Ardvorlich Action.

Albeit action of an easy pottering kind - all I'm suited for at the moment, and the right path of action to work back to some sort of climbing confidence.


Ardvorlich is a sweet wee crag indeed. Two adjacent sheer slabs formed from a hummock that pleasingly shelters them from the nearby road, thus combining easy access with surprising tranquility. I've been inspired to go for a few years, ever since seeing a good cragshot from Magpie (back when she still joined in with climbing), and got there the other day. A brace of sport F6a/+s provided the optimum low level to appease my slothful spirit, and the delicately crinkled schist provided a good reawakening of rock sense after a winter that has perhaps been overly-focused on TCA training. I left a few routes to go back for (albeit ones that will need trad gear or pre-placed slings to bypass the sporadic but utterly ludicrous death bolting that spoils a couple of routes).


Actually I think there is no "perhaps" about over-training. My elbows are tweaky again, this time particularly the right one. I haven't been as worried as I should be about this, and am now just about realising the potential for catastrophic suckage this could be entail. Last time it ruined my 2008 summer, and this time, although I have recently upped my training and general levels of activity, my climbing and fitness are even more fragile. The one thing I have in my favour is prior knowledge of how to deal with this, and have already started massaging, taping, and eccentric wrist curls. Time to incorporate icing, and hope that an increasing focus on routes, exploration, and fitness training will avoid the worst of injury.

Lacklustre at Ley, Bollox at Barnton, Lazy at Laggan.

Managed to get 3 days out recently...

Ley Quarry: Supposed sun-trap. Windy. Bloody cold. Did a few easier routes. They were nice enough and fairly decent mileage. Dropped one of my shoes in the pool, it's still damp. Tried slightly tricker routes, stopped by ridiculously reaches (F6b+ that is F7a if you can't reach the hold) and cold, sore fingers.

Barnton Quarry: Grim location even by my standards. Almost "so bad it's good" but not quite. The small bits of climbable rock are actually okay. If you literally wore blinkers it could be appealing. We did a couple of trad routes. Hanging around doing trad felt tiring. And committing. Tried another route and pulled a hold off. Possibly dodgy rock rather than shockwaves emenating out from my gigantic wobbling gut.

Laggan Boulders: With the M80 running smooth it's under 2 hours from Glasgow. Very windy, but curiously warm for bouldering. Good lines up there and plenty of potential. Did some easy problems. Tried a harder problem. Felt crap and tired. Decided to sack it off and go to the other boulders. Then got blocked in and in some almighty trouble with the farmer for driving up the track without permission. Eventually somehow negotiated an escape, drove to the other boulders, met some cows, and just couldn't be fucked to walk-in.


I've felt a long way away from where I want to be in my spirit and my climbing this week. Just need to weather it out I think.

2CVS.

Two Climbing Venues...

Craigmore is a okay wee crag for gritstone-style mid-grade trad puntering (if you subtract a star from everything), and an okay wee crag for bouldering. It has a lot of rock but that which isn't tall enough for routes often isn't distinct enough for bouldering, giving lean but sometimes refined pickings. The rock is okay, the landings are okay, and the dank wooded shelter of the crag is a good boon in westerly gales. One such day the other week I snuck out for a couple of hours. The Pine Cone is a pleasant situation as promised, feeling both open to the creeping sunshine and tucked away from the rest of Glasgow. Jamie's Overhang looks quite minor until you actually pull on and realise that it's as burly wee cunt of a problem that is close to it's star rating and highly distant from it's supposed grade:



Other areas I recced:

The Wizard - great line, looks quite easy, proper highball finish, pretty classic.
Wizard SS - lowball start into the above but actually looks alright.
Wide Eyed - odd eliminate, not sure where it goes and what it uses, not super inspiring.
Terror SS - good line, SS is a bit of a non-move wonder but could be fun, good name.
Andy's Arete - another lowball sitter but another decent-looking problem - looks especially interesting as it's covered in useless holds above a good landing.

So that's somewhere to keep in mind next time the Atlantic winds are howling through the city.

~¤§¤~

Clifton is a nice wee crag for gritstone-style mid-grade trad puntering, but a strange crag for bouldering. And by "strange" I mean "bollox". I get the distinct impression that it was only included in the guide because it really really should have some decent bouldering even if it actually doesn't. Beneath the crag is an toppled jumble of extensive granite blocks, whose landings and surroundings rarely make extensive granite blocs. If these otherwise promising stones were airlifted out of the boulderfield and dropped on flat ground at appealingly jaunty angles, there could be some truly delightful problems. As it is all the problems are conceptually good but invariably flawed to the point of irrelevance...

Knife Party - grubby arseball, is the crux keeping off the ground or keeping off the crowding prop boulder?
Study Break - non-move wonder with the tiniest floor-space to start off.
Trauma - at least has a line (or a few), and some length, in fact all it is missing is any form of landing....unless you think Porth Ysgo landings are a bit too toddler friendly.
Wall Problem - again an acceptable bit of rock that is cramped by a prop boulder that must be negotiated more than the actual line.
Paul's Dyno - nasty sandbag above brambles and blocks, with the bewildering recommendation of ignoring the clean direct finish and tackling a lip traverse added on for the sole purpose of maximising moss above a degenerating landing zone.
Zillion Dollar Sadist - a ludicrous "problem" which is pretty much a slanting chimney eliminating the sensible choice of lying down on the boulder beneath you.

So balls to that. I put my shoes on, touched the starting holds of Paul's Dyno, took them off, and went to have a look at Sandyhills. I walked onto the beach, got to the shore, and the tide raced in almost as quick as I escaped. I left...

Southside DAWG, keeping it REAL.

Whatever. I've heard American gangsta-speak used in bouldering winds up po-faced miserable Brits, so that's as good a reason as any. Anyway...

~¤§¤~

New problems on Glen Nevis Southside:

(NB Blogspot might do that shit-awful slideshow thing - to see fullsize map, right click and open in new window).

Described from NE to SW, from the Weir Crossing. New problems in bold, established problems in not-bold.

Tim's Arete
(aka Evening Boulder aka Finch Boulder)
Squirrel Groove V2 5c *** (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
SS tiny corner to crimps, gain slim groove on left and pull onto slab via ripples.
Black Orc V6 6b *** (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS tiny corner to crimps, gain bulging nose, palm to apex and barbaric topout.
Bear Island V3 5c
Bear Rib - V3 5c * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS just right of Bear Island, pull up to arete pinch and hidden crimp, gain top on left and rock rightwards.
Finch Arete - V1 5b * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
Obvious arete L of Finch Attack from a standing start.
Finch Attack V4 6a
Punch And Judy Man V8 6c
Tim's Arete V5 6b
Wee Wall V1 5c (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
On right of high face, link good shelf to good shelf via a crimp, escape R.
unnamed 3b
unnamed 3c
unnamed 3a

The Rocking Stone
Unnamed 5a
Unnamed SS V2 5c (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
SS as below but gain groove instead.
Thousand Year Egg V4 6b ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
SS on big sidepull, pull up to distant ripple then to higher seam on faint nose, rock onto ripple (no crimp in groove).
Rocking Stone Slab V2 5c
Squirrel Rib RHS V3 6a (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
SS RHS of arete with RH sidepull, slap up arete and stand delicately up using micro-ripple on slab.
Squirrel Rib LHS V2 6a * (FA Hazel Robson Nov 2011)
LHS of arete using good sidepull for left and slopey arete for right to good finishing holds.

Mole stones:
First Stone
unnamed 4c
The Art Of Shredding V2 6a * (FA Fiend Feb 2012)
SS down and left using arete and crimp, grind up blunt rib.
unnamed 5a
unnamed 5a

Flying Roof / Boothill Roof
(huge roof hidden behind Slug)
Flying Fiend V4 6a ** (FA Fiend Nov 2011)
Left side of roof. SS at obvious flat holds, pull up and use roof crimps to gain lip, swing rightwards to rockover finish.
Flying Roof V5 6c
Sheep Skull V2 5c

~¤§¤~

A few things to note:

• The weir crossing (wellies needed) makes it a 5 minute walk. If it is too high then the alternative is 20 mins up from Whale Rock parking.


• Most landings are flat and very good! A few are boggy but only a couple are rocky.


• There are LOADS of very easy / trivial problems, all described in Glen Nevis bouldering.


• The rock is great and super-rough in places. Much more like gabbro than the flakey horrors of Dunkeld.


• I'm not sure how quick it dries - it doesn't get any sun in winter, but it's quite open and there isn't any drainage.

Gibbage 6.

The final day in a tidying up loose ends and finishing stuff off sort of way. The forecast was for cloud, it was glorious again, despite storm clouds over the hills providing a scenic backdrop. I still felt like utter shit with my gayflu. Bored of that. But there was plenty to get on with. We "warmed up" sliding off heinous micro-slabs: F6c and F7b that were more like that in British tech grades. The rock was cool but the sun was warm and needless to say our toll in skin and rubber was not repaid.

Thence it was on to the shady side, requiring a retreat and re-stomp to the opposite sector of the hillside. I'm noticing that after several days doing short uphill walk-ins and plenty of other exercise, my legs are still completely and utterly fucked and as usual I feel no progress in fitness at all. Cocktwats. Anyway the shady sector was shady although kinda sweaty. Managed a couple of routes including a pretty challenging one. Finally it was over to a different sandstone crag, El Bujeo, for a breezy and scenic evening, and a few more good and varied routes and a slightly frustrating "slip-off-the-first" move attempt of a stiffer proposition. A pretty good day despite feeling rougher than an East End Glaswegian's face.

This brings things to 34 routes I think. Not bad for a short week :). Plenty of fun on the sandstone, a few good challenges tackled (better than I thought!) and a few near misses to learn from. Tomorrow we fly back to dismal Scotland where I plan to hibernate for a while...


Africa in the morning.

Horses in the afternoon.

Gibraltar in the evening.

Gibbage 5.

Aka the day that was forecast for cloud and was glorious sunshine instead. But first, what the fuck is up with me: I come away to get some good climbing action and escape the endless sodden damp of Glasgow and the persist rundownness I've been feeling this winter. So I'm out here - plenty of activity, plenty of rest, loads of fresh air each day (sea air no less), loads of sleep each night, lots of mandarins and pears (when I can stop Tris feeding them to horses). And what do I get?? A mouthful of ulcers, glands like a second bawbag, and now a proper sodding cold!! What the fucking fuck?? IT MAKE NO SENSE!!

Anyway I can't complain too much because today rocked: We headed back to mmmMosaico to enjoy plenty of cooling shade from the forecast clouds, of which there was none. So it was climbing in the (minor) heat before lunch on some rather good routes, and climbing in the dusk after a somewhat snotty siesta on some just as good routes, and then climbing in the dark on some cool wee slabs that rounded things off nicely. The highlight of the day was my hardest route of the trip when I sent Senda Del Tiempo on the main Mosaico wall. This took all the tactics and waning stamina I had, and was satisfying partly due to the challenge and getting in the zone where I really had to deal with it, but mostly because it was an objectively great route: sustained, consistent, well-balanced, some respite that the most improbable points, and a delicate finish. Which was nice ;).

A slight misnomer today - for a change!
I tried to clean this bossly beetle, but he just squeaked furiously at me.
Guess who is having their rump firmly scratched...

Gibbage 3.

Today was pretty cool. We got hold of the local guide and went back to San Bartolo to climb on the shady side. Naturally it stayed cloudy all day. The shady side is infinitely less popular than Sector Mosaico and the nearby Sector 2-Bolt Bumblebollox, but probably better overall - more variety of rock and climbing styles and plentiful interesting routes, albeit lacking the showcase funk of Mosaico itself. We explored around and both got a fair bit done throughout the sectors, this time to the sound of chainsaws not cowbells. As much as I like extreme noise I think I prefer the cowbells as a climbing soundtrack.

My fingers were a getting a bit tender from the sandstone but I had some inspirations to follow so warmed up steadily on nice easy routes, and eventually, after a "Power Manchego" lunch, got to tackle my main goal for the day, this pretty cool bouldery wee route. I hadn't watched the video, just skipped to see if the wall looked decent, so it was a nice flash with a clearly defined sequence (pretty different to the video of course, not least because a flake has come off before the span rightwards, leaving a harder and cooler sideways drop move). I enjoyed that and still had enough beans to tackle a couple more uphill routes, before being tired enough to fall off easy slabs to finish ;)

Tomorrow might be back on the lime to give our fingertips a rest. It's all good.

An exceptionally fine braided curler.

A local wench trying to seduce us en-route back to our car.

Gibbage 1 & 2.

Gibbage because we are climbing near Gibraltar. Not on Gibraltar, it's full of monkeys and probably tourists too. According to the woman in the hostel we're staying in, we should be tourists too, day-tripping to Morocco, visiting quaint towns in the mountai......FUCK THAT SHIT WE'RE HERE TO CLIMB.

Yesterday was travelling day. Up at 5 to get an early flight to Malaga. Really that should have demanded an early night but I stayed up playing Skyrim (level 64 h2h/magic Orc, 530,000 gold, 186 dungeons cleared, I hope no-one cares about that) and then faffing around printing out info for crags near Malaga to get something done before heading to Algeciras base camp in the evening. The latter turned out to be useful as Mijas was an idea stop-off: 10 mins off the motorway, roadside cragging, sun and shade and a good variety of the usual Euro-lime bollox. 5 leads each certainly made good use of the afternoon. However the lack of sleep and food hit me like a ton of turd and I ended up feeling exhausted to the point of feverish. Add in an extra 1 hour 20 minute nightmare just trying to find the hostel, and epic faffage with parking and organisation and I was so relieved to pass out into sleep.

That sleep worked and I was ressurrected this morning feeling pretty perky. So it was on with the main mission, exploring the sandstone crags of San Bartolo, starting with the distinctly funky Sector Mosaico - a clean sheer wall of prehistoric scales that looks desperate but has several amenable lines starting at F6a+. We started on a F6a+ and it rocked, lovely juggy edgy sandstone. And thusly I continued to lead 6 routes in total, nothing hugely challenging yet (just getting warmed up ;)), via some fun dog action, a nice chorizo sandwich, a surprising power-nap, and enough sun (and maybe sunburn) to recharge the solar cells nicely. Tonight I do NOT feel like death, but the bed is still oh-so-appealing ;)

A fun dog.

An insolent oaf.

Coigach Clambering.

So it is now November. The days are a lot shorter, climbing time is limited, the temperatures are cold and options restricted. I'm busier and my time is limited and I've given up on getting up North and getting more trad done. So what the fuck does the weather do?? Get totally awesome in the North West. A whole fucking summer waiting for half-decent half-dryness, and now it's pretty much past the point of pointless, there's several days of sunshine up there.

FUUUUUUuuuuuUUUUUUCCCKK!!!

Still as mocking as this respite is, it is respite nonetheless and thus must be as vigorously seized as one would seize a passing cat who is hoping to sneak by without getting pounced on and having it's tummy mercilessly rubbed and nuzzled. Given the time of year it was mostly seized and sandwiched between bouldering pads. Just like the passing cat should be...

The pre-match friendly was at the Inchbae Erratics. These are indeed erratic but then again isn't most of Scottish bouldering. This area had the usual pre-requisites of absent approach times and a useless map, but also curiously accurate grades and definitely deserved star ratings. The erratics are scattered over an unerratically and consistently boggy plateau, and although spread out, the problems are really rather good - strong lines and good moves. It could do with more development and is a good stopping off point en-route to Ullapool.


Inchbae!
The main game took place firstly at Reiff In The Woods. It was supposed to be at Reiff By The Sea but this was hampered by that same sea leaving landing pools and a slight lingering damp. There were hardy souls climbing trad there, which was nice to see. RITW is a classy little spot - roadside but with stunning views, sheltered in trees yet exposed to sun and breeze, jumbled together but with plenty of strong lines. Indeed the lines were stronger than I was!! We made little headway on anything challenging until trying the cool "spot from sitting in the car" thin wall/arete. After a few goes we were both close and it was almost in the bag - and after a few goes the "unbroken sunshine" forecast pissed on us and it was almost dusk so no chance of it drying, arse bollox knob etc etc.

Rainbow. Unfortunately a main ingredient is rain.
Sunset prettiness on Stac Pollaidh.
Secondly for variety it was the well-reputed Highland sport venue of Goat Crag, one of the triptych of classic animal-themed Scottish sport climbing crags. I still think it would be great on a summer's day to catch the morning sun at The Elephant, shelter from the afternoon heat at The Camel, and finish basking in the evening at Goat Crag. Or maybe the other way around to catch the shade. Anyway, the weather was great at Goat Crag, utterly unlike my climbing. Not only am I fat and weak, after a mere few weeks away from roped climbing, I'm back to utter gaylordistic cowardom, arse bollox knob etc etc.

Even the bumbly warmups can be photogenic.
A much better view than looking inward to my climbing.

Northumberland Nibblings.

In that meagre 2 day weather window I mentioned before, I got down to Northumberland to do a bit more exploring. Day 1 was still blowing a gale so it was suitable to explore somewhere in the woods. No, not Kyloe although that is very good for routes and I've done some really nice climbs (still need to get High T in good condition). But rather the distinctly obscure Callaly crag, recently micro-popularised by Beastmaker repeating The Young, which is indeed a stunning bit of rock and really should be on every hardcore boulderer's ticklist. The only thing hardcore about me is my taste in techno, so we stuck to the easier routes which despite being short and esoteric offered pretty intense climbing on good rock. After a couple of spicy routes on the upper block, I cleaned The Auld for Ewan to climb, he cleaned Family Affair for me to get onto the initial ledge, find the lone gear placement was out of reach and the move was too hard, so that one got away.

Day 2 was not blowing a gale but was still pretty good weather so it was suitable to explore somewhere exposed, or so we thought. Linshields One was exposed to the backdrop of military training, as we conveniently missed the red flags at the Otterburn range so spent the day climbing to the soundtrack of artillery and small arms fire :D. Curiously it was under-exposed to the wind so we did have to battle midgies and sweatiness a bit, but it was worth the effort as Ewan did a couple of spicey little routes and I managed to tackle Stealth and Mirage, two tasty little slab climbs that I think I'd seen photos of years ago. Both used the same collection of gear and it was arguably the biggest Cluster Of Bollox ((c) Pylon King 2003) that I've ever placed. The beta is:

Ballnut size 2 in shallow slot.
Ballnut size 1 in shallower slot.
RP 0, directional, in tiny seam.
HB 0, directional, in tiny seam.
Camalot C3 size 1 in very shallow down-facing seam.
RPs 4 and 5 stacked together in small borehole pocket.

With climbing gear 6 wrongs can make a right, although it was a rather tentative right whose veracity was best left untested, so it took a while to commit to both routes, but was fun when I did so.

Definitely up for more County action over the winter. I've only got one more esoteric place to explore - Howlerhirst - and then it's back to mixing and matching all over the place, I might even go to some honeypot crags ;).

P.S. Just discovered that blogspot have switched to the stupid pointless user-unfriendly slideshow style photo display bollox. Will have to make sure in future that whatever pictures I post just use a normal link or are full size anyway. Bleh.

A recce of Arran.

Arran bouldering that is. Yes the mountain stuff looks great blah blah 600m altitude walking pretty much from sea level FUCK THAT.

So, the bouldering. Contrary to the mountains the bouldering is the very definition of accessible, not so much roadside as actually on the road itself, in the case of the Cat Stone at Corrie. Warm weather, limited time and a lack of spotters precluded much sendage, but I got to check out the following areas:


Kildonan:
(Above) Very pleasantly situated beach bouldering on well-sculpted gabbro. But very limited with only a few good problems before the rock turns too ledgy or scrittly. Good potential for some serious highballs but I wouldn't go back.

Corrie Boulders:
The classic road circuit, on road or off road take your pick. A line of proper granite lumps scattered throughout Corrie village, with proper coarse texture and proper frictional slopers. I did a wee bit of bouldering but it wasn't the weather for it. What I saw inspired me to come back when it's 15 degrees colder and I have 100% more bouldering buddies with me, to tackle some good bulging slabby things and some good bulging roofy things.

Mushroom Boulder:
A brief look at this overhanging beast provided additional inspiration. While some aspects are crude and could do with a good scrub, the combination of juggy roofs leading into spicey highball slab finishes looks like another good "team fun" venue and contrasts nicely with the granite.

So, a vague plan for winter:

1. Grab some syked friends, lots of pads, a flask of coffee and a short piece of rope.

2. Drive down and get an early ferry across to the island as passengers (car alone is £62 return UGHHH, passengers £10 return).

3. Get the bus up to the far Corrie boulder and start there.

4. Walk back through the other boulders loosing skin but gaining sends.

5. Hitch/bus back down to the Mushroom. Ab down and brush off the finishes. By this time skin should be trashed but muscles not quite worn out - finish them off on the steep sandstone.

6. Bus back to Brodwick and ferry home.

7. Celebrate with fish and chips.

8. Yay!

Classic Caithness Coolness.

Yay! Back to Caithness at last. Somewhere that always inspired me from reading about it in guidebooks and magazines (I wonder if Duncan Disorderly knows I pinched his OTE with the Caithness special a few years ago??), and somewhere that has proved to be worth that inspiration on initial and subsequent visits. My visits now total 3, which I hoped would be enough (not least because of a certain tedium with the neverending Inverness > Wick finale of the 5+ hour drive), but will likely require at least one more, as this trip was 66% rather than 100% successful...

Much Climbing at Mid Clyth
Yay! For Mid Clyth. A brief initial visit merely sampled the compact and heavily starred Stack area, this substantial return visit confirmed the validity of those stars in an orgy of steep wall climbing. Yes, it really is as good as the guidebook (the definitive, not the less reliable selected guide which criminally misses out this fine crag) says, with a veritable plethora of minor classics crowded side by side above the most convenient (abseil descent aside) of flat platforms. More than you can shake a stick at....or even a seal. Verily the seals were out in force, lowing and mooing and staring quizzically at our bizarrely non-aqueous antics. Those antics simply included a lot of great climbing....and that was that.


Showers at Scarlet
Since the weather forecast predicted 3 unbroken dry days, the rain had the decency to wait until midway through the second day. Oh what courtesy. Before this meterological blip, the mighty Sarclet was the natural choice for the day. Sarclet is somewhat more adventurous, although the main adventure involved trying to construct a vaguely comfortable two man survival shelter out of a ropebag, a rucsac, a small rockshelf with a good RP above it, and a few badly tensioned and even worse placed anchors. This sufficed - barely - for early showers, thus allowing us to snatch a couple of warm-up routes. However the last route was led in light drizzle and seconded in substantial rain. After a soggy and swearful retreat, the sun came out at the car. Arse and double arse.

Evening Esoterica
After an emergency - and pleasingly free - weather check at the Wick library, there was enough promise for the 3rd day....and the 2nd evening. The showers had scarcely tickled Wick nor the coast further North, so we tried Auckengill, lured by the dubious promise of easily accessible 3 star 8m routes. Hmmmm. Well apart from obviously not being 3 star routes, it was pretty cool. A charmingly relaxed location above an arguably even more convenient platform. The couple of chosen routes were definitely short but also distinctly steep, providing some good value. Not nearly as steep as a final digestif route at The South Head Of Wick....an alleged E2 5b with a hard 5c/6a crank above just adequate wires, hard to place amongst severely overhanging climbing the whole of it's brief and brutal way. This required enough up and downclimbing to get a Munro tick, yet was still fun enough climbing to make a perky E3/4 despite such dicking around.


Slipperiness at Sarclet
Thanks to the still dry forecast, the day dawned drizzly on the campsite. Back to the ever-useful library and the promise of a dry afternoon to be worth a morning caffeinating (Morag's Cafe being surprisingly good in this regard), perusing the vast array of tractor magazines (10 different ones in total, I was struggling to decided between Vintage Tractor, Old Tractor, and Classic Tractors) and general faffing (like I need any practise). Heading out to finish the job at Sarclet once more, the brightening day and freshning breeze promised the elusive sending conditions. However my befuddlement about onshore and offshore breezes and sea-cliff conditions was at the fore again. After following the mighty Pimpernel and doing a brief warm up, my chosen inspiration, despite looking reassuringly welcoming from a pert wee belay ledge, was greasier than a whore's fuckflaps. Thus escape was made, and there was little more to be done.

A rather good trip but a couple of Sarclet classics still remaine...so close....yet not close enough...