K2 Expedition Cancelled

I know I haven’t posted anything on the blog recently – that’s because there’s really not been much to publish. The reason being due to a severe knee injury.

After a run up Cairngorm one Saturday at the beginning of February I developed a pain in my right knee. I put this down to being slightly over exuberant during the run and decided that rest would be the best option. A few weeks passed, and with no improvement it was Physio time. The extent of the injury was worse than thought and it was so much so that I had begun to lose muscle mass in my right leg.

A referral from the doctors has seen me undergoing private treatment, however, to no avail. MRI and blood results all show a perfectly healthy knee with no explanation for the pain I am experiencing. And so, due to ongoing pain and uncertainty of a recovery date, the expedition this summer has had to be postponed.

Not going to K2 is a big disappointment. What is probably worse is that I can’t do any sport now due to the fact that I am struggling to walk let alone climb or run like I used to. There is some light however – that canoe I bought is beginning to see a bit of use!

I must thank the people who have supported myself and the expedition up to this point. The ambition to return to the high mountains still exists – let’s just hope it can happen again soon!

Sardinia

The middle week of February saw me in Sardinia for a few days with my girlfriend, Inge. It was a chance to enjoy a little hot (warm!) rock and escape the Scottish Winter briefly. The hope was to get Inge on her first outdoor routes and put some of my recent training into practice and get some half decent on-sights done. The first days climbing saw us by the coast in a little bay Called Cala Fuili by Cala Gonone. We got a good number of routes done over the course of the day and began to realise the climbing in Sardinia really can be steep! Inge finally cut her rock teeth on some quality routes and I was happy with my on sight of the rather steep roof section of No Name 6b+. I had a go at the classic of the crag Stirari Il Frac Amelia 7a but backed off as I wasn’t happy with the tat available for clipping at the hard moves.

Obviously, being in Italy and on holiday, it would be rude not to make the most of local delicacies and some lazy starts. Coffee is an important part of the climber’s day and no day should start without an obligatory caffeine boost! However, plenty more climbing happened and a trip to the slabs of La Poltrona saw a complete change in the style of climbing. Some most enjoyable routes here made more enjoyable by the generous Italians we met who gave us a bottle of home made wine!

The following day saw a role reversal and it was Inge’s turn to put me on a horse and watch my posterior suffer! I wasn’t left too sore and quite enjoyed just plodding around at the back wondering if there was a local bar I could pull up at!

The final day saw us cramming in an afternoons climbing before the flight home. We ended up at Dimensione Verticale near Osilio, a short but very steep overhanging crag. There a lot of hard routes here and also some less steep ones further along to warm up on. The rock was very pocketed and juggy which made for positive climbing, but hard with the angle. The holiday was finished off with another 6b+ on sight called Il Cellulare Di Gio. After contemplating the initial steep section (picture above!) the route eased off and it just a case of moving up easy but pumpy ground to the top.

A fantastic week was had and has definitely set the tastebuds tingling for Sardinia. There is so much to do here and so much variety. Return is inevitable!

UK National Mixed Climbing Championships

An excellent completion day! Ranked 11^th overall in the mixed climbing section and 4^th in the speed climbing section. The quality of routes was extremely high and every single one was enjoyable. Felt like I was climbing well and the previous competitions had provided a good run-up. I won’t bore you with too much info as a more detailed account of the day can be found at the Hot Aches Blog.

Savage Slit V,6

Click on thumbnails to enlarge

After the competion on Friday, I decided to go climbing on Saturday in the Northern Coires with a guy, Will Woodhead, I met during the comp. Myself and Will met up on Saturday morning and headed into Coire an Lochain. I mentioned that Savage Slit was my goal for this season and so he convinced me that it was a good idea to have a go today!

I have to admit that at the bottom of the route and most of the way up, I was a little nervous. Not only was I about to lead the hardest winter route I’d ever tried but it was also the first route of the season. Will gave me a lot of encouragement while I was climbing – wouldn’t have got very far without it! It was good to climb with someone who climbs harder than me. It helps push the grade and makes going into new territory a little easier.

Really enjoyed the route. The bottom half I lead was fairly delicate and technical in places and the half Will lead was just pure brute thuggery! a great contrast in climbing styles, but it makes for an enjoyable and varied route. The gear was bomber all the way up and you’re never far away from a ‘thank god’ hold!

Now that the goal for the season has been accomplished, plans need to be reassessed. Would like to get much more confident on that type and grade of ground, so will be looking at climbing more similar routes. Maybe i’ll return to Savage Slit later in the season and hopefully enjoy it by doing it with more confidence and style! Well pleased!

Extreme Dream Drytool Comp

Went to the first of a series of ongoing indoor drytooling competitions up at extreme dream on Friday. Unfortunately I did pretty rubbish after my week of hard campus training and failed on stuff i should have done. Never mind though, there’s plenty of chances to make up on lost points in the next competions in 2007.

Dry Tooling – Newtyle

Had a million different options for something to do this weekend, but decided to head upto Newtyle and go drytooling. A good choice given the weather! The driest place in the country was our cave! We concentrated our efforts on the Fast and the Furious (M11) – the hardest drytooling route in the country! After a number of goes each, we managed to get about half way up, with an outstanding performance from Pete on his last go! Unfortunately it got dark quite early in our hole in the ground so we had to bail. Had a lot of fun, and we will definitely be back to finish it – a definite goer!

Scottish Mixed Masters

This event was held up at Extreme Dream in Aviemore. Myself, Pete Dollman and Mike Shorter headed up on the Saturday morning. The order of the weekend was for the qualifiers to take place on the Saturday and Finals (top 12 from the qualifiers) to take place on the Sunday. We had 20 routes each to complete over the space of 6hrs. After a (very!) tiring 6hrs, the results were in. I ranked about 15th, so didn’t make it through to the finals. Happy enough though. Pete an Mike however, did well and made into the Finals on Sunday.

A social evening followed with free beer and a bit of a party into the late hours. Couldn’t party too hard though as I was absolutely shattered! 

Sunday Finals – After a brilliant and exciting Final – the atmosphere was great – Pete came 8th and Mike came 5th. Not bad for a couple of guys who’ve never really held tools before!

A fantastic weekend overall and met alot of new people and made some new friends. Looking forward to some more competitions like it!

OMM – Original Mountain Marathon

24hrs before the race, Pete Williams rang me up saying that his usual partner for the race, Andy Harris, couldn’t make it. Would I stand in? Of course I would! This years event was to take place in the Galloway Hills near Dumfries. After a swift drive down, I met Pete and we registered our names and change of team and settled down to prepare for the weekends event.

Saturday – The theme for the day was set at dawn with torrential rain. This was to be unrelenting throuhout the day providing us with some challenging conditions to run in. We completed the first day in 05:40:11 and placed 35th.

After finishing the first day, we dried ourelves out and settled down for the evening. Plenty of strategic eating and rehydration along with plenty of sleep saw us prepared for the next day.

Sunday – What a difference a day makes! Glorious blue skies and sunshine and a lovely crisp day – perfect running conditions. It didn’t take long for the stiffness to wear off  and we started to make some good progress. The end was in sight and after an annoying navigational error adding some unwanted time onto our total we finished in 04:57:43.

A total of 44km and 3050m of ascent in 10:37:54 placing us overall 51st.

 We were both happy with this result and ran together as a good team. When one was flagging, the other kept the pace going. The conditions were tough and motivation was low at times, but we throughly enjoyed every minute (in retrospect!). See you next year!

It’s been a while

OK, so I’ve not updated this in a while. Been ultra busy with a few things: OMM (The Original Mountain Marathon) formerly the KIMM, Scottish Mixed Masters Indoor Dry Tooling Comp and a bit of training thrown in for good measure.

Lochnagar 30km

Headed up to Glen Muick on Sunday with Simon Jenkins and decided to run a circuit of all the munros in the area. It works out at about 25 – 30km for the full circuit from Broad Cairn round to Lochnagar (starting and finishing at the car park).  I will have to admit that we were both pretty shattered by the end of it! We were treated, however, to a spectacular view from the summit of Lochnagar. Having spent all day in the mist we stood on top to look out over a huge cloud inversion over Scotland, with only a few othere local peaks poking through the clouds. Makes it all worthwhile! Monday was a day with some aches, but at least I felt like i’d done something!

The weekend saw the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sir Hugh Munro. The fine gentleman who gave us the task of climbing all hills over 3000ft in Scotland. It felt quite fitting to be having a long hard day out in what was his back garden (almost!).