Seeing to the sausages as the sun sets over Gruinard bay (Photo: Dan Walker)
It really has been a busy last 3 weeks. I have hardly found time to sit down and write a post between trips northwards. The stable weather, Easter bank holiday and royal wedding, seemed to coincide perfectly to allow midge free climbing in the North West which, in the kind of weather we have had, seems more like a desert Caribbean island than the usual damp and dreary west of Scotland we often have to put up with.
Rob Sutton and Dan Walker deploying the big guns to rapidly send Stolen 8b (Photo: Dan Walker coll)
The first trip north was a weekend with Rob Sutton, Tony Stone and Dan Walker in Glen Nevis. The focus was Steall Hut on the first day with Rob coming within a cat's whisker of sending a damp Stolen, a contender for the UKs best 8b. For my part I was battling with Scotland's answer to Magnetic Fields at Malham, The Gurrie, a new, bouldery, 8a+ and not succeeding; a bump back to Earth after the previous weekend.
Eventually sticking the crux of The Gurrie, 8a+ (Photo: Dan Walker)
We then headed up to Sky Pilot on the Sunday, where I managed to finish off Beatleback ,7C and a couple of other thing and introduced Dan and Rob to one of Scotland's better bouldering spots. We were treated to a display of power by Mr Macleod in the evening, trying his project that was to become 7 of 9, 8B+. The latter problem looks amazing; I'd love to try it. Guess I'll just have to get a damn sight stronger!
Last hard move of Beatleback (Photo: Dan Walker)
The next weekend was a real breath of fresh air and at times a real scorcher! Returning, to Steall with Dan and Rob on the Friday, we all managed to dispense with our respective projects and Stolen had another 2 votes behind its 4* status.
Tog Balla at Am Fasgadh, Limestone never looked so Gneiss! (Photo: Will Atkinson)
It was then to Am Fasgadh and Goat Crag for some Gneiss, sport climbing. Amazing rock, wide open spaces, silver sands, and a brace of high quality routes up to 7c+ make these crags in Gruinard a new addition to my top ten favourite UK climbing locations. In fact it was so good we went back for a day the next weekend en route to Torridon. Props to the locals for all their hard efforts in creating these venues, not least Paul Tattersal.
Who need's Ryanair for bolts and beaches! (Photo: Will Atkinson)
The route highlights for me being the trio of Am Fasgadh 7c's - Black Sox, Primo and Tog Balla, the stunning Goat Crag Prow 7c+ and MacTalla, possibly the best 7a+ I have ever done (!), certainly in the UK if not anywhere. On the return visit, this most recent weekend I even got my wires out and enjoyed myself of Twilo Thunder, which comes in at a very friendly E6.The final piece of the North West odyssey was a trip to Torridon, which already has a justifiably large fan club to which I will now be subscribing. I was accompanied by Dan again, Mikey Jeans and Lukasz Warzecha, who was keen to get photos. Lukasz was truly in luck. The clear starry sky’s would have been a delight in themselves, but the drama of Torridon going up in flames meant he got some truly jaw dropping shots, some of which can be seen on his blog so be sure to check them out. Take note of the one taken as we packed up out tents at 3am when the fire brigade decided it was time to evacuate the campsite!
My phone struggled to handle the shear scale of what unfolded in Torridon: the fires chasing up the hill after midnight.
Sadly the fire tore through the Celtic Jumble, creating an almost lunar landscape and making the ship boulder look even more like the Jawa's vehicle in Star Wars. Prior to the fire, the heat of the day meant that hardcore bouldering wasn't on the menu amongst the Celtic Jumble, however in the shade below Seanna Mhellan, Dan and I were both able to appreciate the stunning problem, The Essence, a 7B+ of the highest order of quality. It was a pleasure to repeat it multiple times for the camera.
Up on Seanna Mhellan, the afternoon conditions were not conducive to trying Dave Mac's Kolus which quite frankly looks like the scariest E8 of its type I have ever seen. The crag is like an amplified Stanage, double, or triple the height and with rock of a far superior quality - yes you read that right. We contented ourselves with a fun little E2 and agreed that Kolus would have to be attempted... err... another time!
NOW - It's Metalcore time!!
0 comments:
Post a Comment