Hills and Crags

Well we did the next Munro on the list, a fairly direct assault on Ben Klibreck. A lot of trudging through grass and heather following the route from the SMC guidebook.

Not trail until you gain the ridge where you get a bit of a breather and nice views.

Then come the boulders and the mad dutchman.

No views at the top where the cloud was refusing to blow off.

This week we had another nice evening at Pinnacle Crag where I led some V Diffs and Sol and Molly took turns seconding.

We also did the chimney which Sol really enjoyed especially when he found a good way of climbing it. Molly went for a different technique.

We then re-visited Tapered Groove and did a better job leading-seconding than we did top roping.

The sun just kept shining as Sol seconded.

And Molly found a wee friend.

Another Nice Day

Hope we are going to get some payback after suffering a nasty winter. Yesterday was really nice. Despite a local road closure preventing me from doing a 50 mile cycle it still turned out great.

I was caught out last week on my 50 miler when I arrived at the bottom of thee climb up Struie Hill only to see a sign stating that the road was closed for roadworks. I has to go back the way I had come into a nasty headwind.

I went on a much shorter route instead.

I call it the Kildary Loop. It's 36 Km and took me 76 minutes.
The weather was nice, NO WIND.

Later I decided I would pick the kids up from school and go straight up to Pinnacle Crag. We were not alone at the crag, whilst rigging up a top rope I was surprised to see a head bob up as someone topped out beside me soloing !

Here's a pic of some others doing Pinnacle Chimney.

The kids climbed a couple of routes and then Sol had a go at belaying me.

Happy with Sol's belaying ability and having found a suitable ground anchor, I decided to lead my first climb, Broken Groove graded Moderate :) Ach well you've got to start somewhere.

And Sol seconded as Molly took the photos.

What a great day. Oh the wife eventually turned up in a dress and sandals !!

Decent Weekend

Just shook off the cold I got on holiday for a week and then got another one which I passed on to my workmates, sorry Paul and Albert :(

Friday: managed a wee run for the first time in a few weeks.

Saturday: Met up with Basher and Norma on Saturday and had a nice wee walk up Ben Hope.

Looking towards Durness and Cape Wrath

Which had a cheeky wee bit of snow up top.

Hey your not at the top until you are at the highest point.

Nice walk, good company and decent weather.

Sunday: We went back to Pinnacle Crag and climbed another two routes.

We were just setting up for the climb in the chimney when we got drenched in a heavy rain / hail stone shower and so retreated back down to the car.
Need another day to do the severe graded routes and then we will try longer routes.

Working Out Routes: Pinnacle Crag

Yesterday was a first for me although it reminded me of planning a weekends hillwalking from a few years ago. I wanted to sort out our first outdoor climb. I started on the UK Climbing website  forum and asked about decent top roping locations nearby.
I then purchased Highland Outcrops and 'studied the form' looking for locations with some easier graded climbs.

 Pinnacle Crag near Loch Duntelchaig fitted the bill. Yesterday I went on a reccy just to make sure of decent anchor points at the top. I then took several photos including these two:

Which I then had to do some work on. I consulted the guidebook and had to work out the routes from the descriptions given. It was my first time doing this and it was really interesting. Unlike some route guides I have seen I didn't go the whole hog and draw dotted lines up the crag. I may do this when I have climbed them and worked out exactly where the lines should go !
I then 'stitched' the two pictures together using Hugin. Here is the result.

 
I must admit that on first inspection it looked quite difficult, but when reading the guide the routes seem to appear out of the rock. Time will tell if this is the case :) I personally want to try number six which is called Tapered Groove and graded Very Difficult in British Trad Grading,

Here itis on the right of this photo:

 There was a decent amount of boulders at the top for anchors and further back someone had planted a stake. Hope the weather is good at the weekend.

Climbing

The kids went climbing at Extreme Dream a few years ago and enjoyed it so we always expected to give it another go one day. Finally last October I decided to do an induction course at Extreme Dream to learn how to belay.

We then used out Highlife Cards ( a monthly payment to the council ) at the Inverness Leisure Centre and used their indoor climbing wall and bouldering facilities.

Before going away to Gran Canaria at Christmas we visited EICA the worlds largest indoor climbing arena.

 Oh boy is it big, and cold. We were there just when the cold weather was really taking hold in scotland and we bought those wee hand warmers in the Tiso shop !

The big boulders were off limits awaiting new crash mats, but the 30m tower was there beckoning the unweary, I declined.

Oh, we had also had a look at Tom Riach but it was far too cold wet and mossy.

We have just completed our most audacious expedition, a visit to the Ruthven boulder south of Inverness. We actually stopped in Tiso Inverness on the way down to buy the excellent stone country guidebook.

We didn't get the sun which was forecast, but we were ready to give it a go.

After a warm up on the 'Baby Bunnet' we moved over to the Bunnet Stane proper. After checking the guidebook we totally disregarded it and just mucked about trying out everything all the way around.

 This is Sol trying to find somewhere to put his fett under 'Barry Manilow'.

 Molly having a go.

 And me getting into a knot !

 Sol laying back but not relaxing :)

 I did have several goes at a traverse, but only because there were nice big hand holds.

It was good crack, but wet and cold. As the drizzle grew heavier we decided to make our escape.

 After one or two more wee goes that is.

 Bye now !

Latest Ski Trip: Montgenevre, France

Things didn't start well. After staying the night in Glasgow we woke to find the flight was delayed 6 hours. After boarding the plane and taxiing we were disembarked due to a faulty starter motor in the left engine !

The new part had to be flown up from London so our delay became 13 hours.

Those attending Ski School missed the first lesson due to the lateness of our arrival at the Chalet.

 Montgenevre is part of the 'Milky Way' area which includes resorts in Italy, several of the group skid over the border on at least one occasion.

Meanwhile, back to the script. We surfaced mid morning on the Monday and made for the top of the resort. Skiing and Boarding Greens Blues and Reds in the first two hours, there may have been runs on Blacks at this early stage but not not by me.

The chatty ones amongst us ( everyone but me ) got aquainted with the other guests in the chalet.

Now here's my challenge, I am going to try to name everyone.
From Left Clockwise:
Fiona, Leslie, Dave (John), Muzz, Karen, Molly, Hollie, Sol, Henry, Kerry, Gareth, Clair, Gavin, Saunders (hiding), Jean, Julia.
It would turn out that we were of varied experience and discipline which lended itself to various smaller group matchups and outings.

The weather was very cold on Tuesday and we had fresh snow.

 Molly had a bad time of it and ended up in the medical centre for checks, she felt a lot better later on :)

We had lovely weather for the rest of the week. There seemed to be an endless supply of runs and loads of off-piste for those who wanted it. Myself and at least one boarder were not too keen on the metre deep powder in the woods.

OK, just to be fair here is one of Jean in a more appropriate boarding position.

I didn't attend any lessons on this trip and failed miserably to emulate the skill shown by Fiona.

Or the seemingly effortless skill, technique and sheer speed of John.

The above photo was taken at the bottom of what was prbably my favourite run, on Le Chalvet.

Oh I did do some Blacks but didn't find them as much fun as the reds as I actually went down them slower !

The wife and kids benefitted from taking lessons and showed considerable improvement. The wife vowing to go Red or Dead on the next trip :)

All that exercise, mountain air and cheap wine took their toll... ...and so it was time for us to leave old Monty.

We all enjoyed it.

And I had a sore throat by the end of the week from all the chatting.