Kyloe In, Out, Shake It All About 14/03/11

I was back down at Kyloe today with Greg and Andy. We started off in the woods and we all had a good day ticking or making progress on projects, I was working Monty Python's Direct which is a great little project and it's good to have something to work on. After some lunch we headed out of the woods and had a look around to see what was dry, after scoping the crag we settled on a little cave which had a good traverse and a snappy little problem pulling through the roof which was quite smeggy so we headed left and did a great little problem; The Saint before continuing left for more slabness of The Fat Lady Sang. This was an apt name; as I came off from above the mantel on the slabby madness and slid down onto the mats! Slight twist of the ankle but it seems fine now which is good. More climbing later this week hopefully! Bring it on :)

Kyloe In 11/03/11

Today I headed down to Kyloe In with Andy, Greg and Sean. It was my first time to this classic Northumberland venue and I was suitably impressed!

It's a really cool place and the climbing was amazing, everyone had a good day climbing wise and we had a good laugh to top it off. Sean kindly let me play with his lens and lights when he wasn't using them and this was a lot of fun, Sean obviously got some incredible photos as usual and I was quite pleased with some of my shots too.

A weekend of healing the fingertip skin and watching the weather before maybe some last winter routes or more sunny rock climbing to start off the summer. Winter seems to have made a reappearance today though, there was about an inch of snow lying on the ground when we woke up!

Glen Clova Bouldering 06/03/11

With a stunning weather forecast Greg, Pete and I headed up to Glen Clova to sample some of the bouldering there. There was still some snow road-side on the way down the glen but the boulders are on the south facing side of the glen and were in great condition. We headed up to The Hollow area and once we found the boulders we had a great day sampling the rhyolite delights.

We did a variety of problems which were all good fun and didn't require much cleaning. I will definitely be heading back up here soon for some more bouldering and tradding, Clova is such a great venue!

Sea Cliffs With Bolts 04/03/11

Today I headed up towards Aberdeen with Greg, Pete, Mike, and Dave. We headed to a crag near Earnsheugh called Orchestra Cave which is home to some exceedingly steep sport routes. Unfortunately the easiest route that I had been hoping to get on was totally soaked and so I ended up taking photos with Pete which was good fun. The guys were making good progress on Dangleberries which looked exceedingly hard and was very steep!

Back on zee rock ja 03/03/11

With a bit of uni catching up to do I had put winter climbing out of my head for a while but I have now pretty much caught up and with some sunshine forecast and little rain over the past week or so Greg, Sean, Tim and I headed up to Dunkeld for some rock action for the first time this season.

We went to Polney to start and Sean and Tim played on Chopping Block but said it was a bit wet. Greg and I wandered about seeking out dry lines and had a fun time climbing mossy moist cracks on some easy routes before we decided it was a bit slimey and so headed up to Upper Cave for the guys to do some stamina on Hamish and I took some photos. It was great to be back out on rock and so relaxing!

Norway Video 21/02/11

An edit of the footage from Norway taken on the GoPro and the D3100. I am majorly impressed with the D3100 and can't wait to get back out and do some more filming!

Back to the joyus Scottish weather! 18/02/11

Today I was up in the Cairngorms, t’Sneachda, for the first time this season, to hold Greg’s ropes whilst he tried to get a ground up ascent of The Hurting; weighing in at al almighty XI,11 this is one of the hardest traditionally protected (as in no bolts so you place the protection yourself) mixed climbs in the World. It was massively inspiring to see Greg working through the sequence of incredibly difficult moves and after two falls from his previous high point he finally pulled through and with some helpful power screams (from both climber and belayer!) he made it up the remainder the of wall to the top. An absolutely incredible effort given the wind and conditions on the route, not to mention the technicality and boldness of the climbing, it was truly amazing to watch. The route weighs in at E4,6a in summer which hints at the steepness and sustained nature of the route! Greg is now the third person to climb this route since it was first put up by Dave MacLeod six years ago, and I felt lucky to be able to hold his ropes on a genuinely historic ascent. Go Bozza go!