UKC

A bit of spiel and lots of photos from our adventures in Torridon last weekend here: http://www.mistymountainhop.net/2016/02/hit-and-miss-but-always-stunning-in...

We had some, err, fun on West Buttress and also climbed George. Lots of photos of other routes including the ice in Coire Dubh Mor. The scenery and light was just fantastic too so there's some landscape shots as well. Hope you enjoy!

Cheers,
Dave

In reply to MrRiley:

nice write up

In reply to MrRiley:

Good photos, I only realised after this was you on West Buttress! I had a fantastic long weekend climbing too with a mate enjoying some of the best weather/ conditions in the country. Shame you didn't manage to finish, we had wondered where you had got to, so near. Steve didn't realise it was V,6 when he started up it either, I'm sure I told him...

In reply to MrRiley:

Other folk have had trouble finding the right line on the West Central Gully start. I can't really help as I just followed my nose. Maybe it's easier without a description and you just go the easiest way. Possibly it's less direct than the description implies, but it's too long ago to remember. For the upper tier, perhaps a sentence saying "Above is the Direct Finish. Instead, go left . . etc" would help.

In reply to MrRiley:




Great write up!
I think we made the same mistake too?

https://i.imgur.com/RBm8S0b.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/YSW3sY8.jpg

Edit: From the photos here it looks like a lot of people finished the same way:
http://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/c.php?i=99938#photos

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

If you've got the benefit of owning the Northern Highlands South guide then the correct line for the top tier is quite easy to follow in the big picture of Fuselage Wall. However, there isn't a pic in Scottish Winter Climbs so this makes route finding a little trickier if just using that book I imagine.

In reply to All:

Thanks All!

Captain, glad to hear you had a good weekend too, you certainly got loads done, very jealous!

Andy, there is a cryptic sentence in the guidebook description along the lines of "...a steep wall, the crux if climbed direct, but there may be another way..." and I think this was our first route finding error as we tried to find said other way. The top section was completely our fault - we had the guidebook (as suggested by sgl) but didn't look at it and just went for the obvious feature above us. So pilot error!

Senzubean, it looks like you climbed the correct grade IV finish to the left of the direct - you can see the direct above the rope in your first photo, but your second photo shows you climbing the lefthand corner

Cheers,
Dave

In reply to MrRiley:


Ah okay yeah you're correct.

They look the same!

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

We had found a way up, a 20m large shattered crack, at about IV,4 only just left of what I consider to be the buttress crest after gaining the quartzite from WCG. I had been scrambling about here last summer so it was reasonably fresh in my memory. I've not done the normal IV,4 finish so can't comment on what is the actual crux.

"Above is the Direct Finish. Instead, go left . . etc" would help.

Or maybe that should be kept as right hand finish so as not to be confused with the summer direct finish much further left up the front of the buttress at severe 4a.

In reply to Captain Solo:

My mistake. I meant "Above is the Right-Hand Finish."

In reply to MrRiley:

That V 6 RH finish is excellent. Made the route for me.

In reply to Andy Nisbet:

Incidentally, has the summer severe 4a direct finish received a winter ascent?
I seem to remember it was slabby to start which would be tricky but once in their corner you should be ok.

In reply to Captain Solo:


Yes, the Direttissima takes it.