Cold fingers!

Ok, I've got a chip on my shoulder..... If the bl**dy BBC weather starts again with 'gin clear skies' and 'lovely sunny skies' before adding the fact that it is snowing in Scotland as an afterthought I'm going to.......

ANYway. Yesterday I cycled out to Polldubh and soloed a dozen pitches of up to Severe. The sun shone in between the light snow and hail showers. I got home to receive a late request from The Ice Factor to take a pair of beginners rock climbing today.

Amanda and Dan are moving to near Stanage and decided to take a day of their holiday to get a first experience of rock climbing. A hardy pair we climbed the Gutter and I don't think any of us felt our fingers throughout the whole climb as we were caught in a heavy freezing rain shower (falling as snow higher up on the route as well as the hills). Undeterred we abseiled off and as the weather turned drier we moved over to Styx Buttress Right Wall and climbed that too. By the end of the day the guys had learnt to tie on, helped rig abseils, placed and removed nuts, built belays and both lead belayed and brought each other up.

At the end of the day we retreated to Cafe Beag, the wee cafe near the Glen Nevis Youth Hostel. Its does excellent home baking and a good cup of tea -open Tues to Sun this month (fuller opening over summer season).

Well done guys for keeping on smiling throughout- if you can cope with conditions like that and wet mica schist then 'gin clear skies' on the grit should be a breeze!