Back to the real work

Richard on Clean Sweep, VS, Hell’s Lum

After the wee holiday in Wales and Glasgow I felt rested up and keen to get back to another stint of training for my projects for the summer. All of them are big multipitch mountain routes that have F8 pitches, bold and in seriously awkward places to get to. The fitter I am, the better.

So I have been trying to get out to the crag every day over the past week and work myself a bit harder. These pics are from a morning on Hell’s Lum with Richard. We drove over and scooted up Clean Sweep before lunch. The plan was to head over for a climb or two on Shelterstone for the afternoon, but the showers swept in, so I wandered about on an E5 at Creag dubh instead, getting lost (I’ve somewhat forgotten how to read a guidebook).

Since then, I’ve been cleaning, bolting and trying various cool routes. Or at least the bits of them that are still dry.

Shortly I’m heading over to Harris to begin preparations for attempting a line on Sron Ulladail for the Great Climb programme on Aug 28th. We’ve got to climb a 5-6 pitch route with a very high E-number, on live telly in 5 or 6 hours. So a week of walking in and climbing on the cliff each day will be essential training and learning for the big day.