Isle of Skye - Split parties

Day 5 saw the group of five split in 2! "The best thing about split parties is the reunion." Louis Hume at 19.40 on 28.05.14.

Unfortunately we have very few photos to document the day but hopefully we will be able to refer you to others' blogs soon....

Tim and Tom opted for a leisurely day involving a trip to the delightful lookout bothy at Rubha Hunish at the northern tip of Skye, a gander round Portree as well as a breakfast and afternoon tea stop. Lots of recovery at the campsite ensued with reading and preparing a veritable feast for the troops.

Charlie joined Louis and Jen for a successful solo ascent of Pinnacle Ridge (Grade 3/Mod****). Charlie got to grips with abseiling again, as this was the most attractive way of descending the third pinnacle. Dropped down the west ridge of Sgurr nan Gillean and traversed round to the Basteir tooth for Louis to lead Naismith's Route (Severe**). An awesome route seconded by the ladies in a dramatic setting, rounded off with a down climb and abseil into King's Cave Chimney. Credit has to be given publicly to RB for his commitment to summitting his Munro tops! A swift descent from the tooth to Sligachan in 1h40mins meant we were back at the car for 8.30 and greeted with fish curry at the teepee at 9. Joy. Thanks boys.

An excellent week with so many highlights and zero lowlights. Thanks everybody and here's to next Whit week on Skye x

Isle of Skye - Jeffrey's Dyke

Tuesday was simple. A well planned route with references to page numbers already organised and logistics refined. 

The plan was this:

Alpine start

Walk in

Jeffrey's Dyke (300m Diff) 

Sgurr Mich Chionnich (Munro)

Grade 2 ridge section

Grade 3 over An Stac

Inn Pinn (Mod and Munro)

Abseil

Sgurr Dearg

Walk back to campsite.

The actual day started well but developed into a real adventure on Jeffrey's Dyke (or Jeremy's depending on who you ask...!) with Tom leading multiple pitches on fairly chossy rock in places. We measured 300m through our ropes but still had a lot of climbing still to do. Very sketchy belays and protection meant a tough head game for Tom - big kudos all round. We followed the line as closely as possible but with an approaching storm, there was an urgency to get to Hart's Ledge to get onto our descent route as soon as possible. We'll be interested to check out UKClimbing for comments on the route. Overall our spirits remained very high and we had a great day out, despite a lack of

possible escape routes and missing out the Munro summit(!). Lunch at 5 on the ridge, soon followed by the rain and a descent down the An Stac screes. A very welcome dinner had been lovingly prepared by our good friends back at camp...thanks guys!

Chuck B is certainly considering Louis' suggestion of leading King's Chimney to summit Sgurr Mich Chionnich next time we're on Skye.

Jeffrey's Dyke is the right slanting line.

The Inn Pinn was in view all day.

A beautiful sunset from 'our house' overlooking Canna.

Isle of Skye - Sgurr an Feadain and Fairy Pools

Monday was supposed to be a 'down day' but the temptation to head out and do something was too great and the weather was good. 

We decided to ascend the northern spur of Sgurr an Feadain just north of the main Cuillin ridge. A fine Grade 2 route it was and worthy of its starred rating.

It must be said that the route was, in part, chosen due to its close proximity to the Fairy Pools. Tim dabbled his feet and Charlie and Tom committed to the full plunge, including a swim through the underwater arch. Although the water was very bracing and gelid, it is a stunning place to be, and despite the midges and tourist paparazzi, it was a fitting end to a lovely day out.

Approaching the top of the route and looking into Waterpipe Gully.

Twit kids!

A fine view of our route and Waterpipe Gully, also visible from the Glen Brittle road.

Someone remained fully clothed...

Someone else committed to the swimmers...

Isle of Skye - Sgurr nan Eag and Sgurr Alasdair

Day 2 (Sunday) saw the full entourage head onto the ridge via Coire a Ghrunnda. Despite several attempts by some members of the group to evade 'bagging munros', we all reached the summit cairn of Sgurr nan Eag, although it was shrouded in mist.

We then scrambled along the ridge, skirted An Caisteal but rejoined the grade 2 scramble up Sgurr na da Bheinn. The group decided to leave Sgurr Dubh Mor 'proper' for another day due to a combination of weather conditions, timing, energy levels and simply not really knowing what our descent route of choice would have in store for us.

A successful ascent of Sgurr Alasdair was made via a roped grade 3 chimney and our efforts were rewarded by views from the summit. Fun was had descending the Great Stone Chute and we enjoyed a bit of reflection and stretching on the slabs by the lochan before heading back to camp.

A midgey start to the day...

Refuelled after an early lunch.

Descending Sgurr nan Eag.

View from the top of the Great Stone Chute looking across to the An Stac screes and Sgurr Dearg.

Louis and Chuck coming round off Sgurr Alasdair.

Heavenly...

Isle of Skye - Am Basteir

After a swift exit from work, the convoy 'flew' north and pitched at Sligachan at 1ish after a superb Friday night drive up on empty roads.

Awoke to some mizzle, a very strange hoopy sounding bird and grey sky with low cloud over the Cuillin. Nevertheless we continued with Plan A and ascended Am Basteir (from Sligachan on a traversing path under Pinnacle Ridge) and we were glad we did as the weather soon improved...

Checking the route.

Avoiding snow traverses...

Our first clear view of the day, looking south from the bealach.

Hmm...

A fine view of Pinnacle Ridge on Sgurr nan Gillean on our descent above the Basteir gorge.

A welcome and refreshing splash around on the return to Sligachan.

Nicely esconsed next to the Humes at Glen Brittle.

Loweswater weekend

After a lovely Friday evening at home, we managed an early departure on Saturday to arrive in Keswick for second breakfast soon after 8. An unexpected 999 call was made near Penrith due to us spotting a cow on the loose on the A66 eastbound. Charlie's choice of adjective of 'frisky' was duly amended for the log by the control room chap to 'agitated'!!

Set off from Buttermere to head to Grey Crag. We learned a lesson in crag identification. To cut a long story short, in all our excitement to get climbing, we had mistaken the enticing (but difficult!) Raven Crag for Grey Crag. Upon arriving just shy of the foot of the crag, we realised and fortunately we were able to traverse round to our desired east facing crag for ascents of Harrow Buttress and Slabs Ordinary Route.

Raven crag in the centre, Grey Crag to the right (out of sight!)

Both climbs were excellent. Charlie led one pitch but was disappointed to be forced to leave her first piece of gear on a climb - a (very) well placed blue tricam which was part of Tim's penultimate belay! Good luck to anyone who tries to retrieve it! 

Refining good practice following our Welsh weekend

A decent meal at the Wheatsheaf at Low Lorton followed by a breezy camp.

Sunday saw the party a little sleep deprived but we enjoyed a delightful ascent of the northern slope of Mellbreak and a return along the shores of Crummock Water.

Welsh weekend - Idwal Slabs

Day 2 of the bank holiday weekend saw a day on Idwal Slabs, chosen for a friendly gradient and optimistically shelter from the strengthening winds.

Chuck B's first multipitch lead climb - appropriately named Faith** (VDiff) Louis kindly provided counsel and confidence rope if required and Cups brought up the rear! A fantastic route on great rock.

Jenny seconding Hope next door. 

Our cheesy guide....

I wouldn't dare pitch my tent on flat ground...

Teepee time...

Cups makes the stove thermo-nuclear!

Welsh weekend - Tryfan

Our new guide arrived on Wednesday, which pretty much marked the start of the May bank holiday weekend!



We finally got in an alpine start with setting off walking soon after 8 on Saturday. That was after an oh so scruffy breakfast by Luke W...

Headed up to the East face of Tryfan via Heather Terrace for an ascent of Pinnacle Rib Route. There was an amount of confusion with guides swapping names and routes on the maps but we were reassured by the number of people following us that we had First Pinnacle Rib under our belts. 

Luke W leading the second pitch - a lovely feel. 

The final belay...

Our route down entailed a worthy scramble down the northern ridge of Tryfan and we dropped down to Little Tryfan for a cheeky 2 pitch slab. A smashing day out.