Trad day 2 this time at Kingussie

After a grand day yesterday we went to Kingussie Crag to give Sara and Giles an opportunity to build more belays, place more gear and climb more rock! We had a sociable day chatting with the 10 others at the crag and the guys worked their way through Finale, The Block, Little Wall Direct, First Pull (4c moves- nice work guys!) before Giles got the bit between his teeth and led The Slab (first lead is always a big deal). Good steady progress and we'll be out again next weekend!

 Masa and Fiona on Right Hand Crack

 Starting with Finale!

 The Block

 Looking down Little Wall Direct

 A 5 layer day for Sara- brrrr!

 First Pull on her second go, well done Sara.

 Going hands free on the abseil to practice recovering a stuck piece of gear

Giles on the sharp end

Teaching trad at Polldubh

I met Sara and Giles when i took them up Curved Ridge last year and we got talking about them taking their indoor and sport climbing knowledge and converting to 'proper' ;-) climbing. Today was our first day out and we were at Polldubh which was dry, except for one brief morning shower, but pretty darned chilly! We climbed Pinnacle Ridge, 3 Pines by the 'Bullet' variation and Repton's Right Hand Route. 7 pitches of climbing with 2 big abseils with lots of belay building, gear placement and stance management from the two of them. More tomorrow!

 Morning warm up

 In series on Pinnacle Ridge

 Sara cruising the rockover

 Sara lapping up the friction

 Brining up Giles

 Topping out during a shower

 3 Pines/Bullet

 Top belay

 Looking down from the roof

 Another route in the bag

 Coming down

 Giles on Repton's Right Hand Route

 Sara borrowed my jacket to keep out the cold

Last pitch of the day

Spring rock, indoor walls, mountaineering + a break

Since my last post there was a weekend at home followed by another 5 days with more Abernethy climbers (sweltering at Kingussie, cool but dry at Duntelchaig, high tides at Cummingston and Redhythe and more grade pushing at Huntley's Cave). After this I had 2 days with a group from West Highland College looking at Rescue and Incident Management and some of the psychology associated with decision making and responses to emergencies (we used on of the ribs join the south side of Meall an t Suidhe and then the Pink Rib of Beinn a Chrulaiste as venues to look at issues). Then I was hiding from the sun with a 2 day CWA training at Perth Climbing Wall and Glasgow Climbing Centre many of the candidates were from the Stirling Spiders Climbing Club. This was followed by a Foundation Coach Training for staff from GCC and Blairvaddach OEC.
Finally its time for a break. We took the camper van to Mull and I introduced the family to the immaculate granite and beaches of Erraid. The kids climbed barefoot and I visited 'New Slabs' to solo 3 Severes and a 4b, we came home via a damp Ardnamurchan- where next....?
(More pics on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/climbwhenyoureready.mountaineering/media_set?set=a.1384101061633007.100000993792059&type=3&uploaded=27 ).

 Spring in the Highlands

 'Taps aff' at Kingussie

 Cooler at Duntelchaig

 High tide at Cummingston

 A careful placement

 Sunshine at Redhythe

 Escaping the Cave at Huntley's

 RIM with the students on the Pink Rib

 Leading at Perth CC

 Warm ups at GCC

 More games

 Peer belaying, permutations, pros and cons

 Autobelays

 Foundation Coach Training- a new knot

 FC Trg embracing your inner sumo!

 Twisting on FC Trg

 Sandy 6 feet above the sand escaping the sea

 Kaye climbing barefoot

 A quick solo at 'New Slabs'

Granite goodness, a very short 4b