Cool pic Si, you hang about in some awesome places

Any chance of a trip report for your last adventure?

Hi J,
Still on the trip but aye, I'll write something up when I escape back to Skye off the last gneissian outpost before Reykjavik. Aye that highball arete beside the Atlantic swell is unknown, un-named. The f.a went onsight no-hands with a kneebar lock into the hung corner. Fun to do but a horrible drop if you slip. Well...sheets across the reeks. Constant sideways rain under a never ending blanket of grey today & woolly socks are best worn on the inside. They get really long & soggy after you run through street puddles while waiting for Parcel Force to deliver some emergency rp's.

I spent yesterday trying to re-climb one of my own V13s, Trace Element, using one-hand only. Kept falling off mid crux but I can nearly catch & stabilize the snap, flag & yaw. It's borderline feasable...Finn reckons I should try it with a cup of tea in my left hand after some more practise...hmmm. Was a funny movement demo & experiment cuasing a good few ripples of laughter....

Might take a pals surf canoe out later & go check the sea arches for more trad. Speed them tiny rp's across them choppy seas...

Meanwhile Im stuck at the desk reading about these escapades, looking at Haston walking into the CWM, Scott Muir in the Cairngorms and various places Ive been and promised to return to.

Neist was fine, almost scorching for 2 days, bagged 4 FA's between the pair of us so pretty happy :) altho the missus seemed to get the lines that worked on her turn to lead...... 3-1 is the score so far.

Aye, Supercharger on An t'Aigeach,is a fine route as well. Had a sniff? It's E2'ish. I keep meaning to climb that gearless steep black growler out above the sea wall - off right. Maybe E9 & technically idiotic. I nailed the moves clean on a shunt a while back, but I'm motivationaly deficient with Neist Point for no real reason I can validate.... If James was belaying he would arguably steal my new Evos if I died at the bottom of the screamer so I'd have to do it in my old 5-10s or some EB's as well...

You should give the new routes to Mark.H for the smcj's. The book updates won't be long off complete I imagine. Im away soon'ish to jump around on some stuff he & Amanda did the other year...have you been to Colonsay? The bouldering is mental.

Added a wee pic of TE in case you wondered what on earth I was blethering about...It's monotony re-born throwing loops on 2 year old stuff like this & it's still not monster hard, even with the partially missing crimper MacLeod snapped whilst failing & flailing on it...An increment tougher with a sprinkle more of crux excitement maybe, but certainly nothing to cry about & it's only a complex head-scratcher if you are weak, cant read & translate sequence engramming clearly & ignore core body momentum. A classic though at the grade.
Squeezed a new V11 into a bright gap this morning at least, with a truly wild & dynamically flagged leap up an arete fashioned out of pure sloper hell. -Oil Painted Day- is great, as is the monster -Herbaceous Backson- line but I just wish these rain squalls would stop - it's making the project hellish slippy & it's like looking at a huge carrot cake through a window when the shop is closed...

Gonna have a bimble back down to the Mangurs†adh cuilidh ósda & steep precipitations now... Know ye of a place that hires industrial hairdryers?...

Slán

E2?? I was a little shorter and a lot thinner the last time I got anywhere near that grade.

Weve emailed Mark with the Fa's, hes off up your way at the moment I believe.

Sounds like youve been getting very wet.

Never been to Colonsay, not lived this side if Hadrians for long. Id love to get out to more islands and explore new places, climb what there is and see the people and the nature there is.

Hope the weekend brought settled skies and good holds

Andi, get the train booked lad, plenty of rock for you to fall of in style. I might even be able to climb something worthwhile!!!

I aint been down to PortLeth yet, can get info from Chris and Stu, have the guide just here.

You have to remember up here, when someone climbs, you turn your back, deny all knowledge of everything, even the existence of the rock and the climber,

Hopefully, but this token, Si will forget how crap we both appeared to be, Ive already booked my next 10 climbing trips down as bad days, you know, High gravity, low friction days. Its science you know, weird and wonderful, variable and suprising.

If you ever get over to Skye Andi, let me know, 4 hrs from here to the Bridge,can thro mats in the softop and blast to the Gabbro


As for Hair, Andi... actually, Im glad of what Ive got, so say more.

Si, have heard all sorts about Andi, Blowing did come into it

Did I ramble enough? If I talk more, maybe my finger will heal and I can head of to some rock somewhere around here

Aye aye just you watch what you say about my hair. It took rubbing a sheep on my head for three hours to get it like that. Im on Jessies tail like...Do I go on about your damn overbite?...

Easy done mate. Just gi' us a ring & we'll go go a'rock hurding. 'Yoof' Pearson keeps threatening a visit as well. If it turned into a menage-a-trois I would consider trucking over to Portlethen with you & re-sending my own Pit Viper -V13'sh path with a 'Thunderbirds Are Go' lay-down start-...This would be mythically of course, in front of 'nobody watching' & with 'no spotters' around anywhere & since it is apparent fantasy, no confirmation of the event could be recognized or reported of the hardest cave-rave-moves climbed there. Yay! That's reminded me, when I get home I should put one of the nice crux photos of it on the web 'over there' with Nick. It's also reminded me that I didn't lock my front door when I left Skye...maybe somebody has broken in & done the washing up.

Oh, Portlethen, Tim Rankin has new stuff afoot & there's even a few older short clip-ups up to f7c. I soloed the middle of this face - which was nice...
I'm also cleaning a secret at Camas Sgiotaig, Eigg as well. Timing aside, so long as you don't throw up on the trawler, you are welcome to play on it as well.

Do you blow-dry?

Si

you dont have a house, no one has seen it, theres no evidence, dont think about doing the washing up, rather, think there is no washing up.

Andi, you can get the train to Aberdeen and Ill drive over in the soft-top, we can use the seats as bouldering mats. Alternatively you used to be able to get the train to Mallaig and then the ferry to Armadale, dont know now.

And, seeing as SI hasnt climbed these routes, why would the Dog be be needed? Hes busy onsighting stuff wed only dream off I bet.

Im sure I told you about the StreetKA, dont knock it dude, its cheap, economical and handles like a dream. I enjoy every minute whizzing about the roads up here. Its not that cold my boy, not wet like home is. I dont have 100k to spend on that ferrari, plus the mat would fit in the boot

That 8a at Sportlethen is more 7c. Numbers aside, it's a good wee line & aye, plenty for your good self to thrash around on.
Sheffield also has the largest population of line dancers per square centimetre than anywhere else in the country - that's not my fault either.

Getting Finn to belay in a pantomime spotty dog suit would be superb. I could film it & submit it as part of Trigger Happy TV when I get into my next swordfight with him on the Cioch. I'm off to redpoint my imaginary washing-up...I hope I don't fall off at the crust.

What are you two doing blethering in here anyways - lazy fuckers, you'll never get to Krankenjura nirvana this way..

Work, sadly, Andi should be revising, but hes busy tossing it off on the net.