A Weekend Off

After a rather busy few weeks it was good to get down to my dads and take a weekend off climbing, riding and work, i chose a good weekend with the weather being less than desirable. We spent the weekend watching the FA cup, walking the dog and fixing up some old bikes.

I am pleased to see my summer filling up with bookings and looking forward to finishing uni and starting work again. If the weather cheers up i will hopefully be able to get out on the crag this week and if it doesnt il be in the climbing works or out on my bike.

Scotland Take 2

After weeks of waiting it was finally time to get back up to Scotland and out onto the hill. Once again we headed up to the Caingorms and after a night in the AstraCamper and some quick shopping we hit Sneachda for a quick route before dark.

As it was Tingles first ever winter climb we chose The Runnel, a straightforward Grade 2. Which could be done in 2 pitches. This provided me with the opertunity to lead my first winter pitch as well as getting back into the swing of winter climbing. After John had led the last pitch we desended back to the Ski centre with some other climbers who we stumbled upon in the white out at the top, satisfyied with a good afternoon and looking forward to a curry and the Hostel,

Saturday came and with it brought fine weather. this was our first day with the charismatic Smiler Cuthbertson who Tingle had met when they worked on the ropes together, Smiler is a big inspiration to all being 62 and Still climbing at the level demanded of the British Mountain Guide, We met smiler and headed back up to Sneachda to do do another longer Grade 2. Earlier in the day there had been quite a large avalanche in the far corner of the Coire and 2 people had to be airlifted out. We ended up on Spiral Gully and topped out to almost no wind and clear views.

After major snowfall over the evening and the avalanches the previous day Smiler deemed it to dangerous to get on any routes as the North facing slopes were most prone to avalanching so we changed plans and set out climb the Fiaciall Ridge in wild conditions, the ridge was quite straight forward with some steep sections, but due to the conditions it was also quite busy

We made it back to the car and said our goodbyes to Smiler before hitting the chippy and the road back to Sheffield.

Posh Meals and Horizontal Rain

The good weather turned during the week and we were faced with the prospect of a miserable weekend. The end of the week saw torrential rain and gale force winds... not really climbing weather. Saturday was spent at Hillsborough for the football. We were lucky enough to win some tickets to the hospitality and enjoyed a Champagne reception and 3 course meal prior to the game. Unfortunatly as far as a Wednesday fan is concerned the game was garbage and we were fortunate to slavage a point against 9 man MK Dons. With a new manage in this week in Gary Megson lets hope results will turn round.

Sunday was spent at Descend Hamsterly near Darlington, it was the first time i have ridden these tracks and after an early start we arrived to high winds and torrential rain. The uplifts made the weather bearable as we didnt have to push up but it took all our motivation to get back out on the bikes after dinner. the tracks at hamsterly are pretty good with a flat out top section and more technical and steep bottom sections including a pretty interesting rock garden which caused a few issues!

I will be spending the early part of this week doing uni work before heading up to Scotland Winter Climbing next weekend,