14/11/2010 Flashback to last winter's only route!

Great Gully Buttress (a day oot in the 'Coe)

Me n' Cb went for a route on Sunday (14th), I wasn't sure what would be 'in' so I thought an easy snowed up buttress route would be the best bet. mmmm almost right. I've had a notion to do the big buttresses on the Buachaille for a while now and I thought that Great Gully Buttress would be fairly straight forward - we'd gone to do it as a scramble the week before but it was cloudy and wet and soggy - so we just did the 2 munros by the normal route instead. Scramble grade is 1 or 2 so I thought winter II at the most.

Anyway, things went well. There are 3 rock bands each progressively harder. We roped up early at the first and easiest rock band to sort out heads/gear. We hadn't climbed anything since July and I felt a bit rusty. After that the rope went back into the bag until middle rock band which was a bit more serious looking. I led the first so, ever the gentleman, allowed Cb to take the lead (her first winter lead) No problems there. We led through for a couple of easy pitches. Close to the top I led a long traverse out to the right, up a gully where I got some solidish turf then traversed back to the left – I ran out almost all the rope, got a couple of bomber runners but probably only gained 25 meters !! Cb led through again and then by some bizarre coincidence it was the crux and my lead. The scrambles book says something like “climb the rack band by a diagonal crack running left to right then work back left to the top of the buttress”. The slab was covered in thin ice (melting) and unconsolidated snow, I had a bomber no. 8 hex in so I climbed a little above that and got a good crack to get my axe into. After that there was nothing to be found. I must have swept almost all the snow from the slab searching for a gear/axe/foot placement. I could see how it could be skipped up in the summer on dry rock.

I retreated back to my last runner and attempted to thrash my way up what remained of the gully Cb was belayed in but again I couldn't find any suitable cracks and we took the decision to back off, I must have been 5m from the top of the buttress.

How annoying.

It was about 15:30 by this point; sunset was 16:30, neither of us fancied down climbing the whole ridge. I took a look at Narrow Gully between Great Gully and Broad Buttresses and thought that we could ab into it. Looking down on it looked OK to downclimb. There was a massive pointy rock to use as an anchor. Cb went first and I followed. When I tried to pull the rope down it was stuck. Fortunately it wasn't vertical so I was able to quickly climb back up on the ropes and clear some snow. Ab'd again to halfway and threaded a rock with a sling and a crab, pulled the rope and rigged a new abb. however, when we actually got into the gully, it was Shit. The sensible option was to climb up to the top of the gully and continue from there on known ground. That worked out well. I packed up the rope and we started the slightly tedious climb up. We stopped for a breather and juice at the top of the gully where the buttress ended and I enjoyed standing on a bit of flat ground for 5 mins.

Daylight was fading but the rest of the route was just a hill walk so the rope stayed in the bag, and I stared breaking trail along the bottom of Great Gully Upper Face. That face shrinks in height so when it disappears, double back and that brings you in a zig zag to the top of Broad Buttress. Fantastic sunset view so I let Cb break trail for 5 mins so I could get a breather and call the wife to say we were still on the hill.

I caught up with Cb and took over the lead. There is a small bump in the ridge about 3 meters high - couldn't go round it so over the top was only option. I cleared large quantities of snow from the first half so find a delightful little ledge that I could step up to - cleared more snow to find a crack that took the axe and a foot hold. That was that dealt with. Rather than climb up to the ridge we contoured round to meet the normal route. - Cb was getting pretty tired. We made the top of the corrie path at sunset. Time for 3 chocolate biscuits, a handful of M n M's and tidy up harness and rack. (that's all I ate all day). The descent took about 2 hrs - mostly because the bottom of the path (where it runs above a big drop) was covered in a thin sheet of ice. It was probably the scariest bit of the day. Most of it was done a la derrière.

All in all it was good fun even if we didn't get a tick!! Handled the retreat without stress. We were on the hill for about 8 hours and didn’t see a soul for most of that. The norries would have been crawling with bodies.

Lessons learned:

1. Remember where you've put both of your big belay mitts.
2. Take the winter rope and not the summer one because it's furry - attracts snow and acts like a sponge and hasn’t been dry/Teflon treated. On the plus side it didn't freeze because it wasn't cold enough.
3. Take a bit longer to rig an abseil - had to leave a sling and crab coz I couldn't be arsed raking about in my sac for tat. Probably would have saved time in the long run if I’d used tat in the first place.
4. Conditions can vary the grade by (in my limited experience) grade and a half. I reckon it would have gone at II if it was in condition, the last 7 or 8 meters being the III maybe overall II/III would be more accurate. Last year we climbed The Slant which is Grade I. I felt it to be about grade II ½ at the time. Cb hated it and cursed me all the way to the top. I had great fun.

 

04/07/2011 Glencoe and utter failure

Climbed out of bed and that was about the biggest success of the day.

To explain, we had just returned from a short family holiday to London to visit relatives and generally get out the house. Anyway, one thing led to another and my youngest child became infected with whatever that girl in the Exorcist had. I'm sure he produced more than his own body weight. Mrs H and I believed we had avoided it but no, it was not pretty but he's all better now and back to mischief.

The forecast was good so I thought, "I'm feeling better, go bag a hill". I've had a notion to do Bidean nam Bian from Stob Coire nam Beith for a while following an unsuccessful winter climbing expedition to No. 4 buttress. (450 meters of Grade II, I'll be back)

The drive up was pleasant in the beautiful sunshine. I managed a few sneaky peeks at the scene of previous adventures on BEM. NE buttress still looks steep!!!

From the almost deserted car park near the Clachaig turn off, I toiled up the path sweating and feeling sick, stopping every couple of minutes until the feeling passed, then pressing on again. 50% of me wished I'd stopped for food at the Green Welly 50% was glad I hadn't. The original plan had been Dinnertime Buttress and on to SCnL, Bidean, SCnB and back to the car. Normally that would be a reasonable day out. I think I was a wee bit over ambitious.....

Reality set in,The Plan got ditched, and I thought I just go up and take a look at the cliffs on SCnB.

Didn't even manage that.

Stob Coire nam Beith looks mighty impressive as you approach through a small gorge. I could pick out Deep Cut chimney, No. 4 buttress and Summit Gully but I had no stamina, felt weak and thought, "no, go home". so I did.

And the final kick in the stanes - MLT has been cancelled again!

You win some, you lose some.

18/06/2011 Langdale

Pike o' Blisco 2304" (wainwright/hewitt)
Cold Pike 2259" (wainwright/hewitt)
Crinkle Crags South Top 834m (hewitt)
Crinkle Crags (Long Top) 859m (wainwright/hewitt)
Shelter Crags 815 (hewitt)

Length: 8.81 miles  14.2 km, Ascent: +1079m, Naismith: 4h 38m

Somewhere new again. After about 3 hours drive (including a short and unintentional detour to Shap), We parked up at a small layby near Rosset Bridge. Geared up and off we went in the direction of Stool End (snigger). From there we took the left branch path into Oxendale and over the footbridge up, up, up towards Red Tarn. Just before Red Tarn, a path swings left to reach the summit of Pike o' Blisco and the view was worth the wait. Scafell was still hidden behind Crinkle Crags but we could see across to Coniston and north to Helvellyn. We didn't stop for long and it was back down to the pass and up to the rocky summit of Cold Pike.

Crinkle Crags from Cold Pike

From here the path to Crinkle Crags is a wee bit obvious. And tedious. But we got there in the end.

Pleasant scrambly walking takes you up and over the south top and from there you can see the infamous "bad step". This is the reason I opted to do this walk clockwise. This bad step can be avoided completely by following the obvious path to the left (west) We went for it in true hard core pepsi-max stylee. 2 moves later and it was all over. We even had an audience.

Brown fleeced sheep - if you can see them.

I had intended to do a complete circuit of Langdale from Pike o' Blisco, over Bow Fell and finishing on Harrison Stickle but it was hot and we were slow. So after much looking at watches, thinking up excuses and general faffing we continued along the ridge to the Three Tarns and from there we descended The Band back to Stool End (snigger).

Pike of Stickle is the prominent peak on the left, Loft crag is the large buttress on the right.

Excellent views from The Band across to Pike of Stickle and Loft Crags.

Looking down into Langdale from The Band.

It was probably the slightly convoluted start but it seemed to take ages to get anywhere despite moving steadily. I've checked the distances and our Coniston walk was 13 miles and at Langdale we covered 8 miles. It just felt that we weren't making progress all day, probably because we could see the car for most of the walk so didn't get that remote sensation that I feel is a big part of the experience. In contrast, the Coniston walk felt longer than 13. My feet thought it felt at least 18 and they are pretty good at this sort of thing.

11/06/2011 The Buachaille, Part 3 Curved Ridge

An okayish forecast meant climbing was on. I had been browsing through the SMC Glencoe and the Scrambles in Lochaber guides for easy multi pitch mountain routes and had come up with a couple of options.

• 'D' Gully buttress on Buachaille Etive Mor (Diff/Severe)
• No. 3 Buttress on Stob Corie Nam Beith (Grade 3 Scramble)
• No. 1 Buttress on Stob Corie Nam Beith (grade 3S Scramble)

D Gully buttress was graded Difficult/Severe with the crux (Hell's Wall) graded at Severe and unprotected. However the guide also noted that this is avoidable to the left and right. With a shortish walk in Cb and I decided that this would be the preferable option. Increasing the appeal was the possibility of finishing the buttress and then linking Curved Ridge into a cracking mountain day.

Forecast was for warm with light winds but a risk of heavy, slow moving showers with a risk of lightening.

We left the car in warm sunshine and blue sky, by the time we reached the waterslab black clouds had moved in over the hill and a few spots of rain had fallen. We deliberated and decided to make a decision at the bottom of the climb. We pressed on up the crappy scree which was causing me some discomfort and were passed by a couple of guys that I took to be MRT of some sort. We passed a pair who turned out to be from Prestwick and had a chat.

At the bottom of the route the black clouds had not shifted and I was concerned that we might get half way up and get drenched (or worse) in a sudden downpour. We were unanimous in leaving the route for another day but not wanting to head home without a tick, we decided to take the rope and rack for a walk up Curved Ridge.

By the time we got to the start of the scramble to the base of Curved Ridge, my ankles were in agony from walking up the scree and the weight on my back. A tea break request was denied and so we pushed on until we found a reasonable sized ledge (about 1m wide) to sit on. The ledge was off to the left of the ridge and below was steep - as near vertical that it made no difference - it was here I started having a wee "moment" the pain in my ankles and weight of the pack were sowing the seeds of doubt in my head - I was getting a bit scared, there, I've said it. I realised I would have to stand up on the ledge and swing my pack onto my shoulder to start climbing. It didn't make me feel better. I drank but didn't feel like eating (this did not go unnoticed apparently).

As pleasant as it was to sit in the sun, the pain in my ankles had gone and it was time to move on up. The thought of down climbing just wasn't an option, it was far, far easier to continue. I regained my feet and after a few tentative steps regained my composure (for the time being) and we climbed on enjoying the good holds and grippy rock.

The ridge is almost in two parts, the first initial climb from the start of Easy Gully then there is a short walk. The second section is steeper with a buttress of sorts on the left, a gully/crack then a buttress on the right. The sensible option is the left buttress, climb a series of steps till you are standing at the bottom of a short, smooth wall with a crack on it's left side. You know you're on the right path because the rock is clean, smooth, polished and covered in crampon scratches. The exposure here is not massive but enough to freak me a little - I put it down to carrying as heavy pack. Cb had climbed a rib just to the right and I shuffled along a ledge to see if it would go. I didn't fancy it so I shuffled back to the smooth polished wall. It was at this point our new pals from Prestwick climbed past, the younger taking Cb's route and the, well I'll be honest, older (65 apparently) taking the route I was looking at. I had mentioned to Cb about getting the rope out. She thought I was kidding!! Fortunately I was shown exactly how to climb the wall by my more experienced fellow scrambler. I was impressed by the smoothness and ease with which he moved up. Shamed into action I followed without the style, grace or economy of movement. I found the "thank god" hold and I was up. Hurrah. What had I been worried about?

I hadn't suffered any of this self doubt/exposure fear on our previous week's trip up the North Buttress. Climbing is such a head game. I'm sure if I had been on steeper ground and roped up I would have been quite delighted. In winter I have been more exposed with worse holds. Over the past few years we've done a few routes together and Tower Ridge seems to have become the benchmark by which I measure a routes difficulty. Everything we've done since seems to be harder. Maybe I'm just getting older.

The rest of the ridge was delightful and we reached the cairn to find the two MRT guys having a tea break. I thought that was a good idea so I had a drink but still not eating - it was at this point Cb said she knew something was wrong 'coz I wasn't eating. I'm so transparent sometimes.

Cb had insisted on doing Crowberry Tower but I'd done it many years before and had finally managed to get over the post traumatic stress. My dad had been in charge of navigating and when we reached the top of CR he read the next paragraph without reading on.... I got a bit of a fright when I realised we were on the Tower. I vaguely remember the down climb and relief at getting back to the top of CR. We had come up from the top of Crowberry Ridge and was unaware of the easy climb from Crowberry Tower Gap. Parents!

As we were sitting, our new pals moved past and I asked if they were going up CT?, "yes", "Could you take my friend up with you?", "Sure, no problem". So glad about that.....

I moved of round to the left of the crag and took what is probably the worst way to the summit, and managed to get a photo of the 3 on top of the Tower.

Cb downclimbed and soon appeared above the gap. not much else to do but start the slog down hill.

We arrived at the car at about 15:00 5 hours after starting so we must have moved at a reasonable pace.

06/06/2011 The Buachailles, Part 2 The wee Buachaille

A wee hillwalk with Mrs H and a pal up Buachaille Etive Beag. It started off wet but the weather improved as the day went - sun and superb views down to Loch Etive.

Southern Top

Looking South down Glen Etive

05/06/2011 The Buachailles, Part 1 North Buttress (West Route)

According to the guide book, this is the original summer line up the buttress and the second route on the Buachaille.

Finally! Weather OK. This one has been on the "to-do" list for a couple of years so following the path from the car park across the foot of the hill we eventually ended up at the burn that flows down Great Gully. From here we headed for two large boulders that sit on a small shoulder and mark the point where the route starts. They are an easily recognisable landmark so even we couldn't go wrong.

The guidebook grades it as Moderate/Grade 3(s) scramble (s for serious, I think). If you follow the fault line up the centre of the buttress then it goes at about Difficult.

Climbingbuddy (Cb) was in Spain climbing hardstuff recently and I hadn't climbed anything properly since November. However, Cb injured her arm/shoulder and her ankle wasn't too clever either. This was starting to have the makings of a really good old school EPIC.

on the way up

We donned harnesses at the boulders and made our way up the crappy scree to the foot of the route proper. Then Cb stumbled and tweaked her shoulder. Quick conference - 2 options

1. Turn back before it all goes horribly wrong.
2. Press on in Captain Scott style but take the easier option of Moderate.

Option 2 it was.

The first pitch looked OK so Cb went first - any problems get some gear in and I'd lower her off. Things went well so the first pitch was cut short to 30 meters. I led through and on another 30 meters to where the break out right option is available. I set up a belay and Cb came up confident that things were now OK. Cb's pitch and it was a detour out to the right and up about 10m then work back left to regain the bottom of a right slanting line.

Cb in the chimney line about to break right

After standing for what seemed a rather long time the radio crackled and said (I summarise and paraphrase)- "boulder come off", "bit of a fright", "havin a fag", "gie's a minute".

I waited.

Eventually, I got the good news and climbed up to the next belay to find

blood!!!!!!!

Cb on her 2nd? 3rd? fag but just a flesh wound.

bad rock

I was able to establish through the tears and snotters that Cb had tied onto a seemingly solid rock and then that rock detatched itself without warning from the mountain. Must have been a wee bit of a fright then. The rock had fallen onto the sling wrapped round it and very nearly severed it. Good job it missed the rope eh?

looking down

From that point on we both became a bit paranoid as every big rock seems suspect but in truth only a couple were dodgy.

I led the next pitch and immediately committed a schoolboy error. I placed 2 solid runners and then moved left creating rope drag and restricting myself so much that I had to belay halfway up the next pitch and ask Cb if she could lead through coz I is stoopid.

I enjoyed the view while an adult did some proper climbing.

looking across the Devil's staircase to the Mamores

The angle had eased off and I suspected we were nearing the top of the route, I stayed attached to the rope and walked round to the right for a look then moved back left. I had reached what I have now learned is the "High ledge" so the climbing was over. Radio'd Cb to come up and we packed the gear away but left harnesses on just in case.

The next bit of the ridge was just a scamble, ironically on the best rock we'd had yet, dry, solid and lots of friction. A wee while later and we were on the summit - no one else in sight.

Apologies for the poor photos, the camera on my phone is crap. A good day out.

31/04/2011 Coniston circuit (shameless peak bagging)

Wetherlam (wainwright/hewitt)
Black Sail (hewitt)
Swirl How (wainwright/hewitt)
Great Carrs (wainwright)
Grey Friar (wainwright/hewitt)
Brim Fell (wainwright)
Coniston Old Man (wainwright/hewitt)
Dow Crag (wainwright/hewitt)

Length: 13.2 miles  21.2 km, Ascent: +1479m, Naismith: 6h 42m

Well, the MLT training has been postponed. Not enough people to run the course. I had to consol myself with the thought that Mrs H and me might go to Rum with some friends and do the Rum Cuillin traverse, however other commitments and poor weather meant that this did not happen, I'm quite glad the MLT was postponed, we had a very wild week with a couple of big trees down on the estate and very heavy showers.

Just as events conspire against hill days, sometimes events work in favour, the forecast showed an improvement and Mrs H and I were up at 6 am and headed for Coniston. Neither of us had been before so we didn't know the main road A593 from Ambleside to Coniston is effectively single track for much of the way - this didn't seem to put off the odd HGV. It took a bit longer than expected to get to the village so we didn't leave the car till nearly 12.

sky

The route is straight forward, from Coniston follow the track past the miners bridge until a right fork takes you up above a row of cottages, a couple of switch backs and up to Hole Rake. A faint path (looks like a sheep track) branches off and takes you up (eventually) to Wetherlam. We were very slow up this section which is easy going on short grass. Our excuse is that we hadn't been out for a couple of weeks.

miners bridge

looking up Levers Water Beck

A pause for coffe and sandwiches. We could see most of the Cumbrian hills, Scafell and Scafell Pike (which semed to have attracted low cloud), Langdale and across to Helvellyn and Fairfield. To the South East was Grizedale Forest and the sea. A big lump lurked on the shore which I later discovered was http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heysham_nuclear_power_station Off down across Black sail and down to the busy Swirl Hause. Prison Band to the summit of Swirl How was pleasant, very easy rocks and out of the cold wind and in the sun too.

that way to Swirl How

on Prison Band

From the summit we could see the remaining tops and although I expected a minor mutiny, Mrs H was happy to bag a few Wainrights so we started with Great Carrs. On the way, I came across a memorial at NY270008 http://www.yorkshire-aircraft.co.uk/aircraft/ll505.html 8 crew. All died. Average age 22. The remains of the undercarriage sit next to the cairn. The rest of the aircraft was pushed over into Broad Slack to prevent it being reported as an accident again.

Brim Fell (L) and Dow Crag (R) from Kidson How

We climbed Grey Friar before contouring round on a small path to Brim Fell and Coniston. Hiding behind the massive summit cairn at the top of the Old Man, we scoffed snickers and coffee. The wind seemed to be getting stronger, we heard some of the stones on the cairn moving in the wind, so we packed up and headed to Goat's Hawse and back into the sun. From there we had a really good view of the crags on Dow Crag - I've checked for routes and there's a few in my ability level of Moderate to Difficult - even a couple of easy winter routes although I'm not sure how often they would be in condition... It might be worth a day out at some point.

Low water from Coniston Old Man

Dow Crag isn't as big or a steep as it looks so in 45 minutes from the Old Man summit we were up and back down to Goat Hawse. I had originally planned on continuing over Brown Pike but we were keen to get back to the car so back down past Goat Water and The cove to meet Walna Scar Road and down to Coniston. As it turned out Brown Pike would have taken another 10 mins and may have been a nicer descent.

Goat Water

Back to the car and home for 11pm. I think we took about 8 hours in total. Thanks to Mrs. H for the photos. I was sore the next day!!