Tuesday 9 November 2010

My first proper route of the season

Looking down pitch 2
Handfuls of manky old tat
Mike starting out on pitch 3
Looking down pitch 3
A great route
Mike texted me last night looking for a partner and dangled Crest Route in front of me as an objective. I've had this route recommended to me by various friends over the years and despite formerly having been graded IV it has a reputation amongst some as being no pushover at V,6.
It felt a bit warm at 7am this morning but Glencoe still looked white as we drove into the car park. After the usual sweaty haul into Coire Nan Lochan we were pleasantly surprised to come round the last corner to see a perfectly rimed crag (see Mike's blog for a good pic of the crags).
We wandered up the easy first pitch which provided nicely frozen turf and I got to grips with remembering how to climb with spikey things on leading the second. Mike took over for the mostly positive but superbly exposed third pitch and a short easy lead from me saw us on top with big grins on our faces.
We stripped half a dozen old lengths of pretty manky tat off of the route- some from behind lose blocks as well as the odd old krab. Call it a Spring clean but in late Autumn!
We only saw one other person today but the weather was kind and the freezing level stayed at just the right height. It had also begun to feel even colder again as we came down.
More days like this one please!

Crest Route 9 November 2010 from Alan Halewood on Vimeo.

2 comments:

Ross said...

Nice one, looks exposed! BTW, did you do the direct finish or the variation finish? Really want to do this route!

Alan said...

Mike made a long step left then up a couple of metres then back right and up. The direct looked nails. Its a great route- intimidating but very positive and good gear.
Al