To the Lakes

Today I travelled to the Lakes with George Watson's College for this years week long climbing trip. We were in Keswick by early afternoon and the weather was good. Dalt Quarry was the first crag we visited. This short Slate sports crag has climbs from 3+ to 6C+ and is quick to rig with groups. Folks found this a little hard to climb on at the start due to the style of climbing slate offers. They soon got to grips with it and there were plenty of coaching points through the afternoon. Take your sun cream as it is a bit of a sun trap, with the sun reflecting off the water.

Curved Ridge

Today Colin and Amanda were out on Curved Ridge with Matt. They wanted to look at the differences between grade 1 to grade 3 scrambling ground, so using the approach to highlight these they covered a lot. Matt also took them to the top of Crowberry Tower before going to the summit. A good day was had by all.

Climbing in the Glen

Matt was in Glen Nevis today with Amanda and Colin for an intro to climbing day. Colin has some previous experience but this was Amanda's first outing. They started off with a couple of topropes to get the confidence up, then made quick work of the Gutter on Pine Wall. Right wall and Itch were climbed as well on Styx Buttress which meant they had gone from Diff to VS in one day. Not bad folks. The weather started showery then quickly cleared up to leave good cragging on sunny, dry, midge free rock.

North Buttress

Today Was down to just Tim and Mark, so we went to climb North Buttress on the Buachaille. This 300m modeate is an excellent step up from the grade 3 srambles in the area. We started off with me leading the first few pithches before Tim and Mark took over. The excellent protection on this route makes it a great place to start leading. Despite the showers of rain and hail, this was an excellent way to finish a good week.

Ledge Route

We headed onto the Ben today to put into practise the things we had covered on the previous days. I had a bit of a shock when I had to kick steps for 100m up number 5 before we could even start Ledge Route. Once We Got onto the Ridge proper the Guys took over leading in short section for extra practise. Everyone moved well over the tricky ground before we all finish together up the easy section at the top. A good day by the guys using the skills they covered this week.

Moving to the Fort

After discussion about the aims for the week we have moved to Fort William today. This will give me a bit more of a chance to take the guys skills on in slightly better weather. We went up into the Glen today and continued on from our wet day, placing runners and building belays. There was even the chance to do some climbing and looking at leading. A good day after travelling.

Bunkhouse Bound

The weather has arrived in force today with the rivers looking like they are going to explode so we have opted to take an indoor day. This proved to be a successful day looking at building belays and other basic ropework skills. Underpants are dry today!

Inn Pinn

With the weather due to turn very bad we opted to do the Inn Pinn today. The day started out ok before it started to rain just as we reached the Pinnicle. Despite the weather we managed to take it peak and get back down with only moderatley damp underpants.

On the Cuillin

Today I was on skye with Alan, Tim, Mark, Gordon and Willy. This is the first day of 5 that we have to do as much as we can on the ridge, but the weather may dictated what we can get done.

We headed up Bruach na Frithe to start as the day was reasonabley clear before dropping down to the base of the Lota Collie route. This 300m moderate makes an interesting way to the summit of Am Basteir. We headed over to start Sgurr nan Gillean but time was geting on so we dropped down into the Basteir corrie and out.

Over all a good day out for the guys first on Skye.