Monday 21 January 2008

Alpine outing on Alasdair.

The topsy-turvy season continues and any hopes of ice-lines like White Wedding forming were dashed once more over the warm weekend. With clear skies overnight we avoided the temptation of Coir' a' Bhastier's abundant snowfields and found ourselves looking up a very rocky Coire Lagan instead. "Exercise will do us good" mentality was adopted as the climbing rack was stripped right down.

Five minutes above Loch Coire Lagan we found ourselves on solid neve as we headed toward the huge impressive North Buttress of Sgumain. Passing beneath it involved a couple of small icy steps as conditions just got better. Getting into the sun on the final slopes of Sgumain had us whooping as the full Alpine atmosphere took over. The north face of Alasdair looked very like the Eiger Nordwand.

The normally dank chimney that gives access to the final slopes of Alasdair was banked out right to the top. A hot, calf-burning stomp to the highest point on Skye followed with stunning light effects over Rum as a reward. Suprisingly the Great Stone Shoot held only a tiny amount of snow, but just enough to let us crampon back down to our starting spot.

With the pubs all closed for the season we were forced to sip whisky on the beach as the Alpen-glow gained intensity on the Ridge above. Slainte Rob.

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Friday 11 January 2008

FWA (first winter ascent) Grand Diedre Direct VI 6

Perfect conditions for an unusual objective, a south facing corner crack not reputed to take much drainage. The 3 star summer route gave the 3 boys a 3-star outing as a reward for some deep snow snorkeling up the Sgumain Stone Shoot on the approach.

The first pitch is the crux in summer,technically 5a, and gave a well protected pitch for Peter. The hand width crack of pitch 2 proved less friendly with a sustained crux section past the overlap and beyond. A fine lead from Graham. The difficulties eased not far above the belay on the very white 3rd pitch. A short traverse led to the in situ slings above the TD gap from where one long abseil had us back into Coir' a' Ghrunnda. Superb!

The winter team were Graham Briffet, Peter Macpherson & Mike Lates.

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23 November 2007. Mike Lates & Beads

FA Maclaren's Lament. V 6. Blaven, central gully.

Great conditions of freeze thaw rapidly gave some ideal conditions for mixed climbing in the Cuillin with every rock locked into place by a hard layer of verglas (black ice).

Early season dictated a bit of a warm-up pitch needed before something more meaty and this line fitted the bill nicely. We actually thought we were on a summer route called Eventide until we later passed beneath it on our descent of the central gully.

Some pleasant icy steps led Beads to a huge belay flake below the gaping chimney. The through route above was an expedition in itself and led to a squashed ledge below a final narrowing. This was undercut on both sides and only wide enough to get one arm into the chock stone filled crack at the rear. Luckily the gear was superb and above the moves which allowed most of an hour to be spent working out a solution to this final 5 metres. Brute force won over in the end but the battered body ached for some days afterwards.

A ludicrous changeover of leads involved me lying back into a narrow slot to let Beads get past. He picked an exciting traversing line past the terrace above to finish on the final slopes to the summit. Stunning winter light made it a very special top-out but aren't they all!!

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27 May 2006

Three down
Mike Lates decided to hedge our bets in light of the uncertain forecast- snow showers and sunny spells. From Banachdich we would decide whether to continue north to An Dorus, south to the In. Pinn. (gulp) or just run away.

Approaching by a deep gully cleaving the end of Sgurr na Gobhar kept us out of the wind. Learning to treat every rock with caution certainly kept us on our toes. A closer inspection of the Ridge from the summit of Banachdich (easiest peak in the Cuillin!) showed we were going to be on our toes a lot over the coming week.

Without much of a break or discussion we were off southward toward the Pinn. apparently hoping that the dry conditions would hold out for an ascent. Harnesses and helmets were adorned in a welcome lunch break some 300feet below the top of Sgurr Dearg. This was then surprisingly simple to reach up a pleasantly broad slope.

With hardly a second to catch our breath or to even look at our objective we were soon trussed up one behind the other and starting our ascent. In no time at all we were perched on the summit boulder having our pictures taken. I, for one, hadn't’t even thought about looking around until that point. The abseil descent was positively fun having watched the others go first.

With more snow due later in the week it was decided to push on to Sgurr Mhic Coinnich. We kept our sacks on with talk of Collie’s Ledge and other delights if the dry weather continued. Without warning the wind picked up and snow drove horizontally between us. The rough rock turned to glass in an instant and we were suddenly all crawling on all fours. The blizzard saved itself just for the summit section and stopped as quickly as it had started once we had slithered back down from the rooftop. A final sting was a greasy slab just before the relative safety of the An Stac screes.

Three down, only nine to go! Oh Boy!

Jonathan Small.

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