Cold Fusion Blog

Saturday 26th May. Time restriction this weekend meant that we couldn’t visit the Anvil. Instead Sam and I decided to head back to Glen Ogle to take care of some unfinished business.

In the early nineties the Glen Ogle Diamond was the focal point for hard sport climbing in Scotland. Here, Paul Thorburn and Duncan MacCallum established Off The Beaten Track and Spiral Tribe respectively, both F8a. A young Ian Pitcairn, then eighteen, went on to have a good summer by establishing Digital Quartz, Scotland’s second F8b. Meanwhile other teams from Edinburgh and Dundee were busy equipping the nearby crags.

It has been nearly a decade since my last regular visits to Ogle. Back then my interests were in repeating the existing routes on the Diamond and in establishing hard new lines. I succeeded in making quick repeats of Beaten Track and Spiral Tribe both F8a. However, I failed on my own lines on Concave Wall and Bond Buttress. These were eventually completed by Dave MacLeod named Snipe Shadow and Solitaire.

Trying to redpoint Beaten Track again back in 2005 for the ‘Chains’ film, I failed. (Pete Murray)

On Saturday against a cold wind I returned to try Snipe Shadow. Given recent training and project success I was hoping for a quick ascent. However, after so much time off the route I struggled to remember and make the moves. The cold wind took its toll cramping up arms and shoulders before I could get a decent throw at the crux. Reality caught up with me again. In the past I could manage the Snipe Shadow crux one in three attempts, whereas now I could barely hang the holds. I was still no where nearly my levels of strength from the past.

Giving up we headed back to the Diamond. Here, I decided to try Ceasefire again, a route that I had come very close to making the first ascent of in 1998, failing on the final crux before autumn rains set in the following week. As I sticked up I was less and less psyched to try it because of the crumbling bolts. I vowed to return with some shiney glue-ins. To finish off I had a couple of redpoints at Beaten Track. It would seem I’m not yet an 8a climber as I was spat off consistently after the crux. I guess I’ll have to concentrate on power endurance training to improve my weakness.

The Glen Ogle renaissance got me thinking of my performance then and now. I now feel like I’m back at these levels and ready to move forward. I shouldn’t feel ashamed that I was too weak in body or mind in the past to complete them. They still are very hard routes which have a narrow window of good conditions to be completed. Hopefully I know enough tactically to finish them off this year. Therefore, I’m setting myself the Burly Shadow Challenge, to complete five of my former projects by the end of the summer:

Snipe Shadow - 15 + 1998

Hurley Burley - 5 days 2000, 8 days 2003

Voodoo Magic - 8+ days 1999

Solitaire - 3 days 1999

Ceasefire - 3 days 1998

This entry was posted on Wednesday, May 30th, 2007 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.