Winter part 1

Paul and i got out 2 weeks go with the first cold snap and it proved to be a good one! 3 hours to get to the bottom of the route though due to having to park at the bottom car park as the road was ungritted and we just made it that far and then waste deep snow to trudge through.

We did Jacobs edge since it seemed a sensible grade for our first scottish winter, good fun if not abit easy but we picked out some harder bits to make it more interesting. Perfect day and conditions there arte very few of them in Scotland but we found one of them, only problem was swimming through the powder on the easier angled parts of the route.

Truely heaven!Everything is out again and looks like 2 weeks before anything will be back from what iv heard. who knows, but for now its inside to to try and get stronger for trad time i already miss it and have been looking for a project.

Its coming....

its in the air...

West coast and new line at tynrich

Busy period trying to make use of any weather thats going. Out on the west coast stewart and I spent the day at Loch tollaidh, beautiful place and scenery the west has to be one of the best if not the best place in Britain.I climbed crossroads E5 6b which felt painfully hard on crimps up an overhang but was a really cool route, so its clean just now if anybody is interested. Stewart also continued his strong form with 2 more E1s before we moved together on what must be one of the best slabs around. Highly recommended.

We then spent the next day in midge hell whilst i finished a route I had been working on and stewart worked and climbed his first E2. The line takes the blank wall towards the far end of the slabs. A relativly easy start takes you to a small crack left of Scorpion a runner here protects you thoughout the crux of a rising ramp of crystals and razor crimps until better holds and gear are reached, I preplaced this wire before the lead due to the fact I knew if i fell trying to place it you would be looking at aroung a 6-7m fall, this is not that bad but there is a ledge roughly 5m below the crux so a fall from anywhere from the crux sequence(long) or above would result in most likely broken ankles and or legs. Once the good holds are reached a shake out and then the route continues directly up again into probably a 6a sequence once again above gear. Its the hardest route iv climbed recently without doubt, a few months back i climbed the E5 6a on the same wall,cant remember the name, and it dosnt even compare, the fall was safer too...however I will say E5 6b but feedback would be appreciated. Called it Penultimate Demons. Also climbed another line in the sameish area, Flirtations with fate (E3 5c) which resulted in the sheath of my rope being torn wide open! Il put the picture on when i find it.

Going back on my word

I had previously said I would never solo anything after seeing how fast a person falls, im still not a huge fan of the idea of watching someone solo but everything has its time and place. I soloed my first E5 the other day but I only because I had no doubt in my mind. All part of making a better climber if you can keep your head together then it may help in another situation where you cant afford to freak and loose your bottle. The way i see it is I wasnt soloing, the route is protected by a sky hook, I dont have a sky hook... so i lead it but didnt have the right gear.

Round up

Spent some time at ruthven as usual last week and it eventually came together, just before I lost all of the skin I owned. Did another finish from the jug of dude/dude direct out right and up to a horrible airy mantel, its yet another locals eliminate ofcourse but good all the same as i found it to be a fair bit harder than the original finish. I did it from a jumping start to try and work out the sequence and once i had done it once sat down and tried to work through dude direct into it to make it as awkward as possible, it took me about 10 goes to stick the dyno as it was so muggy but 44 midge bites and an hour later it was done. From catching the dyno match the jug and move right to crimps, high rock over to poor side pull and up again to small flake and then mantel. Like I said its a another locals eliminate but certainly makes dude direct sustained and if you did the dude satrt into it it might make it a grade harder.

Good news for Stewart yesterday as he climbed his first E1 in the sunshine of cummingston, done in fine style with little effort. I got in an E4 at the same time and wer off back again today to work on something a little harder.

V9!

Progress is being made all round on the bouldering front in Inverness, by the time the new season comes round there is the potential for some hard repeats and new lines all round. Back up at Ruthven within 20 hours of the last session so was very conscious of how long my skin would last. The realisation that Lorraine came minus her shoes could have ended the day right there but she managed to put up with a pair of mine for the evening and climbed extremely well considering!

Agonisingly close early on

After a couple of warm up routes got back on Dude Direct V9 after first trying it yesterday, with a few hours rest it seemed more manageable but still hard. Was distraught 15 minutes later after catching the hold and holding the swing all the way to the point where i came back into the wall and sure enough fell off!! A quick lie down in disbelief sorted my head out and next go held it even longer before coming off. Ben and I had the conversation yesterday of the point you reach in your mind that is like a light coming on and you know you will do it next go. I struggle to see how this happens and I suppose nobody really knows why or how it happens or if it really happens at all. You may or may not know what im talking about or you may think im talking rubbish but its a strong force in my eyes. Sure enough next time I held the swing and it felt suprisingly positive as did all the holds to the top, I was still very conscious not to blow it on the top mantle but got there! A happy boy after my first V9 and really pleased to get the second repeat especially after Ben getting the first repeat in the day before.

Crux Dyno(Big thank you to Lorraine for the perfectly timed photo)

Once i came back down i had to prove a point to myself that it wasnt a fluke so after a two minute rest to get rid of the pump got back on it and did it again first go and it felt even better and smoother the second time!!! Awsome day and now psyche is at an all time high, its time to find a project get strong and get even more psyched!!

Boulderers in the mist.

Spent most of yesterday looking at the sky trying to work out which direction to go after the boys finished work, in the end we took the "safe" option and stayed close and went up to Ruthven so I could show them a new roof i had found. True to form it was lashing down as we arrived but we were already there so it was worth a look, long story short it was rubbish and we had spent just over an hour walkin too and from it. Atleast the weather had got better though!

Jeds Traverse

Ruthven is really good as the way its sits it always has something dry after showers which allows you to climb and thankfully yesterday the temperature was quite low aswell which helped with the small holds. Ben had pointed out the "mythical" Jeds traverse V7 last time i was up which looked good, proved to be better than it looked and went 4th go! I did however get so pumped i tried to fall off the top out which is probably only V1 on jugs! Rich also finished it off a few minutes later with alot less pump and flapping about.

Back on Dude direct V9 and it didnt take too long for it to get its 1st repeat(as far as we know) from Ben who looked comfortable all the way.Rich was also agonisingly close to getting it so it looks like it will get done again very soon. Just watching elements to see what its like and then back off up to get on it again as for a split second I thought id held the swing yesterday. Ben on Dude Direct