Cold Fusion Blog

Friday 1st - Saturday 2nd June. My old pal Owen Davis (now resident in Newcastle) was in Scotland this week with his girlfriend Ruth, traveling around visiting folks and doing some climbing. I planned to meet them in the in the North West to show them some of the areas best trad, sport and bouldering.

Looking west down Glen Torridon towards Ben Eighe.

On Friday I meet up with Owen and Ruth in Torridon after another manic Haribo and caffeine fueled drive up from Edinburgh. Here we planned to indulging in Seana Mheallan’s Torridon Sandstone. I last visited this crag nearly ten years ago with the ever eager Chris Hill only to get rained off with only a single route ticked. This time the weather held long enough for us to complete a couple of routes. Sadly the crag classic The Torridonian which I came for was soaking.

Middle of the Road and Rock of Ages at Seanna Mheallan.

Of the remaining dry routes I decide to try Middle of The Road E3 5c. I managed this with some minor problems. It took me nearly 20 minutes to make to the committing and awkward crux move over the roof. After this things got worse when I initially couldn’t get any decent gear in and found the cracks were still wet. My persistence eventually paid and I found some lob-stoppers and the correct line. Owen tried Rock of Ages E2 5c. He shuffled up this gradually gaining a good pump for the grade. Although the crag doesn’t have a massive number of routes, they more than make up for it in sheer quality. The grit like sandstone is quite deceptive, the shadowed holds above being equally likely to be sinker pockets as evil sloppers. To finish our day in Torridon we had a short session on the Ship Boulder. Here we tried unsuccessfully to do Squelch V4, being beaten by the evil technical slopeiness (and the excessive humidity from the bog). As the midges descended we retreated to the Gairloch Campsite for some dinner and a beer.

On Saturday we headed up to Grinuard bay for some sport climbing. My prayers the night before were answered as I woke up to a cool windy overcast day, perfect summer sport climbing conditions. Firstly I had a score to settle on Am Fasgadh after I had been spat of the last move of Tog Balla back in March.

Exiting the crux of Tog Balla and starting up Mactalla, Griunard (Owen Davies)..

After a quick dog to refresh the hideously technical moves in the middle section I was starting to feel quite sore from the previous day. I decided not to mess around and went for the redpoint. I grunted through the crux a little easier this time, but was sure I was much more pumped on the final rail. Hanging in there I though that my arms and skin were going to be too sore for another go and that I definitely didn’t want to blow it again. With elbows out I managed to pull through to the chain, the crimps feeling nice and sticky in comparison to my last attempt on a warm March evening. Owen also tried the route but struggled commenting that he thought it was harder than Chiseling the Dragon at Malham. Wall climbings is not my strong point, highlighted by my continued argument about the downgrading of Sufferance etc at Dumbie. I’m sure both the Am Fasgadh routes I’ve warrant an extra grade. To finish off we went back to goat crag to try the excellent Mactalla F7b. Being unsure about my fitness I was happy to bolt to bolt the route first. When I redpointed the route first go I was surprised not to pump off, the holds were all big enough to get something back on right to the chain. Knackered we decided to head home, stopping off at Dunkeld of the way home for well earned burger and chips, yum.

This entry was posted on Monday, June 11th, 2007 at 11:30 pm and is filed under Bouldering, Sport, Traditional. 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.