Shaking out above the crux of ‘Ride the Wild Surf‘ E4 6a,
I took a moment to absorb my surroundings. Autumn had certainly arrived in
North Wales. The wonderful burnt colour of the hillside reflecting the light
from the low setting sun was magical. A
few moments later, I had the pleasure of topping out from another cool slate
route. With it being so dry (Ride… tends to seap), it was an opportunity for the visiting Murdoch not to miss. Another ‘North Wales Rock’ green guidebook
route ticked.
After returning from Squamish, I was welcomed back by the
midges and rain. Mhairi and I got a
soaking in Beinn Eighe when we attempted Sumo E3 6a.
Continuing was out of the question.
I thought the midges were bad when I got back to the Corie Dubh Mor car
park, then I saw Ian and Tony’s photo from the Shelterstone! A week later, the rain washed Iain and I off
the Central slabs. They will need to
wait till next year.
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| A welcome home from the little shits. |
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| Yes, I look twit. But very practical. (Photo: Ian Taylor) |
Iain Small as per usual has been operating under the radar this
summer, opening up some hard new routes.
This year, Binnean Shaus seemed the most appropriate venue; southerly
aspect, exposed and quick drying. I was
keen to repeat his new route, ‘Icinglas’ E7 6c. This takes the cool ramp system, to the left
of Ardenfreaky E3 5c. With gear knowledge, I
went for the flash. All I will say is
make sure you have two DMM size 1 wall nuts.
One heavily used and worn, the other, fairly used. It was the difference between fitting and not
fitting in these subtle slots!
Round 1. I was spat off on the initial crux bulge. Down, ropes pulled and I was back on. What felt like 5 minutes, but more likely an
hour plus later, I found myself boxed attempting to shake out below the final crux
at the top of the crag; a slab. Below me
was steep burly climbing. Now I was
faced with throwing for a sloper then holding tiny crozzly crimps and balancing
my way up to the vertical heather. A heart
breaker finish.
I fell off.
Similar to my experience on ‘Dusk till Dawn’ E7 6b in the Lakes
last year, the end of the day was reached.
It was getting dull with a cold wind and passing showers. Most people would be home by now. Iain had read my mind and had the ropes
uncoiled at the base of the route. I ran
up the route in a fraction of the time compared with earlier. But this time, the slab was soaking wet. I chucked at the sloper, but was airborne
again.
Round 2. The forecast
was wrong. It rained, rained, then
stopped raining, then rained…… F*ck sake.
Round 3. The forecast
was correct. But this time the warm sun
was shining bright and Cubby was out taking photo’s. Thankfully a fresh breeze kept things fresh,
and Cubby kept himself discrete.
Dispatched.
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| Me on 'Icinglas' E7 6c (Photo Iain Small) |
A repeat from Iain of his own new route (the big wall right
of Delayed Attack) was very impressive.
This repeat was just so he could add a top pitch (on significantly
easier ground!). Strong ethics which I
admire. The flakes are thin and very
friable on pitch 1. Combined with hard
climbing and not much solid gear, it was slightly stressful belaying. But by 2/3rd height, he was on
safe ground. I could breathe again.
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| Iain on his new line. |
Since then, Scotland was proving tricky for myself in
getting anymore trad done. So I found
myself bouldering, clipping bolts and running in the hills more. I was beginning to lose faith about the
autumnal high pressure. A day guiding An
Teallach in the driving rain, gale force winds and snow on Bidean confirmed
that winter was on its way. 3 days later
I ran An Teallach for myself and it was the polar opposite. Calm, blue sky and warm!
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| An Teallach |
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| Looking west along Foinaven. |
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| Mhairi adding 'The reverse traverse' at Ruthven. A tricky F7a+ |
Andy Inglis and I planned a Uk rock trip for the second week
of October. Risky business, but it
coincided a spell of settled weather.
Pembroke attracted us both. The
sound of steep chalked up trad routes with good kit along with a Tony Stone
tick list was an ideal venue for a holiday.
Pembroke came up with the goods.
The Trevallen E5’s gave some good mileage, Huntsman’s Leap gave a unique
Pembroke experience and Stennis Ford put me to the test. ‘From A Distance’ E7
6c was my highlight. I fell on the
onsight low down. A bit
frustrating. It went ground up second
go. The pressure of fading light
definitely helped speed me up! I’m sure
if I had the chance, I would have spent twice as long on it. An engaging lead to say the least.
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| Stennis Ford all chalked up. Cheating really, but i'm on holiday. |
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| Huntsman's Leap. |
Andy rallied us up to North Wales for the final 2 days of
our trip. With ambitious objectives out
on the coast, we reached Tremadog. His
patience with Welsh roads was wearing rather thin. My stomach was in bits and I felt ill. I was quite happy to sit back whilst Andy
dragged me up the perfect ‘Cream’ E4 6a.
Hanging at the final belay, the memories of my time living and working
here filled my mind. I was beginning to
question myself for living in the Highlands.
The Great Orme emptied the energy reserves in our arms on our final
day. Ward 10 E6 6b caught my eye
several years ago. Finally the
opportunity to get on it arose. Noticing
it was low in the grade list, I assumed it was going to be piss. It’s not in my opinion. I never fell off. How? I
do not know. Thanks to Andy for a great
trip.
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| Andy on 'Cream' E4 6a |
Traversing Liathach today with Mhairi reminded me why I live
in the Highlands. But I still have some
North Wales FOMO to get out of my system.
Maybe another year living there would do me some good…
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| Beinn Alligan |
I see Loch Maree Crag is open for the season. Good prep for Chulilla next month ;-)
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| I better not forget my wellies for Loch Maree (Photo: Ian Taylor) |
