Finally Free!!!!

I have been stuck in the library since the my last posting almost with the odd trip to the River Garry every now and then. As of friday I handed in all my assignments and completed my First Aid qualification with BASP.
Then on saturday I was out hill walking on Ben Vrackie with my mum and fer work collegues they had a pleasent time and managed to get the best part of the weather.

The Group on the Summit



Ben Vrackie



Warmer Water

Well the weather has really crapped out but it is looking good towards the end of next week. Therefore Kev and I decided to hit the Ice Factor to remind our fingers what to do if we came across some rock needing to be climbed.
Also due to the fact it was Saturday I decided to head to the local for a quick drink with some folk from college plus Dave and Henry.

Al Kells

Dave Parfitt

Ben Rowe, First Grade 3 river and padled it clean

Loch Eil

I was out on Loch Eil with a School group for the Highland Council. Introducing the kids to their first time in a Kayak, we played with played with ducks (the rubber variety) and got really wet!

Stuck in College for Three Days!

Over the past two day I have been enjoyinh the sun from the library, oh the joys! The last day of the good weather and I was stuck in college for one more day. However today Jamie, Connor, I were out with Alan Halewood.
We managed to cram as much climbing in as possible while Al feed us little tips and tricks which I think will be very useful in the years to come.
We climbed Tip Toe Direct (E1 5b*), Three Pines(Mild Severe*), Flying Dutchman (Severe***), Damnation (VS 4b*) and Al was nice enough to try and sand bag me with SW Diagonal (HVS 5b*),Which is super polished.

Connor at the crux of Tip Toe Direct

Damnation, Yes those legs are naturally tanned!

A rather lively stick (Slowus Wormeus)

The Bullroar

The weather in the Fort has been the best it has ever been in a long time which is making it very difficult to balance life between the library and the outdoors. However the library is shut on a Sunday so i was heading up the Ben with Johann and Sarah.
I packed light expecting a nice warm summers day on the hill, what I got was winter rock climbing. Being in the shade of Ben Nevis for up to 8 hours will cool anyone down especially with a constant gusting wind. It did however make the climbing even more exciting when you can't feel your fingers and toes.

Johann on the first pitch with Alex and Scott above

Alex and Scott one the Crux pitch

Sarah seconding the crux

Johann on the last traverse

The route has some of the best situations to be found on the Ben however after the 6th pitch the route stops in qualtiy and technical climbing. Alex and Scott climbed up to find nothing of value so we all hit the abseil on Titan. This can be found by climbing a crack after the traverses and making a very easy (scrambling) traverse on borken rock to a very obvious two pitch abseil.