The Camel

Today Donald, Ewan and I headed East in search of dry rock. As it was showering most of the day we opted for a crag which was both overhanging and dry. We arrived at The Camel. At the crag we were joined by Blair Fyffe and Gaz who had been here before and Blair was working one of the harder routes after warming up on some of the easier ones. We started off on The Stone of Destiny F6c+, followed by Paralysis by Analysis F7a+, Inverarnie Schwarzenegger F7a and finished on Final Straw F7a. The crag is hard conglomerate which is quite exciting to climb on, it's like stones concreted onto the face, sometimes unsure if the pebble your pulling on is going to hold.

North Buttress

Today I was with a returning client for the Ice Factor, Steve and I climbed North Buttress on the Buachaille. Steve has already done Curved Ridge and fancied something a little harder. His aim is to get onto Tower Ridge, however he did feel fit for it today. The weather forecast was pretty accurate with scattered showers through the day, however the rain clouds never really went above us. We had the whole route to ourselves, didn't see anyone on Curved Ridge and only bumped into a couple of walkers as we headed back down. A great day out with pretty reasonable weather. There was a very cold wind though!

A break in the rain

Over the last couple of wet weeks, I have only really been getting out on my mountain bike up at Nevis Range and around Kinlochleven and climbing at the wall. Yesterday we had a clear sunny day so Kenny and I headed up to Tunnel Wall to get pumped stupid! We climbed Uncertain Emotions (F7b), unfortunately I was unable to link all the moves due to a power loss in my forearms. A great route and definitely worth getting back on and working. The midgies are still here in force! Why did I wear shorts again . . .?!

Ledge Route

Today, first time mountaineer Andy and second time mountaineer Emma and I went up Ledge Route. We found the day to be very wet as predicted and visibility very low with a very low cloud base. Lots of people on the summit, as well as a couple of kitted out walkers, mainly people without a clue though! Since I was last up there is a huge ammount of rubbish left around the summit, come on, do your bit, take it home with you!

North Buttress

Today I went up North Buttress with Gordon. He had never scrambled on graded ground so this was a real eye opener for him. We had the route to ourselves, but bumped into several people who had been up Curved Ridge and also several walkers out for a bit of bagging action. The cloud obscured any views of the day so we didn't hang around and got up and down in 3.5 hours and picked Sam up from the Kingshouse.

Caithness in the sun!

Today Karl, Al and I headed to the North East coast (where the weather was nice) for a days cragging. We were at Latheronwheel in Caithness, a crag we haven't visited before. It was wet at first but dried very quickly as he showers stopped and the sun came out. We climbed 11 routes ranging from severe to E2, the rock was very good, some small flakes broke off here and there but nothing worth writing home about! The crag is either vertical or slightly over hanging which makes the short routes quite sporting. No one else at the crag other than a couple of seals watching from the sea as Al's forearms could hold no more . . .