The Genie.....

First pitch of the Genie.

(Paul)

Now that I have a bit of wifi I can update the blog and let folk know what is going on.

I was out with Gary again today and we opted for coire an t-sneachda.  It seems like one of the few places where conditions are actually really good. Even though you are limited with what is in condition the routes that are there are in great nick.  Due to the amount of snow that has fallen the routes are very banked out giving some amazing neve, leading to not to ok climbing but finding gear and belays are hard work. 

The money shot. Crux pitch on the Genie.

We enjoyed the Genie today in great conditions.  The guide says V,7, but it would be hard to take that!  Irrelevant of grade we both had a cracking day and Gary's intro to Scottish winter climbing is proving to be very successful! 

There were a loads of people out and Aladdin area seems to be where conditions are best!

Looking up at the Mess of Pottage.  Skiing is more of an option that climbing at the minute.  You can see some debris from a cornice collapse.

Some Scottish Winter Action!

(Paul)
I have now been over in Scotland for the last week.  It has been a mixture of work, play and hanging with the worlds best Alpinist.

I started this wee trip in the Glencoe valley.  I was out with Anthony and Emma for 2 days looking at skills they could use for long mountaineering days out on ridges and easy angles snow slopes.  We managed to make the most of the weather and high temps by finished with a great journey up the zip-zags on Gearr Aonach.

High on Central Buttress

Finishing up with those guys a text came in from Tom Great that the NW was in condition so 4 hrs later I arrived in Torridon psyched at the thought of climbing the super classic Central Buttress on Ben Eighe.  The 3 hr walk-in flew by chatting about stuff, lovely temps (maybe a bit to warm), blue sky and very little wind!  The central buttress was well covered in snow but with the rising temps we laughed that we could be climb quite a lot of mush.  In the end it was a mush-fest. I would probably give it Mush8 on a scale of 1-10.  The mush got the best of us and upward progress at the top was so slow that we sacked it and headed back down and out just before we lost the light. Oh and Ueli Steck was climbing beside us, the mush even slowed him down!

hip flask time - thank ECC!

The Seam - buried

The last few days have been spend climbing with Gary.  We managed a very enjoyable ascent of Dorsal Arete on Sunday. It is amazing how being optimistic can pay off because during the walk in it was as if someone was pouring water on us, it cleared while we were climbing at the 100mph winds were no where to be seen when we topped out in blue skies! A quick change of plan took us to the East and for the last 2 days and we have climbed in the Cairngorms (coire an t-sneachda). The place is totally buried but it does give some amazing neve but very little in the way of gear.  We have ticked the Seam and Doctors Choice over the last few days.

top of the seam

Hoping to head back into coire an t-sneachda tomorrow. Will get some pictures if I can!

Winter Frustration Abated

Blogging hasn't featured highly on my list of priorities. But the lure of Scottish winter climbing was making a very grumpy person even grumpier! So I made a very short trip to Scotland for one days climbing with John McDonald on Friday 7th Feb. With the difficult weather patterns this winter it was frustrating that an extended spell of reasonable weather coinciding with time off work was ever going to happen.

So sometimes you've just gotta take the chance.

We kipped in the back of Johns van with the promise of a decent weather forecast. It didn't feel too cold on awakening! Drizzle and no visibilty on the walk in and no Crag to be seen. We could have been on the moon instead of Stob Corrie nan Lochain, Glencoe.

The freezing level greeted us @700m and it started to feel like winter and also justify getting out of a warm sleeping bag!

With no one else about  we found our intended Route for the day Central Grooves VII 7 and an uber classic of Scottish winter climbing. As we climbed higher the clouds cleared and gave a wonderful day.

Was it worth it - to be back having breakfast the next morning at home, with having had a great day out in the hills with a great mate and climbed such a great line - Yeah!

For Paul & I the Scottish winter season will be kicking off and with the quantities of snow about it could be a very good for late season climbing. 

1st Pitch Central Grooves

John McD 1st Pitch

Final Pitch

The road ahead.............

 (Paul) Where do I start.........

Well I guess to start with I have been pretty slack on the blog front for well over the last 6 months.  Ian has pretty much been holding the fort with interest on both the blog at the website so I guess sitting here on a rainy Saturday afternoon in early February listening to some whack playlist on spotify I should put a few words together.

The book that will dictate life for the next 3 years!
All I need are a few more signatures...

Back in June 2013 life changed for the best and my lifelong ambition of becoming a IFMGA Guide became reality when a letter of acceptance arrived.   Having completed my rock and ski inductions along with 3 days of very enjoyable ski lessons and a 5 day European Avalanche School course I now have a reasonable understanding of the road ahead.  The road is going to be long, challenging, exciting and ultimately rewarding.

Climbing on this wall...

There is a huge time commitment needed to complete the scheme and this forced me to resign from my Youth Development role with Mountaineering Ireland that I have enjoyed for nearly the last 5 years.  MI has been a great association to work with and to see the changes over the last 5 years in how kids are supported in climbing has been amazing.  The MI job opened a huge amount of doors and they have been very supportive throughout.

...with these kids! Saul cruising Kleptomaniac (E3)
in the Burren, Co. Clare.

In her cage....

My understanding, beautiful and very supportive wife also landed on her feet in August 2013 when she got a new job that she completely loves.  Ellie had worked for 3 years in a position with a local outdoor company and her new role is quite different - it's great to see the career opportunities available for someone as motivated as her!  Well done wifey! We also have the best dog ever, make taking long periods of time away from home easier for Ellie!

My super cool wife and her super cool Mum!

Ricky and Carson hanging!

The road ahead is very exciting.  On the cards is a trip to America with good friends Mr Bell and the Hillerberg.  Just waiting on Epic TV to come good! We hope to go and climb as much as we can on El Cap. There should be plenty of good pictures and hopefully a bit of video footage as well! I also have a cheeky little trip to Spain with a few of the super strong and psyched young climbers I've been working with for the last few years.  We are hitting up Siurana and Margalef for some pocket and edge climbing!  This could well be my most exciting trip to date with this inspiring group of super-keen young and promising Irish climbers!  They are are growing up a bit, improving at an alarming rate and starting to crush stuff that I am falling off and not too far off Mr Bell! Ricky being well hooked up in the polish scene has got Ola Taistra on board for the trip; 4th woman to climb 8c+ and she has a wiki page - 'nuff said I guess!

The Stone King crushing at last weekend Rocfest 5.0.
Good skills on making the final wee dude!

Last weekend was a pretty nice way to finish off working with MI by taking a crew of kids over to Manchester for the Rocfest 5.0.  It is hugely rewarding to see the positive impact you can have on young people lives simply by introducing them to what some people would only see as climbing up some rock or plastic. The relationship that Climbing has helped me developed with this group of awesome people is so rewarding, I hope I inspire them half as much as they inspire me.  A wee hero of mine Carson Carnduff also made the final - in a few years time he has promised to take me up El Cap!










And so it is, a change of career, new direction and the realisation that life is too short to worry about other people's attitudes and opinions. I can not wait for the next few years ahead.  My diary is already totally full so I guess it could be a lot worse!

Still trying to bike, but the parts soon add up!

I will try my best to update the blog with the wee adventures that are up and coming!

 As DMM would say, CLIMB NOW (SKI) - WORK LATER...............

It is good just to have fun.

And the heart grows fonder...

Mountain biking has pretty much dominated my life for the past 25 years.  From being a kid doodling bikes on school books and scanning price lists in MBUK to years of talking bikes, racing, travelling, cleaning, fixing, coaching and obviously riding bikes it's pretty much been a constant obsession.  I may have had times when climbing and mountaineering took over for a bit and for a few months I might not have been able to name every new innovation available but basically it's been a constant theme.  There have been a fair few times in that two and a half decades when for reasons beyond my control I've been unable to ride a bike, usually because various parts of my body have been encased in plaster.  I've just come to the end of one such period, no plaster this time but the inability to use a thumb has meant that biking has been out of the question.

The frustrations have been the same as ever, the minute you forcibly can't do something the desire to do it multiplies exponentially.  For 6 weeks it seemed like new trails were appearing every day, everyone was out biking constantly and I was missing out on an incredibly unseasonable spell of dry weather (December, not January!).  In part each of these was true but not to the degree that my imagination would've had it.

So finally I decided it was time to swing a leg over my top tube again.  Partly because of some movement returning to my thumb and the pain dissipating but also because I had to get back to coaching at some point, it is part of my job and my kids need to eat!  It wouldn't be an overstatement to say that I was terrified.  What if I just couldn't grip?  What if I'd lost all my speed and reactions?  Luckily a great fun morning coaching with some super enthusiastic kids and their mums chilled me out and then an afternoon with the lads at Rostrevor mostly put my mind at ease.  I still can't grip very well, most noticeably in the fact that I can't really hang on to the bar and cover the back brake which makes things interesting!  There's nothing like forcibly riding with the death grip to make you hit lines!  The only other downside is that using my dropper post means taking my whole hand off the bar which slightly limits its usefulness.  Generally though I felt good and was able to hit the red/black combo loop pretty hard and fast.  In fact it didn't just feel good, it felt incredible!  I can't describe what a stoke it was to be back on the bike.  Even in Rostrevor with its relative ease there was still an amazing buzz to just finding a bit of flow and pedalling hard through the sections.  Absence definitely does make the heart grow fonder and sometimes it's worth spending some time away from what you love to get refreshed and psyched to do it more.  I just hope I don't have to spend any more time off the bike anytime soon!

Loving being back on a bike.  Even though it's freezing and lashing now!