Ersfjord time

Julia scoping out new route potential

A little rain sweeps across Ersfjord. It didn’t last.

Helena getting ready and climbing Turistklasse - a lovely traverse out above the space below.

Everyone’s fingertips are really suffering now at the hands of the unforgiving Ersfjord granite. Even after a rest our tips were still pink and small holds feel unpleasant to pull on. However, we went for it anyway. I bolted a superb line on a massive roof after two tries I was ready for a redpoint try, all except my fingers. Down to the last layer before a trip ruining split tip, I had to stop until tomorrow morning.

Afterwards I bolted two more new routes and belayed Julia while she bolted another. So between us we have made some progress on quite a few different projects, and the forecast is still nice. 

Diff has made a lovely video of Julia climbing one of the island’s best 7b+s over on the Gore-Tex experience tour facebook page here.

Norway Day 3

Julia exploring granite boulders, Blammanen. All pics by Paul Diffley/Hot Aches. Paul's uploaded a nice gallery of pics to the Gore-Tex facebook page.

Helena enjoying warm sunshine and cool shade in Ersfjord

Julia working Ramadan, 8a, Ersfjord

Today we are resting sore fingers from the Ersfjord granite in Norway, for a morning at least. Later, I’m off for a proper explore of the faces and boulders above Ersfjord itself. Things have been going up and down here over the past 2 days, as is normal for the business of looking for hard new routes. We were doing well on a route on Blammanen and I was getting most excited. But some logistical problems made us realise it would be difficult to do it safely in the time we have here. So yesterday we went to another venue.

Straight away I saw a great line to start working on, and after a couple of hours on it, had done the moves. It’s a 70 metre pitch and a difficult crux after 30 metres. I think it’ll take a little time, and some better conditions. 

I’ve never been great at climbing granite, since there isn’t much steep granite in Scotland. But I’ve definitely learnt a lot in the past 4 days, and I’m eager to put it to good use. Last night was quite hard work as it was unexpectedly hot and humid. Not what I was expecting from this trip I must say. A lot of skin was lost from the team’s fingertips. Tomorrow, maybe we look at somewhere different again.

I think all of us are getting into the flow of the climbing here.

Day 1 in Norway

I write quickly before we go back into the mountains for more climbing in Norway. Yesterday, we did our start of trip faff, buying food etc and drove round for an evening session on Blammanen. We managed to choose a line to try and did 2 50 metre pitches of E6 6b. The next pitch looks extremely hard and blank, going through roofs. But if that goes, the rest of the route should too. Time to send Donald out in front with the aid gear! That is the project for the next two days at least.

I was feeling a little daunted at the prospect of doing it all again today after finally making dinner at 2am after climbing yesterday. but Helena’s pancakes this morning have squashed this feeling a little.

Two new routes at Steall

The belay in sight at the end of Maxwell’s Demon 8b+, Steall during the first ascent. Pic by Steven Gordon. Steven has uploaded a nice gallery from the day on his site here.

It’s not so often I get to the chain on two sport projects at Steall in one day, never mind two first ascents. Finally a break the humidity allowed me to get some redpoints in. First off, I took an interest in an old project climbing straight through the central cave, taking in the crux of Arcadia and breaking out onto the headwall to join the finish of Ring of Steall. Duncan McCallum had first tried the line in the nineties but abandoned it and it was de-bolted after some unnatural holds briefly appeared (and were filled in very well). 

I re-equipped the start and finish (the middle bit takes in a couple of trad placements on the Arcadia crack) but it was always either too cold or seeping or I had a crap sequence. Anyway, the other day I managed to do it and thought it was excellent. I had originally thought it was 8b but after a bit of a scrap for a few attempts even in dry conditions it felt a bit more like 8b+. 

Next up I went straight onto an excellent link-up possibility that Michael first pointed out to me. Climbing pretty much all of The Fat Groove (8a), across the lip of the roof of Maxwell’s Demon, reversing the crux traverse of Arcadia and finishing up most of Leopold (8a) to give a 40 metre diagonal stamina monster. Michael’s proposed that if it would go it would be a ‘5 star mega classic’. I can confirm that’s pretty much how it climbed. It takes in a lot of cruxes of 8as and harder, but with some good, if body pumping rests. I called this one Steallworker (8b).

What a nice way to round off a couple of weeks climbing at home before I leave tomorrow for the Gore-Tex Experience Tour trip to Norway.

Throw in another kneebar and press on! Halfway along the big link-up on Steallworker 8b during the first ascent.

An Teallach with Peter

Yesterday the weirdest thing happened to me. I’d already been to A&E at the Belford for an X-ray of my left foot since it was still feeling extremely painful if I weighted the medial side of my foot on the Sesamoid with my big toe pulled up. It was feeling like something was definitely wrong. It was getting worse every day. The X-ray returned a negative for broken bones but just a comment that I had the weirdest feet they had ever seen. But still no explanation for the very targeted pain, except that it ‘must’ be a bruised bone.

I was unconvinced. Movement was fine with great care not to stand on the medial side of my foot, so I kept a date to go for a big run with Peter. In the circumstances scaled it down to a short run and not even really a run and so headed for An Teallach.

We set off after 3pm and slogging up Sail Mor, my foot was seriously complaining. The whole way I was contemplating a bail request, but just kept my head down for ‘another 50 metres’ all the way to the summit ridge. Once there, I stopped to put on my jacket and started walking again. WHAT???!!! No pain!!! All of a sudden, it stopped hurting and I went from mild hobbling to bounding along the ridge crest in normal hill running stylee. So, the explanation seems to be a dislocated (subluxed) sesamoid that spontaneously popped back into it’s groove. Very strange experience.

With healthy Dave unexpectedly restored, we commenced a fun dash over the An Teallach Ridge, which was most satisfying

Testing my shiny new Firelite Jacket before Norway

Peter enjoying speed-scrambling on Sgurr Fiona

Steall and summer highland afternoons out.

Loch Quoich, Knoydart. I took Freida for a walk at Kinlochourn. It was a lovely afternoon.

Ben Nevis from Steall crag

Michael dispatching the second ascent of my route The Fat Groove (8a)

I had a great but hard couple of days up there with Rich and Michael working hard on projects in fairly rubbish conditions. I now have three nice projects wired and ‘overlapping halves’ on all of them. All we need now is a fresh northwesterly and a couple of rest days for some exciting redpoints. Always love Steall sessions. The moves are super technical, sometimes downright weird, sometimes downright brutal, always pumpy as hell. Anyone fancy a session there next week?

Steven attaches big lenses to shoot the Gore-Tex ad in the Coe. Stob Coire behind.

Anna Wells suitably chuffed with her ascent of Peel’s Wall (E4), Pass of Ballater

Unclimbed roadside boulder, Knoydart. The prow looks like a V8 or so.

Alan on Metalcore

Alan Cassidy - Metalcore 8c+ from Matt Pycroft on Vimeo.

Lovely video by Matt Pycroft of Alan Cassidy’s repeat of a route of mine called Metalcore (8c+) at the Anvil. Excellent effort.

Running home for tea

The Grey Corries

The other day after baby group I went for a wee run. With the Experience Tour trip to Norway just over a week away I am needed to sharpen up and shed a pound or two quickly after having put in a few weeks of training. So after a 12 hour fast Claire dropped me off in Glen Nevis and I headed up over Meall Cumhann, across the empty Coire Giubhsachan and up that savage slope of Aonach Beag (via a wee scope about the crags of course). I was still feeling bouncy of leg after that but as I headed out across the Grey Corries I began to notice the knuckle under my left big toe getting progressively sorer after an awkward landing on a stone. Sgurr Chionnich’s Beag and Mor passed ok although running was kind of off the cards by then as the fuel switched almost exclusively to lipid. On the way up Stob Coire Nan Easain I very quickly felt like a lie down. My body was giving me a message. It emphatically did not want to ascend any more without sugar. 

It was hard to bail when after Easain it’s a steady cruise without much more ascent, but it’s been a while since I’ve ran so I took the chilled option and stumbled down into the massive and wild Coire nan Eoin. Despite feeling pretty lousy, the solitude of this glen was something else and I tramped quite happily in my own little zone through it’s meanders out into Leanachan Forest. 

However, once in Leanachan Forest, I was really ready for some dinner let me tell you so it was a fine training exercise to tramp through it’s seemingly endless tracks leading here, there and everywhere and finally back to my car in Spean Bridge.

I had a pound coin in my car. It’s been a couple of decades since I’ve done this but I dived straight into the Spar shop and stood carefully in the sweetie isle calculating how I could buy the maximum amount of chocolate for 1 pound. I couldn’t believe chocolate bars are 70 odd pence these days! My prizes lasted well under a minute (1 picnic bar, one fudge, 11p change).

Good day out. Might do this again next week. Tomorrow feeding midges as Steall again.

Time for small holds again

Vector Space 7c+, Tunnel Wall. Pics by Steven Gordon.

The past couple of weeks have flown by, doing work for Mountain Equipment, Gore-Tex and the John  Muir Trust among others, and grabbing climbing days in between. First off I nipped up to Tunnel Wall with Steven Gordon after work and climbed an excellent new line I bolted a couple of months ago.

It’s the obvious diagonal overlap running across the wall from Uncertain Emotions to eventually finish up the top half of my own route Axiom (which was upgraded to 8a, although I must say I still think 7c+ is correct). A few people had talked about equipping it and it was well worth it.

The new line ‘Vector Space’ seems to miss out all the tricky Tunnel Wall cruxes of the straight up lines, so it climbs really smoothly and worked out pretty steady even though it’s 40 odd metres long.

Since then I’ve been working out on a couple of projects at Steall which might keep me going for some time, and keep the midges going in food for some time...

Nice short film about Ben Nevis

Ben from Kate Owen on Vimeo.

Nice video by Kate Owen about Ben Nevis. The climbing by me is on the Heather Hat boulder and Kev’s section is on Scimitar Ridge. I particularly liked the hill running part.