Wall of Paine

November 28, 2013Alps, Big Wallcalum

Back in June this year, Jerry Gore got in touch asking me whether I’d be interested in an expedition to Patagonia to attempt the first ascent of the unclimbed south face of the South Tower of Paine. Patagonia is a place I’ve always wanted to visit and there was no way I could turn down such a great opportunity. I booked flights soon after and eagerly anticipated the date of departure.

The team for the expedition comprised of myself, Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, Jerry Gore and French camera man Raphael Jochaud. After a long journey we finally arrived in Torres del Paine national park only we were one French man short! We made the pleasant trek into the impressive Bader Valley accompanied by Mules carrying a month’s worth of cereal bars and noodles and set up base camp. The following day Raphael joined us and the team was ready to move up the valley.

Ferrying gear up to ABC in 'poor' conditions. Photo- Calum Muskett — Ferrying gear up to ABC in ‘poor’ conditions. Photo- Calum Muskett

Setting up advanced base camp was fairly involved in 60mph winds. After digging up some walls of snow against an overhung boulder we thought we’d created a fairly sheltered spot to put up a tent. I started putting the tent up from the inside and was soon waiting for Twid and Jerry to tie it down, when an almighty gust came, lifting the tent up, with me inside, and blowing it over into the boulder field. Now lying on my back, I hung on to a boulder with one hand and the tent for dear life with the other, until the wind abated enough to flip the tent back into its alcove. We hastily weighed the tent down with bags and rocks and were soon brewing up inside the meek fabric shelter.

ABC with the south face in the background. Photo- Calum Muskett

After a few days of ferrying gear up to advanced base camp in exceptionally strong winds, we were ready to start climbing. I set off with Twid up the slabby apron which skirts the base of the wall. The temperatures were sub-zero and snow covered all the holds but we both knew it would be much easier and faster to free climb the lower slabs. I teetered onto a small ledge and donned tight fitting rock shoes before climbing the relatively easy but bold first pitch. As I arrived at the belay I realised that I had very little sensation left in any of my toes and when I took the rock boots off the blood rushed back in giving me some horrendous pins and needles. After another pitch we reached the ridgeline and over the other side was the impressive Central Tower of Paine towering over the glacier below.
Unfortunately the poor weather returned and progress over the following week was very slow in the cold winds and occasional wintery showers. Twid pulled out a couple of impressive leads on harder aid pitches and I ardently donned my rock boots as often as possible, although much of the time my fingertips were just too cold to grip the granite edges for long.

Twid enjoying a rare bit of sunshine on the lower slabs. Photo- Calum Muskett

Twid working his way up an A3+ pitch. Photo- Calum Muskett

After days of slow progress in bad weather, through the area of the poorest quality granite, Raphael and I were finally greeted with a nice, if a little chilly day. We made good progress managing several pitches with a mixture of free and aid climbing and finally reached the intriguing black line of rock that is evident in the pictures of the face. The black rock is actually a band of diorite, or something similar, and is really loose.

At this point we had about seven days left of our expedition and we were pretty close to the summit with only a few pitches left and then a scramble to the summit. Unfortunately in Patagonia though, nothing is a foregone conclusion! We encountered a week of awful weather, with winds constantly ranging between 60 and 100mph. We tried to climb every day and quite literally inched our way up the wall. On our final day of climbing we had only two short vertical pitches left as well as perhaps 150m of scrambling and after battling poor conditions we were finally stopped by strong winds and blustery snow showers as we reached the top of the wall proper. In those conditions it felt a little unjustifiable to continue upwards and descending was difficult enough. After a very long abseil descent we finally reached the small patch of glacier below and in the short distance between the wall and the boulder field we actually walked into a white out as the weather worsened.

Raphael jumaring high on the wall. Photo- Calum Muskett

We’d failed to reach the summit but had a great adventure climbing the wall. During our 18 days up at ABC we had only two days of good weather and temperatures were consistently sub-zero. The route would certainly go free in better weather and as it stands our ascent had aid climbing up to around A3+ in difficulty and 6c+ in free climbing although one pitch was managed with several rests at about 7b+. Torres del Paine and in particular the Bader valley are places I’d love to go back to as the climbing potential out there is unbelievable and throughout our whole time in the area we were the only climbers in the national park! Thanks to the guys for a great trip and I’m already getting excited about heading back out to Patagonia in January with sights set on Cerro Torre…

Patagonia – South Face of the South Tower of Paine Expedition

October 9, 2013Big Wallcalum

The South Face of Paine Sur. Photo- Calum Muskett

On Monday the 14th of October I’m heading out to the Torres del Paine national park in Patagonia to attempt to make the first ascent of the south face of the south tower of Paine with Mike ‘Twid’ Turner, Jerry Gore and Raphael Jochaud. Twid has attempted the face once before with Stu McAleese back in 2006 when they climbed more than halfway up the face to finally be thwarted by Patagonia style storms with little over 300m to reach the summit. They named their uncompleted line ‘The Good, the Bad and the Ugly’ and graded it A3 and 5.10.

This time round we’re hoping for some better weather to attempt the un-climbed wall and if we’re lucky, maybe even the opportunity for a free ascent of the face. Twid and Jerry are both very experienced expedition and big wall climbers and I’m hoping that my lack of expedition and aid climbing experience won’t hold them up too much. Raphael is also an experienced climber and is coming along to record the expedition on video – check out his website here.

I’m really looking forward to this trip. Patagonia is a place I’ve read and heard so much about. I’ve been re-reading sections of Paul Pritchard’s autobiography ‘Deep Play’ as well as Chris Bonnington’s ‘Mountaineer’ to draw some extra inspiration for the expedition and can’t wait to get involved with things on the face.

Thanks to DMM, Lifesystems, Montane, Scarpa, English Braids, the Alpine Club and the BMC for supporting the expedition. You can follow us on either our facebook page or on my Twitter feed which we’ll try and keep updated as regularly as possible.

Bellavista

August 27, 2013Alpscalum

After our adventure on the Eiger, Dave and I were after a fresh objective. We had a number of routes in mind spread out across the Alps but, wimps that we are, were keen to avoid any more cold bivi’s! Dave mentioned Bellavista in the Dolomites, a route he’d tried a decade earlier. It seemed to be the perfect objective; easily accessible, only has a couple of difficult pitches and it’s near the best pizzeria on the planet in a place called Misurina.

Bellavista was first climbed by Alex Huber in 2000 and free climbed a year later. The pictures of the route are just sensational showing climbers swinging their way through the huge roof of Cima Ovest, some 150m above the ground. The route had just received an ascent by the talented American climber Sasha DiGiulian and we hoped to take advantage of some chalked holds which might speed up our process of working the route.

Dave seconding on one of the lower pitches. Photo- Calum Muskett

We arrived early at the car park at the end of the toll road beneath the Tre Cime. Although we were keen to make an early start it felt so cold outside that we decided to get a little more sleep. We finally got round to the base of the route at about 10am, not exactly the alpine start we’d anticipated! I shivered my way up the first pitch, a relatively bold but fortunately easy pitch and we swung leads up to the 8c crux through the roofs. Conditions were poor for this pitch. The big roofs seem to have condensation sticking to their undersides for much of the time making the holds feel like they’d been slathered in soap. Dave made steady progress up this spectacular pitch climbing from peg to peg. This pitch is so overhanging that to get back to the previous belay you have to abseil down a separate rope for 50m before jumaring about 20m upwards! As conditions were so poor I decided to forego my attempt and we descended to the base of the route.

Dave leading on the spectacular crux pitch. Photo- Calum Muskett

The wild abseil into space from the end of the crux pitch. Photo- Calum Muskett

Unfortunately, just after pulling our abseil ropes down, Dave realised he’d left the car keys back up at the belay of the crux pitch. We both looked at each other in silence for a few moments, desperately trying to think of some miraculous way we could overcome this hurdle. There wasn’t. We ended up uncoiling our ropes quickly and linking the first five pitches in two to reach the keys just as it got dark. Dave jokingly said it was good endurance training for me. Plonker…!

We returned a couple of days later, but as we prepared to walk into the route I noticed the long range forecast on my mobile – rain for the foreseeable future. We’d had a good trip and with no hope of a dry day for the rest of our time in the Dolomites we decided to strip the route and head home early. It was a shame not to give the route a better attempt, especially as I have no doubt that Dave would have climbed it had we had a couple more days. I’m very keen to return for Bellavista next year though, it truly is an amazing route and one well worth putting in some winter training hours for.

Stormy skies brewing in the Dolomites. Photo- Calum Muskett

Update

Dave returned to ‘Bellavista’ three weeks later with Alan Cassidy. Despite horrendous, snowy, sub-zero conditions Dave repeated the route on his final day of trying – the only day when the rock was dry but the temperature was still below freezing! There must be something in that Irn Bru for results like that! Here’s a link to Dave’s blog for the low down on the ascent.

Paciencia

August 18, 2013Alpscalum

The North Face of the Eiger. Photo- Calum Muskett

The White Spider was one of the first mountaineering books I read. Written by Heinrich Harrer in 1959, it describes the trials and tribulations that led to the first ascent of the North Face of the Eiger in 1938 by Heckmair, Harrer, Kasparek and Vörg. My fascination with the face began a couple of years earlier in around 2005 when I was on a walking holiday with my parents in Switzerland. We passed through Grindelwald and I remember seeing the face, albeit briefly, before continuing on our travels. I heard some of the stories about the attempts on the North Face and in particular the tales of rock fall led me to believe that this was a mountain where success could be mostly attributed to a healthy dose of luck to avoid all the objective dangers.

I started climbing a couple of years later and then alpine climbing a couple of years after that and suddenly felt a draw to return to Grindelwald in the winter to climb the 1938 route when all the rocks were frozen in place. In March this year I headed over with my friend Andy to climb the face and after a wade to the base of the wall we bivied at its base ready for an early start the following morning. Unfortunately the forecast was very wrong and a storm hit us that night burying us beneath around a metre of fresh snow! After an awful descent through chest deep snow in places I thought it might be a better option to return to the face in the summer time.

Early this year I contacted Dave Macleod to see if he would be interested in a climbing trip to the Alps. I’d never climbed with Dave before but had only heard good reports about him both as a climber and a person. Dave had never done any alpine climbing before, but I assumed that someone with the fairly outrageous all round abilities that he possesses, should be able to walk around on a glacier alright!

Dave arrived out in the Alps just over a week ago. We had a few ideas up our sleeves but the one that inspired us most was undoubtedly a route called ‘Paciencia’ on the North Face of the Eiger. ‘Paciencia’ was first climbed in 2003 by Ueli Steck and Stephan Siegrist and later freed in 2008 by Ueli Steck. David Lama made a very impressive two day repeat of the route in 2011 describing it as “by far the most difficult rock route I have climbed to this date in the Alps”: this was after his repeats of ‘Bellavista’ in the Dolomites and ‘Voie Petit’ in the Alps.

We arrived in Grindelwald just after three days of bad weather which left the face streaming with water. Judging by the name of the route which translates as patience, our hopes of finding the route dry and the weather good were not particularly high.

Dave enjoying the 'extreme' scrambling up to the base of the Rote Fluh. Photo- Calum Muskett — Dave enjoying the ‘extreme’ scrambling up to the base of the Rote Fluh. Photo- Calum Muskett

After a day of waiting for the face to dry we caught the Jungfraujoch up to Kleine Scheidegg hoping that we could get dropped off at the ‘Stollenloch’; the window that opens onto the face, thus avoiding an arduous slog up to the base of the route. Unfortunately we were out of luck and had to make two journeys up the scramble to reach the Rote Fluh as we were laden with so much kit. We gave the first few pitches a recce to see if the route would be achievable for us and descended, very surreally, by the train inside the mountain!

The first 7c pitch in 'atmospheric' conditions! Photo- Alexandre Buisse — The first 7c pitch in ‘atmospheric’ conditions! Photo- Alexandre Buisse

Having managed all the moves on the first few tricky pitches we were encouraged enough to return for a multi day ascent of the face. We were joined for the first day and a half by the talented alpine photographer Alexander Buisse who took some really stunning images of us climbing on the Rote Fluh. Our upward progress for the first couple of days was really positive, all pitches were climbed first red-point, including the sustained and amazing crux pitch which climbs through the apex of the main roof of the Rote Fluh. We reached the bivi spot beneath the Czech Pillar feeling tired but enthusiastic about our progress. Unfortunately the following morning we both felt pretty wasted. The first 7c pitch went without too much of a problem landing us at a pitch that David Lama upgraded to 7c+ on his ascent. The holds were really difficult to find on this pitch and after the crux lower section the climbing is really quite sustained. Dave took over the lead of this pitch as I was totally knackered but I still just about managed to fight my way up when I seconded it. We fixed our ropes back down to the bivi to help speed things up for the following morning.

Alex's stunning photo of Dave leading the crux 8a pitch. Photo- Alexandre Buisse — Alex’s stunning photo of Dave leading the crux 8a pitch. Photo- Alexandre Buisse

Strangely on our final day of the route we felt much more recovered and made steady progress upwards – I even made an unlikely flash of the final 7c pitch through a determination not to be on the face any longer! The final few pitches, although much easier, were quite loose and time consuming with the haul bag regularly getting caught but we eventually reached the west flank of the Eiger to pull over into our first sunlight for three days. We were both elated to have finished the route, both of us having climbed it entirely free alternating leads as we went. Unfortunately we missed the final train down to Grindelwald, so having just descended the Eiger, we were left with a long descent back to the valley.

Dave dreaming about deep fried mars bars and Irn Bru before an early morning climb. Photo- Calum Muskett

‘Paciencia’ is an amazing alpine/big wall challenge and should be high on the ticklist of any climber with the capability to climb it. Thanks to Dave for sharing a great adventure with me!

Acclimatizing

July 31, 2013Alpscalum

The campsite near the Petit Clocher du Portalet. Photo- Calum Muskett

I’ve been to the Alps every year since my first visit when I was fifteen. I love the variety of climbing, the generally hot weather and the fresh pain au chocolats in the mornings. A trip to the Alps generally makes a nice, if a tad expensive, summer holiday.

This year I’ve planned and saved up for six weeks of climbing in the Alps and I’ve got a list of objectives as long as my arm! The first ten days of the trip were planned to be a good opportunity to get back into the swing of things; to get used to climbing on granite and get fully acclimatized before hopefully getting on some bigger routes in August.

I met up with Hazel Findlay and Pete Graham on my first day in Chamonix. The forecast wasn’t great with evening thunderstorms every day for the foreseeable future, so we decided to head over to Switzerland and climb on the Petit Clocher du Portalet.

Hazel Climbing the first tricky pitch of 'Ave Caesar'. Photo- Calum Muskett — Hazel Climbing the first tricky pitch of ‘Ave Caesar’. Photo- Calum Muskett

I’d never heard of the Petit Clocher before but Hazel assured me it was a very good cliff and she was keen to make a free ascent of ‘Ave Caesar’, a 7c she’d last tried several years earlier. We camped in a sheltered spot about forty minutes walk from the wall with a convenient overhang under which we were able to cook our food. The route itself exceeded my expectations of its quality. Splitter cracks and great quality granite made ‘Ave Caesar’ reminiscent of some Yosemite classics.

Hazel waltzed up the first tricky pitch, a lovely, long layback crack and we continued upwards, climbing parallel to a couple of teams of Italian climbers on the tough looking ‘Etat du Choc’. Fortunately for me Hazel also had the lead of the next pitch and first crux: a short and stern 7c finger crack. Hazel made quick work of this pitch whilst I was unceremoniously spat off just before reaching better jams. I gave the pitch a second go immediately after my first but was too pumped to give it a good effort. The following pitch, a 7c ringlock crack was my lead. Already pumped and tired my chances weren’t great, but the fact I didn’t know how to ringlock made things even trickier! After ‘ascending’ this pitch Hazel once again cruised it and we were soon on the top looking across at a very stormy sky. Hazel, who’s been reading about clouds on her kindle, told me that these were “bad clouds”.

The following day we returned to the Petit Clocher for a look at the ‘Darbellay Crack’, a stunning multi pitch crack climb with a crux of 8a. We worked the crux pitch fairly quickly but were both feeling a bit too knackered for a lead attempt. It’s one of the best pitches I’ve seen in the Alps and is certainly something worth returning for.

Having returned to the campsite in Argentiere I met up with Gabby to take her up her first alpine routes. Gabby is a self-proclaimed skier and runner but is a handy rock climber too so I thought where better to go for a first alpine rock route than the South Face of the Midi? We started up the classic ‘Rebuffat’ route, but being impatient and caught up in a long queue we traversed across and climbed the main pitches of the ‘Contamine’ route, another fantastic, albeit a little trickier, free climb. After a swift ascent of the south face we headed over to the Grand Capucin where we spent a chilly night on the glacier.

A german climber engaged with the difficulties of the lower cracks of the 'Contamine' route. Photo- Calum Muskett — A german climber engaged with the difficulties of the lower cracks of the ‘Contamine’ route. Photo- Calum Muskett

Our objective for the day was the ‘Bonnatti’ route up the east face of the Grand Capucin. Rather than head up the snow gully on the south side we headed straight up the east face to join the ‘Bonnatti’ after its traverse in. We were thankful to have done this as later that day, the gully which is notorious for rockfall anyway, started to rumble ominously and we witnessed a massive avalanche which just missed a couple of guided parties.

Gabby climbing at around half height on the Grand Capucin. Photo- Calum Muskett

Our tent on the glacier beneath the Grand Capucin. Photo- Calum Muskett

We made steady progress up the ‘Bonnatti’ which although great is a bit of a route finding extravaganza. Gabby, not used to wearing rock boots for such a long period started to suffer from blisters on her heels but was still keen to head on upwards and we finally reached the summit at around six in the evening. Fortunately there is now a new line of abseil anchors down ‘Elixir d’Astaroth’ which is well worth knowing for anybody keen to climb the Grand Capucin as it provides a quick and easy descent.

Next up I teamed up with ‘big’ Tim Neil and Keith Ball – two really experienced and super psyched climbers. We headed straight for the Grand Capucin once again and climbed ‘Directe des Capucines’, an amazing line of moderate difficulty up the East Face. This route surely supersedes the ‘Bonnatti Direct’ in terms of quality of climbing and its visual line. With the forecast still good we stayed up high and the following day climbed the outstanding ‘Ligne Blanche’ on the Chandelle du Tacul. This route is on some of the best rock found in the Alps and each pitch has fantastic and varied climbing. We just managed to make it down to Courmayer in time to miss a big thunderstorm.

Big Tim seconding the crux pitch of 'Ligne Blanche'. Photo- Calum Muskett — Big Tim seconding the crux pitch of ‘Ligne Blanche’. Photo- Calum Muskett

The Indian Face

July 29, 2013Walescalum

Clogwyn Du'r Arddu. Photo- Calum Muskett — Clogwyn Du’r Arddu. Photo- Calum Muskett

The chugging of the train beats a regular rhythm as I march up the Llanberis path for the third day in a row. Unencumbered from the usual burden of a heavy rucsac my pace is swift; or perhaps it just feels that way as my mind races ahead of myself to the lofty heights of Cloggy. As I approach the base of the cliff I notice that conditions are good, great in-fact and that today there can be no excuses, other than my own will power, as to whether or not I climb ‘The Indian Face’.

It had started two days earlier. I’d walked up to Cloggy in the late afternoon coming into view of the crag just as Caff reached the finishing holds. It was great to witness somebody leading the line, especially after Caff had only practised the route on abseil that morning. I was keen to take advantage of the chalked holds and attempt ‘Masters Wall’ on-sight. Caff, however, soon dissuaded me from that idea, telling me that ‘Masters…’ was a poor eliminate and not worth the while. Instead, just out of interest, I gave ‘The Indian Face’ a go, along with George Ullrich. We both on-sighted the route on top-rope and suddenly knew that the lead was on.

The climbing on ‘The Indian Face’ is fantastic. The handholds are surprisingly positive, though they are mainly side pulls, whilst the footholds are just poor enough to make the climbing feel that touch insecure, even after rehearsing the moves on a top-rope. The protection revolves around a cluster of poor small RPs which offer some psychological support but little else.

I returned the following morning, feeling well prepared mentally to go for the lead. The moves felt reasonable on a gri gri but I was really concerned about how humid everything felt. I felt like I could scrape through the moves on lead but this wasn’t a route to shake and slap my way up! Ray Wood, having checked his constant stream of twitter updates (!), confirmed that it was indeed humid but that Derek the weatherman was forecasting low dew points for the following day.

Perturbed but as motivated as ever I had one final day to attempt the line before three 12 hour shifts of work, a week of assessment and a six week trip to the Alps. I knew that the likelihood of returning for the line in the Autumn was very low which added a little more pressure.

Up on the cliff I was back on my abseil rope. The moves went well on a gri gri and I felt ready for the lead. But I had no belayer! I’d expected to lead the route the previous day on which I’d had the offer of a belay but I’d had no luck finding a belayer at last minute for this day. I was anxious to get on the lead whilst I was still prepared mentally but it seemed to be slipping away. Fortunately for me, Dan Parkes, who I’d met on the walk up for the first time, had just come down after climbing ‘Great Wall’ with his dad. I asked him if he’d be willing to give me a belay on ‘The Indian Face’. He very graciously accepted but after a moment’s thought nervously asked if I was after a lead belay. I left the choice open to Dan and thankfully he decided he was happy to belay me.

The lead itself went fairly smoothly. My plan was to lead the route quickly, before any fear or doubt could enter my head. I’d left the cluster of RPs in place; not feeling well enough prepared to place them on lead and with no time left practice there placements. There was one moment on lead, a couple of moves after the crux, where my fingers began to creep off a crimp and I was forced into making a hasty slap for the next positive side-pull; a moment that retrospectively sends shivers down my spine! It took me around seven minutes to reach the finishing jug, where you can finally fully appreciate the quality of the route and enjoy the easy climbing that leads up to the belay.

George leading 'The Indian Face'. Photo- Calum Muskett — George leading ‘The Indian Face’. Photo- Calum Muskett

Later that same day George made a very smooth ascent of the route and we all headed back down for a pizza and a pint in Llanberis where we met up with Caff and enjoyed the evening sunshine.

Thanks to Caff and George for the motivation to try the route and Dan for the impromptu belay!

The three ascentionists. Photo- Miles Hill

The Rapid Rab Road Trip to Hoy

July 8, 2013Uncategorizedcalum

Climbers be warned! Photo- Calum Muskett

Short of time and short of sleep our final day on Hoy was always going to be a hectic affair. An early start saw Tom and I heading over to a gloomy looking Rora Head to prepare for the lead of our new line. As we abseiled in we could tell that conditions weren’t great. The spray from the waves and the lack of morning sunlight meant a thin film of grease lubricated some of the small holds on the final run out. We both top roped the pitch and brushed the holds as best we could before Ben Winston joined us and it was time to go big or go home.

Tom checking out the line of 'Dan Dare' prior to the first ascent. Photo- Calum Muskett — Tom checking out the line of ‘Dan Dare’ prior to the first ascent. Photo- Calum Muskett

Having travelled all the way up to Hoy there was no real option of backing down. Both Tom and I knew that it would be some time before another opportunity presented itself to return to Hoy so we abseiled down and psyched up, both of us having decided to lead the crux pitch. I headed up first, making the most of the reasonable rests and placing as much gear as possible. The first section of the pitch is quite steady. Reasonable pulls between slightly fragile sandstone ledges lead up to a compact wall of high quality sandstone. Once committed to this wall a confident approach is best suited. A long run out with strenuous climbing follows a line of crimps up to a rest beneath the crux section. From here a series of big pulls on reasonable holds lead to an enigmatic final reach up to a break, miles above the last piece of gear.

On the lead of the crux pitch on the first ascent of 'Dan Dare'. Photo- Ben Winston — On the lead of the crux pitch on the first ascent of ‘Dan Dare’. Photo- Ben Winston

Fortunately the lead went without incident and, having abseiled back down to remove the gear, it was Tom’s turn for the lead. Tom made steady progress up the lower wall before cruising the final crux section to reach the belay a very happy man. Realizing that time was now in short demand, should we want to make the 3 o’clock ferry off Hoy, I frantically seconded the first pitch and prepared immediately to lead us to the top. Having not inspected the top section of the cliff, I was surprised to find another top quality pitch, albeit at a more amenable level, but in keeping with the rest of the route. I topped out just as Ben was rushing back to the van telling us to hurry if we wanted to leave Hoy that day. Tom seconded rapidly and we were soon making a mad dash back to the car in time to reach the ferry a couple of minutes before its departure. ‘Dan Dare’, as we christened the new route, is a fantastic new addition to Hoy with some brilliant and varied climbing on good quality sandstone. We named the route after a terrible joke of Tom’s we were told as we travelled up north and we’ve given the route a grade of E7 6b.

Having caught the three o’clock ferry off Hoy and been inspired after watching Andy Murray win Wimbledon, we travelled back to the mainland and my thoughts returned to some unfinished business from the journey up to Hoy. We’d stopped off at a single pitch coastal venue next to a small hamlet called Mid-Clyth and I’d attempted a new route there on-sight. I was one move away from glory, but having snapped off a small hold and with no gear of worth, I decided to down climb back to the ground and leave the route for another day.

Climbing the Old man of Hoy was another highlight of the trip. Photo- Calum Muskett

Abseil descent down the old man of Hoy. Photo- Calum Muskett

Despite the fact it was now 8.30pm I felt like this was an opportunity I couldn’t waste as we drove through the small hamlet on our journey home. After a quick top rope I made the first ascent of this compellingly bold arête. The sole protection for the route is two skyhooks and the climbing, although never desperate, is difficult enough to warrant the rather worrying grade of E7 6a.

As we cooked ourselves dinner in a picturesque harbor at 11pm that evening. we reflected on a fantastic days’ climbing and a memorable short trip to the far north of Scotland. Thanks to Tom and Ben for such a great trip and to Rab for getting us up there in the first place!

Tom catching the final rays of sunshine after a successful trip to Hoy. Photo- Calum Muskett

For those who couldn’t be bothered reading any of the above here’s a video of the trip put together by Ben Winston:

Mountain Days

June 26, 2013Walescalum

Sunrise over Crib Goch. Photo- Calum Muskett

They may not be the biggest or the most impressive hills around, but the mountains of Snowdonia have their own charms and history making up for their modest size. I’ve always thought that climbing in the mountains is something really special. Spectacular views and fantastic climbing is normally guaranteed in Snowdonia when you know which cliffs to get to.

Over the last couple of weeks though the perfect combination of sunshine and breeze (to keep the midges at bay!) have been fairly standard on my days off and I’ve had the opportunity to get out climbing at Ogwen, my most local climbing venue being only a 15 minute drive up the road. It was often really wet up there last year which meant I only got the chance to climb there a couple of times. The first route on the list was a route called ‘Kaya’ on Glyder Fach. It was first climbed by two friends of mine; Noel Craine made the first ascent of the original route and then Johnny Dawes straightened it out with a direct finish. They and others have all raved about the quality of the climbing and they weren’t wrong, it was a top quality route! Dave Rudkin and I both climbed it on our second go, both happy to have climbed it but a little gutted to have failed to on-sight it due to very silly errors on our parts and greasy conditions- although we would say that wouldn’t we! I also noticed a cool looking unclimbed wall to the right that day- but more on that later!

Dave Rudkin climbing 'Kaya', E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett — Dave Rudkin climbing ‘Kaya’, E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett

The following day Dave and I were joined by John Orr as we headed up to Gallt Yr Ogof to attempt ‘Heart of Stone’, another top quality E7. It was Dave’s turn to go first and he put in a sterling effort up the steep wall, getting all the gear in before finally falling off with what he described as “bone marrow pump” a few moves from the top. I was up next and also got ejected a couple of moves from the top with elbows pointing skywards and feet pedalling downwards! It’s got a pretty healthy run out on the final section! The climbing on it is fantastic though with consistently steep climbing on perfect crimps, pockets and side pulls. We all had another go getting even closer to the top before Dave on his third go managed to cruise through to the finish after a brief abseil inspection. Unfortunately the midges had come out in full force by this point and we had to make a fairly swift evacuation of the crag!

Dave just about to take flight off 'Heart of Stone'! Photo- Calum Muskett — Dave just about to take flight off ‘Heart of Stone’! Photo- Calum Muskett

Dave messing around on 'Heart of Stone'. Photo- Calum Muskett — Dave messing around on ‘Heart of Stone’. Photo- Calum Muskett

The following day was a long one work wise but very rewarding. At 4am I was out with Run Snowdonia helping out on the first leg of the 14 peaks with a keen group of walkers from Exeter. It was a misty and murky morning which hadn’t raised my hopes for a pleasant walk but, 30 minutes later, we broke out of the clouds as we approached the lower slopes of Crib Goch and walked up into a stunning sunrise combined with an amazing cloud inversion. It was the first cloud inversion I’d seen this year and the fact that it was coinciding with the sunrise made it even more special. By 8am we’d finished the leg and I had to dash off for a twelve hour shift elsewhere feeling fairly lethargic!

I also managed to return to the unclimbed wall I’d noticed on Glyder Fach. First I headed up with Ant Douglas for a quick blast to see if it was possible and managed the route first go, despite feeling like I was falling off half the time. The rain was moving in though which meant we had to make a fairly hasty exit. I headed back up with Emma Twyford though for my second go at it, hoping for a go on the lead whilst Emma was keen for a shot at ‘Kaya’. After a quick top rope I realised that the only way I’d be able to protect the crux moves of the route would be with a short sling attached to the first peg of ‘Kaya’, taped to the wall at a 45° angle to bring it just about within reach. I was hoping to clip the peg on lead, which would be possible, but would require some very delicate and dangerous moves that I wasn’t too psyched for on the day. The line is pretty good too, ascending the clean wall between ‘Kaya’ and ‘Lot’s Wife’. Unfortunately the first section does naturally trend rightwards into the crack line, in which you get a low side runner, but you soon make a committing step left and commence on a very thin sequence up the wall, having clipped the peg which slowly eases in difficulty before you finish up the ‘Watchtower’, an E3 that breaks onto the upper section of the wall. The lead went just about as smoothly as it could have and we both reckoned the climbing to be about E8 6c or F7c+ R/X.

The line of 'Sentinel', E8 6c. Photo- Calum Muskett — The line of ‘Sentinel’, E8 6c. Photo- Calum Muskett

Having climbed my route Emma now got psyched for ‘Kaya’. She made very short work of the lower crux section before cruising up to the upper crux. She spent a while working out the next few moves and waiting for the sun to go behind the clouds before making the tricky move up to a big positive side pull. Emma relaxed for just a moment having reached this good hold and both her feet popped off robbing her of her first E7 flash. After a very brief rest she cruised to the top and I’m sure she’ll be on-sighting many hard trad routes soon with her awesome sport climbing fitness.

Emma on the first crux section of 'Kaya, E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett — Emma on the first crux section of ‘Kaya, E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett

Back to Rock

June 20, 2013Walescalum

The last couple of months have been a whirlwind of work and play (although mainly work!). After returning from the Alps I enjoyed some good skiing, ice climbing and rock climbing all in the same week in North Wales. In fact, on one day, I skied down Glyder Fawr first thing in the morning, climbed an E6 at Gogarth, went for a boulder, instructed for a couple of hours and finished the day off with an ice climb!

George Ullrich leading the brilliant 'Glyder Crack', E6 6b, between hail showers. Photo- Calum Muskett — George Ullrich leading the brilliant ‘Glyder Crack’, E6 6b, between hail showers. Photo- Calum Muskett

Making the possible second ascent of the tricky 'Hideous Bypass', E6 6b at Ogwen. Photo- Steve Long — Making the possible second ascent of the tricky ‘Hideous Bypass’, E6 6b at Ogwen. Photo- Steve Long

The weather in Wales has been, in general, really good this year, albeit a bit chilly. At the beginning of May I travelled to Pembroke with Dan Mcmanus for an awesome bank holiday weekend. We climbed stacks of great routes and caught up with loads of friends. It was the kind of trip that reminded you how great climbing can be: three star routes, sunshine, getting pumped and having cream tea in the brilliant Ye Olde Worlde Cafe. Some of the standout routes were Crimes of Passion, Fortune Cookie, The Pulsebeat and Ghost Train. Ghost Train in particular was a route I’d been hoping to do for quite a while, however, up until this trip it had always been a bit too wet to climb. There’s a very big run out on the route to reach a thread at about 25m from where I remember thinking I really wouldn’t want to fall, as it would leave you taking a massive, ground sweeping fall. A good friend of mine, Will Oates, fell at exactly this point last week and through the quick reactions of his belayer didn’t hit the ground but took an absolutely humongous fall…respect Will!

Dan Mcmanus leading the out there 'Why Should I', E6 6b at Pembroke. Photo- Calum Muskett — Dan Mcmanus leading the out there ‘Why Should I’, E6 6b at Pembroke. Photo- Calum Muskett

Since that trip to Pembroke I’ve been working 70 hour plus weeks, losing the fitness I’d gained and feeling utterly exhausted on my occasional days off. So it was with relief that I found my two and a half days off last week coincided with the warmest weather of the year; and that meant only one thing- Cloggy!

Cloggy has got to be one of my favourite cliffs to climb on in the world; probably because my memories of climbing there are always of the warm and dry weather that are pre-requisites to go climbing there. My first visit there was on an after school raid with Francis Blunt when I was 14 years old. I’d just been given a copy of the classic and rare British climbing book ‘Extreme Rock’ and was inspired to try ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ having read the account of Ed Drummond’s early ascent. I met up with Francis outside the old Safeway’s store in Bangor at 3.30 in the afternoon and we raced up to Cloggy to arrive at a sun baked Great Wall with a pleasant gentle breeze. I remember setting off in the wrong place for ‘A Midsummer…’ and making quite a long and technical traverse to gain the route, but after that all I can remember are the intricate sequences of moves and the long run out with climbing that is never too hard and never too easy to reach the Great Wall belay feeling utterly satisfied.

Leading the initial section of 'Authentic Desire', E7 6b. Photo- Ed Booth — Leading the initial section of ‘Authentic Desire’, E7 6b. Photo- Ed Booth

George Ullrich reaching the easier climbing of 'Authentic Desire', E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett — George Ullrich reaching the easier climbing of ‘Authentic Desire’, E7 6b. Photo- Calum Muskett

So it was with happiness that I returned to Cloggy for the first time in nearly two years with on-form Cumbrian James ‘Caff’ Mchaffie and Ed Booth. Caff has been ripping things up lately in his typically understated way. He’d just returned from a trip to Scotland with an ascent of the Longhope route under his belt and the previous day he’d made the fourth ascent of ‘Rare Lichen’, an E9 at Ogwen. Keen not to show any signs of weakness to Caff, I stick to my word and “warm up” on the utterly brilliant arête of ‘Authentic Desire’, a route that I’d waited a long time to climb.
With the warm up out of the way, Caff was ready for the main event: an on-sight attempt of ‘Margins of the Mind’, an E7/8 6c with a BIG reputation. Caff took a while to find his way through the initial roof before placing plenty of poor gear behind rattley flakes as well as sky hooks kept in place with blue tac. He spent a long time on the crux going back and forth on small, lichenous crimps before finally committing to a sequence and reaching a good rest as well as a poor wire and skyhook placement. From here, Caff faced one final difficult move; a long reach up to a jug protected by the skyhook and poor wire beneath his feet. Caff spent ages going up and down, trying to work a sequence to get through the move, at one point nearly succeeding before he pulled off a thin side-pull. After ten “last goes” he was looking very frustrated and tired. After ten more “absolute last goes” he just looked deflated that he couldn’t figure out a good enough sequence to get him to the finishing jug. He’d been holding on for four hours before I eventually dropped him a rope and it’s certainly the most impressive on-sight effort I’ve ever seen. Caff returned three days later and finished the route off after a brief abseil inspection.

Reaching the easier ground on 'It Will be Alright on the Night', E7 6b. Photo- Luke Brooks — Reaching the easier ground on ‘It Will be Alright on the Night’, E7 6b. Photo- Luke Brooks

The following day I headed back up to Cloggy and climbed ‘It Will be Alright on the Night’, an excellent E7 that climbs the wall to the right of ‘Margins…’. The pegs seemed to be in pretty poor condition but there was just enough gear to back them up with which meant the route wasn’t too terrifying! I’m looking forward to the next opportunity I get to head back up to Cloggy, having noticed some new lines to do as well as some other classics to repeat.

Caff fully committed on 'Margins of the Mind', E7/8 6c. Photo- Calum Muskett — Caff fully committed on ‘Margins of the Mind’, E7/8 6c. Photo- Calum Muskett

Riding the planks

April 5, 2013Skiingcalum

Francis Blunt shredding in the Aiguille Rouge. Photo- Calum Muskett

I’ve wanted to learn to ski for years now, having always been a fan of the world cup ski events that were once broadcast on the welsh TV channel S4C in the early hours of Sunday mornings. I guess I’d never really had the opportunity of a ski trip when I was younger and in the last few years I’ve been so keen to go climbing that I’ve never put money aside for a ski trip.

This winter, however, I finally committed to spending a month in the Alps with sights firmly set on skiing and alpine climbing. Alpine ambitions fell at the wayside, along with sustained periods of good weather, whilst skiing opportunities grew and grew as the snow moved in and the ‘pow’ arrived.

It’s been a long while since I learnt a new sport and I’d forgotten the enjoyment, frustration and satisfaction that comes with it. My first few days (well the whole month really) were mainly spent on my backside, cursing the schools of little ski ninjas who seemed to be able to come out of nowhere and trip you over. Soon enough I developed a dodgy, kamikaze ski style (straight lines) and I felt confident enough on my second day to attempt to ski down the Argentiere glacier. So I departed early from Argentiere with Ben Alsford and skinned up to and along the glacier before beginning my descent, much to his amusement and the horror of other skiers who undoubtedly expected me to plummet into a crevasse!

Ben Alsford laughing after seeing me fall over... again! Photo- Calum Muskett — Ben Alsford laughing after seeing me fall over… again! Photo- Calum Muskett

Feeling embarrassed and dejected I tried to keep a low profile only for Leanne Callaghan to find me and talk me into taking part in a ski mountaineering race. Obviously I’ve got ‘gullible’ written all over my forehead and I naively agreed that it would be a fun event to take part in. The race was two weeks away; plenty of time, I thought, to convert running fitness into skiing prowess.

It wasn’t just riding two planks of wood that I had to learn though; skiing seems to have its own vocabulary. I felt a little like Johnny Utah in Point Break trying to fit in with the cool kids, erm, bra. From pow pow and freshies to steeps and gnar: I’m not really sure where I stand with all this, climbers obviously aren’t cool at all!

Team RAF: Andy, Dyl and Joey joined me out in Les Houches and Andy kindly made me feel better about my skiing by falling over just as much. We had some good days out touring with descents of the awesome Vallee Blanche as well as over the Aiguille Rouge and different cols above the Argentiere glacier.

The Vallee Blanche. Photo- Calum Muskett

Andy and Dyl taking things seriously! Photo- Calum Muskett

After team RAF left I joined team skimo (ski mountaineers, if you, like me, have no idea what abbreviations stand for).Team skimo comprised of Jon, Ben, Ben and Misha- a rather fit bunch of ski Jedi’s. I tagged along with their plan for a tour up a Swiss peak called Le Genepi. The sun was baking hot as we slogged up towards the summit and when we got there I realised that a 45° slope is steeper than a green run on the piste. Quaking in my bright orange boots I decided to get some photo’s of the other guys descending first and with terror in my eyes followed them down with little grace or style. On the descent I managed to snap an already dud ski in some deep powder and got a very tired left leg as I balanced my way down to the car!

Ben Tibbetts descending Le Genepi. Photo- Calum Muskett

Ben Bardsley descending Le Genepi. Photo- Calum Muskett

The race day soon caught up with us and having been prepped by Jon I felt ready to give the race a crack. The start of the race was quite exciting as a flock of skis and poles got thrown around and having made a bit of a sprint to get into a reasonable position I promptly fell over on a suspiciously flat stretch of snow and got overtaken by everybody again. If I’m honest I found the race slightly frustrating- it’s similar to a triathlon but more things can go wrong! My kick-turns were pretty sloppy and my uphill technique went to pot whenever the slope went beyond a certain angle. Having borrowed Jon’s tiny race skis I found the descents desperate and when I finished the race I looked a little bit like the abominable snowman having stacked it on multiple occasions! Jon won the men’s race to become the British champion and Gabby took the honours in the women’s race.

I returned from the Alps a few days ago to a very wintery North Wales. I had an awesome ski in the Carneddau mountains but have since knocked a big chunk of ice into my face whilst ice climbing- my verdict is that skiing is more enjoyable than winter climbing!

Jamie Holding enjoying the snow in the Carneddau. Photo- Calum Muskett

Enjoying the steep descent from Carnedd Llywelyn. Photo- Jamie Holding