Stac Pollaidh

Day 1 of GWC S3 Projects 2008.
We hit the road at 9 am and started the long drive to Achininver, a total of 8 boys, 8 girls, 4 staff, 10 days and nothing but the outdoors ahead.

After what seemed like an eternity, we passed through Ullapool and headed north towards Sutherland. It was the furthest North (in Scotland) I had been so I was psyched as the landscape ahead of us opened up to reveal the jagged peaks rising majestically from the wilderness. It was mid-afternoon when we turned off the A835 at Drumrunie and headed west towards Achiltibuie. Stac Pollaidh came into view in the glorious sunshine as we passed along the shore of Loch Lurgainn, deep in the shadows of Cul Beag. The car-park was rammed due to the gorgeous weather, but we managed to squeeze our mini bus and transit into a space at the back. We helped the kids gear up and, after a bit of a faff, we paused to gaze up at the heavily weathered Torridonian sandstone crest of Stac Pollaidh.

Stac Pollaidh from the roadside car-park.

We headed straight for it; a short climb before the new path swung to the right in an anticlockwise direction. At the first pause, a look to the east gave a magestic view of Cul Beag in all it's glory.

Cul Beag from the east

Continuing up and around the east side of Stac Pollaidh, the magnificent view north over the Inverpolly Forest appeared over the horizon. It was at this moment, I was treated to my first sighting of Suilven. I recognised it instantly from all the pictures I'd seen in my favourite books, but it was better than I could have imagined.

Suilven and Canisp

Our aim was to circle Stac Pollaidh and take in the views. We had a large group of mixed abilities and unknown quantities so we wanted to avoid any 'bad steps' on the ridge, and we were short of time. We strode on around the west side of the ridge and the next vista greeted us... the Summer Isles.

Summer Isles from Stac Pollaidh

In front of us, the Summer Isles and to our left, the weathered sandstone pinnacles of Stac Pollaidh. I'm not sure the kids knew where to look, and neither did I.

The pinnacles of Stac Pollaidh

The pinnacles of Stac Pollaidh

As we headed back down towards the car park, obviously I couldn't resist a pose on top of a boulder :-S

Poser

Back at the mini bus we looked around at the beaming faces of the kids; they knew that had been something special. You don't get views like that everyday... not a bad hill for a Graham.

I hope there's room for us...

Time to head to Achininver and get the group settled in. A short drive through Achiltibuie and we had reached the sign at the end of the road: "YOUTH HOSTEL 1/2 MILE". Time to put the kids to good use, all hands on deck to cart all the gear down the track to the hostel. It's worth the walk down the rough path though, what a setting... with the views out to the Summer Isles.

Achininver - what a setting...

Achininver

Climbing Wall Award (CWA) and Abseil Module Training

This weekend was mostly spent at the EICA under the excellent instruction of Nick Crawshaw and Euan Whittaker. Apparently this was the first CWA training course to be run in Scotland. I had put in a fair amount of hours with the GWC Climbing Club over the last few months and felt I had learned a great deal from watching the instructors teach the kids. This made me keen to get more involved with things and then I read online that the CWA was being introduced as an award scheme and that there would be a training course at the EICA. So I signed up straight away; keen to learn all that I could.

It was good to meet new folk that were also keen on climbing. There were a great mix of experience and knowledge in our group. A few were taking the training for similar reasons to me, and others were hoping to make a living by becoming full time climbing instructors. I think it was fair to say that I was one of the least experienced, but that didn't bother me at all; I was keen to learn from the others in the group too. We spent the first day at the EICA looking at group management, belaying, games, various belay devices and we also did some personal lead climbing. As part of the training, we needed to visit another climbing venue; so we headed across town to Meadowbank Climbing Wall. I have to say that this was nothing like any climbing wall I had ever seen before, but very interesting to see how indoor walls have progressed. It was basically a brick wall made from... well... bricks... and mortor, just like the wall of a building. Various bricks were missing or protruding to make surprisingly good hand and foot holds. We joked that this is where house burglars must train, as it was like scaling the walls to break into a building! Joking aside, this turned out to be a great little venue and I learned alot from it. We looked at the anchors, how the ropes were set up, load rating stickers and a little bit of Abseiling. There were large rings located in the floor at the bottom of the wall and we were shown how to belay from them using an Italian (Munter) hitch; an excellent technique I thought.
The next day we were back at the EICA; with the aim at perfecting the set up of abseils indoors. I had climbed outdoors with Richard before and had also seen him set up an abseil at a crag before and he had said to me that the principals were the same, but the anchors would be different. I didn't really have a clue about what to do at the top of a climb outdoors or how to rig a proper abseil so I was very keen to be shown how to do it. To my surprise, it wasn't too difficult or complicated but very important to break it down and follow each step at a time. As expected, the anchors used indoors are always specific, fixed anchors. A bit more practice and a mock assessment concluded a very useful two days. Many thanks to Nick and Euan for a great two days training.

GWC Staff Climbing at Traprain Law

We had a free session in the GWC Climbing Club schedule. The previous Wednesday had been the last in the current block but there was still another Wednesday before term ended. It was decided that to put it to good use, we should have a 'staff jolly'. The original plan was to simply head to the EICA but with the longer summer evenings now upon us and the weather looking good, it was decided that we should take the opportunity to do a bit of 'trading' outside. This really excited me, as I had never climed outside 'properly' before. Until now, most of my climbing experience had been on plastic and indoors.

We managed to get sorted and leave school pretty sharp without too much faffing. It wasn't long before our mini bus was on the other side of Haddington and we were gearing up after the short approach to Traprain Law. It really was a lovely evening in East Lothian; perfect conditions for climbing. I had been climbing fairly well and regularly over the last couple of months and I knew Jamie had been climbing a lot too and had also been doing some trading quite recently. It was decided that we would pair up, as he fancied doing something more challenging than the others. I said I would try and follow him up anything; I'd give it a good go anyway. Jamie started up Pinch (HS*), and was very quickly at the top and grining down at me. Jamie had given me a quick brief and a nut key. I had an idea about what to do with it but never actually used one before. I started up the rock face with feelings of what felt like nerves but also excitement. I had been watching Jamie very closely so I had an idea of the line, what moves would be needed and where he stood to place the gear. The first bit was straight up and fairly straightforward and, to my surprise, the first nut came out rather easily just by pulling it up in the opposite direction. The next bit of gear was up and to the left; in under the lip of the small overhang. I reached up and removed the cam with ease. It was then I hit the first snag... traversing left under the overhang, I couldn't quite reach up high enough to remove the bomber nut that I saw Jamie place on his lead. I had watched him reach up as high as he could to place it and I remember thinking that I probably would be short of that by quite a way. I had no option but to climb on until I was level with it and then try to remove it from a more difficult stance. I got along side the gear but didn't really have anything good for my feet to stand on; one was on a tiny edge and the other was simply smearing against the polished Trachyte. I pulled up on the nut but it just wasn't shifting. Being in that strenuous position for over a minute, I had to take a rest on the rope. "Bomber, that one, eh?" Jamie shouts down. Knackered, I just looked up at him and chuckled. Standing up again, I climbed a little higher and grabbed the quickdraw from above. Now with a more comfortable stance, I pulled up on the gear as hard as I could. It popped out of the crack to my delight. With the crux of the overhang conquered, the remainder was fairly easy and I didn't have any more problems removing the remaining bits of gear. A grinning Jamie greeted me at the top. I knew he could tell  by the look on my face that I had loved every moment, even when I was struggling to get the gear out.
My first proper experience of trading... well chuffed.
Topos of Traprain Law can be downloaded here.

Schiehallion

Not quite the top...

After the trip up to Braemar last week, I fancied bagging my second Munro of the winter. I decided to set my sights on Schiehallion, as I had recently been reading about the famous Schiehallion experiment. Setting off early, we made our way north on the A9. We turned off for Grantully, passed through Aberfeldy and were soon in the Brae of Foss car park at the foot of the mountain on Schiehallion Road. It was still day with low cloud and plenty of rain about. A little chilly but not too cold; certainly expecting a good deal of snow higher up.

The new path was excellent and will certainly last and help with the erosion issues on such a popular hill. We past a number of walkers on their way back down and saw many more following us as we looked back. I can only imagine how busy busy the route would be on a good-weather day!

At the top

Higher up, the path became buried in the snow but the ground remained a constant gradient and the going was good. I wasn't impressed by a couple of false summits that came into view in the misty white, but soon we were on the plateau and heading towards the summit to the west. As there was no view to look at and it was quite chilly, we didn't hang around. Retracing our ascent, we passed many more 'baggers' on their way to the top.

A good hill with a great bit of history attached; nice to tick off.

Broad Cairn

I was up in Braemar for the weekend with GWC for a Projects hillwalking weekend. It was good to get to know a few of the staff a bit better. There were quite a few folk different ideas and goals for the weekend so we decided to split of into a few separate groups for the Saturday. The weather forecast was that it would be clear but cold; ideal winter conditions. A few of us fancied Broad Cairn, as a couple of folk had already bagged Lochnagar.

We set off early in a convoy of cars heading for Spittle of Glenmuick. It was a wonderfully clear morning but the air was chilly. We had a group of mixed abilities and experience so this looked like the perfect hill to attempt in the current conditions. We set out along the estate track along the south bank of Loch Muick. Along here, we had a stunning view across Loch Muick to the Glas-allt-Shiel Lodge (an amazing setting) and Broad Cairn in the back ground. We made swift progress along the wide track with only the occasional slope. After a few kilometers we crossed the Black Burn and hit a steep switchback section of the track. Once this had been overcome, we were again on a steady slope working our way towards the summit.

There was a handy animal shelter around 2km from the top, so we made good use of it and used it as a lunch stop before heading any higher. Now refreshed and warmed with food and drink, we made our push for the top. We encountered some hard snow and ice higher up the slope and those of us who were experienced educated those who weren't familiar with an ice axe and its uses. The last few meters to the summit cairn were solid ice and the wind was really howling. Nevertheless, everyone made it; even if they had to crawl! We didn't hang around long, as the wind was chilling. There were several other folk at the top and one chap offered to snap a group shot of us all. To our horror he was almost blown off the hill as he stepped back to take the photo! Luckily he did the right thing and immediately went to ground at the edge of the cairn... phew :-S

We made our descent via a slightly different route: back down to the animal shelter and then taking the path to the north east through Corrie Chash. We encountered a rather large snow bank on the traverse along the steep slope down to the shore of Loch Muick. This delayed us a little as steps had to be kicked/cut and some of the group needed quite a lot of coaching and coaxing. However, we were soon on our way again and motoring along the edge of the loch and we were treated to more great views of the Glas-allt-Shiel Lodge. We also spotted a heard of deer near the Black Burn and reached the car park well before dark. We headed back to Braemar to share tales of the day with other staff.