Not really cold enough for winter climbing? Not much time? Need to get strong? Need to be precise with ice axes and crampons? For those living not too far away Newtyle quarry is a good option. So Robbie and I went last Saturday again for working 'fast and furious', a route by Scott Muir graded D10, which is the drytooling equivalent of the mixed M10 grade. We managed both to clip the first 5 bolts before giving up pumped. The other team in the cave were Andy Inglis and James Higgins who had bagged several grade VIIs and VIIIs last winter season and who both managed to redpoint fast and furious last season. Here is James belayed by Andy on the 'too fast too furious' (D11+) extension after jugging up to the roof.
Also Andy attempted 'too fast too furious' and I made a wee video of his impressive attempt in order to get more footage for a video on conditioning for Scottish winter climbing. The video is here...
HW
2 comments:
Great video Henning! Out of interest (particularly for newbees like myself!) Andy's pick placements appear to be very deliberate, as one might expect being on rock ~ however, is he placing the pick in pockets at any time or is he using a variety of small flakes and ledges (apparently very quickly)? And are they all as 'secure' as they appear ~ for example when he's got one leg crossed over the other and is just hanging off one axe?!
Hi Danny, the truth about Dunkeld is that many holds are pre-drilled and most are secure. However, it is in a cave in a former quarry and thus the Ethics squad will hopefully not be too harsh. Cheers Henning
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