Numpties, Nubbins and North-westerlies

With a lift offered to myself and Danny from Jenny (don’t be hasty), it was really a no brainer decision to head to Glen Coe and regrettably tell Cath that I couldn’t make her family get together weekend – a real bummer.

So we quickly arranged plans to go to the Buckle (as I like to call it) for 2 nights. One flying visit to Tesco later, we were off on the road to Fort William in the back of Mitsubishi 4x4 driven by a madman friend of Jenny DBH, who we’d never met before. He got us there in double quick time and I thought myself fortunate to be both alive and setting up the tent in daylight.

With not much to do, we devised a variety of climbing related games to pass the time. These included Nut, Sling, Friend (think ‘rock, paper, scissors’), the classic Guess the Route, Blankity Blank – Glen Coe edition (‘Climb the vegetated BLANK to an obvious BLANK…’ you get the idea).

After a highly banterful though particular cold night, we left the tent at 7.45. The plan was to tick multipitch classics on Rannoch wall then head back to the tent for a refuel and hit tunnel wall for an evening session of bolt clipping. The sun shone warmly on our backs as we ticked Grooved Arête and a slightly lost and loose version of Red Slab, both VS. I first climbed on Rannoch wall when I was 15 with two of my climbing buddies, Nic and James (now only a regular buddy). That was only 3 years ago, but it feels like a long time. So, it was a bit of a trip down memory lane and I was highly satisfied to be enjoying the same exposure as I did years before.

Hanging out between routes

Me on the belay

Danny on pitch one of Grooved Arete

Pitch 2.

The evening sesh on Tunnel Wall was going well until I went to pull the rope down to go for a redpoint attempt of the 7B. The psyche was on and it was getting dark. In my haste forgot to untie the knot before pulling the rope through… Try as we might, we had to accept it was pretty stuck up there. With the amount of rope available looking dubiously small, Danny made a hanging belay at the 2nd bolt giving me vital extra metres of rope to make it to the top. By this point I’d got the head torch on as seeing all footholds and most hand holds had become near impossible. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get the tick, but was really relieved to be freeing the rope from the chain just as the last slither of light from the sky disappeared behind the mountains to the West.

Luckily the path back to the river is not too treacherous and we made it back in one piece though we only had enough energy for a few games of Guess the Route before tiredness kicked in and I nodded off.

After this epic day, we slept in on Sunday. A quick breakfast of Tesco value cereal bars was 'enjoyed' and we then we trekked to the Kings House for a bus back to Glasgow.

Danny appears dazed after the long walk to the Kings House

Now a first for the Michael Lee, Climbing? blog, a game to test your observational skills. What you have to do is guess what we forgot... laughing...

Myself enjoying some pasta. But what crucial kitchen utensil is missing?

There's nothing like pasta and camping, but what did I forget to put in my rucksack?

Walking to the Kings House, but what would made the trip a whole lot easier (think - car)

This past week I've been to Dumby twice, on Monday and today Wednesday. Monday's sesh was a particularly intense 6 hour stint at the boulders, I tried just about everything... New boulderer on the blocks, Simon, made and appearance both days and seems pretty psyched to try everything and is an amazing spotter. Dave was there on Monday and bagged a new problem - I gave it a bash and can report it is definatly very tough - and gave good beta on all mine and Simon's projects including a clever use of a small nubbin on the BNI slab. Danny is also making progress at the boulders managing 3 6a's in 3 sessions - a high limit-tick-to-trip ratio for anyone! Today though was one of those days where there was no shelter from the wind and we had to leave early due to finger injuries...

Anyway, I'll round this blog up with a quick summation of my current wanndo problems, probably more of a personal reference so sorry to any blog fans who find it a bore to read!

1) Silverback - font 7c - done 2 moves, need to learn to 'clamp'
2) Totality - font 7b+ - done all the moves, though need a more efficient way of doing the top out....
3) BNI direct start - font 7b - need to take my tampon out and have the bottle to commit on to the (certain death if you fall) slab.
4) Consolidated - font 7b+ - done all the moves though some need tweeked and need more stamina!
5) Home Rule low traverse - font 7a - fell off going for the last hold, will get it next time! Seems hard for the grade.
6) Reducer - font 7a+/7b - It's one move and its very hard and seems very close. 100s of attempts failed already.

Another note - the number of non climbing blog readers is up to 3! And as I like to have time for everyone, here's an interesting fact about my non climbing life: I need to do my dishes before my flatmates complain.