Cold but Classic Cioch, 12 April
Mike’s report.
Firstly many congratulations to Martin Goddard on completing his Munros on Sgurr Alasdair today. After getting a lift into the glen with us he found his own way up from Coire a’ Ghrunnda onto the South-West flank so avoiding a pergatorial slog up the Great Stone Shoot. Slainte!
Chris and I aimed for a quick ascent of the Cioch which was staying below the clouds. It was still looking pretty dry as we reached the sweepng slab below and 2 rope lengths took us to the top. This iconic obelisk was where Sean Connery famously had his sword fight in classic 80’s film The Highlander.
Our route climbed the corner (Slab Corner, Diff) below the Cioch
Mist envelops us as Chris belays in the shelter of the mighty Cioch
Waiting on top for the mist to clear proved to be a misjudgement as a painful hail and snow squall caught us as we made the awkward descent from it’s summit.
Keeping the head down as the hail battered us!
As a result the smooth rocks on the narrow Neck had added excitement.
Chris doing the body slither up the Neck
The weather stayed dry but misty as we continued on up Eastern Gully, over Sron na Ciche, onto Sgurrr Alasdair and down the Great Stone Shoot before finding the sun below the cloud again.
Scree running down the Great Stone Shoot
Birthday Groove, 11th January
Matt was out with Simon and Tony again today. We went with expectations for amazing weather, great views and quality climbing and weren’t disappointed. The South Buttress of Bla Bheinn had caught our attention yestrerday.
South Buttress
Birthday Groove (IV,5) is the left hand of the two corner lines in the centre of the buttress. The initial pitches were great fun and provided a mix of chimneys and chock-stones covered by a liberal layer of powder snow that, when cleared, revealed some good neve and frozen turf.
High in pitch 2
The views just got better as we got higher; here looking out to Kintail
As darkness approached we got closer to the top of our route and the climbing got steadily steeper and harder.
Pitch 4
Finally we were only eight feet from easier ground when a heavily verglassed chimney put paid to our ascent. We made the difficult decision to retreat back down the route in three long abseils. It was gut-wrenching to get so close to the top and be able to see the easier ground. However we’d had a wonderful adventure on a quality route in a dramatic setting and there were plenty of smiles during our trip down the mountain!
Matt with wide-eyes!
