems as much at a premium as ever! I'm not complaining though, it's been a great week of work. The weather helped, with summer having finally arrived in the Highlands. I swung by Loch Tollaidh Crags with Rick on my way from Lewis to Ballater. We only had an afternoon, and it was the first time Rick had climbed outdoors in a long while so we had a nice chilled afternoon exploring some of the lower grade classics of the crag. We climbed Raven's Edge (VDiff**), Assault Slab (VDiff***), After Eight (Severe) and Rough Slab (VS4c**).

 Assault Slab deserves its 3 stars we thought

Rough Slab giving a little more thought

Then it was on over to Ballater ready for some D of E supervision for Albyn School. They had 6 groups out on the hill so camping was pretty sociable with 4 teachers and myself and Louisa out to keep an eye on proceedings. On the second day we left tents so we could get up high and make the most of the great weather. My team did a circuit of the 5 Munros of the Broad Cairn - Lochnagar horseshoe walk, covering 27km or so. There were a few sore feet by the end of the day but they did amazingly well, making good decisions and with no complaints. 

 Looking up towards the Dubh Loch

 Almost there! The top of Lochnagar

On top of the final Munro of the day at 1700

Once we got back to the finish point at the Royal Lochnagar Distillery and the group disappeared back to Aberdeen, I headed west for a few hours of sleep before an early morning marshalling tip up Ben Nevis. Jagged Globe organise an annual Three Peaks charity event for Action Medical Research and this year there were well over 200 people taking part. With other events and independent walkers on the hill it was pretty busy even by 6am (by which time I'd been up top for an hour enjoying the sun). There were a couple of skiers in Tower Gully who had also made an early start. With so many groups out it was good to see lots of familiar faces on the hill from the local instructing community and further afield.

 Ben Nevis at 5am

Views across the Mamores in the sun

The last few days I've been working at the Scaladale Centre with groups from Carloway Primary and West Side. Carloway is closing at the end of term and the children going to bigger schools, so they had bought all the children (all 14 of them!) from P1 to P7 which was brilliant fun for Raft Building and Survival Skills. Back to Scaladale for the last day with West Side tomorrow before heading for some climbing adventures again...

Exploring the islands some more

It's been a busy week, stating off with a mini island adventure with the girls and Roddy. We timed the tides right to have a walk over to Eilean Chaluim Chille from South Lochs and explore the ruins over there and the coastline.

The tidal causeway - finding mussel shells

Rock art on the wee island

The next couple of days were spent getting down to Kilmarnock for a D of E Assessor Accreditation day - no pics of this as it's paperwork stuff! Nice to get some ideas of what groups do in different areas as their qualifying assessments, especially with regard to the purpose of their exped. It's not all about flora and fauna with some great imaginative projects like re-enacting the story of MacBeth in photo's!

When I got back to Lewis the weather was beautiful, so I headed up to the Clisham to check out the scramble on the south side of the hill - Coire Dubh Slabs, grade 3. It's a lovely wee route and a surprisingly short day out, taking me only a little over an hour to get to the scrambling and 3 1/2 hours in total car to car... Even though I stopped for lots of pics!

 Looking in to Coire Dubh, the slabs are obvious just left of centre

 Mmm... Gneiss!

Great views of mountains and sea :)

After such a warm day on the hill, we took the girls for a quick swim in the sea after school and I was happy to join them and take the heat out of my shoulders which managed to get a bit pink even with my factor 50 on!

Friday I headed out climbing with a couple of guys from the HebSAR team, Neil and Charlie. Neil found a route which went at about HS/VS, and I found a line that went at VS or so until the last couple of metres when the rock changed in character. The lovely positive edges that had seen me up the slightly overhanging rock disappeared and became lots of rounded stuff. I ended up backing off, much to my disappointment! I felt slightly better about it when first Charlie, then Neil both backed off at around the same point, and even more so when Charlie struggled up it on a top rope... We were climbing at the crags at Riof beach. There aren't that many bits of rock large or continuous enough to provide routes especially at amenable grades, but there is a lot of great bouldering - next time the mat is definitely going to go in the car. 

 Charlie working out the (lack of) holds on the top part of my attempted route

 Charlie seconding the route that Neil lead

The line I spotted - it looked good!

Saturday Roddy and I were out with the HebSAR team for some rigging training. 3 of the team have just come back from a rigging course run by the MRCofS so it was a chance for everyone to share the information they had picked up and make sure we were all up to speed with it. We set up lowers with IDs and Rescue 8s, using a mix of stakes, hedgehogs, slings and rock gear to secure anchors. A very productive day with lots of ideas thrown in to the mix and interesting for me to see how organised rescue differs (and is similar to) the improvised sort that we learn about as instructors. HebSAR don't get the volume of technical rescues that other teams like Lochaber or Glencoe do, but with climbing on the islands steadily increasing in popularity it's important to make sure the skills base is there.

John briefing the team before the first lower

Sunday was spent chilling on the beach at Riof (yes, again!) with Roddy and the girls. With bodyboarding, rock pooling, sand castles, exploring little rocky islands and some sit on top sea kayaking they were pretty tired at the end of the day... And so were we!

Playing on the bodyboards and dodging moon jellyfish!

I'm off to the mainland for some climbing and some work this week, so here's hoping the sun shines some more...

Gorge Scrambling and a RIB Ride

On their last day, there was just time for the team from George Watson's to squeeze in a gorge scramble before getting packed up and sorted. There was fresh snow on the Clisham down to 700m or so, so the water was a little chilly to say the least! It's been a great couple of weeks working with this group and getting to know them, and I think it's fair to say that by the end of their stay most had achieved things they would not have thought they could at the beginning.

 The girls group tacking the big jump

The boys group chatting to the locals

Yesterday after a day of pottering about at home and in town to get some chores done, I headed out with Roddy, John and Iain to see what John's new RIB was like. We took a little tour about from the end of the road at Point on a lovely evening. The RIB is meant to be good for seas of up to 2m... Not convinced I'd fancy it in that though!

 The coastline around Point where John and Iain go cliff-jumping

John grinning like the Cheshire Cat with his new toy!

Aird Uig, Camping at Luskintyre and Todun

On Sunday I had the day off, so we headed up to Aird Uig to check out a crag up there and take the girls to play on the rocks. Although it was overcast and misty in Stornoway, the weather came good in the west and we had sunshine all afternoon. In between scrambling, bouldering, bouncing stones on pools and swimming, we managed to have a nosey at Boardwalk Crag and hope to head there for some climbing soon.

 About to head off to play on the rocks

Looking back towards the Uig hills

Yesterday I was working with Sean and the crew from George Watson's College who are staying at the Scaladale centre just now. They were all feeling refreshed after a day off from activities, so we thought we'd cram as much as possible into the last few days of their stay... We started off with a raft building session, then hit the showers before packing bags and walking the Coffin Trail through to Luskintyre where they pitched tents for the night. Once tents and dinner were sorted and tidied away, we had a fire on the beach and the group entertained us with music and stories until late. Although it was a pretty breezy night, the tents managed to pass muster and everyone got some sleep at least!

 The view from my tent - could be worse!

 Natalia rocking it up on the ukelele

Hugh playing some ceilidh tunes on his fiddle

Today there were lots of bleary eyes getting the tents packed away and the washing up done. A short sharp shower of hail woke everyone up a bit though, and we managed to get out on to Todun at a pretty respectable time. The hail soon stopped and we were mostly in the sun for the rest of the day, with squally showers passing us by down the loch. With nicer weather and lots of little scrambly bits to play on, the group soon perked up and we had a great short day out. On the way back we took them to have a little peep at the hostel at Rhenigidale where the school group used to stay each year before the Scaladale centre opened 12 years ago. 

 Stopping for a quick bite to eat on the way up Todun

 Play time on the way up - bouldering

 On the ridge - a wee bit of scrambly stuff

 Squally showers going down the loch and passing us by

Views to Clisham - very different to a few days ago!

Hillwalking on Todun

The weather wasn't quite so kind today, with a stiff north-easterly wind and cloud down to around 400m. We opted to go up Todun, which at 528m gave us a good challenge. Lots of defensive walking and some wee scrambly bits saw us to the summit, where we huddled in the shelter for a bite to eat. On the way down the group really enjoyed battling the elements, with a few of them getting knocked over by gusts - pretty blowy at times! They remained amazingly positive though, managing to spot some of the vegetation they identified with the rangers from the North Harris Trust a few days ago, getting involved in the navigation and having a shot at finding the route themselves through steeper ground.

Scouting for the best route down

Staff training day - climbing and gorge walking

Today I was out with Sean again from the Scaladale centre, and we were joined by Matt. The idea was for us to go and have a look at a single pitch crag near Scalpay that we hadn't been to before, and have a look at the gorge walk on the Rhenigidale road so myself and Matt can help deliver sessions there. The sun shone all day and there were only light breezes - it almost felt like summer for a while!

Matt on one of the 6 good lines at the wee crag

Sean doing his very best pensive pose in the gorge

Sean showing us the best spot to place a handrail using a knotted sling

Biking and Coasteering for Scaladale

The last couple of days I have been working for the Scaladale Centre, in North Harris. Yesterday was showery with a few exfoliating hailstones, so we decided that mountain biking in the castle grounds was the way to go. This is a great area for teaching skills, with lots of small, isolated slopes and features to practice on, and a variety of purpose-built trails to play on once confidence has been built. The teams did brilliantly, with some who had never been off road on a bike before managing to ride the red run by the end of the session.

Top of the blue run - 2nd run, double the fun!

Today was a brighter day, although still with a cool breeze and the odd heavy shower. We took the groups coasteering at Rhenigidale as they had a theme for the day of comparing coastal and inland environments. Conditions were great, with just a little swell to make things interesting, but not enough to prevent us getting the maximum fun out of the journey. It's a great venue, with plenty of options to start and finish, and interesting things to do whatever height the tide is at. 

Running into the sea - Baywatch style!

Getting used to letting the swell do the work

A New Chapter

Since I've just made a move to Stornoway and gone freelance, I thought I'd resurrect this blog to record starting out up here. There should be lots of exploring going on in the next few months, so hopefully some good pictures and experiences to share.

After saying goodbye to the Ice Factor team on Friday (yes I really will miss it, most of the time!) I headed straight off up the road to Skye. The forecast didn't look great, but the Polldubh Club had a meet arranged in honour of former club member and meets secretary Mark Phillips so I figured we'd find something to do. In the end, 7 of us opted for a coastal walk round to Coruisk as some of us hadn't been round before and others had always got the boat. We walked in from the layby just up the hill from Elgol, giving us an easy track to walk as far as Camasunary. There was an epic stag party happening at the house near to the bothy there, but we declined to join in! 

The coastal path round from Camasunary to Coruisk is very pretty, and quite rough walking all the way. It is worth noting that the river crossing next to Camasunary to get to it is definitely a wet feet job - I'd consider sticking a light pair of trainers in another time. The infamous Bad Step gave little difficulty in dry conditions and with small packs - I could see how it could get a bit more exciting with a big pack in the wet though! A worthwhile walk on a showery day.

Walking in to Camasunary

Pinnacle Ridge just peeping out in the background

 Blue skies over towards Blaven

 Looking towards Coruisk from the Bad Step

Today I headed out with Sean to look at a coasteering spot near Rhenigidale. I will be working for him at the Scaladale Centre for some of the summer, so it was a chance for me to see a venue, have a chat, sort paperwork etc. Out with a group with them tomorrow - looking forward to it!

Sean chilling in a cave

26th May - Hammer

We enjoyed the Etive Slabs so much yesterday that Lorenzo and I went back today for another route. This time we went up the brilliant corner line of Hammer (HVS5a or 5b depending on which guidebook you read). The Scoop pitch (4c or 5a in some guides) was lovely - blank steepening slab followed by a corner crack with good gear and an awesome belay stance. After this comes the infamous traverse - originally tensioned and given 5a or even 5b in some guides. Either way it's pretty thin and we were both glad of some good gear either side of it! It feels like the main climb is over after that pitch, but the final traverse pitch was a wee sting in the tail!

25th May - Spartan Slab

Today I was climbing with Lorenzo and with a good forecast and not too many midgies yet we decided to head to the Etive Slabs. I hadn't done any routes on them as yet, so we headed up Spartan Slab (VS5a) as an introduction. The crux move over the overlap is hailed as being difficult for the short and I can certainly see why - I found t very awkward! A great route though, and I confirmed my love of granite slabs, leading the 4c pitch very happily.

15th-22nd May - A week in the Lakes

This week I've been in the Lake District with Thom and Chris, staying with my long-suffering godmother in Whitehaven. With only one day of rain, we managed to get a whole lot of climbing done. Not bad considering that Thom and Chris had only trad climbed a couple of times before in the Peak and had never done any multi-pitch.

On the first day we wanted a crag that would give us lots of easy and non-threatening routes which we could split into pitches and practice multi-pitch techniques, so we headed for Shepherd's Crag. We climbed Brown Slabs (Diff), Brown Slabs Arete (Diff), Brown Slabs Direct (VDiff) and the classic of the crag Little Chamonix (VDiff) and aside from a brief trip off route making Thom's first lead a little more exciting than intended, all went smoothly.

With this in mind, we thought we'd head to Wallowbarrow the next day and up the ante slightly, climbing Wall and Corner (VDiff) and Thomas (Severe). A lovely crag with a great outlook and much quieter than yesterday!

The following day with a great forecast, we fancied hitting a mountain crag and decided to head to Dow Crag. Unfortunately the weather wasn't quite as nice as we had hoped and we ended up bailing after the first pitch of Murray's Route (Severe) in the rain before heading up a slightly damp Giant's Crawl (Diff) and taking a wander round onto Coniston Old Man. We got a stunning sunset though, so no complaints here about the route change!

After easy climbing for the first few days, we were keen to push the grade a little, and headed to Hare Crag - a small granite outcrop in Eskdale. We started off soloing slab routes in hot sunshine, climbing The Rib (Diff), Easy Slab (VDiff), Birch Tree Groove (VDiff), Pleasant Slab (Severe), Plaque Route (VS4a), Celebration (VS4b) and Hirsute Slab (HVS4c). Thom was keen to get on a lead of something a bit harder and headed up the excellently named (and good value at the grade!) Fireball XL5 (MVS4b), and we put a top-rope up on The Brazilian (HVS5a) and The Groove (E15b) just next to it. Chris finished up with a lead of Jugged Hare (HS4b) which turned out to be a nice slab route again to finish the day.

My godmother Judy had the following day off work, so we all went for a wander around Ennerdale and then to the wall in Keswick where she got her first taste of climbing and Chris & Thom played on the steepest bits they could find.

Whilst Chris headed home and with rain on the cards, Thom and I spent the 20th on a ghyll scramble on the upper Esk. This gets grade 2 in the guidebook, but we suspect that this may be for lower water levels as it was quite tricky in places!

On the 21st we met up with Guy at Raven Crag and climbed The Original Route (Severe 4a), Mendes (VS4c) and Bilberry Buttress (VS4c) before heading to the Mountain Festival to see Andy Cave speak.

On the last day we decided to head full circle and pick off another couple of routes we fancied at Shepherd's Crag - Jackdaw Ridge (Diff) and Donkey's Ears (Severe 4a) which has a brilliant hand traverse and a really noisy nest of birds in the back of a deep crack which nearly made me fall off said hand traverse! Then it was back to the Mountain Festival to see Andy Kirkpatrick talk (hilarious, seriously can't recommend him enough) before the long drive back north.

A great week, good company, some quality routes and loads of sunshine. Win!

12th May - Where the Mood Takes Me

Today I was leading another crag session with local school kids up at Polldubh. Some of the group were out with us last week so we decided we'd take them over to Upper Scimitar so they could climb something a bit different today. Chris and Graham were out with me to assist again and we got set-up a little earlier than expected so decided to head over and take a look at the steep slab lines of Jahu, Sweet Little Mystery and Where the Mood Takes Me. These lines are all 6a, but the crux is at different heights on each. They are very bold - I could only see one tiny crack which looked like it'd take a bit of gear and that probably pretty tenuous - and were soloed on the first ascent. None of us are quite up to that standard so we decided to have a go on a top-rope instead, and rigged a line above Where the mood takes me. Chris made it most of the way up, Graham took a couple of slips but got up it okay and I made it up with a rest on the rope before the hard bit - perhaps the hailstones helped?!

9th May - Ring of Steall

Today I was out on the Ring of Steall with Maz - a circuit I've been meaning to do for a while now. It has a reputation for being a great day out ridge walking and this turned out to be justified, with a few wee scrambly bits to be found if you look for them. I got a bit carried away at not carrying a climbing pack or any winter gear and decided that running some of it would be a good idea... Not sure if Maz agreed, but there we go! My camera decided to have some kind of 70s throwback issue today and all the pictures I took came out pink and lime green, so I'll not subject you to them!

6th May - Flying Dutchman & Spike Wall

This evening Gillian and I headed to Polldubh again. We started on Flying Dutchman with the VS4c finish and then headed for Spike Wall (VDiff) as a quick route to finish so we didn't run out of light. We thought the gear on the start of Spike Wall was surprisingly fiddly for the grade. Two good routes though.

4th May - Resurrection & Crag Session

Today I was running an afternoon crag session at Polldubh with kids from local schools with Rich. Ali, Chris and Graham were coming out to assist too and we managed to hatch a plan to get a morning of cragging in before the kids arrived. We met up with Al and I headed up Resurrection (VS4c) to start the day before Ali and Chris lead a pitch of Right Wall each whilst I set up some ropes.

Most of the kids we had on session had parents in one of the local MRTs and had done some climbing before. We did a spot of bouldering near Pinnacle before heading up to Upper Pinnacle then SW, finishing up with an abseil.

3rd May - Heatwave & Storm

Today Gillian and I went for an afternoon's cragging at Polldubh. We warmed up on Heatwave (MS or Sev depending which guide you read, but a good route either way) and then moved on to Storm (HVS 4b/4c/5a) which I was pretty pleased about as it was one of the routes I was hoping to climb by the end of the summer. Gillian lead up the first pitch and then I took over for the striking diagonal crack. This felt like my hardest lead to date, although very well protected. Gillian made a good job of the top 5a pitch, lacing it with so much gear she ran out of extenders before the end of it! We then retired to the Fort for a shandy in the sunshine.

2nd May - Ben Nevis

Rich, Gillian, Brian and I took a group of 27 American Scouts and parents up Ben Nevis today for the Ice Factor. A good effort from all of them to reach the top with still a little snow from the top part of the zig zags. After quite a chilly lunch stop to enjoy the view from the summit we headed down in time for a quick cream tea at Café Beag.

30th April - The Dragon's Tooth

Alex and I headed out onto the Dragon's Tooth on the Ballachulish Horseshoe today, a pleasant grade 2 scramble, if a little loose in places. Plenty of other folk out walking the two munros today in lovely sunshine despite the mediocre forecast. On the way down we were entertained by the lambs just above the village - one of them followed Alex bleating at him all the while. We also noted a sheep which appeared to fall over as it ran down the hill, then sat there until we had passed as if it was trying to convince us it had meant to do that... Whoever said sheep aren't very bright!

22nd April - Showery at Polldubh

Deciding that the weather was a bit iffy today and I probably wouldn't get out on anything tricky, I headed to shadow Al who was working for the Ice Factor today with Dan and Amanda. They climbed the Gutter (Diff) in quite heavy rain before it dried out for a little while allowing us to get onto Right Wall on Styx Buttress (VDiff) before beating a retreat as the rain came in again. Gillian came up to meet us in the glen, with the intention of us climbing afterwards, but we decided almost straight away that a session in the wall was a better option!

16th April - Stac Pollaidh

Maz and I headed further north today to a very blustery and slightly damp Stac Pollaidh. Lovely scrambling and some moody views of Torridon and the north-western wilderness, and some slightly hair-raising moments of nearly being blown off the pinnacles on this grade 2 scramble got rid of the cobwebs following a birthday beer or two at the Sligachan!