Today I climbed Italian Right-Hand (IV,4) on Ben Nevis with Stephan Mors. (more…)
31 January 2010
30 January 2010
Forerunner 310XT
While I’ve been very happy with my Garmin Forerunner 305 as a training/pacing/recording aid for three years, I’ve just bought the new 310XT with this year’s West Highland Way Race in mind. Mainly for the increased 20-hour battery life (which should be enough to see me home if all goes to plan!), although its ability to use British Grid as well as just lat/long for navigation could also be useful for further adventures away from the beaten path. (more…)
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24 January 2010
Twisting and turning
Just had a great weekend with my brother Angus when we climbed the classic Twisting Gully (III,4) on Stob Coire nan Lochan yesterday and went mountain biking all round the Torlundy/Leanachan area today. (more…)
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15 January 2010
Shades of Grey?
A wee photographic conundrum for this evening, before this sign for the Grey Mare’s Waterfall at Kinlochleven finally becomes too worn to read. So why (as first pointed out to me years ago) does it say ‘Grey’ on one side and ‘Gray’ on the other? For our transatlantic visitors (doubt it!), because the sign maker just got it wrong (probably!) or what?
10 January 2010
The Caolasnacon Posse
When Isi texted me yesterday (while I was out running to the Dam) to ask if I fancied a climb today ‘before all this lovely ice disappears’, the first routes that crossed my mind were The Posse and What’s the Story above Caolasnacon (scene of last Sunday’s misdirected search for ice in the wrong place). So that’s where we went today, although we only had time for the one route in the end… (more…)
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9 January 2010
Buried paths and Abalakov threads
This afternoon, the Ciaran Path to the Blackwater Dam started crisp, delightfully icy and ideal for spiking along at speed before becoming buried by snow, heavy going and almost impossible to follow (too easy to be misled by the deer tracks despite having run it scores of times before) above the frozen lochans. (more…)
6 January 2010
True roadside ice
This afternoon I took a wander up the frozen watercourse spilling from Coire an t-Sionnaich (high on the N flank of Garbh Bheinn) to the bridge above the viaduct at the south-west corner of Kinlochleven. While this is unnamed even on the OS and Harvey 1:25,000 maps, I’d take a fair guess at Allt Coire an t-Sionnaich, but please don’t quote me on that in case I’m wrong! (more…)
4 January 2010
An Steall Ban
This evening I climbed An Steall Ban (more commonly, but quite incorrectly, known as Steall Falls) with Chuck. And, while this stunning (but rarely frozen) 120m Grade III cascade has been both climbable and popular for the past five days or so, it’s looking like we might have got to it just in time. (more…)
2 January 2010
Running on a patchwork quilt
Today, frustrated in my attempts to land a partner to climb the frozen Steall Falls, I took a run along the road to Caolasnacon to look at another fair-sized cascade I’d been told could give good sport before looping round the back of Garbh Bheinn and down to join the Penstock track at the ‘wee’ dam. (more…)