Tophet Wall (HS) This Saturday, with a forecast for glorious sunshine, Mike and I headed up to the Napes, to do the ‘Classic Rock’ route Tophet Wall. I highly recommend the route – it’s a great outing in spectacular rock scenery, and very amenable at the grade (all the holds are there when… Continue reading
GORMATLAST ! Cairngorms, 1st / 2nd June 2013. THREE HILLS AND THREE BUILDINGS After weeks of crummy weather, how welcome it was to finally grab some time in the Highlands with Matt and Frank Even so, the incoming fronts dictated going east to the Gorms, so we’ll begin… Continue reading
Recess Route (85m, Severe) – The Cobbler With some decent weather forecast for the late May bank holiday weekend (well, the first half of it anyway), Maria and I left York at 4:30am on Saturday to seek out a classic rock route on the Cobbler, just West of Loch Lomond. This… Continue reading
… in DOGstycam GULLEY Just as the gulley top got tantalisingly close (about 20 metres away) I ran out of rope. The so-called ‘rock” had led me on for some time looking for runners, through snares and delusions in the form of blind cracks and loose blocks, over too-soft… Continue reading
The Torridonian Alps Well, it may have been the NW of Scotland in February, but with blue skies, sunshine and snowy mountains, it felt more like the Alps… Slioch The week started with a great hillwalk, going clockwise round the horseshoe ridge of Slioch. … Continue reading
Winter mountaineers and ice climbers often debate the merits of leashed or unleashed axes. As I hung from my Grivel elasticated leash below my DMM Apex about a metre above my last fairly dodgy ice screw, I felt the debate had a firm victor in my mind. I am certain… Continue reading
WANNA MEET MY SISTERS ? On the summit of A’ Ghlas Beinn, Paul and I suddenly swapped a gloomy misty morning for a glorious afternoon. Two figures came up, and turned out to be girls from Dornoch (but not Sisters) ; whom we’d met… Continue reading
York MC Winter Weekend 31 January – 3 February 2013 In terms of numbers, this was the biggest winter weekend for a few years, with 19 York MC members travelling up to Newtonmore for some snowy fun. Not all were able to fit into the ‘official’ club accommodation, so Craigower… Continue reading
SNOWY HALLSFELL RIDGE After some significant snowfall over the weekend, Loch and Andrew found Hallsfell Ridge quite well snowed up on Tuesday, (12 Feb) with some sizeable cornices. Possibly the only corner of England that day to sport some brief blue skies and sunshine. Continue reading
Mike, Maria and I decided that kicking off the new year with a jaunt up North was a good idea and based on an optimistic MWIS forecast we packed climbing gear, warm clothes and headtorches; and pottered up to Crianlarich YH – arriving in time for a quick look at… Continue reading
