When Isi texted me yesterday (while I was out running to the Dam) to ask if I fancied a climb today ‘before all this lovely ice disappears’, the first routes that crossed my mind were The Posse and What’s the Story above Caolasnacon (scene of last Sunday’s misdirected search for ice in the wrong place). So that’s where we went today, although we only had time for the one route in the end… (more…)
10 January 2010
9 January 2010
Buried paths and Abalakov threads
This afternoon, the Ciaran Path to the Blackwater Dam started crisp, delightfully icy and ideal for spiking along at speed before becoming buried by snow, heavy going and almost impossible to follow (too easy to be misled by the deer tracks despite having run it scores of times before) above the frozen lochans. (more…)
6 January 2010
True roadside ice
This afternoon I took a wander up the frozen watercourse spilling from Coire an t-Sionnaich (high on the N flank of Garbh Bheinn) to the bridge above the viaduct at the south-west corner of Kinlochleven. While this is unnamed even on the OS and Harvey 1:25,000 maps, I’d take a fair guess at Allt Coire an t-Sionnaich, but please don’t quote me on that in case I’m wrong! (more…)
4 January 2010
An Steall Ban
This evening I climbed An Steall Ban (more commonly, but quite incorrectly, known as Steall Falls) with Chuck. And, while this stunning (but rarely frozen) 120m Grade III cascade has been both climbable and popular for the past five days or so, it’s looking like we might have got to it just in time. (more…)
2 January 2010
Running on a patchwork quilt
Today, frustrated in my attempts to land a partner to climb the frozen Steall Falls, I took a run along the road to Caolasnacon to look at another fair-sized cascade I’d been told could give good sport before looping round the back of Garbh Bheinn and down to join the Penstock track at the ‘wee’ dam. (more…)
25 October 2009
Clippers and grip rests for DMM Flys
Just got back from a soggy trip to Aberdeen, it’s monstrously wet in Lochaber and I’m not going anywhere near the hills despite the apparent ‘waste’ of my last day of holiday. So I’m stuck inside passing the time, but did promise to photograph my ice axes for someone when I got back and thought I’d take this opportunity to describe the modifications I made last year. (more…)
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13 October 2009
North-west hot aches
Back last night from a quick trip north-west (planned on some expectation of a wet Sunday and dry Monday) with Jamie B and Dan from The Ice Factor. Which predictably brought us both wet, claggy Sunday hillwalking and damper-than-hoped Monday climbing… (more…)
4 October 2009
Running on neglected hills
Despite desperately craving some good outdoor activity, yesterday was so foul that I had no hesitation in agreeing to climb indoors at The Ice Factor with Stevie Abbott. And I managed a good two hours of sensibly-chosen routes without making my fingers obviously worse. (more…)
24 September 2009
Yes, I have arthritic fingers!
Some more trouble with my aching and increasingly strange-looking fingers (see July’s Upside-down post) and I’m thinking maybe it’s time to seek a professional opinion. So I took them to Chris Ellis today, with the result being confirmation of my suspicion that they’re getting arthritic. (more…)
20 September 2009
The Torridon ‘Meet’
With the thoroughly deserved but all-too-short little Indian summer that followed weeks of rain looking like it might just last into this weekend, switching the Polldubh Club‘s second weekend meet from some lowland outcrops to the stunning north-west setting of Torridon seemed like a good bet. But the weather was already on the turn, and only Johnny MacLeod, Ed & Rona Grindley and I made it north in the end. (more…)