ClimbNow Blog

Euan and Ross on Jackdaw Ridge.

Mike, Euan, Ross and I have been out today at Shepherds Crag in the Lake District. The weather stayed fine all day and many of the routes are now completly dry.

Out today on Beinn Udlaidh and Beinn Bhreac-liath with Linda, Liz, Vic, Tom, Billy, David and Terry from the Falkirk High Tops Team. We went up by the impressive quartz vein, which can be seen from the A82. It’s worth noting there’s a new forestry track on the West bank of the Allt Ghamhnain and a new deer fence high up on the West side of the coire and running through the bealach at the head of the coire.

Linda and Tom on the quartz vein

The rain was pretty continuous throughout the day and views were limited, but did improve later on. No snow at summit level and temperatures were above freezing all day, although there was a hail shower on the summit of Beinn Udlaidh just for a little variation.

The team on Beinn Udlaidh

Mike organising ropes above the sea at The Hawcraig.

Mike and I have been out today at The Hawcraig practising improvised rescue. This excellent sea cliff in Fife provides plenty of good areas for practising abseil approaches, re-belays, ascending ropes and hoists. All routes can be accessed at low tide without abseiling. Today, we opted to go at high tide when a number of the routes require approach by abseil.

Euan, Mike and myself have been up on Skye for the last three days with Alasdair, Tony, Leanne, Jason and Miriam from the Glasgow Hill Walking and Mountaineering Club.

Euan and Miriam on Sgurr Mhiccoinich

On Saturday we climbed Sgurr Mhiccoinnich from Bealach Coire Lagan via the North Ridge then returned to the bealach and headed up the South-East Flank route on Sgurr Dearg to climb the Innaccessible Pinnacle via the East Ridge. There was a dusting of snow high up early on, but this melted during the day with rain showers to summit level and winds picking up as the day went on.

Jason on the Inn Pinn with Euan leading in the background

The weather forecast for Sunday looked wild with continuous rain and winds gusting over 100mph at summit levels, so we opted for a low level walk in to Camasunary. This proved a wise choice with 30mm rain falling before noon and flooding causing even the roads to be passable only with care.

Leanne, Tony and Alasdair at the summit of Sgurr a' Ghreadaidh

On Monday we headed up to An Dorus and climbed Sgurr a’ Ghreadaidh North-North-West Ridge and Sgurr a’Mhadaidh via the South-West Ridge. We had showers on and off through the day on a North-North-West wind with the odd break in the cloud to give dramatic views. The showers were falling as sleet high up giving the odd patch of wet snow, but these were generally melting fast as conditions improved through the day.

The trip gave a great introduction to Skye for four of the group who were new to the Island. On the drive back south views of the more inland hills (east end of Glen Shiel and down to the Central Highlands) showed that the precipitation had fallen as snow inland with significant accumulations down to circa 800m.

Nic leading at The Hawcraig.

Today, I have been out with the EICA Ratho staff team. We visited Rosyth Quarry and The Hawcraig. Both of these venues are less than thirty minutes from Edinburgh.The objective of the day was to look at skills that allow us to move efficiently with clients to maximise climbing time. Thanks to all the team for their efforts.

Duncan climbing on Brown Slabs.

Duncan and I have had a grand day out at Shepherd’s Crag in the Lake District. We climbed the scramble to the right of Jackdaw Ridge, Jackdaw Ridge, Donkeys Ears and Brown Slabs Crack. The day was finished in Sheperd’s Crag Cafe with some great homemade cake!

I have just had two excellent days out at two crags in the central belt of Scotland completing day two and day three of a SPA training course. Yesterday, we visited Rosyth Quarry and today we visited Trapain Law. Trapain Law is a beauitful crag located near Haddington with a great range of routes from moderate to E1. The weather stayed mostly fine with only one shower mid afternoon. If visiting Trapain, it is worth taking some warm clothes and a windproof layer as it can be a cold crag depending on the wind direction.

Glorious weather in Glen Etive today with blue skies, sunshine and only a light breeze. I was out on Beinn Ceitlein with Vic, David, Terry, Harry and Billy from the Falkirk Community Trust High Tops Team. There’s still some snow on the higher hills in the area above circa 800m. The rock on the Buachaille looked dry from the road.

Looking South from slopes of An Grianan

Creise and Meall a'Bhuridh in the background

Martin leading The Edge at Loudon Hill.

The weather today in the west of Scotland was beautiful. I was at Loudon Hill with the Falkirk Trust staff team and Linda from the Falkirk High Tops Team.

Linda and Martin had a great day climbing a number of multi pitch routes including the classic of the crag, The Edge. This route climbs a spectacular knife edge almost vertical flake. It requires a steady approach as there is not much protection.

I had an excellent day with the rest of the team reviewing the SPA syllabus before the start of the cragging season. The crag is mostly dry at the moment with only a couple of routes unclimbable.