Petestack Blog

19 February 2011

WML Assessment

Filed under: Climbing,Walking — admin @ 10:35 am

To get straight to the point, I’m back from Glenmore Lodge (as I posted on Facebook last night) ‘relieved beyond measure to be home with a WML pass when I thought I’d maybe blown it!’

It was a gruelling five days… physically OK for a fit guy (although Thursday’s post-holing round of Loch Avon, ‘all the zeros’ et al. was tough with just a litre flask of melted snow to drink), but mentally one of the most tortuous and demanding weeks I can remember. No photos because I took no camera when even thoughts of using it would likely have impaired my concentration, but you’d be looking at some stunning scenery from that one stunning day if I had. No Northern Lights seen from our snow-hole site NE of 1082 (above Stac an Fharaidh) either because the brilliant moonlight quickly turned to total clag after we got back there, but at least that let us turn in ready for an early final-day start without feeling we were missing the show. Have to say I made enough mistakes to keep me worrying (doesn’t everyone?), but know I also got some things spot on (my best moment being declining to take my group up a suspect slope to ‘all the zeros’ that the other group had descended maybe half an hour earlier and my assessor agreeing with me!), so believe the happy final outcome reported here to have been in the balance up till the ‘bitter’ (nay, sweet!) end. But that doesn’t matter now, even if I’m feeling something of an impostor staring at a pass certificate stating that ‘the candidate fulfilled the requirements of the syllabus and demonstrated the technical and leadership competence to lead and supervise groups hill walking the mountain areas of the UK in winter conditions.’

Must just sign off by thanking various Lochaber people (notably Mike Pescod, Kenny Grant and Jamie Bankhead) for help along the way and say how nice it is to keep meeting my previous Glenmore Lodge instructors (some of whom I’ve not worked with for years) and finding them not only remembering me (though some might say I’m hard to forget!) but interested to know how I’m doing and wishing me well. It’s a very special place and I’ve made many friends there! :-)

is relieved beyond measure to be home with a WML pass when he thought he’d maybe blown it! :-)

6 February 2011

Final WML preparations?

Filed under: Climbing,Walking — admin @ 9:58 pm

Yesterday I was out with Kenny Grant on breezy, icy Cairngorm ground to go through as much of the WML syllabus as we could. So we headed up by Coire an t-Sneachda and the slope left (north-east) of the Mess of Pottage before continuing over 1176 towards Cairn Lochan to make a tricky descent into Coire an Lochain, dealing with realistic scenarios for rope work, anchors and security on steep ground along the way. And what a contrast to my ‘soft-snow’ training week on much of the same ground, with the unforgiving scoured slopes and vicious wind contributing no end to the technicality of an otherwise bright and pleasant day, and Kenny no doubt glad of his brand new crampons as well as greater experience where I was struggling to flat foot in places with my not exactly blunt older pair! A most worthwhile day, with hiring your very own personal instructor absolutely the way to go when you want to cover your very own personal agenda, and Kenny striking just the right balance between making me think for myself, offering useful feedback and dropping in some great little tips (including a nifty variation of the stomper he got from Alan Kimber). So it might still have been tricky to identify a safe site to practise self-arrest in the conditions, but we managed to find a slope with just about enough length in less than rock-hard snow before Coire an Lochain levelled into self-braking terrain, only for me to promptly start decorating it with a red polka dot pattern by taking a Glasgow kiss from the icy surface when boldly attempting to drop into a slide from an almost standing position (NB don’t try that on assessment)! However, all’s well that ends well and some minutes later (with nose bleed staunched) we were able to continue with a pretty thorough look at my own arresting in conjunction with teaching points for ‘skills’ days.

Spent much of today on my WML home paper before heading out for a late-afternoon run up the Lairig Mor. Which leaves just next weekend for any last-minute practice but, with a ticket for Saturday night at the Fort William Mountain Festival and a planned arrival at Glenmore Lodge on Sunday, I’d be looking at a short day (or days) if I do go out. So maybe time to recognise that I’ve done what I can, am as ready as I’m going to be and (short of looking up books and slowing up a couple of evening trail runs to try yet more pacing) heading up for better or for worse as I am now! :-)

29 January 2011

Glen Coe gully fest

Filed under: Climbing — admin @ 11:20 pm

Needing to head high for something suitably snowy to do with lack of the white stuff ruling out a half-planned Torridon weekend, some Friday-night consideration of a Nevis easy gully fest with further WML practice soon gave way to thoughts of a similar excursion up Bidean nam Bian and Stob Coire nan Lochan. So that’s what I set out for today, starting with Central Gully on Bidean by both of its variants (right-to-left at Grade I and left-to-right at Grade II), descending from the bealach before the West Top between the two. And both were good, with the Grade I line straightforward but unforgiving on iron-hard neve, but an awkwardly committing rock step (which I’m guessing might sometimes bank out) low down on the Grade II version making this briefly good value for the grade. A pity the mist didn’t clear for me to take a shot looking back down the gully to Collie’s Pinnacle (seen between the ‘Diamond’ and ‘Church Door’ buttresses in the first pic below) because that’s really quite an attractive feature of an atmospheric wee route, but the sun was breaking through brightly as I made my way over to Stob Coire nan Lochan (fourth pic).

Now it might not be far from Bidean to Stob Coire nan Lochan, but the latter is clearly getting so much more climbing traffic that the easy routes are completely stepped out where Bidean’s were pristine and I’d say both Broad (my descent at barely I) and NC Gullies (nominally I/II, but feeling like easy I) were very much easier today than either variant of Central Gully, with the II on Bidean being the only thing I got out my second (‘just in case’) axe for. And many, many routes were getting done on SCNL, with a team (Simon and Charlie?) I’d already spied on the first pitch of Crest Route tackling the second as I made my way down past them towards Aonach Dubh. So I stopped to watch, take photos and practise digging bucket seats and bollards before leaving (just after Gillian and team, who’d done a lean-looking SC) with a descent back to Achnambeithach by Dinnertime Buttress in mind. Which looked OK (as in below the snowline), but proved quite awkward in the end with some icing in the crucial chimney/crack thing down the rock band leaving limited options for feet after removing my crampons on the summit of Aonach Dubh. So don’t think I’d recommend it as a winter descent, although I was rewarded in this case by the Aonach Eagach briefly lit up to a stunning red glow as I made my way down the easier lower slopes.

23 January 2011

Hills worth getting back to

Filed under: Climbing,Walking — admin @ 9:34 pm

Trying just to knock up a quick (?) weekend report to accompany some photos here, so afraid what you see is what you get…

Spent yesterday on Sgor na h-Ulaidh because it’s local (but one of the very few local hills I’d only done once before) and I was struggling to get myself up to head off any further after running two hours a night from Tuesday to Friday! So settled for the short drive, took the scenic route via Aonach Dubh a’ Ghlinne and Stob an Fhuarain and thought the clouds from the temperature inversion stretching away down to Mull prettier than the ones that kept blowing in to blot out the sun. No snow low down but some good, crisp stuff on the ridge, an awkward, icy descent down steep, broken ground to finish and thoughts of returning for Red Gully (III) sometime when the lower pitches are looking a bit fatter.

Now, today’s visit to Creag Meagaidh might only have been my fourth, but they’ve all been quite productive with the first (many, many years ago) giving me my first taste of technical ice climbing, the third bringing my first Grade V (The Wand) and every Munro and Top of the massif bagged between the second and fourth. But it’s such a fabulous venue (with Coire Ardair boasting some of the mightiest cliffs in the country, an atmosphere all its own and a comparatively easy walk in) that four is still way too few and I found myself musing today that I might be falling in love with the place! So today’s trip took me to the summit by Raeburn’s Gully (chosen to get close to the harder gully lines of Smith’s and Ritchie’s as well as being a fine Grade 1 trip to the plateau in its own right), then round the south-western tops of An Cearcallach, Meall Coire Choille-rais, Puist Coire Ardair, Creag Mhor and Sron a’ Choire (requiring some proper whiteout navigation at times, on which note I’ve yet to find myself on that plateau when I could see!). And I’m guessing Raeburn’s was in as good, safe shape as it gets, having already deposited much of its former self as avalanche debris below and the remaining snow so nice (with great, kicked steps leading most of the way up) that my axe and crampons seemed largely precautionary until presented with a slightly icier top-out. Saw some activity on the way with a team clearing snow from the first pitch of Smith’s and noted that the entry pitch to Ritchie’s looks just as steep (at good value for IV?) as all the photos I’ve seen, but the most spectacular sights were probably the cracked-ice mosaic on the lochan below and the huge, impressive umbrella/canopy of thick, blue ice on the gully’s west wall above Ritchie’s. ‘Twas a proper pea-souper on top of Meagaidh, with some welcome visibility returning as I made my way back from An Cearcallach to take the sting out of traversing the Coire Choille-rais rim (massive cornices on the south-west side!) but the veil never lifting from the reigning peak (which seems to attract it like glue).

Took the GPS to record my track and double-check any really gnarly completed nav. legs to be sure I was starting the next from where I thought I’d got to, but nearly forgot to switch it on (see map, 1) and know it got confused in my rucksack pocket when it lost signal coming up Raeburn’s (map, 2).

9 January 2011

Lurcher’s Crag and Kahtoola KTS Steel review

Filed under: Climbing,Running — admin @ 11:56 pm

Sometimes when you want to go climbing and most of your traditional playgrounds are laden with unstable snow, it pays to think outside the box. Which is why (attracted by the prospect of carefree ice climbing on a sunny west face) Jamie B, Jay, Isi, Lorraine and I headed east on Friday to Lurcher’s Crag at the northern end of the Lairig Ghru. Now of course we weren’t the only ones to think of that, meaning that the starting pitches of the most obvious lines were already occupied by the time we got there. So Jamie and Jay joined the queue for ‘Central Gully’ (which I thought was North Gully), Isi, Lorraine and I backtracked to ‘North Gully’ (which I thought was an unnamed icefall), and we all went climbing. And our ‘gully’ was good, with an opening pitch at quite a meaty III followed by a pitch of I (if that) and another of II/III (avoidable at approx. I/II if you wanted) before turning into a walk to the top and quick diversion for me to bag the Munro Top of Creag an Leth-Choin. So the girls might tell you (in jest) that I was hogging the lead (what, with all that brittle, ‘dinner-plating’ ice?), but I swear I spent the whole climb trying to give it away! And we still weren’t sure what we’d climbed despite a positive ID (which should have put the issue beyond doubt) for the neighbouring line of The Shepherd until we belatedly discovered this wee paragraph hiding at the start of the route list in the guide:

Two fine icefalls of about Grade III standard have been climbed at the northern end of the cliff. These form in shallow gullies which can bank out under heavy snow. They are left of the following route [The Shepherd].

So we climbed one of the ‘fine icefalls’, Jamie and Jay did North Gully and a good time was had by all! With thanks to Isi for these photos (all slightly adjusted/cropped by me)…

And so to the Kahtoola KTS Steel crampons, which I’ve had my eye on since last year’s running crampon review, finally ordered last week, got yesterday and took out to play on a round of the Meall a’ Bhuiridh/Creise group today. Now, while I still find MICROspikes great on ground where you can place your feet relatively flat, they’re simply not so happy when pushed on steeper gradients where you can’t. Which isn’t totally surprising when things are going to move on slopes with anything that doesn’t locate positively to the sides of the shoes, although the Canadian Hillsound Trail Crampons (which I’m also keen to try when I can get hold of some) look like stretching the elastomer harness concept a little further by grouping their spikes onto two main plates rather than splitting them into five separate pairs.

So do the KTS crampons outperform the MICROspikes on true hill ground? Well, in a word (while maybe still not perfect), yes. They’re more of a true crampon (albeit a very light 10-point design), locate properly to the sides of your shoes and don’t move about on your feet. The strap system might seem fiddly for one-off adjustment to your shoes, but looks really quite quick and simple once that’s done… although you might need (as I did) to knock out any ice getting into the quick release buckles for the ankle straps before you can clip them up and it’s probably worth hot-knifing away any excessive lengths of spare strap (plenty provided for a range of footwear types and sizes) instead of fiddling with the rubber keepers once you’re sure you’ve got enough for your chunkiest shoes. They’re obviously not front-pointing crampons for front-pointing footwear, but flat-foot well even on icy gradients (NB I still cut a few steps in the steepest places) and still really let you run while feeling considerably more secure than MICROspikes on the hill. While the toe straps and front plates stayed really secure all day (counter-intuitive tip for those used to more conventional crampons = raise your toes and pull the crampons down onto them!), I managed to knock the right heel plate sideways a couple of times on my final descent and maybe still need to experiment some more with the fitting there (guessing it must be secure enough if Lhakpa Gelu Sherpa wore Kahtoola KTS for his 10:56:46 speed climb of Everest!). And that’s pretty well all I’ve got to say about them right now, although I should just add that 1. I’ve got the anti-balling plates but purposefully didn’t fit them for my first test and 2. (re. map below) I backtracked from Sron na Creise after some prospecting of scary situations suggested I wasn’t going to find a sensible route down this steep, rocky ridge (a pleasant ascent in summer but graded ground in winter) in trail shoes with 10-point crampons.

5 January 2011

Knee-deep on Beinn a’ Chaorainn

Filed under: Climbing — admin @ 8:56 pm

Thought the East Ridge of Beinn a’ Chaorainn (a ‘fine 300m Grade II scramble’) looked like a good choice for today with fresh snow loading things up and any gullies that might have attracted me for a solo mountaineering day likely avalanche traps, but really can’t remember when I last found so much deep snow on a ridge! So, OK, it was rarely over knee-deep except in drifts, but so consistently soft at that (the photos just don’t do it justice) that much excavation was needed on the steeper steps to work out what (if anything) I was trying to stand on. Which varied between flat rock (good), steep rock (not so good when you can’t see it properly), some harder snow (OK), turfy steps (good) and short cuts to Australia (no, just made that one up to stress the ‘lucky dip’ character of it all!), but contributed no end to a hard-working ‘short’ day at good value for a ‘scramble’. Nice little snow apexes up much of the ridge too, honed to a sharp angle but not actually corniced on either side. And a near-whiteout on top for some navigation practice to get off again. So maybe a perfect day given current needs?

4 January 2011

‘Working’ with the pros

Filed under: Climbing,Walking — admin @ 12:44 pm

Had a great day yesterday with Abacus Mountaineering shadowing Mike Pescod and Kenny Grant teaching winter skills to a Warwick University group on Cairn Gorm. Impressed by how much the guys managed to cover at a pace that stayed geared towards relaxed practice (seeing good retention here), and grateful to both instructors and students (some great smiles coming off the hill!) for letting me tag along. Still plenty to keep practising myself for February’s WML assessment, but it’s been both helpful and inspiring to see these guys at work and I’ve booked Kenny for a day to go through all my skills just before the assessment.

To the Warwick party we worked with (sending you some thoughts by telepathy?), I’d say Mike and Kenny have given you a great start there, so enjoy the rest of your week, keep practising and applying the skills, and stay safe! :-)

6 December 2010

First route of the season…

Filed under: Climbing — admin @ 5:55 pm

And (despite others having been out with the axes and crampons for weeks now) it’s early for me! Yesterday I climbed the splendid Raeburn’s Route (IV,4) on Stob Coire nan Lochan with Johnny MacLeod, thus completing the classic trilogy of the venue (the others being Twisting Gully and SC Gully, which I did in January and February this year). But, although Raeburn’s was possibly harder and certainly more sustained than we expected (NB it’s easily the hardest of the three), our day out doesn’t begin to compare with the fantastic effort of Donald King and Andy Nelson in completing the neighbouring Satyr at a giddy IX,9…

The crag was in great condition despite a fair covering of the kind of soft snow that just doesn’t take axe picks, and there were other teams enjoying a variety of routes including Crest Route, Twisting Gully and Dorsal Arete. Stunning (clear, snowy, sunny) prospects of the surrounding hills, too, although both the road and the pitched stone path to get there were compromised by an evil icy glaze after Saturday evening thaw and harsh overnight refreeze. Then heavy snow last night, with the Kinlochleven schools closed (first snow closure of the season here) and a thought-provoking half-hour drive to Glencoe Primary (normally possible in about 10 minutes) this morning!

28 November 2010

Hidden gem of the other Garbh Bheinn

Filed under: Climbing,Running — admin @ 6:56 pm

Talk about Garbh Bheinn in this area and most climbers will think of the great Ardgour rock peak despite there being another fine Corbett of that name sitting right above the village and blocking out the light! And that’s where I ran this afternoon after (wisely, from the reports coming in of folk getting stuck left, right and centre) shelving plans to go hill running elsewhere.

Took the ENE ridge (an option I can’t recall taking before) from the Penstock track, with a light covering of soft snow intermittently giving way to crustier slab and deeper driftlets and the bitter wind enough to send me scurrying down Coire an t-Sionnaich without stopping long on top. And here I took the chance to take a good look at the upper reaches of the Allt Coire an t-Sionnaich (scene of January’s true roadside ice episode), noting further climbing potential with two more major icefalls above the ‘cauldron’ and being horrified by the appearance of my right-wall ‘escape’ from this (really not soloing ground at all)! So there might be some long stretches of avoidable easy ground between the good little roadside pitches and the three bigger falls higher up (sitting in the 400/500m area and already more-or-less formed if not yet solidly enough for climbing) but, when it all freezes up, these are going to stretch an interesting little expedition (where else can you start your ice climbing from under the road?) into something rather more substantial with the best bits (thinking rope, screws and partner here!) at the top.

16 October 2010

Tour of Tractorland

Filed under: Climbing,Cycling,Walking — admin @ 2:10 pm

Just back from a wee trip east with Jamie B, with some contrasting climbing at Dunkeld and Ley Quarry sandwiching an ascent of eastmost Munro Mount Keen…

Stopped off at Polney Crag on Thursday to climb Kestrel Crack (Severe), Consolation Corner (V Diff), an approximation to Beech Wall (HS) compromised by wet streaks (the top corner was dripping) and the steeply delightful little gem of Ivy Crack (VS), which I fortunately managed to lead quite nicely under the scrutiny of Graeme Watson and partner, who’d done it just before we got to it.

Next stop Mount Keen, but how to get there when it wasn’t our originally-planned hill day, the 28-year-old map we dug out of my glove compartment neither shows the current main road nor extends far enough north and we were looking for the wrong glen? Try just driving round and round Angus in the dark, marvelling at the number of tractors with trailers on the road (yes, it’s prime farming country) and trying to reconcile the signage with the map till the penny drops and you’re heading up the right glen! After which we dossed for the night before cycling up Glen Mark from the Glen Esk road end, stashing the bikes somewhat prematurely above the Ladder Burn when we started to run into a few gravel traps (turns out we could quite easily have taken them most of the way to the summit) and continuing into the mist and chilly breeze by foot.

Quite a few folk making their way up as we got back to a much busier car park by lunchtime with Jamie determined to squeeze some more climbing out of the journey home. So tried phoning my mate Campbell in Kirriemuir re. a guide to/possible company at the quarry there (too recently developed to make North-East Outcrops?), but decided to skip it when he turned out to be heading home from Yorkshire and thought we’d have to go to Dundee to get one. So off to Ley Quarry instead, eventually finding this hole in the ground (which Jamie seemed to quite like!) after a few more little diversions with many more tractors and stopping to play on the few ‘easy’ routes there. Of which Jamie did three and I did one (twice!), repeating the corner of Cat Scratch Fever and finding its innocuous-sounding F4 (a first outdoor bolt route for this sport-climbing sceptic!) pretty well equivalent to full-on, pumpy VS. But all good things come to an end (or maybe all holes in the ground come to a good end?) and we were back on the road not too much later and home by a pretty reasonable 8:30pm.

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Blog powered by WordPress. Feedback to webmaster@petestack.com.