Climbing with royalty - 22nd Feb '09

Where to go, where to go, where to go! The forecast high winds made a new route Andy had his eye on, out of the question and the thought of crowds upon crowds of folk on The Ben, all rushing up for the same routes wasn't inspiring. Lochnagar was a possibility but again lots of folk heading for the same routes and would involve an early start I insisted as no way was I climbing a gully with folk above me chopping ice down and being too slow. Andy grumped a little at the thought of one of my early starts and then I felt guilty at being so pernickity as to what I will and won't do! In the end we decided that we'd go to Aonach Mor as even though it was likely to be busy, conditions were likely to be very good and with heaps to choose from that we could more than likely avoid the crowds.
God, I've forgotten was a slog it is up to the top of Easy Gully! The going was actually ok, bare of the sheet ice that I remember from my last visit up there but it's a steep slog and the top chair lift wasn't running so we had to walk a whole hour and a half, shock horror!
Wasn't long before we were gearing up though and ready to go. Peering over the top of Easy Gully, hmmmm, tis steeper than I remember it! Yes, I'll have the rope on option please! Over the edge I went, and it's not actually that bad at all. The only problem I was having was my blasted arms and shoulder. After down climbing just 10m my arms were going weak and my shoulder was hurting. Pissed off! How long have I had this stupid injury and how long have I had useless Physio which isn't making any difference in the slightest. I'm annoyed, but trying my hardest to resign myself to the fact that I won't be trying to lead any steep ice today. Frustrated but not going to let it spoil my day.
At the bottom of the gully we veer off away from the voices and clank of gear drifting in and out of the mist, for we have unclimbed ice to hunt out away from the popular routes. I am curious about the classics of course, but the thought of other people climbing and the lure of a new route is far too much to resist. And here we are at the bottom of the cliff, I'm anchored on and Andy starts off up a bulgy step of ice, looks nice, looks steep, are my arms going to cope with it? I start having my usual mental turmoil and chit chat, 'what if my arms are *too* sore to climb this? Is Andy going to be disappointed or annoyed if I'm in too much pain to continue? Is the belay going to be good enough to hold me if I fall off because of the pain?'
Andy is off like a shot though! Meaning the going is easy enough, so I stop fretting as much.
Funnily enough, my arms were fine, not a whiff of pain! My calf's however, aaaaaarg gaaaaawwwwwwwd they're screaming and burning! Because I'm so used to mixed and not ice climbing, and none of this front pointing business, my calf's just aren't up to it and I have memories of similar pain a few years back after doing The Web. Keep pushing on up though, battle through the pain. A wee brief respite on a more stepped bit and Andy whips out the camera, 'c'mon, hurry up, need to keep moving!' Then I'm there, aaaahhhhhh pure relief!
2nd pitch isn't so steep, but oh my, look up above..................Cornice of Doom! It's big, it's overhanging and it looks mean! But thankfully I'm stood in relative comfort and I can let Andy deal with it (I can offer moral support from below if need be :oD
My first big cornice. There's no digging through this Momma, it's over the top we go! Axes in to the body of it, step up, axes in again, haha I'm climbing overhanging snow! Axes over the top, thwack thwack, throw a leg up and over and heeeeeeeeeeeeeave! Wooooohooooooo!
Off to the hut for some light refreshment in 40mph wind and it's back down easy gully we go. My arms hurt again going down and I figure it's the repetitive motion of easy ground that does it, just like my arms hurt when plunging my axes on easy ground and the reason they don't hurt on steeper ground as the movement isn't so fast and consistent.
Below another unclimbed icy step. 'I'll lead this one,' I say, the words out my mouth before I can feel nervous about stepping into the unknown. We swap the rack over and I'm ready to go. I know after the ice step it's not going to be steep and I'll have run out of rope before I reach the steep rock I can see poking up above. It's nice going, the ice is lovely and chewy and my axes sink in with pleasure, ever upwards. And up and up and up and there's no gear, nothing anywhere! The higher I go the more conscious I am of the big run of rope hanging below me (I remember this from last time too!) I veer of leftwards to a small rock section but there's no gear to be had there.
'How much rope left?'
'About 20m.'
Right, I can reach the steep rock above in 20m I reckon, so off I set. '10m shouts Andy!' Eeeeeeek, am I going to make it, yes, just! And looky at that, 2 perfect cracks to take a bomber nut and a wee block to fling a sling round. Sorted. And then the agony in my arms as I take in the rope.
I can't see where Andy goes next as it's up and to the left round a wee corner. The rope is moving slower, hmmmm, harder then? And it's just as well I couldn't see what was coming next or I'd be bricking it!
A very steep groove, with just a thin and melting smear of ice. Have to be very careful and thoughtful here. There's a wee rounded edge I can use for my left foot to keep off the ice, and 2 good ledges of the right to bridge out on a little. Grrrrrrr, this is steep! I'm groaning from the exertion of it, praying my axes will purchase on the ice enough to hold otherwise I'm going to ping off with a bit of force as I'm having to lean right out to see my feet as it's so steep! And what is there at the top of the steep wall, but the sexiest bit of turf ever poking it's wee green tufts out through the ice, TWHACK, solid! Nae matter about dodgy ice for my feet now, that beauty will hold anything!
And I'm up, 'but what the hell is Andy doing?!'
He's perched up on a rocky tower, like a wee pixie, 'just you use that block down there to belay from,' he says, 'it's a bit awkward up here!' I'm wondering why he just didn't use the block himself but don't question it (he questioned himself later!' I wish I'd taken my camera, as he looked rather comical up there!
And again, it was the cornice of doom! Andy tried up and left first, but then we decided that up and right looked smaller. A long traverse through the top of a very steep gully ensued and the he was over, hurrah!
'Try and do this quickly Sonya, it's 20 past 4!'
Oh bollocks! 40 mins to climb this, back to sacks and back to gondola for 5, aye right!
The traverse is scary! I'm not thinking much about the rope above me, though I am conscious of Andy giving it a few wheeechs so it's sitting above me. The snow has a tiny soft surface but is rock solid underneath and you really have to boot your feet in to get purchase. But I'm across, and the cornice isn't as bad as the first one and I can wack my axes over the top first time off. Getting my leg up is harder though and knees come into action and much heaving. But I'm over, no time for chat, we're off in shot! Half past, no way in hell we're getting that gondola!
Half of me can't be bothered with the rush, pessimism, convinced we'll not make it, the other half of me is screaming inwardly at myself, 'c'mon, run run, you can make it, think of the pleasure when you do sit down on that rocking seat!'
It's so bloody hot! No time to get the Montane off, no time to get balaclava or helmet off. Just a brief moment to unclip crampons when the snow gets softer and we're going so fast it's like skiing downhill on your feet! There, what's that light just down there, poking through the mist? Oh yes, it's the top station, 9 mins to go, we're going to make it!
And make it we do! Sweet relief, the effort worth it and I'm buzzing from the run! Took us 1 and half hours to walk up to the top from the gondola and just 20mins to get down 550m,not bad!
Conditions were pretty damn good early in the day. Traversing along the bottom of the cliff, there was good bluey ice all along the bottom of the area where the Web is. The steeper buttresses looked a lot leaner and it was much too misty to see much else. The ice was fantastic, axe just sinking in and even when the pick was only going in a little, it was enough to hold. Turf was solid in most places also. Temps were milder than forecast however (and wind was lighter too!), just hovering at around zero we reckoned at summit level and milder than zero later in the day as the ice was starting to thaw and drip and the summit snow which was hard in the morning, was slush by later in the day.
2 new routes near where The Three Kings is, one gradeIII yet to be named, the other Lord's Groove IV4

Quinag - 13th Feb '09

Woke up at my folks house on Thursday morning to be greeted by tons and tons of snow and snow still falling! Hmmmmmm, bollox, was I going to manage the drive up North now? Spent the morning listening to the radio and keeping an eye on the Traffic Scotland webcams and deciding that the roads looked just fine.

Arrived up at Andy's around 3ish to a driveway full of new, fresh snow and had to spend the better part of an hour digging so I could get my car in. Then spend the rest of the day baking flapjack, a rather hot chilli and trying to do some maths study, until Andy and Ed got back from the North West.

We spent some of the evening eyeing up one another's axes (Ed has a ridiculously luminous handled pair or leashless Black Diamond jobbees which got us onto the discussion of leashless and clipper leashes) So, I ended up borrowing a pair of Ed's clipper leashes from his Grivel Alp Wings and fitting them on to my Tech Wings for a shotty to see how I liked trying out clipper leashes. Sad as it is, I was quite excited at the prospect of trying out a new toy!

Andy and I were up at 5.30am for the long drive up to Assynt (3rd day in a row for Andy!) The forecast looked like the very North West might catch the best of the weather, with cloud not coming in until later in the day. Certainly, the trail that they had broken in from the previous day was filled with icy footprints which bode very well indeed for conditions above.

The drive up was fantastic as I'd never been this far North in winter before, and seeing my favourite part of Scotland garbed in all it's winter glory was a sight for sore eyes. I only wish I'd thought to stop the car and get out and take photos of Ben Mor Coigach and the Fhidhlear Nose as that's one impressive piece of cliff! Makes my heart skip a beat every time I see it in summer, so seeing it plastered in snow was a dream!

But a dream it shall remain, as we had our sights on other things. It didn't take long at all to walk into the Western cliffs of Quinag and before long we were gearing up at the bottom of what Andy had thought might be a gradeIII gully. From afar it had looked simple enough, a wee steep step at the bottom, followed by an easy section, then another steep step at the top. Hah! Well, the steep steps were steep alright! And my neck and shoulder problems chose today to play up again, making my arms as weak as a kitten! The initial steep step would have been a little easier but the ice at the back of the gully looked a bitty dubious so it had to go mixed at tech5. Andy had said it was tricky and I was nervous as hell! It involved a really thin hook over a tiny chockstone in a crack, balancing up on this and then backstepping onto a small sloping foothold to reach up for a better chockstone above. And then being spreadeagled above and udging across a traverse. Andy had placed a big hex down in the bottom of the corner before the hard moves and said it might need a wack to come out. So, I gave it an almighty bosh upwards with my axe hammer and the whole thing came flying out the crack and winged up to hit me square on the nose! Aaaaaaaaaarg, my eyes were streaming and it took a good bit of self control not to burst into tears and say, 'waaaaaaah, I've had enough, let's bail!'

I led the easy middle pitch which was a doddle and then Andy led on to the next steepening. Only there was no belay to be found and I had to undo my belay and move up so Andy could find a belay higher, moving up steep ground with just one bit of iffy gear between us! I do so hate these moments! Oh there was ice and snow raining down as Andy tried to unbury a decent belay from somewhere, so much so that I had to climb up some more and find shelter in a wee corner lest I get knocked down by flying debris! But finally a belay was found and next followed a really balancy mantle shelf onto a ledge, followed by a wee axe traverse and then a huge thug over a bulge up to where Andy was. Thankfully the belay was ace, and next followed another steep corner at the back of the gully, with more precarious and rounded foot holds. I sure am fast learning that my crampon points will hold on the smallest and most dubious of footholds!

Anyway, I thought it was an evil, evil gully, really bloody hard! And I bitched and moaned about how gullies were horrible dank nasty places. But, by the time we were back at our sacks I was saying, well, it was ok really, actually the technical climbing was actually quite nice and involved. And it felt rather warm and glowy knowing that when others were plowing there way through deep, deep snow or on on thawing cliffs, we had this glorious mountain all to ourselves. And ok, the snow wasn't neve but it was okay, the ice was rotten as it was too low down but the turf was totally solid and extremely helpful (apart from the bottom pitch, where the turf was of the heathery kind!)

Epic on Beinn Liath Mhor - 8th Feb '09

Well, I got my wish of climbing and scaring myself! Though I think I was suffering more from exhaustion than fear this weekend, and I'm sitting here typing, the day after, still knackered!
I had arranged to climb with Diana again this weekend, original plan was Saturday, but high winds made us change our plans to Sunday. Where to go though, considering that up Aviemore way had seen the biggest dump of snow for years and the NW had just gotten a big dump the day before?
Well, the Torridon Youth Hostel webcam showed that there wasn't *too* much snow pointing up towards Beinn Eighe, so I thought doing something like the Ling, Lawson and Glover route on Sail Mor might be ideal, or had thoughts of Sgorr Ruadh and Academy Ridge or heading across to Glen Shiel to Creag Coire an t-Slugain with the option of Forcan Ridge if the clag was down. Diana was keen on Sgorr Ruadh, with the possibility of doing Post Box Gully if the Northerlies had blown the gully free of powder. I was dubious but happy as always to go have a look and we had plenty of options for buttresses and ridges if the gully was too dodgy.
The roads were a bit hairy coming from Diana's but she made it across to Andy's to pick me up and we arrived at Sgorr Ruadh carpark, leaving the car at 9am. The walk in was tough! Much tougher than I remember it! I must have been going good the day I thought that was an easy walk in. Even with the trail broken for us, my legs were still feeling the effort. Once up at the cairn, where the path splits off for Coire Lair there was no trail and the going got even tougher. It would be not too bad for a bit, then knee deep wading before falling into thigh deep drifts. When Diana was breaking trail, she fell into a boggy bit and the water went over her boots, soaking her feet. Hmmmm, not good!!! She was happy to carry on, thinking that the walk in would warm her feet and as long as we weren't hanging about at belays too long then she thought she'd be ok, hmmmmm.........We carried on though, foolishly!
Approaching Sgorr Ruadh, one passes the South facing cliffs on Beinn Liath Mhor. I had been attracted to one of the wee ridges of rock there and suggested that rather than ploughing on any further, we might go up and have a look at doing a new route instead. Diana was quick to agree! No way was Post Box Gully going to be a good choice in these conditions and it was so hard going that even Academy Ridge was going to be very time consuming with it being 350m long and the other route I'd thought of, Riotous Ridge was away further up the glen.
Now we had a problem of how to get up to the Ridge. The cliffs face South and it had snowed on a North Westerly so the South facing slopes might be a bitty dodgy. There was a fair bit of windslab on SE aspects and evidence of a lot of sloughing but to the right of where we wanted to be the slope was okay with boulders and heather poking through, so we decided to head up that way, checking the snow as we went. As it goes it was fine, not deep and there was no base and plenty of heather and rocks to feel secure. We thought we might get a belay at the base of the cliffs to make it safer to traverse across but reaching the cliffs we thought the bit we were at looked do-able so decided to climb here rather than risk the traverse.
Diana led the 1st pitch up a rocky band, then I had to avoid a deep snowy groove by climbing rocky bands to the right. A steep wall, saw Diana taking a left traverse onto a snowfield. I was attracted to a rib to the right, but it involved getting across a steeping of the snow, and the snow becoming steep and shoulder deep, no f*cking way! I went directly up instead where the slope felt more secure, and rocky. This gave Diana the option of having a belay to cross the dodgy snow or to go up the steep ground above. The steep ground option won and Diana brought me up to a brill looking turfy corner! I struggled with this bit, there was a ledge for your right foot but try as I might I just couldn't reach it and the axe placements didn't feel so great to heave up on. Eventually, I managed to dig out a tiny one point notch for my left foot, just enough to precariously reach up. Reaching up, again the axe placements weren't so good and my foot slipped off and I slithered back down, thankfully not long enough to weight the rope! This was pissing me off now! No way was this corner getting the better of me! My aggressive nature took over and I thugged my way up. Diana found it easier than I did, gggrrrrrrrr! She had unearthed a bommer axe placement, making life easier. I forget to do that when I'm struggling, my relative inexperience coming through, and wack blindly through the snow trying to find something. Much less energy consuming to actually clear the snow and LOOK for something! I think I'll remember that next time though! The corner led up to a rib and then to a delightful gully, with beautiful rock scenery and funky wee turfy and ice steps, then leading back out to the rib. We decided to move together at this point, knowing the angle was lessening and it had gotten dark by this point! My 1st time I've had to climb in the dark due to running out of time! Thankfully the moon was full and it was bright enough that we didn't need head torches. I was knackered by this point and just going on auto pilot, up and up and up, how long did this f-ing rib go on for! A snow slope led to the top and it was a case of 10 steps, puff and pant, 10 steps, take a breather and so on, up to the top. We had to keep moving though, Diana's wet foot was numb and we were worried about frostbite! It was getting cold and everything was freezing up and I couldn't get one of my gloves back on it had frozen solid! And my spares were buried at the bottom of my sack as I never normaly need them. Keep moving though and we warmed back up.
6.35 and the map showed a steep and wide ridge heading off eastwards down to the path. I'd left my crampons on, thinking we'd hit hard snow at some point but the snow was soft so I took them off and sod's law as soon as I took them off we would hit a hard section and the ground was steep enough that it would take forever trying to get down! So we kept to the bouldery edges. Unfortunately, that was taking us towards steeper and steeper ground until it got to the point where it felt too steep to carry on. Looking left, it seemed that there was a snowy ramp we could get down, but crampons had to go back on. The ramp led to more steep ground however, but I went further down to see if I could see away through. I ended up in shoulder high snow again, above a huge drop, feck that for a laugh! I tried to go round and back up but just couldn't wade through that, and with the threat of that drop always on the back of mind, I turned round and went back up the way I'd come down.
There was a huge, deep gully to the left and on the other side of this gully the slope seemed more friendly. What to do? We could either carry on rightwards trying to find a way down the steep ground, or we could go back up the way we had come and cross above the gully and down the less steep ground. It was hard to decide as we were both shattered by this point and eager to be off the hill! The up and across to the less steep ground won in the end, it was very unappealing having to go back up in my knackered state but it seemed a safer option and probably quicker, even though it seemed longer to go back up! It was hell though, my legs were screaming in pain, I was so thirsty and just exhausted. I can fully understand how some people just give up and curl up in the snow unable to go on. Diana agreed and we knew we were really pushing ourselves to carry on!
The ground was steeper than it seemed and we still had to go carefully, but before long we were down off the steep ground, thank god! All that was left was a long slog back to the car, and neither of us was looking forward to ploughing through the deep snow as the path was buried! It wasn't long though before Diana spotted a walker's trail through the snow, HURRAH! That was going to make life MUCH easier! Was still hard going though and I inwardly cursed at every little uphill section! We came to a stream and filled up our bottles, drinking greedily and carried on, each step a torture as both of us get problems with painful toes going downhill.
10.30 we got back to the car, Diana 5mins ahead of me. The last stretch through the woods was scary on my own! I get so spooked in the dark on my own, and add trees and shrubs and bushes, it's a playground for my imagination! Rustling bushes were hiding nasty bushes and mad axe murders ready to drag me off into the bushes to chop me up! Haha, you'd think I was 5yrs old, I can drag myself up cliffs, but still get scared of the dark!
Had to organise RB getting to school the day after so I could stay at Andy's, just couldn't face the drive home and the danger of falling asleep at the wheel. Next day and I'm still tired, an early night calls!

Slowly losing the will to live - 1st Feb '09

Aaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrrrgggggggggggg!!!!! I NEED TO CLIMB!!! It's been 3 long weeks without feeling scared out my wits, without thinking, 'oh my god, what the f*ck am I doing hanging off this cliff in the freezing, bloody cold! Come next weekend, if conditions are rubbish or I have a partner cancel on me, I *will* slit my wrists.
OK, drama over...........
I was supposed to climb this weekend with the wife of one of Andy's mates. Andy had been guiding all week, with today off and I wanted to climb yesterday and have today off too, so I wasn't knackered for my Biology exam tomorrow. So, Saturday it was (or wasn't as the case may be)
The forecast was changeable from day to day, but was slowly looking worse as the week went on. Friday's forecast had the freezing level lifting above the summits and being a bit blowie with gusts of 60 forecast. I was still keen to have a nosey though, with the option of taking the climbing gear for a walk if things were duff. But Diana wasn't so keen and had work that she needed to get on with and when Andy checked the Cairngorm summit forecast in the morning and it read gusts of 100mph, then I guess we made the right call by cancelling. Seems though, that Mess of Pottage was a bit more sheltered and some folk had made it up there to climb (Diana's husband being one of them! But hey ho, such is the nature of the game)
Decided to go for a hill walk instead, at least getting out on the hill was better than doing nothing. Either the hills down Glen Feshie way or the Monadh Liath were the nearest to Andy's that I hadn't been up before, so decided on the nearest Monadh Liath (A' Chailleach and Carn Sgulain)
I was feeling lazy and couldn't be bothered with an early start so pottered about in the morning, slowly getting myself woken up and organised. Was about 10ish when I finally pulled up in the Shephard's Bridge carpark, to be greeted by a billion other cars! Bollox, I wasn't really in the mood for a busy hill, much preferring solitude. But, busy it was, surprisingly, I didn't think these would be such popular hills. Folk seemed to be heading up the hill in a NW direction, but avoiding the path I made my own way directly up the hill, aiming up towards Creag na h-lolare. Was probably about half way up there when I started regretting straying off the path. There was a semi hard crust on the top of the snow which would hold my weight for a few footsteps but then I'd break through, sometimes fairly deeply and it was making the going hard work! I decided that heading right up onto the ridge would be exposed to the wind and started contouring round underneath instead to rejoin the path not far below the summit. And windy it was! The wind had blown something into my eye, couldn't get it out and my eye was streaming in protest! I did toy with heading back down in case it got to the point where I couldn't open my eye. But nah, I've had to drag myself one legged off the hill before, damned if a sore eye was going to put me off!
I nearly fell over a few times on the top as it was pretty icy and try as I might to avoid the verglass the wind kept blowing me on to slippy bits. I didn't hang around for long and ploughed on downhill, where above the Allt Cuil na Caillich the snow got too firm to plough down and heels were needed to dig in. Was a short slope though and soon enough I was fighting my way up into the wind again and onto the next summit. I sheltered behind a wee cairn for a bite to eat and then dropped down quickly, running and jumping down through the soft snow, was braw! Came to a steepening and could see folk out in front heading around the edge to where it was less steep. Peering over the edge though I could see a way down through the steeper ground and moving around a rocky bluff, I picked my way through and around a few wee rocky steps and across some scree and down a steeping, jumping into mid thigh deep drifts at points. Took a bit longer than walking, but was more fun! And then, jeeze what a slog back to the car! No path, heather bashing, breaking through the snowy crusts again, trying to avoid bog, unsuccessfully I might add after falling into a hole and getting my foot and lower leg soaking wet (and freezing!) But och, a day on the hill just isnae the same if ye dinnae fall intae a bog, min! After the slog and just where the path started up, there was a gate, just sat all on it's ownsome which amused me. It just looked so random sitting there, like a gate to nowhere. Took some photos of it, but these things never turn out how they looked at the time (or they don't if you've not a keen eye for photography!)
The sun was blazing down here, jacket was off, hat was off and it was nice to feel the sun beam down, so much so I started thinking about rock climbing! Bring on next week though, more snow forecast, hurrah!

Rebekah's 1st winter climb

RB has asked for ages if I could take her out for a winter climb. No, no,no says I, too dangerous, you're too young, it will be too tiring for you, you won't manage it. Well, a couple of years later and I've decided to see how she gets on with a day spent in Coire an t-Sneachda. If the weather is fine and she's going well then we can try a grade I gully, if the weather isn't too good then we can just walk in for a play on the slopes and if the weather is awful then the whole idea will get sacked. Andy was on hand to help teach her to walk in crampons and how to arrest a fall with her ice axe and to lead her up the gully.
The forecast wasn't looking too fantastic, with storm force winds forecast for later in the evening but with a lull in the wind during the day.
We decided to risk it, and would keep an eye on the wind and weather, turning back if things were getting too rough. There were a few showers in the morning which soon cleared and the weather wasn't too bad once we arrived at the corrie. Andy had managed to hire her a pair of B2 Salomon boots and a pair of crampons and she was managing just fine in the boots, to kick herself wee steps up the approach slopes and to dig in her heels when descending. Next, Andy showed her how to ice axe arrest in various different positions. Falling on her bum/back head facing up; falling on her front with head facing up the slope; falling on her front with head facing down the slope and falling on her back with head facing up the slope. She managed to do them all well and Andy had her do a somersault down the slope and then break, which was fun too watch and even more fun for her to do! I was practising my axe breaking too and after finding the head first on my back twisted my neck and back too much, I gave the somersault a miss!
Next, it was time for the gully! I was really nervous by this point, half wanting RB to experience it and half wanting her to go back to the car and not bother, mother's nerves!! She did fantastically well though!
We went up Central Gully. Andy had her on a rope so she couldn't fall and I was soloing up behind them, taking photos. The gully started off easily, and then there was a steepening where the snow firmed up. It eased off a little and then got steeper again. By this point the wind had changed direction,started picking up and was funnelling spindrift straight down the gully. By the time we got to the top it was very hard to see where to go, the spindrift and wind almost blinding! I had overtaken at the top to take photos of them coming up and was having to stop every now and again to wait for a lull in the wind to see the best point to escape the cornice forming at the top. Andy went first to find the best way, I clipped into the rope and RB and I moved together over the top. The spindrift had made things deceptive and there was no cornice, but just a steeping, escapable on the left and it was easy enough.
It was blowing about 40, gusting 50 on the top so we didn't want to hang about and just shoved the rope into my sack and got a move on, keeping harnesses etc on. A while into the walk out, we noticed that RB's crampon was starting to fall off! These crampons had a funny wee hook on them, so they could be adjusted to fit small feet. Only this one seemed to be a bit defective! Andy had a good try to sort it, but in the end it didn't work too well and it was really the tightness of the straps holding the crampon on. We had to go slowly because of this and there was no chance of getting low fast by downclimbing the Goat Track, so we had to walk across to point 1141 and descend via the Fiacail Coire Cas. Once at the huge cairn which marks point 1141, the wind had really picked up, probably about 60mph. Poor RB was been battered by the wind, so much so that she had to hold on to me so she could walk forward and not be pushed to the side. This wasn't working though as both of us were then being dragged through boulders, which were awkward with crampons on. Andy clipped a sling into RB's harness and I grabbed her rucksack, so she was sandwiched between us both and that stopped her being blown down.
Once out the gusts, we stopped for some soup and more sarnie and chocolate before carrying on. We didn't take off our crampons until quite low down and then it was just another half an hour back to the car. RB still had wee bits of ice in her hair and Andy's beard was all iced up as per usual, which RB found quite funny. Well, she had experienced a proper winter's day with strong wind and spindrift and did brilliantly! She wasn't too keen on the wind and 60mph is too strong for her really, but she will be fine with calmer days on the hill. As for the grade I gully, she enjoyed it but commented that the walking was harder than the climbing!
Sunday was much more chilled and after waking up to a carpet of white, we played out in the snow, having snowball fights and making the Snowman of Garten.

Rain and Wind - Sat 10th Jan '09

Well, the forecast was disgusting this weekend! Winds of 50-60mph with gusts of 90 for Saturday (and rain, with snow on higher tops) and winds of 60-70 with gusts of 100mph for Sunday.
Andy had been soloing at Lochnagar on Friday (maybe another 2 new routes) so dropped into mine for the weekend. I had thought about some new routing but the place I had in mind was a bit too low really (next time though if it gets colder!) so we decided to have a nosy up Clova way. We were sure the ice from last weekend would have thawed and that it would be too windy anway, but there was a slight chance that B Gully might be complete enough to climb then lower from, rather than top out into the gusting wind and having an epic!
Corrie Fee is a gorgeous wee corrie and as I'd not been there for years I'd forgotten how easy a walk in it is! If only it came into condition more often as it's only just under an hours drive away and almost a flat walk in.
As ever my eyes are drawn to the Buttresses rather than the ice falls but I can understand why folk like Look C Gully. However, B Gully Buttress, The Comb and a steep and heavily vegetated Crestal Clear were the routes that caught my eye.
Unfortunately, although B Gully was complete (just!) it looked a bit minging for my liking. The approach was bare of snow and was steep rubble, the snow looked dirty and the ice pitch looked VERY lean! Under the weather conditions (driving wind and rain) it was too dangerous to attempt (thankfully, as much as I love climbing, grotty gullies aint my cup of tea!) We took lots of photos of the cliffs, then found a wee howf under the rocks to take shelter in and eat some food and ponder over the guidebook. Simon Richardson wrote this section of the guide, not Andy and he didn't know the area well enough and I can understand why Adam is so keen on the place as it really is a very pretty corrie.
Only one of my photos turned out. The rest were all blurred due to camera shake from the wind. We didn't bother going up the hill as we've both been up these hills and even though I find the wind exhilarating, a cozy house and cuppy was calling.

Ben Alder - 29th-31st Dec '08

After much deliberating whether to go into Beinn a'Bhuird, to go NW or to slog into Ben Alder for a couple of days, we decided on the latter option. I drove up to Andy's on Sunday evening, so we had a wee bitty of a lie in on Monday morning, followed by a mad dash to get sacks, gear, food etc organised for a couple of days in Culra Bothy, with me hoping it wouldn't be too busy.
Getting boots on at the Level Crossing at the start of the bike ride alongside Loch Ericht, a wee Robin took some shelter under Andy's car, feathers puffed up, looking at us mournfully, hopeful for a scrap to eat. Poor wee blighter, I didn't pity him in the freezing frost.
The cycle ride up was horrid! I hate biking with a heavy sack and there felt like far too much up hill for my liking, and the bike I had borrowed from Andy had brakes which were rather on the faulty side, making the downhills a tad on the hairy side! Still we got there eventually, left our bikes at Ben Alder Lodge and walked in the rest of the way, my back just can't handle the rougher tracks with a heavy sack too (nor my legs!)
The walk was quick though, and we were only minutes behind a few guys who had cycled in the whole way and overtaken us at the Lodge. It was just us and above 3guys and a lone climber at the bothy, and we nabbed a room to ourselves, cold but good to have space. And the stove was going in the main room so we ate there and were sociable.
We slept through the alarm next morning and were an hour later setting off than intended, but the going was good on a decent track up to Garbh choire Beag. We had wanted to climb on the NW facing cliffs but the rock there was as black as night, with next to no snow and just tiny, incomplete ice smears. But there was a good deal of snow in the gullys and groove lines in the NE corrie, so that's where we went.

I had my usual nervous moment at the belay, thinking, 'gawd, I hate this, why I am here, what am I doing below this cliff when there is a perfectly decent path to admire the hills from!' But all fears and worries are forgotten when the climbing starts. 1st pitch went up a delightful wee turfy groove/chimney and onto and into a steep, snowy groove. Following the groove, then traversing a turfy band and onto a turfy, rock section at the crux which felt really balancey and thin for the feet. I went a different way to Andy, followed the same awkward step onto the steep slab, torquing across but where he went up, I went down a step and up a groove instead of the steep slab, which seemed holdless for my less experienced feet!
The top pitch was utterly fab, a steep wall of perfect neve (only marred by bits of brittle and crusty ice) went up to a pretty sustained and bulging ice pitch. I've never climbed ice so steep and had to bridge widely over the bulge, praying my points would stick to the ice, which they did of course. Then followed even steeper neve to a rock solid and manageable, small cornice exit. Another 1st ascent in the bag :o) Kryptonite IV4
Dusk was fast approaching so we scooted up to the summit of Ben Alder to be greeted with a gorgeous sunset and temperature inversion, the tops of the mountains in the distance poking through the cloud. We decided to carry on in the dark down and across the Bhealaich Bheithe and up onto Beinn Bheoil, the descent of which was interesting in the pitch black. We finally got back to the bothy though, to pasta, wine and cake, mmm mmm mmm.
We decided on an easy day the next day and just went for a nosy at the other cliffs which weren't in condition. There were a few guys camping up the glen from the bothy, whom we chatted to for a while who said they had spotted some ice smears by Lancet edge and were going up for a wee play. The sounded surprised to hear that we had managed a route on Ben Alder, but totally different aspect to the NW cliffs and to the Lancet cliffs which seemed in very poor condition. But there were some easy angled bits of ice lower down. We strolled as far up the glen as the Bealach Dubh and then turned back to the bothy, meeting 3 folk on the way up who had wanted to go up the Long Leachas but were on the wrong side of the river, which was extremely icy and very hard to cross. We said they would need crampons and an axe etc, and they said they had them and seemed happy enough so we left them to it.
Back at the bothy we had a bite to eat then got all our stuff together for the long slog out. The walk seemed to take forever this time, but the bike ride was really quick in comparison, although I did have to get off and push the bike on the steeper downhills due to having no brakes and also on the steeper uphills.
Back at Andy's, John had phoned saying the MR had a call out for a female that had fallen on Ben Alder and had head injuries and was just checking to make sure it wasn't me. I really don't know if it was the girl in the party we had met earlier in the day, and I've been thinking of her since then and praying to any powers that may be that she is okay.
We cozied up, after tanning a bottle of red to wait for the bells to ring in the New year and then promptly fell fast asleep. Next day we went NW up to John McK's to climb on Beinn Dearg.

BEINN DEARG - Fri 2nd Jan '09

Ist new route of the new year, and 1st munro bagged too (no 92) We met up with Matt, one of my climbing partners from down south and partner in crime on our new route on Ben Lair last winter. John had the key for the forestry gates so we were able to cut off a few miles of the walk in, which as much as I love the more isolated cliffs, is always a good thing, especially at the end of a long day. Conditions were a bit on the marginal side, with none of the main gullys with fat ice. The steeper rock was black, but the lower angled rock was coated with a thin layer of frost and the turf was rock solid, and there were bits of ice formed also on the easier angled ground. Andy and John decided to do a rib on the West buttress but from the angle we were looking at it, it looked pretty steep and hard for Matt and I, so we decided to go further up the cliff and see if anything else was climbable. Unfortunately it wasn't, Penguin gully was far too lean for our liking and everything else too hard or not in good enough condition. In the end we decided that Andy and John knew what they were talking about (they thought the rib looked about II/III) and Andy said if it was that grade, they would probably just solo up it. We saw them solo the start so knew it looked easier than we had thought, so decided to follow them up.
Getting to the foot of ramp you had to follow to get to the start of the rib, we decided that although that looked easy enough with ice and frozen turf, we would rope up as we didn't know how hard the ground would be above. And foolishly we ended up pitching the whole route!!! We kept thinking it was going to get harder, so best to keep the rope on, but it never did get harder than gradeII! So, we should have been moving together, and just pitching the wee steps that we came across if we felt the need. As it was, we were half way up the cliff when I'm sure I spotted Andy and John on the path below the cliffs. And having spotted them, I should have realised that there was no hard ground above, so no need to pitch, but we kept on pitching, convinced that we were going to come across hard ground. Dusk was approaching fast and I was half scared, half excited that I was going to do my 1st bit of winter climbing in the dark as a reward for being too slow. But it never happened, and after a few steep steps and a snow arete,followed by another step, we were at the top of the cliff. The West face of Beinn Dearg is a big, big cliff and we had just foolishly done 9 pitches of grade I and II climbing. A dash up to the summit, then a horrible, bouldery slog down to the bealach between Beinn Dearg and Meall nan Ceapraichean where there were a few hard snow patches in between the boulders. I stupidly decided to bum slide down one of them, not a wise idea in the dark when your axes are on your sack and you can't break. Hitting the bottom of the slope at full pelt, I slammed the top of my thigh muscle into a rather pointy boulder and screamed out in pain. It took a good few moments to compose myself and stop tears from streaming and I have a nice lump and rather large bruise to show for my troubles. The path was treacherous at the top and there were loads of ice patches to avoid and it was slow going with my crappy head torch and Matt's fading batteries. I was worried that Andy and John would be worried about us, they had passed the bottom of the cliffs about 2 o'clock and it was now around 5 o'clock. Part of me hoped they had gone back to John's and part of me prayed that they had waited so we didn't have to slog through the forest too. They did both in the end. They waited for a while but spoke to some walkers who had seen us on the lower cliff and said we would be ages yet, about midnight they said! Hah, we wern'y quite *that* slow! So, they went back to Johns for a while and Andy drove back up around 6ish and had an hours wait before he saw our head torches bobbing down the icy path. Matt drove back to Kintail were he was staying with some friends and Andy and I went back to John's for some tea and Cider :o)

Sgurr nan Clach Geala - Sun 14th Dec '08

Yesterday, Andy and I had a walk in to Sgurr Nan Clach Geala (or a slog in I should say!) There was more snow than expected, with a crust on the top, which made for more difficult walking conditions higher up. And once we arrived at the gearing up boulder, the mist was well down and it took us a little bit of time to find the descent gully.

Having to down climb into the mist, not knowing whether we were in the correct gully or not or on a slope above a steep cliff, was very, very spooky! But after about 20m it was easier to see that it was indeed a safe way down. But having the mist there really added another element! After a little descent, you have to traverse along and then cross Slanting Gully, then traverse a terrace above the lower cliffs. Unfortunately, due to the mist I was unable to 'wow' at the steep and long line of Skyscraper Buttress.

It didn't take long to reach the bottom of our intended route (1st winter ascent of one of Andy's summer V.Diffs, Alpha Crest) The 1st pitch was a bit scrappy, it follows the crest just to the left of Alpha Gully and the Gully walls were short enough that it felt too easy to escape if need be. The 2nd pitch was harder (much harder!) Involved the sort of climbing I really hate! I felt out of balance a lot of the time and it was steeper than the initial slabby section. There was a step right back on to the crest proper which felt really tenuous and committing and it seemed to take me ages to figure it out.

But what a 3rd pitch! Lovely and sensational! Firstly, a long traverse (sphincter clenching stuff!) leftwards involving draping yourself over a slab, with axes into turf on the top (thankfully frozen!) and blindly feeling with your feet and praying they wouldn't dangle into nothingness below! Shuffle across, axes into more bomber turf (thank god placements!) and thin for the feet, knee on a ledge and round and up into a groove. And a bloody steep groove it was too! With a big bulge pushing you outwards, but an excellent hole in between 2 rocky bits to hook my axe over and good turf for the other axe, saw me able to lean right out, get my leg up high and heave! It was very strenuous climbing but the placements were excellent (apart from at one point on the steep groove above where it took ages to find a good enough bit of turf, my axes initially bouncing off rock and making sparks in my desperation to find something!

And above, followed grade I ground for what seemed like an age to get to the summit (knackered by this point, and a dislike of trudging upwards on grade I ground, too hot!)

I haven't got a clue about the grade, it just felt HARD! I thought it just as strenuous as the hard pitch on our route on Sgurr Ruadh, but with much better placements and not as tenuous. Andy thought the 2nd pitch to be the crux, whereas I found the 3rd pitch more strenuous, but in the end agreed that the 2nd pitch was harder as it was more tenuous and thinner. But the 3rd pitch was quite serious to lead, with one bit of gear at the start of the traverse but nothing until you were well established in the groove up and round the corner, so a big swing if you came off, for leader and for second! Once up the groove, the position was amazing! Just a wee slopey slope and the whole cliff plummeting down below you, sensational! We gave it IV4 in the end, with me having much grade discussion on the way home, finding it hard to get my head round the difference between a IV4 and an IV5. But the route was quite serious in places and IV5 would suggest better gear for the crux, which there wasn't, so I think that is how it works.

Unfortunately, neither of us bothered taking our cameras down due to the mist. A mistake in retrospect because the mist lifted after the 2nd pitch and the views were fabulous, both from the route and from the summit, which we reached at dusk. And thus began the trudge back down to the car.

Photo of Sgurr nan Clach Geala above, courtesy of Fimm from UKC.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/

And photo of view of Sgorr Mhor from top of cliffs, and of the cliffs themselves (our route is the crest, just to the left of the first gully on the left, on the main cliffs) courtesy of Andy's old slides.

Conditions - snow level down to about 600m, starting to consolidate on more western aspects, still soft on eastern aspects and powdery. Some minor sloughing in east facing gullies. A good bit of cleaning required for gear and placements, but turf well frozen where exposed and middling frozen else where, with some clumps of not very well frozen when super burried.

Being a 'casualty' for Ochils Mountain Rescue - 6th Dec '08

Didn't go climbing this weekend as last month I had volunteered to be a casualty for a Mountain Rescue exercise in the Ochil's just outside Stirling.

We all had to meet up at 12pm outside Wallace High School just outside Stirling and I arrived in good time, to find that so had everyone else! Grabbed all my stuff together (minus a map as I didn't have one for that area, ooops!)

The story was, there had been a Geo-Caching event on the Ochil Hills but the participants had been given wrong Grid references, thus the participants had gotten pretty lost, with most managing to get down the hill but about 15 of us still out on the hill and lost/injured.

I ended up in the party of 3 who had to be out on the hill the longest :o) We were to walk up to near the summit of Ben Buck, contour round to a given point and hang about there till around 4.30, and then start walking off the hill, over towards Ben Bengangie, where we were to phone in around 4.50pm, and then start walking towards Bengengie and off the hill down by the 2nd Inchna Burn. We were to pretend that one of our party was exhausted and suffering from hypothermia (we had supposedly been on the hill since 7am)

It was a gorgeous day to be out on the hill on Saturday, one of those beautiful, cold but clear and crisp, winter days and myself and one of the other guys in my party, Alexander were moving fast. Alexander is over from America on a study trip of sorts. He is studying Medicine, and is looking into how the Rescue Teams work over here, dealing with injuries and the like, all sounded very interesting. Alex was the one to volunteer to be the casualty and our other team member, Stuart and myself were to be cold and tired too, but not as bad as Alex. Stuart was funny, ex military and had half the kitchen sink in his rucksack, including these wee glowsticks, which when it got dark,he attached to his hat, along with his headtorch, looked rather comical!

We stopped as planned at about grid ref NN 886 013 and sat and had some food, me eager for a cup of hot soup and my ham sarnie by this point, and after a few photos and a blether, it was time to head off towards Bengangie as the light was beginning to change and the temperature to drop a little. We decided to contour round nearer to Blairdenon Hill to avoid some steep descent and ascent and were too busy concentrating on our feet on the peat haggy ground and dimming light to notice the time. I asked, and it was 4.55, ooops but only 5mins late for our call in! I got out my mobile, hoping I wasn't too short on credit (pauper that I am!) but Stuart didn't need to worry about that so he used his phone instead whilst I got our grid reference, explaining to Alexander how to do it. Dave looked up the grid ref on his GPS, as did Stuart and I was chuffed at myself for getting it pretty much bang on.

The MR HQ told us to stop moving, try and get and keep warm and that they had teams out on the hill looking for us and would be with us ASAP. So, that was us, in for the wait to be 'rescued' Alexander got into his bivi bag (complete with karrimat!) and I got out my bothy bag. I've only got a 2man one so I just used it as a cover as I wasn't really that cold, although my feet were getting a bit nippy as my boots are needing a wee bit of a waxing!

We blew on our whistles every now and again, with Stuart's whistle being the best and Alex's being rather pathetic sounding. Stuart had on his glow stick by this point and Alex had on his torch set to flashing mode. Mine had been on flashing mode but I turned it to normal as Alex's was more powerful. I had forgotten to replace my fading batteries from last week (proper numpty stylee :o) so my torch was a tad on the dim side!

After about an hour we saw torches on top of Bengangie, torches coming up the Alva Glen and torches coming up from the way we had come initially. It was time to start getting into character! We all thought the folk coming where we had come from seemed nearest, but it was Alex from the Ochils team, coming up from Alva Glen who arrived 1st. I rushed off to meet him, gushing with relief and hurrying him up, 'Help, please! My mates are up there, one is so cold, he's getting confused and I'm really worried about him.' (Have to admit, I did feel like a bit of a pleb, lol!) Alex arrived and got out a group shelter and we all huddled inside it, bunging lots of clothes on top of Alex, an extra hat on his head and extra mitts on his hand. He even got his 1st ever taste of Bovril courtesy of MR Alex, which he found utterly disgusting. Mischievously, I kept trying to force feed him wee sips, telling him he had to have a warm drink, hehe! Poor lad, he was supposed to be hypothermic, but in reality was sweltering! Stuart had a thermometer on his compass and it had read 0degrees on the hill, and when we were in the shelter, it went up to 8degrees, so just shows how effective they are.

Next arrived a couple more folk with a couple of Search and Rescue dogs and we were ploughed with juice, jelly babies, Opal Fruits and Cereal bars. I felt a bit guilty about eating all their food as I wasn't even hungry! (but the Jelly Babies did go down a treat :o) Alex kept popping his head in to make sure we were ok and to see if we were warming up, and then reported that a Landrover was coming up the Silver Glen track and if we were able we could walk down to it, and then get a ride the rest of the way. If Alex was still too knackered then they would send more folk up, and he could get stretchered to the landrover. I'm not sure if we should have acted some more and said he was too knackered to walk (get them some more training in, lol!) but we decided we were ok to walk and everyone got their stuff together and started to walk back towards the way we had come initially.
Didn't take long to reach the Landy, and I sloped off for a pee as I was thinking we might be in for a rough ride down the hill and my bladder was full! It wasn't rough at all, but my heart rate did go up a notch once we hit the steeper zig-zag part of the track as at one point it almost seemed like the track went off the edge of the hill!

We were the last ones off the hill, and Stuart drove me back to my car, where I quickly got changed whilst my windows defrosted, then we drove off to Tillicoutry for free soup and stovies!

Long Weekend - Fri 28th Nov-Mon 1st Dec '08

Friday saw the 2nd round of the winter series of bouldering competitions at Avertical World in Dundee and Bekah was climbing pretty damn well and again managed to get 2nd place in the Junior Girls section. Her climbing has just come on so well in the past year, it never fails to amaze me. She is leading the same grade as me now and can climb some featured things far, far better than I.

Andy was down for the weekend and on Saturday we went for a nosey at CragX

There are quite a few very steep lines here and we went over to have a try on one of them (with me gulping in nervousness and questioning Andy as to whether the gear would be good enough at belays etc if I was really struggling. In the end the turf wasn't good enough where it was buried and it was too risky (thank god, I thought, climbing hard stuff in not the best nick was a scary prospect)

We decided to check out other areas of the cliff for future reference and spotted a lovely looking line which looked a good bit easier than the original one we looked at and we reckoned this line would rely on the turf less, so had a go. Andy led the 1st pitch and the gear was non existent in the 1st 20metres. He was going carefully and I was worried that it was hard. There was a steepish wall to start off with, then a traverse going rightwards and then up leftwards into a groove and then Andy was out of sight. The rope was moving quickly which was reassuring but then stopped for a few moments and as I couldn't see, I was imaging some hard moves! The rope moved again, running out of length and Andy shouted for me to move up a few metres, eeeeeeeeeeeek, I really didn't want to have to start climbing without a belay! But thankfully Andy managed to get one in just as I was up against the base of the cliff.

Then it was my go and I found getting onto the cliff itself bloomin' hard! It involved a really big move and much knee action and hauling on my axes was needed. I nervously approached the traverse, shouting for some slack but it wasn't as bad as I had imagined and next came a romp, until I reached a steep and blank looking slab. Andy's footprints went off rightwards and phew, I thought he went round the slab. But no, the footsteps ended and up the slab I had to go! It involved the most wincy hook on a tiny quartz nubbin and using my hand on another wee nubbin to get higher, before hooking my axe over the lip of the wall and praying it would hold as I rocked over onto a high step. Just a couple of moves, but jeez my heart was racing!

The next pitch involved a steep looking wall and I thought I'd go have a go at leading it, but said if it looked too hard/scary then I'd come back down and let Andy do it. Approaching, it looked quite ledgy but as I got to it, I realised that all the ledges were rounded and quite free of any depressions etc that I felt I could use my crampons on. There was one small ledge to fit one foot on however so I moved up on that and thwacked my axes into a big blob of turf. The turf wasn't the best and I was dubious about committing to it so came back down, cleared some snow away to try and find something better for my feet and tried again. My axes felt more secure this time though my feet were teetering on a horrible rounded and smooth bit and as I was going to move my axes higher, one of my feet slipped and gave me a horrific fleg! By this point my heart was thundering and I'm sure there were a few choice words but my axe placements were now good enough to haul on and I managed to swing my leg up high enough and heave over the edge of the wall onto a slope above. One other longer but easier step took me up onto the top of the hill where I flung the rope round a block and brought Andy up.

We're giving the route III4 and calling it Shooglenifty (need to check the spelling on that one!) Hope to get into this crag some other time for the harder routes but it's a hell of a walk in and today (Sunday) we are both utterly knackered, aching like 80 year olds and eating a herd of horses!

Drove back to Andy's later on the Sunday and had much discussion about where to go the next day (Monday) We were thinking about somewhere in the Loch A'an Basin but some posts on UKC and a few emails later we had changed our minds and went North West instead (hurrah, I simply love it up there!) We wanted to go to Sgorr Ruadh as I'd never climbed there before but we weren't sure if it would be too low for the turf to be any good. In the end we decided to go for a look anyway, nothing ventured, nothing gained!

The walk in to Sgorr Ruadh is really easy going, longish but after a tiny easy gradient, the going is mostly flat. Until you get to the Coire itself when it's a slog uphill and we were moving up on powder over boulders so it wasn't much fun and was hard work! And all the while our chosen route was looming, looking steeper and scarier each moment! Finally, we were there though, and my usual pre route nerves surfaced and I started thinking of all the reasons why it was a bad idea to climb this route, lol! Question Andy about the conditions, question him about the likelihood of it being too hard for me and us needing to bail on crappy gear. I think Andy knows me well enough now to ignore all my wee doubts as simple nerves and humours me, whilst getting on with things.

Getting off the ground was a problem though! The ground was steep and seemed impenetrable in the conditions of powder and semi frozen turf (we hoped the turf would be bomber higher up) so we moved in from the right, going over the top of the overhangs and onto easier ground about 5metres or so above. After the 1st pitch, the 2nd pitch followed a ropes length of quite technical (4maybe) climbing and was pretty sustained and tiring on my shoulders but some of the turf was as sexy as can be (yes, I know that's sad, but frozen and bomber turf is simply delightful!) And then we came to a steepening which had me gulping in fear! We had seen from the approach that the top pitch was going to be steep and the crux of the route and part of my questioning at the bottom was if it was wise to continue as I might not be able to do it. But it looked like we could escape off the route if we had to back off from the crux so that was a bit reassuring.

Andy moved up a rocky, snow covered slab and set up a belay on a small ledge above, just below the crux and brought me up to the bottom of the slab where I tied in to an anchor to belay, Andy turning his belay into his 1st runners. I scrutinized every single move that Andy made so I could try and copy the moves, all the while the prospect of the steep wall above keeping my nerves on edge. Andy climbs so thoughtfully and quietly that I can never quite tell whether he is finding something difficult or not, but he was moving slower than normal so this was a sign to me that things were tough! There were plenty of runners in the 1st initial steepening and one in the steeping above, so that was reassuring and once Andy was up he reassured me that the belay anchors were bomber and that if I fell it wasn't a problem.

The slab approaching the steep wall was hard! And I had to use 2 axes and one foot in a groove come chimney to the side of the slab and the other foot had to teeter up the slab to keep me in balance. A hook out on a side wall to the right brought me up to the little ledge where Andy had belayed from. Then I pondered the moves above. A torque to the right and a hook to the left, arms out wide enabled me to step up onto another ledge and then there was a thin torque in a crack to the right which brought me a little higher where I could finally hook my other axe around the top of a flake. It was all pretty hairy and tenuous! The next problem to overcome was a bit of gear in said crack. I still had my axe hooked over the flake but my right axe was now torqued higher in the crack, above the nut and I couldn't see the nut. So I had to remove that axe, hook it around the flake and try to unclip the gear from the rope with my left hand. But, the gear was out to the side and the rope was tight on it. I got my right axe torqued again and tried with my left, asking for some slack in the rope. As I tried to remove it, I could feel my axe slipping out the crack, aaaaaaaaaaarg, tight rope again please! as I quickly hook my axe back round the flake. I need to really think about how I'm going to hold on and get this bit of gear out at the same time. Eventually manage it but the quickdraw is still in rope and the nut is in my teeth and in hindsight it would have been much easier just shoving the nut in a pocket or something. Spent ages trying to re clip the nut onto the quickdraw and was swearing like a trouper by this point. Then my leashes on my right axe were impossibly twisted and I don't know how it happened, but I'm presuming that my leashes froze open, but my leash slipped off my arm and my axe plummeted through space, f*ck f*ck f*ck!!! What the hell am I going to do now! I've managed the 1st section of the crux but there is still a couple of metres left and I've just really pushed myself doing the 1st bit, there is no way in hell I can climb this hard with one axe when I'm at my limit with two!! Andy throws me down a loop of rope which I clip to my harness but I refuse to be dragged willy nilly up the cliff and try to climb whilst being pulled. I was mortified, it was horrible and I really didn't like giving over complete control. But it was much quicker that way, than Andy lowering me down and me having to climb what I had done already plus the top section. Once I was over the lip of the steep wall, Andy ab'd down for my axe (it had fallen to the bottom of the slab) and prusiked back up the rope.

Time was running short and there was one pitch left up a steep groove. The route joined up with other routes on that section of cliff and the top rope length was about grade II, but we decided to traverse off the cliff at the top of our route, rather than join the other route so we could get back to our sacks in the corrie before it got dark.

The last pitch was delightful! About tech4 with amazing hooks and torques, and thin for the feet to add some spice! There was a chimney/depression type thing at the top and you had to move rightwards here to stand on a pedestal and then heave up on more hooks etc above onto the snowy slope above. And that was it, another new route in the bag (if not in the best style for me though!) I was feeling really pissed off at myself for my incompetence and feeling really insecure as a climber, telling myself I was utterly crap and would never be competent and should just give it all up, blah blah blah, haha no way! But my bad mood persisted till we got down to the sacks and wasn't helped by the steep descent, again over snow covered scree and loose bouldery stuff. It got to the point that I was falling over that often that I decided to descend on my bum. That was much quicker, though I got a bit of a sore bum a few times when I hit a rocky patch! And my trousers haven't thanked me for it, damn!

In the end, it was good to try something really hard for me to see how I got on with it. But I think I'll stick to a good few more grade IV's before trying a V again, although we didn't know it was going to be so hard. And I need to figure out a new system for my axes and the leashes and I really need to learn to keep a bit more cool in extremes instead of turning into a spitting fury of wrath and need to learn to channel that aggression and energy into my climbing instead.

I've been enjoying naming our routes so far, but I'm leaving the naming of this one up to Andy cos I'll just call it something evil and nasty, lol!