Simonside

Emily heading through the woods on the approach to Simonside North Face, Northumberland

As this is the Edinburgh September long weekend, Emily and I have taken the opportunity to come down to Yorkshire to visit the family in Northallerton. It just so happens that Richard and David are running in the Great North Run 2012 on Sunday so we felt compelled to cheer them on and show our support. It didn't make sense to drive all the way down to Yorkshire and then drive North again to South Shields for the GNR so we decided to stay two nights in Northumberland; with a view to get some climbing in. We opted for two nights in Rothbury, as I quite liked the look of Simonside in the Northern England: Rock Climbing Guide (Rockfax Climbing Guide).

Boulders in the woods on the approach to Simonside North Face, Northumberland

We woke to a cracking morning and after a good cooked breakfast, we were soon gearing up in the Simonside picnic area car park. After a bit of a faff, we were making our way through the woods along the forestry track. After around ten minutes of steady climbing, we left the track and took the path that led around to the clearing below the main Simonside North Face. It was a very pleasant walk through the trees with the sun coming through and the temperature was mild.

Simonside North Face, Northumberland

As we left the woods, we were suddenly out onto the open moor and we got our first view of the crag in all of it's glory. The other thing that struck us was the strong, cold wind. As we made our way past a couple of the large boulders to the face, I realised that the wind was going to be a bit of an issue for the day.

Emily sheltering from the wind, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

By the time we were at the crag, we had experienced the full scale of the relentless gusts that were going to be with us for the rest of the day. I had read in the guidebook that the crag can be quite exposed but I had gambled on it not being an issue; a bit of a shame. Undeterred, we managed to find a fair amount of the crag that was slightly out of the wind and had great fun ticking off the many easy classics. It was all about quickly ticking off the many easy classics, as we didn't want to be stationary for too long and freeze! The highlights were most certainly Great Chimney D*** and Innominate Crack VD**. We had a great fun and Emily thought the climbing was great. I ticked off the very enjoyable and well-protected Flake Corner VS 4c* before we packed up our gear - a tricky move to stand on the top of the flake!

Gearing up at a chilly Simonside North Face, Northumberland

We were going to head back but Emily suggested that we circle back to the car via some of the bouldering venues that were further along the summit track - a great idea! Another reason for picking Simonside was that I quite fancied trying Dulcinea font 7a+***. I knew that there was no chance of sending it today, given the conditions, but we were keen to find it and at least check it out. After a bit of a tramp, we found Old Stell Crag and then Dulcinea. It actually looked ok - but was rather damp. I spent a few minutes on the start but the friction and conditions just weren't great; one for another day and a great excuse to come back! I was still keen to get on something so I quickly dispatched the 4 very easy problems on the Warm Up Wall - see video for anyone who is interested.

Flake Corner VS 4c*, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

Simonside Lookout, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

Feeling the cold, Simonside North Face, Northumberland

The light was now fading so we took the main path down and around Dove Crag before heading back to the car via Joe's Wood (following the Coe Burn). A fantastic day and I can't wait to go back to Simonside on a calmer day to try some of the harder routes.

Simonside Climbing from Chris McMorris on Vimeo.

Single Pitch Award (SPA) Training - Day 3

As  Blackford Quarry is my local crag I simply walked in through Blackford Glen to meet Euan, David and Steven just after 9am. I was another glorious day and we were all keen to get started. Euan gave each of us a task and told us to treat it like a mock-assessmemt. My task was to set up a top-rope on the main quarry wall, while David rigged a bottom-rope and Steven got cracking with a releasable abseil. It wasn't long before I had my rig set up and attached to the shiny bolts at the top of the main wall.

A releasable abseil rig, Blackford Quarry

Euan then inspected our setups and gave us some pointers about how to improve our rigs - all very useful tips. We then took it in turns to run our setups with the others acting as our clients, then we rigged something else; we repeated this until we had all had a go at rigging everything that we had practiced yesterday.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a releasable abseil, Blackford Quarry

Euan then asked us to look at the quarry from a group perspective and how it weighed up as a group venue. We all agreed that it was a pretty ideal venue to bring a group for a day's climbing and abseiling. Euan then asked each of us to run a different group warm-up activity and then run a group bottom-rope session and we each practiced the bottom-rope rescue using a self-belay with a prusik.

Steven running a releasable abseil, Blackford Quarry

Rather unexpectedly, the rain came... so we made a dash for the nearby cafe for coffees and a debrief from Euan. He asked me how I thought the course had gone. I had learnt a great deal and I was extremely glad that I had found the time to fit in the training course. He said that he had been impressed with my skills and that I should forget about doing the CWA and concentrate on getting my SPA instead. Apparently I was not far off the standard that he expects for assessment but I was told to climb as much as possible, practice my rescues and get my rigging really smooth. I was told that there was no reason why I shouldn't expect to do the assessment as soon as September 2012 - he said that it was easily possible, as long I was committed and followed his sound advice.

A brilliant few days. Many thanks to the EICA and to Euan for all his advice and support. I'm now super keen to climb as much as possible a finish my SPA.

Single Pitch Award (SPA) Training - Day 2

We met at Rosyth at 9am and headed straight into the woods to Rosyth Quarry. It certainly wasn't the most picturesque place I had been to climb but Euan said that it was a great place to bring groups. I could immediately see what he meant: there was plenty of space away from the crag, the climbs were quite short, and there were good anchors (ground stakes) at the top. Did I mention the graffiti everywhere?

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a top-rope setup, Rosyth Quarry

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a top-rope rescue using a y-hang, Rosyth Quarry

The sun was again out in force and the first thing Euan tasked us with, was for us each to rig a personal abseil - to see if we could recall what we had learnt yesterday afternoon. Happy with what he had seen us rig, Euan then demonstrated how to rig a top-rope - I had seen this done a couple of times but Euan's setup was slightly different to what I had experienced before and it seemed far simpler to me. We then all had a go at rigging our own top-ropes and Euan then demonstrated a y-hang rescue using the spare half of the dynamic rope. It all looked pretty straight forward, but I knew it would probably be more tricky when actually performing the rescue for real. Obviously this is what Euan got us to do next, as we each took it in turns to be each other's client and perform the y-hang rescue. Sure enough, the rescue was not as easy as it looked and really was quite up-close and personal - but it was great fun practicing it on each other.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a top-rope rescue using a y-hang, Rosyth Quarry

Then we were shown how to rig a releasable abseil and how to get a client out of difficulty. Again, I had been show this in the past but, again, Euan's rig seemed far superior. We then all had a go at rigging our own releasable abseil and practicing the troubleshooting steps.

Running a top-rope in Rosyth Quarry

Setting up a y-hang rescue on a top-rope, Rosyth Quarry

After a (very!) quick snack, we were all asked to rig a bottom-rope on a specific route. Euan then used each setup in turn to demonstrate a group walk-back, bell-ringing using a ground anchor, and a bottom-rope rescue using a Prusik and the self-belay technique.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a releasable abseil, Rosyth Quarry

It was a lot to take in today but I learnt a great deal and enjoyed every minute of it. After packing up, we headed over the bridge to grab a coffee at the McDonalds and talk through logbooks and the day's events. Before parting company for the evening, Euan told us that we would meet at Blackford Quarry for our final day of training and that he would run it more like a mock-assessment tomorrow because he was happy with what he had seen today.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a releasable abseil, Rosyth Quarry

Single Pitch Award (SPA) Training - Day 1

I had finally found some time to fit in my SPA training and had signed up for a 3 day course at the EICA with Euan Whittaker. I knew Euan quite well from the EICA and he, along with Nic Crawshaw, had ran the CWA training course I was on a few years back.

We met at the EICA at 9am and chatted over a coffee and all introduced ourselves to each other. There were two other chaps on the training: David Walker and Steven Softly. David had recently started work at the Falkirk Community Trust Outdoor Centre and was just starting to get into his rock climbing but seemed super keen. Steven said he worked as a lecturer at Anniesland College and was trying to get through most of the outdoor awards before he got too old for them - but he looked in pretty good shape to me!

The main arena, EICA, Ratho

After a coffee and a chat, we headed downstairs to the indoor wall where we looked at some different techniques at lead belaying with a Grigri, as well as demonstrating back-clipping, death-clipping and z-clipping. Euan said that he didn't want to spend too long on the indoor syllabus because he knew that we had all done the CWA training in the past so he wanted to be outside and focusing on the real rock as much as possible - fine by me.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a personal abseil, The Hawkcraig, Aberdour

It was a cracking hot sunny day without a cloud in the sky so we jumped into the Land Rover and headed across the bridge to The Hawkcraig at Aberdour. It was high tide when we arrived but we got straight into some personal trading. I climbed with David and he lead a Diff and then I lead Fish Head Arete VD*, while Euan climbed with Steven and checked out our gear placement and anchors at the top. He seemed happy with our personal climbing so we moved on to looking at anchors and building belays with gear, slings, screwgates, and the rope.

Euan Whittaker demonstrating a personal abseil, The Hawkcraig, Aberdour

We then moved our gear up to the halfway platform and Euan demonstrated how to rig and perform a personal abseil to retrieve some stuck gear. Then it was our turn to have a go; we spent the final 40 minutes rigging in a variety of places while the hot sun shone down on us and it's rays reflected of the bright blue sea. We then descended from the platform and packed up our gear. The tide was now far enough out to wander around the corner and inspect the rest of the great crag. I definitely have to go back there for more climbing - what a location!

Euan and Steven enjoying the sun at The Hawkcraig, Aberdour

David Walker enjoying the sun at The Hawkcraig, Aberdour

We headed back to the EICA and called it a day from there. On the way back we drove past the entrance to Rosyth Quarry and Euan pointed out where he wanted us to meet tomorrow morning. It had been a very useful and productive day - I had certainly learnt a lot and hopefully got rid of a few bad habits that I had picked up over the years while trading with a variety of different folk.

My view of my rig before abseiling over the edge of The Hawkcraig, Aberdour

Salisbury Crags Bouldering

The weather forecast was for today to be a cracking day so I was keen to make the most of it. I had recently got hold of a DMM Highball crash pad from eBay so I was dying to get out on some boulders to try it out - review coming soon! I was struggling to decide where to go, but I knew I didn't want to drive too far and ideally I wanted somewhere that wasn't directly in the sun. In the end I opted for Salisbury Crags, South Quarry.

When I parked up in Holyrood Park along Queen's Drive, the Park was rammed with folk enjoying the good weather. Ignoring the crags, I grabbed my gear and my pad and headed up the slope to the path leading round to the South Quarry. There were a couple of other folk there but mostly it was folk just messing around at the back of the quarry. I dropped my gear at the foot of The Black Wall (in the shade) and headed to the back of the Quarry to warm up with some footwork and easy traversing.

Twenty minutes later, I returned and studied the moves on The Black Wall Traverse font 6c+***. My flash attempt didn't go particularly well; I managed to get a couple of moves past the initial traverse along the high rail but then lost my way and had to bail to the mat. There was another chap there working the problem: Oly Leask. We chatted a bit and spotted / helped each other on the problem but it didn't look like it was going to go today. I was struggling to get down low and make the big reach across to the right before going into the final sequence. No matter what I tried I just couldn't quite make the link. After Oly left, I had a few more tries but didn't get any closer and started to fade. Eventually, the afternoon sun crept round and onto the front of wall - The Black Wall no longer. I decided it was just too warm in the sun to improve any so I called it a day.

A rather frustrating but extremely enjoyable afternoon - I'll get the traverse next time!

BMC Membership

This year I decided to join the BMC, instead of the MCofS. In the past, I have wanted to show my support for the MCofS but the membership benefits and the saving on the joint membership price for Emily and I was just too good a deal. I will miss the Scottish Mountaineer magazine but I can always sign up for the digital copy. Being based in Scotland, I feel it is important to keep up with what is going on up here.

Another reason for taking out BMC membership is that I hope to take advantage of the excellent deals on insurance - especially travel insurance. Looking forward to checking out my first Summit Magazine.

BASP Refresher

This weekend, I have been taking my BASP 2 day emergency first aid refresher. The course has been based at GWC and has been run by Mark Tennant. I found this refresher course extremely useful and was specifically tailored to the hills and with the outdoors in mind.

I can remember from last time that a lot of the specific examples and situations involved mountain biking, so it was good to get a different perspective on things and share our experiences with a different trainer.

Mark ran an excellent course and I would like to thank him for delivering the content and making it an enjoyable way to spend the weekend. During a couple of the coffee breaks, I had the opportunity to chat to Mark about his involvement in the Borders Search and Rescue team. He said that I should give it some serious thought, as they are always on the lookout for experienced and keen folk like myself. This got me thinking - would I like to sign up? I'm not so sure, but it's certainly something that I might consider in the near future.