Information and photos of my mountaineering trips in Scotland,England and Wales:
Including hillwalking,scrambling and easy rock climbing.Also via ferrata, skiing and alpine trips in Europe.

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Wednesday 22 April 2009

Bike and Hike Wilder Kaiser - Austria

Just a quick post to say that our friend Rudi, based in Soll, Austria, has his new website up and running - Bike and Hike Wilder Kaiser - offering selected biking and hiking tours with various levels of difficulty, around the Soll/Wilder Kaiser area.

Sunday 19 April 2009

Fiacaill Couloir - Is this the end of winter?

What a difference from our last visit to Coire an t-Sneachda! We were down to base layers as we sweated our way from the base of the corrie up the start of the Fiacaill Coulior which is hidden away on the side of the Fiacaill Buttress.

From here we weren't too sure of how much snow was in the couloir itself but as a grade II/III we thought it would make a good end to the season (if it is the end!).

As far as we could tell, Central Gully was complete; The Runnel looked bare in the chimney (?), not sure if Central Left Hand, Crotched or Spiral were complete. Jacobs Ladder and Aladdins Coulior (not in picture) looked ok.

Willy, leading the way up to the base of the Fiacaill Buttress.

Almost alpine conitions as Gordon makes his way up the approach slopes to the couloir.

Viewed from the Fiacaill Ridge, which we descend, the couloir looks deceptively steep and patchy, which it was (patchy that is). I remember looking at it last year as we came up the ridge and thought, "What kind of idiots go up there!" Ahem.

Looking back into the couloir from further down the ridge, with Coire an Lochan over to the right.

All in all a hard (for us) but enjoyable day, despite the snow/ice conditions (or lack of in some places), and we managed to stay fastened to the mountain by some means for 99.9% of the time!!!

Hopefully we will make it back next year and climb it earlier in the season!

Monday 13 April 2009

Blackford Quarry, 13th April 2009

Today myself, Gordon and Mark, spent a few hours in Blackford Quarry (Edinburgh) enjoying the Easter Bank Holiday sunshine.
We top roped for a couple of climbs followed by some abseiling.

We then moved the anchor points for the top rope higher up the quarry for a longer climb, and then practised belaying a second using an Italian Hitch, indirectly (more like the kind of belay we might use on a winter gully).