With continued incredible weather I was pretty keen to make the most of it and so I headed back to the Etive Slabs with Scott and Sean. After walking in we scrambled up to the base of Hammer which was our first route. The entry pitches were a bit scrappy pulling through heather in quite a few places but once you get onto the route proper the climbing is fantastic. I led the scoop on P3 and the following corner which was a brilliant pitch, and then Sean had the fun and games of the crux traverse on P4 which we all found quite tricky I think!
After finishing the rest of the route and having a quick bite to eat back at the Coffin Stone we decided to head up The Pause, another Slabs classic. I joined the first two pitches together which seems sensible on 60m ropes and then Scott went for the high traverse option on the crux traverse which looked engaging, Sean and I followed on the lower traverse which is pretty mental, it feels like you are using nothing for your hands or feet at all, crazy slab climbing. We then continued up the route and skirted right at the top to avoid the steeper exit pitch as we were running out of daylight and it's not at all in-keeping with the rest of the route anyway.
We then ran it out back to Stirling before being able to get some late dinner and heading back to Edinburgh. Another great day out, at the Slabs again. I have now ticked the routes I want to do there before my manliness increases so it's back to the books for a while as exams are looming, but shortly I shall be free again!
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