Its been an interesting last month, climbing classic gritsone arete's, old school offwidths, tehnical sandstone walls and mixed scottish routes.
The last 10 days
I've spent up north with my first visit to the quiet county of
Northumberland. This is a place I've always been keen to visit and
finally got round to going. Its a beautiful area of rolling hills,
forests, very few people and stunning sandstone cliffs.
We checked
out 3 of the main cliffs in the area Bowden Doors, Back Bowden and
Kyloe in the woods each one with its own unique style.
Bowden doors is the
archetypal sandstone crag in the area with great routes and
bouldering of all grades. Here we did a bit of the bouldering and
some of the classic trad routes up the amazing wave featured wall
including The Wave (E5 6a) and The Mantra (E3 6a).
Back Bowden is a hidden
away cliffs in a quiet valley with some quality lines on great
sandstone. Managed the classic line of The Tube (E4 5c), the steep
Lost Cause (E4 6b) and the bold On the Rocks (E7 6c). The latter
taking a spicy fall on!
And finally Kyloe,
which is a bouldering venue tucked away in a huge forest. Here we
managed some great problems.
Narcissus (E6 6b) at Froggat edge
Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy V7 Kyloe in the Woods
On the Rocks (E7 6c) Back Bowden
Kyloe bouldering
Born Lippy V11, Bowden Doors
Kyloe classic
Sentinal crack (E3 5c) at Chatsworth crag
'Use your feet, like your hands' crux of Sentinal
And here's the latest footage!
And if you missed this check out My feature on Epic TV recently!
After three days in the
County I made my way up further north and into Scotland with an
organised week with PYB of winter climbing in Glencoe and the
Cairngorms. Winter climbing is something I’ve been extremely keen
to get into this last year or so and get a load of experience in, so
there was no better place to start. I had not been to Scotland in
nearly 10 years and it was great to be back to such a beautiful and
wild place.
As I arrived I realised
there had been a large dump of snow and so knew it was going to be a
good week of proper Scottish winter climbing.
The instructor and
friend from North Wales days Dave Evans was absolutely brilliant, knowing everything there is to know about winter climbing and the
Scottish mountains.
During the week we climbed 3 classic mixed
routes: Scabbard Chimney V, 6 (Glencoe), Pot of Gold V, 6 and The
Genie V, 6 (both Cairngorms) all in full winter conditions and on the
last day due to poor weather a first experience in Drytooling on the
slate quarries in Dunkeld leading some climbs up to M5. It was a week
of much watching and learning from the master and am truly inspired
to get a lot more done.
Happy after our ascent of Scabbard Chimney V, 6 in Glen coe
Dave descending snow tracks
Pot of Gold V, 6 belay in Cairngorms
The Genie V, 6 first pitch in Cairngorms
Northern Corries in Cairngorms
Perfect Winter conditions
Cairngorms walk out
Drytooling in Dunkeld slate guarry
