The Long Game at Laggan.

Day 1 - Grey and breezy. Went to Laggan 1, had a ruckus with the farmer (thankfully resolved), drove to Laggan 2 but so disillusioned I didn't even walk in.

Day 2 - Bright and snowy. Got to the bloc, the top was covered in snow and I couldn't even get up the downclimb to clean it. Worked out all the moves, got on the upper arete but hands to numb to hang on.

Day 3 - Grey and still. Got to the bloc, got on top of the bloc, cleaned the upper arete. Kinda claggy day and greased off top arete twice. Not wise.

Day 4 - Forecast breezy and sunny. Drove to Dalwhinnie. Breezy and....heavy cloud and horizontal sleet.

Day 5 - Bright and crisp. Tore tiny flapper in left finger and large blood blister in right thumb. But discovered that it's a lot easier to climb on clean dry rock that's not covered in snow or condensation....

But THIS was worth the effort:

One of the best problems in the UK...

Remember what I was saying about:

"Climbing some totally brilliant problem with great moves up a natural line in beautiful wild surroundings and wondering why the fucking hell no-one else puts the effort into travelling a bit further from Dumby / Porty to actually climb these damn things and it's left for some outsider who isn't local, nor a long-term resident nor even a fucking boulderer to actually get out and do them??"

 

Well that's what I was talking about :).

As a bonus, here's the flipside of Scottish bouldering: Dodgy eliminate with arbitrary positions and boring grade debate. But hey it was a fun problem in it's own right:

Chop chop.