On Thursday night Will and I headed up to the Cairngorms for a couple of days cranking. We met up with Adam Booth and our Austrian friends Charly Fritzer and Matthias Wurzer for a good day in the hills on Friday along with Simon Yearlsey and Mark Chadwick.
We headed into Lochain to find some good conditions and faultless weather. Will, Adam and I made an ascent of the brilliant line of “Daddy Longlegs” and then went on to watch Adam cruse “Fallout Corner” in one long pitch.
Whilst Adam was on “Fallout”, Will and I watched Charly and Matthias cruise Pic’n’Mix” on the pillar. Charly led the crux pitch in roughly 10 mins with very little effort and impeccable style.
On the Saturday Will and I made the second ascent of Guy Robertson and Pete Macpherson’s route “The Gathering” also on the pillar in Lochain. This was a really good line which was home to some deceptively steep and technical climbing with the crux pitch packing a punch at the end.
I thought the route was a fair bit harder than “Pic’n’Mix” but not as hard as “Omerta” so the grade of VIII/9 is probably spot on.
We had met up with Justin Tracey and Jenny Crook on the Friday night who where in the Gorms for some photography and filming antics. They managed to film our entire ascent of “The Gathering”, so watch this space for more info on that soon.
Finely on Sunday after a relaxed start, Will and I walked into a super busy Lochain for the third day in a row to find the buttresses had turned pretty black in places. We wondered up toward Y-Gully in search of some whiteness and found a cool looking line up the right wall of Y-Gully left branch.
We weren’t sure if the route had been climbed before, but Will set off to have a go. The route turned out to be a super fun and enjoyable line going at around grade VI/6. It was a good day and a good way to end the short trip to the Gorms with some cool climbs and fun people.
