BMC Wild Horizons Podcast on the Cuillin
Niall Grimes is well known in climbing circles and his Jam Crack Podcast interviewing top climbers is very popular. Last time I saw him we were giving our good friends Andy and Kate a proper North Wales send-off to their new lives in NZ. With plenty of Dutch courage inside me I sidled up to Grimer, admitted my climbing abilities are nowhere near up to the lofty heights required, & offered to impart some of my many opinions on the world of mountaineering if he was ever struggling for interviewees….
Roll forward 2 mad years and I get a brief message from the man who ate the Blarney Stone asking if I was up for giving some thoughts on the Cuillin as part of the BMC’s new podcast series Wild Horizons.
I really wasn’t sure how it would pan out but I feel that Grimer’s questions lead me well through a mix of Cuillin climbing, history, geology and philosophy. I hope folk enjoy listening on the link below.
Sugar & Spice & all things nice. March 2015
March has been a hectic period as admin for the summer starts to dominate; very hard after such a fun winter. The wild conditions have continued pretty much identically to the past 3 months with plenty of good climbing conditions formed by bonkers winds, loads of snow, the odd thaw and repeat….. There’s snow settling at sea-level tonight and that’s not an April fool. Still basking in the glory of the In Pinn spoof in 2013; had folk who believed it well over a year later-
In fact I’ve bottled out of trying to catch you out this year so relax & enjoy a few pics from the past month or so.
Storr, 1st March. Driving there was scary enough! These guys had the harshest 3 days of the winter but still got out each day.
Sheltering under the Old Man of Storr
Sunshine; yey!
Neist. Friday 13th, not unlucky at all. First day of hot rock with Iain and Ally
Iain on Green Lady
Spring Tide excitement
Man of Straw, VS 4c
Bruton party, 14th. A great day with miles of perfect snow to practice crampon & axe work.
Broad Gully, grade I, seen on descent
Tooth taken by Lucy that day
Perfect snow all day; here heading to Bruach na Frithe
Bla Bheinn with Lucy, Sunday 15th. Another immaculate day
Alpine conditions on approach.
Not a cloud to ruin the view.
Can’t beat that view out to Rum
Serious graft for the Skye MRT taking the radio relay down for fixing, all 200kg of it!
Lucy on the crux of South Buttress Gully, III.
South Buttress Gully- A mix of sugary snow, plenty of spice & god it was nice!
Eilidh & Matt. A magical day with the mists burning off and rock drying front of our eyes on Sgurr an Fheadian, 21st
The Spur of Sgurr an Fheadain
Smiles of delight?
Nah, pure relief eh Eilidh!
Action Man
And that’s why she’s allowed to be happy!
Magical mists
Orion Face Direct, Wednesday 25th. Winter looked to be washed out very soon so Icky & I made a dash for the last route of the season. Spoilt for choice we chose Orion which I’d been on but never done in it entirity. Definitely didn’t disappoint and the legs really knew about it. Luckily the descent on a cushion of powder right to the door of the hut was as good as it gets; “If Carling made descents”.
Icky heading towards the exit chimneys that gave a superb steep finish to the 8 pitch day.
Position
Mega Ice
Dodgy belay on the exit slopes.
31st March. Video work on Human Geography with Phillip from Canada was quite some challenge in the mega-gusts we had but the stinging showers mostly left us alone until the very end of the day. I’m not sure quite how it works but the project is based on Munro Bagging and he’s off to interview Chris Townsend next. Looking forward to seeing the results.
The Eastern Black Cuillin looking wintery. We went to the right hand of the 2 obvious cols
Clac Glas from the shelter of a welcome overhang.
Definitely winter.
Main Cuillin Ridge laid out in front of us
Clac Glas, the Matterhorn of Skye and a fiercesome barrier to reaching Bla Bheinn
Filming on the Cioch for Travel App, 13th May
Climbers laying it on for the cameras
Had a fun & exciting day out with Elaine & Kerrin in the sun on Tuesday. They’re making high quality travel apps which is a hightec Lonely Planet using videos for those struggling to suss what that means. See this link to Humanity TV for a fantastic trailer featuring Iceland. Scotland was high on their list to cover in the next issue and I was recommended to them by the Skye based artist Julie Brook
The guys were a pleasure to work with, filming didn’t interfere with the climbing, the weather was perfect, eagles came out to play and both Elaine & Kerrin had monstrous grins as they revelled in the excitement of climbing the Cioch. Good luck with the enterprise!
Am Basteir with Skye Guides on TV 28th October
Just a quickie to let you know there’ll be some footage of the Cuillin on 28th October at 7-30pm on Beeb 1- see below. It’s BBC Scotland so elsewhere in UK will possibly need to adjust your sets 🙂
Filming in the Cuillin is always a challenge trying to mix the usual challenges of weather with artistic content and improvisation. Working with Paul Murton who runs TimeLine Films was a pleasure. A keen mountaineer himself he understood his project very well, brought a fit and able crew of 3 others. Lou Reynolds was helping guide and we all reached Bealach a’Bhasteir in just 2.5hrs despite the big camera & sound equipment. This gave an hour before the predicted rain arrived and we nailed it just in time. Highly intrigued to see how it has all panned out……
Busy few weeks. 21 September
Apologies for not blogging so far this month; plenty going on but very little reliable broadband still!
There’s been a mixed bag of weather and a late surge from the midgies but the majority of missions have been accomplished with the use of cunning tactics and a great attitude by clients and guides alike. Monday last was only the fourth day this year that has been lost to the weather completely!
The work has varied from Ridge Traverses, stag dos and showing travel journalists the stunning Cuillin to stunt filming for a new Gaelic soap. Clients have come from as far away as New Zealand, Majorca and Colorado; ranged in age between 11 to 70 years old. Major achievements include Jenny Dunn climbing her last Munro, Laura climbing the Pinn for her first ever mountain in full “Scottish” conditions and Marcus completing his long-held dream of a Cuillin Traverse.
Basking sharks and Orcas, eagles Golden and White-tailed and the last of the alpine flowers like Devil’s Bit Scabbius have all added to the enjoyment.
Here are some images-
