Limekilns, Elie chain walk & spring!

Spring arrived in Scotland last week with temperatures above 20 degrees. At the weekend it started to drop but still looked fine and so Robbie and I decided to visit a place where I have never been before: Limekilns. It is essentially two large, presumably quarried limestone blocks. Here a photo of the Western side in the shade with good VSs and HVSs. This photo was taken with the EUMC out in force.

 Here is Robbie earlier on climbing DTs. 

 After cruising two HVSs I felt good enough to try Elgin's Crack E2 5c. The start is bouldery and the foot holds are polished so whilst I got to the first break I realised that it was too much for the first trad outing of the season.

After that a lunch in the Elgin hotel and onwards to Elie with Scotlands only (?) via ferrata. Here is Robbie tackling one of those stainless steel chains.

Quite exciting for via ferrata newcomers in places. Back on a path with good views over Elie and the golf course...

 ... shown here...

 ... and with the daffodils already out.

 On the way to Dundee and in Broughty Ferry I also took a few photos to document the first foray of spring. Two trees on a ploughed field near Fettercairn...

 ... swans in Broughty Ferry ...

 ..., Broughty Ferry harbour...

 ..., and the castle on the banks of the bonnie Tay.

It all makes the sudden end of winter with all its adventures more bearable. And all of a sudden I saw a giraffe swimming in the Tay (hang on, the 1st of April was yesterday).

HW

Cluanie Inn Munros

Mike and Roger are Munroists from Oxford and we meet once or twice a year for an outing. This time we decided to stay in the Cluanie Inn, a perfect place for doing Munros as there are Munros in all directions from the front door of the Inn. On Saturday the 18th of March 2012 we decided to do the South Glenshiel ridge. Here is Mike during the ascent in initially soggy conditions ...

... and here he is on the ridge proper which had snow cover from 700 altitude metres upwards. The clouds started to lift and fantastic views appeared. There are few better views than Munros with just a dusting of snow.

The ridge is roughly 14 km with 7 Munros. The snow cover was just cosmetic and did not reduce our walking pace which was essential as time to darkness & dinner was limited. 

On the Northern side there are steeper corries with some winter climbs and the cliffs sometimes appear on the rim.

Here a look back in the direction of the five sisters of Kintail.

Some good views also over the Munros to the South with Knoydart being on the other side of the loch...

... and some more great views a bit later.

The ridge drags on but is beautiful but there is never too much ascending. It is like a set of waves.

Here are Roger and Mike again doing the last third...

... with obligatory bum glissades.

 

We descended at dusk and followed the long landrover track to the Cluanie for a good meal plus beers. The Cluanie Inn is very much recommended with excellent food, good beers and a famous whisky collection.

Mike and Roger still smiling the morning after.

We decided to climb A'Chralaig and Mullach Fraoch-Choire with a start from the Cluanie but on the Northern side of Glenshiel. Good views higher up over the South Glenshiel ridge.

We reached the summit which is connected by a beautiful ridge to 'Mullach', the second Munro.

A few trickier steps or easier steps made tricky!

We were also treated to a 'mauvais pas', a wee exposed scrambling problem. Mike and Roger had developed a great fondness for those 'mauvais pas' since the one on the A'Cir ridge on Arran which was highly entertaining.

We had a brief period of graupel but then the views re-appeared. Here is Roger with a dynamic body position ... 

... and here is Mike...

... and here are both on this bit of the ridge.

On the way down heaven opened and it snowed higher up and rained lower down but at the end the blue skies returned once again.

HW

Spring & Kirrie Hill

A temperature of 16 degrees was forecast for Dundee and so Wattie, Brian and I decided to climb at/on Kirrie Hill to start our summer season. Kirrie Hill is probably the most user friendly of the Angus sport climbing venues with easy access, tons of routes between F5-F6c and the best micro-climate in Scotland. When I arrived in the car park (near the Camera Obscura) a cool Westerly was blowing but in the quarrie it felt like Spain. Here a video without music (but some banter) to show some of the climbing:

The location is here: http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=339187&y=754582&z=115&sv=339187,754582&st=4&ar=y&mapp=map.srf&searchp=ids.srf&dn=825&ax=339187&ay=754582&lm=0
HW

Dr Noe, VI,6**

Last weekend was forecast to be a cold weekend wedged in-between periods of warm weather. After considering all the options Robbie, Arno and I decided to go again to Ben Cruachan to climb on the North facing crag which is just to the West of the Cruachan summit. The routes are mostly well protected and whilst they are short they put up a fight. The walk in is 3 h. 

Here we just reach the dam of the Cruachan reservoir with Ben Cruachan in the sunlight behind.

The clouds lifted during the approach and few things beat spring-like sun and snow.

Here is Arno on the inital approach.

Higher up was a snow bowl and whilst we were nervous about avalanches it turned out to be perfect neve. So we decided to put the crampons on, get the ice axes out and climb directly to the summit. Fantastic mountaineering...

...

Here is Arno topping out with the Cruachan horseshoe and the highlands behind him.

From the Ben Cruachan summit the buttress was visible with two climbers on it. They turned out to be Stuart the Postie and French Erick not only of UKC fame but also with impressive winter climbing ability.

It just takes 5-10 min to reach the buttress from the summit.

Our plan A line, Goldfinger VII,7*** was too lean but Dr. Noe, VI,6** to the right had caught plenty of snow during the previous days to justify an ascent. It was first climbed by Simon Richardson and Chris Cartwright in poor weather just before a trip to Patagonia. Here is Robbie, sans helmet (we make forgetting things a bit of a habit these days) demonstrating the 3D climbing that is typical for the Cruachan climbs.

Here he is higher up on pitch one.

Pitch 2 did look OK from below but was a right facing corner with three three steps each time with little for  feet. As a result laybacking and careful footwork is required. Here is step one.

The crux was the third steepening. It involved stepping up onto a small edge with a good hook on the roof and some gear once unearthed. I took me ages but I got a sling around an iced up, small chockstone. The corner was smooth, steep and succumbed to Ninja-like climbing involving a chin up, throwing my foot for a heel hook on the right and then a pull onto the neve above. Very good value tech 6 or maybe harder. Robbie took over again and despatched the last trickier move in style. Instead of walking around the corner he went straight up with good hooks and gear.

On the way down of course some bum glissading, a necessity for these old legs. Here is Robbie finishing a good one...

Cruachan is an excellent venue for those that are fit and enjoy the mountaineering bit of the day as much as the climbing bit. It is especially good for folk that climb V,6 or want to push their grade.

HW

Glen Clova without boots

Robbie, James, Andrew, Gunnar and myself met in Glen Clova for a short day. And then I realised that I had not packed my boots. No boots = no crampons = no Wild Cat Wall, V,6**, our first objective. I followed Andrew and Gunnar into corrie Fee. Their revised objective was to climb Look C gully IV,4***, the classic of the glen which had some ice on the crucial ice pitch but it was unclear whether it was enough.

I decided to climb a buttress to the left at maybe grade II. A few slightly steeper bits but the fell running shoes had sufficient grip to get up these bits. Here is the view over lovely Glen Clova from higher up.

I then continued to Driesh and some blue skies emerged.

From the trig point I went East and descended via bum glissade into winter corrie where I saw Robbie and James on the second pitch of Diagonal Gully, III***.

Here is a picture of James zoomed in showing the ice that had formed over the last, cold week.

I decided to climb an easier gully to the left and saw John Wilson and Jim (?) on Backdoor Gully II. Here is John climbing a small ice step, the trickiest bit of the route.

Sans crampons it was a good opportunity to practice step cutting, the technique before front pointing changed ice climbing. It all went well and soon I passed the Aberdeen team to meet a surprised Robbie and James in the basin. Here is Robbie ascending to reach the steeper upper section of Diagonal Gully.

Sans crampons & sans harness I decided to better follow backdoor gully which crosses Diagonal Gully in the basin and then follows a heathery/turfy line to the right which is much more suited to climbing without crampons than ice and hard neve. Here is Robbie climbing the steeper finish of Diagonal Gully...

... and here is Jim topping out of backdoor gully with James belaying Robbie in Diagonal Gully below.
Diagonal gully had a small cornice which Robbie is climbing here in an exposed position...

...and James is following.

At the end everyone managed to climb something and it is good to know that no boots does not always mean no climbing!
HW