Young apprentice Mountain

Limekilns

Qualitydj — Mon, 05 May 2008 23:06:00 +0000

After a couple of short visits to Roysyth and Cambusbarron a full day out today for the bank holiday Monday!Simon, Estelle, Gerome and I all went to Limekilns for the day to have a look at some routes.

We climbed some VS 4c's on the Gellock Block and then I had a look at Elgins Crck E2 5c supposedly the best climb on the block!It went without to much drama a good climb and good gear to be found.

After lunch we visited the other section to have a look there. The block is a bit smaller but full of good routes. Some guys on the North face climbing the E4 in style while we stuck to another VS on the South side allowing us to set up a top rope rig for Estelle and Gerome to use.

On the West face there is another corner climb - New Gold Dream E2 5b which gets mixed reports on UKC(as do many things) I found it a good climb with the crux moves pushing the grade up for me. The technical moves around the peg runner much harder than anything on Elgins crack.

The day was superb in terms of weather and marks the true start of the rock season 2008.

Comb Gully

Qualitydj — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 21:24:00 +0000

Climbing with my photographer friend Brian today! so hopefully have some good images later from a another good weather day on the Ben.

Comb Gully in Coire na Ciste was the target for the day and despite all my efforts to drop all my gear on the walk in we managed to top out just before 1pm.

Brian approaching the second belay!

The summit was much less windy and hence more pleasant than expected and we had some lunch before descending down number four.

Teams on Thompsons,Green, 0.5, Zero, No 2 and others but generally a nice quiet day.

Lots of melt since I was last on the ben a week past Saturday and the Curtain is now no more than a dribble!

L-R the Cascade - Comb - N3 Gully Buttress - N3 Gully

This might be the last winter day of the season for me although I might go for one more visit this coming Saturday!

Just for a laugh I am going to post my Stats for the season showing m's climbed road miles travelled , double deckers eaten etc etc .

Watch this spce for the upcoming Statto post!

Relaxing Weekend

Qualitydj — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 09:27:00 +0000

This Weekend Estelle, Gerome and I went on a quick road trip up to Aberdeen and back to Edinburgh down the A93!

On the way up on Saturday we went a walk up in Glen Clova to Corrie Fee:

Sunday morning we went to see Balmoral Castle the private Holiday residence of the Queen.
I'm not generally a big fan of castles but this was very interesting .

Lochnager was looking very snowy on the way past in comparison to the slopes at Glenshee which were not!

Ben Nevis - Unfinished business!

Qualitydj — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:59:00 +0000

A late return to Ben Nevis last Saturday to catch the last of this years ice. In fact the ben is holding lots of ice and snow and with the current weather we might get another climb out of this year yet but we will have to recover from our huge day out on Saturday First.

We left Edinburgh at 9:30pm Saturday night and made the familiar drive to Torlundy , pitched our tents and tried to get some sleep. Porridge was served by Simon at 6:00 and we were on our way up the path by 7am.

The walk in gave loads of promise with the whole of the North face looking very wintery but without the fierce wind that we have experianced on all to many early walk in's to the CIC.

We decided to head into Coire na Ciste partially due to the hoards of people heading in the direction of .5 zero smiths etc!

And after a lovely walk in we arrived at the base of 2 step corner to find a group climbing on Diana to our left but our route clear!

We visited 2 step in January but found the build up in sufficient on the upper sections. Today the base of the route looked promising and we changed our order from our january visit and Simon lead up the First Pitch.

I followed up and lead up a glorious second pitch to a rock belay at the side of the no3 Buttress Snow ramp.

Simon headed across to take a look at the upper section which on closer inspection we decided was going to submit today!

The ice looked good and our only concern was escape from the huge cornice at the head of the route. The ice on the fourth pitch was great but for a small section of thin icicle which for some reason was not very well formed. Lots of unconsolidated snow ice in between solid water ice made things a bit spicy. I had good gear which was just as well as I managed to take my first lead fall on ice. Three metres back to nearly the level of the belay held on my upper screw. I managed to leave one axe in the wall!

This photo from Simon's phone is me on the fourth pitch just before the dodgy icicle!

I took a moment and recomposed myself took my spare axe from my sack and headed up for another go!

After the bulge of the icicle it was all or nothing the ice was great but gave little away for the next twenty five metres to just below the cornice.

A very happy me arrived onto a small snow ledge below the cornice just before 3:30pm. I brought Simon up and quickly changed over to escape the cornice and bomb down number 4 !

A pint in the Clachaig on the way home finished off an ideal day on the Ben and given the weather we might just get one more this season!

Vanoise March 2008

Qualitydj — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 18:34:00 +0000

Estelle and I headed for Friburge in the Vanoise National Park over Easter.

We did a load of Cross country sking and Estelle managed to learn to fait le pas patineur!

At the end of our Stay I did a great day of touring / off Piste and discovered some of the un tracked ground between the le Plagne ski area and the valley of Champagny le Haut. I was with Marc a Guide from Grenoble through Oxygen Ski School see his site below:

Marcs Site!

A great day out with great snow, great weather and great scenery.

Sport Climbing in February! Glen Ogle on the Sunny side.

Qualitydj — Sun, 17 Feb 2008 21:12:00 +0000

Due to the summer conditions and general lack of winteryness we headed to Glen Ogle near Lochearnhed to explore the sports crags on the suuny side of the glen.

We mainly climbed on the rhs of Creag nan Cuileann which has a number of trad lines in the guide book on the lhs and a number of presumably (newer than the guidebook ) lines on the rhs.

They all felt about 6b sort of level to me .

A lovely day for February heres hopeing the weather improves for the worst!

Good things come to those who wait!

Qualitydj — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:19:00 +0000

Went to Ben Nevis yesterday but just to the bottom!

Blowing a Gale, Snowing , rain forecast just didn't seem the right weather to be going onto the hill!

I could not bear to take the camera out until the path on the way back to the car!

We forced our way up to the hut and sauntered back down again. We stopped for a couple of hours at the ice factor on the way home which was good practice for next week when i'm off to Champagny in France for the Gorzderette.

I reckon The Ben is en route to loads of routes in great nick and look forward to getting back from my 10 days away!

No 3 Buttress 12.01.08

Qualitydj — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:13:00 +0000

Another day on the Ben and what a glorious day sunny and cold! All the Ski Centres in Scotland open today and most of the lifts!

I seriously considered a day on planks but decided that the whole of Scotland would also be queing for the car park so stuck with the climbing plan.

We headed up to Number 3 buttress and found it not to busy passing teams heading up to ledge route and up the curtain.

A reasonable amount of debris under neath number 4 gully keep us aware of the large amounts of new snow.

Two teams on Green gully when we arrived and we headed along to have a look at two step corner our intended rout for the day.

The corner looked thin but a had a very promising start to the first pitch. I headed up but was forced out left as the corners were hardly iced at all. We found a great variation out left overlooking a team starting up No 3 buttress route with a lovely icy second pitch following the turfy and rocky end of the first.

Simon Belayed at the side of the platform. With the team on butress route belayed at the top of the first snow ramp.

We had a look at Quickstep and the upper section of two step corner but finally decided the continuation of the buttress route was the was to go. Turned out even this was badly lacking in ice required to pull up onto the smaller platform.

A Quick lead up on Northern Corries style rocky rigde saw us on the summit. The last belay was in a great position looking across Knuckle duster and Sioux wall towards the Secret with both pitches in full view.

Quick exit down No 4 and back to the car for the Drive home.

Forecast is for a thawing couple of days and hopefully lots of ice building for the end of the week. Hopefully another last visit to the Ben on Thursday before I head For the Alps on Saturday morning.

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Pentlands again

Qualitydj — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:38:00 +0000

Estelle and I headed past Ikea to the Penicuik side of the pentlands on Sunday the 6th.

Most of the recent snows had melted but the last day of the holidays meant a busy car park .

Estelle took some nice photos and i got cold hands (left my gloves in the car doh!)

Green Gully - epic day in a full Blizzard, loved it!

Qualitydj — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:10:00 +0000

"Green Gully 04.01.08 - epic day in a full Blizzard, loved it!"

Simons comments about our climb on the Ben on Friday.

A good day out in challenging conditions.

The start was delayed by a couple of hours due to an accident on the A85 at Crianlarch.

I finally met Simon after practically running up the Allt a' Mhulinn path to the CIC at 10:30

It was cold and windy and we headed sraight up to the lochan in Garadh na Ciste in Ben Nevis where i dried off after the walk in!

Heading up to the bottom of the climb there was a fair amount of poder underfoot but not as much as i was expecting.

The climb was in good condition with decent ice on all the pitches. Spindrift was pouring which made the climb feel very wintery however in beteween the gusts the mountain had a very nice day feel.

Descent down number 4 was fine with very little snow build until very low down. The weather really moved in towards the end of the descent and care was required to find a good rout back to the CIC. Very strong Gusts making walking and navigation challenging.

We were blown all the way down the path to the car park.

Sorry no photos as im experimenting with my mums old camera and i think the auot focus is broken!

My first Pentlands outing!

Qualitydj — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 18:03:00 +0000

Although i've lived in Edinburgh for 10 years i've never really explored the pentlands and recently decided that I really should. I chose a horrible wet and windy day to start.

starting from the Harlaw reservoir south of Balerno i headed in past the falls at the How . I headed up between Carnethy Hill and Scald Law the South West along the ridge and back round to Balerno.

Its a nice place although a wet and very windy day meqnt that yet again ,y boots did not really get a chance to dry out properly.

Deep Cut Chimney

Qualitydj — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:55:00 +0000

First outing with a new partner is always interesting!

Simon and I headed for Coire nam Beith in Glencoe on the 30th of December.

http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=277521&v=1#x4117053

The forecast looked promising but the balmy day meant that we had a warm walk to the col and a quick descent before lunch.

Deep cut looked wet and summery with melting snow underfoot!

Playing Catch UP!

Qualitydj — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 21:25:00 +0000

Blogging for work has taken its toll on this blog but the Winter season arriving and my huge usage of other peoples blogs has spurred me on to update this one and post conditions and route info during the winter season.

Before I start That a bit of catch up will record the events since September.

Training for winter season started in October with a new Gym membership and some improvements to my home wall / gym / torture room.

Following a mix of routines from Training for Climbing and Will Gadd's book ICE and Mixed Climbing

The routine has seen improvements in my upper body strength and general gym routine and statying power!

The real test will be later on in the season to see if I have kept it up!

October saw a last couple of trad routes for the year up at Cambusbarron Quarry.

This also saw the first attendance of our photographer!! John who came along for the day!

I really like the quarry here and hope to be back in 2008 for some more exploring!

December saw the first away weekend of winter.

The first day was the drytooling festival part of Glenmore lodges 60th Birthday festivities!

And for the record the pull up effort was from me ( it was 18 not 16 ) and dave seemed in good health to me!

The next day looked promising for some mixed route in the norries and after not to late a night in the Glenmore lodge bar I teamed up with a chap called Mark who was at the tooling fest the day before to have a look in Coire and Lochain.

No photos from the day so these are pinched!

First Route : Ewan Butress Direct IV , 5
2nd Route: Hookers Corner V,7

Great Day out with a good number of teams in the corrie. We had a great view of a number of teams on Deep Throat and Gaffers Groove.

Great Start to the winter season.

The Next weekend was (winter) partnerless so I persuaded some rock climbers up to Newtyle Quarry for some drytooling practice!

Again we had our pro pic taker in attendance!

The day was a good day out a brisk walk in the morning followed by some tooling in the afternoon.

Dan had not been tooling before and found it great fun I think. I had a second look at Happy Hooker D7 on the happy hooker wall. Unfortunately it took me so long to find the third last crucial hook pocket that my arms had lost the will to pull me up to the finish. Next time should finish this rout and I am keen to have a closer look at Va Va Voom D8 on the same wall. One day I might make it into the tube and maybe later off the ground!

The Secret on Ben Nevis was completed by Andy Turner, Steve Ashworth and Viv Scott just before our visit to Newtyle.

What an insipirational route to start the season with some amazing photos and videos to accompany it.

A lot of my tick list of routes are old classics completed in the days when axes and crampons were very different to today. It certainly increases my interest when I can relate to an induvidual who completed the first ascent not on a personal level but know were the route is and remember reading about it etc.

The Secret is on my secret ticklist but i think will have to stay there for some time yet!

The week before christmas saw some promising reports from the Ben and I managed to make arrangements for climbing on the Thursday the 20th.

Unfortunately my partner didn't work out but conditions were really good for a Solo on the easier gully lines. I headed up Gardyloo Gully passing an iced up but v thin 0.5 Gully on the way.

The top of Gardyloo was iced but the ice pitch just after the chockstone was not in condition for a solo effort.

I retreated on good Snow/ice and after a short break headed round and up tower gully to the summit.

A great day out on the Ben and great weather to check out the routes on the indicator wall.

Over the Christmas Holidays I hope to get out for at least two days and will hopefully be back with and update sooner that Feb!

It's Been a busy Summer!

Qualitydj — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:30:00 +0000

This summer has been very busy!

Mainly the getting married bit! Estelle and I were married in Champagny en Vanoise in the French alps and spent a fantastic week there with many family and friends.

Climbing wise we ran an introductory session at the torchet wall on the Tuesday and while pulling through my left arm to a new hold something creaked and nearly three months on I am only just recovering!

I have made it back to the local wall and a few gym visits but other than a couple of excursions of note this has put pay to my ambitions of a busy summer of climbing.

The First weekend of september found me on the west coast at the Retrofest 80's music festival ! The idea was to spend the weekend doing some outdoor sports ( kite surfing and climbing) in between the evenings entertainment/work on the dance tent at Retrofest.

The weather was against us and kite surfing was very difficult with no wind so we headed south along the coast road to Stranraer. Once we got there we just kept going onto Port patrick and North a wee bit up to Larbrax. Our Condor self drive van did look a bit funny parked on one of the most southerly points of Scotland !

The weather and tides were agains against us but after much effort we did locate the infamous larbrax slabs holding the most difficult climbing in Galloway!(E6,6A).

We attempted some lesser climbs on the slabs and after a full days adventure headed back to Culeazn.

The other climbing outing of note was a trip to Yorkshire this weekend past. Estelle and I headed away for a quick weekend and made it to both Gordale Scar and to Malham Cove. These limestone areas are full of really hard trad and sport routes not for the faint hearted. They are both amazing places to which I hope to return and at least climb something in the near future.

Tinu my friend from DJing days decided that after seeing all that rock in France at the wedding he wanted to give it a try and hence i took him along to the local wall last week to show him the ropes. He had fun which is great another person to hold a rope!

It's Been a busy Summer!

Qualitydj — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 17:30:00 +0000

Ratho Adventure centre

Qualitydj — Thu, 03 May 2007 15:23:00 +0000

Back at the re-invented Ratho for the first time last night!

Not much changed as far as I can see.

The have ditched the boulering area under the mezz and made a room for the climbing instructors. I'm told the scuba pool has been covered and the space is being turned into a bouldering cave! The routes are much better in my humble opinion not only for the fact that the notices marking the grades are now of a readable size!

The Tea is free which is a bonus and the climbing is still at concession rate until they properly reopen which is supposed to be the end of this month!

Caerketton Hill

Qualitydj — Wed, 02 May 2007 12:01:00 +0000

Went a romp up Caerketton Hill and had a play in the boulders / crags.

Great little place for a quiet relax above the city.

The boulers give some interesting if intermittant climbing in a lovely setting!

Roysth Quarry

Qualitydj — Wed, 02 May 2007 11:55:00 +0000

Dan and I made it for a pleasant days cragging in Roysth Quarry on Sunday!

The quarry was busy with some groups learning to lead and some hillwalkers learning some rope skills.

Climbed:

The Waullie

HVS 5b **

Iconoclast

HVS 5a

Heathy

VS 4c **

Something in the loose section due to a bit of duff guide book reading!

Cragging in Edinburgh!

Qualitydj — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 21:55:00 +0000

Finally made it to Corbies Crag on the South side of Blackford hill in Edinburgh.

Dan got a late evening introduction to Scottish trad climbing!

We arrived about 7pm and after a little while finding the crag and trying to suss out where the routes lied we managed a blast up Sunny Scoop(Diff) and Whinchat(VS) 4b topping out the second climb in moonlight!

The rock is not as fragile as some of the descriptions had led me to believe however protection can be sparse due to the lack of cracks and the gorse is fierce. All in all a very plesent place to climb on a sunny evening. Dan and I are definetly going to give it some more attention at a later date.

UKClimbing Beers In Edinburgh

Qualitydj — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 14:03:00 +0000

Edinburgh Forum users from UKClimbing last night held the first Edinburgh UKC Unofficial Pub meet.

Following a small error in pub selection all went off with much chat and beers!

Many Thanks to Nick in the mountains for suggesting the idea!

The Cobbler

Qualitydj — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 23:08:00 +0000

Warmest weekend of the year so far so ot would be rude not to go out.

Short of a partner for Climbing today as Brian has the in laws in town!

I headed for the Cobbler at the top of Loch Long on the west coast!

Didn't get there until about 1:30 romped up and has a look at the different routes on all the different summits.

Made a solo foray up the easy ground to the top of the central pinnacle and headed for home round trip of about 3 hrs.

Watched some dodgy abing off the south summit sorry if it's out of order to say but these guys concerned me with their lack of checking of beginners abseiling and no helmets!

A short spell in France

Qualitydj — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:35:00 +0000

Just back from Friburge in Champagny en Vanoise in France.

Estelle and I have a small house there in the mountains at 1549m.

This trip was a short (3 days) along with trying to make final arrangements for the wedding this summer.

However I did get the chance for some good mountain activity.

Estelles uncle John-Pierre visited on the Fri/Sat and gave me some hints and tips of the pat-patinoire Cross Country sking technic and a loan of his skating skis.

This was hard work but I managed much better than my previous efforts at skating on CC skis as our poor time in the gorzderette showed up in January.

The last day I was hoping to go for a Ski Tour for the day on the last snows of the season but unfortunately this didn't work out and instead Estelle and I went a walk up to the snow lin on one of the descent routes down from the Roche de Mio in La Plagne.

This gave us some greate views of the southern ridge of the valley and a perfect preview of the rout to the Grand Bec via the |Refuge plan des gouilles.

New Website Section Created

Qualitydj — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 22:30:00 +0000

This section is finally a new and better way for me to add content a bit more regurarly to the youngapprentice website.

It is mainly to keep track of my mountain excursions climbing / sking etc.

I hope to carry out my ML training and hopefullt exams during this season but must get out to the hills to ensure this happens!