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…only to find that your route is out of condition.
I went to climb Red Pencil on Monday but it was so green and greasy that climbing it was out of the question. This was a bit of a bummer as the walk in was definitely the longest/hardest I have ever done.
I went to climb Red Pencil on Monday but it was so green and greasy that climbing it was out of the question. This was a bit of a bummer as the walk in was definitely the longest/hardest I have ever done.
In reply to Tall Clare: I forgot to say that I started in Chapel le Dale and went up Whernside first!
By the way, better luck next time with Squareface
By the way, better luck next time with Squareface
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: I recomend walking up night before after a few beers in the pub. Then doss on top (Summer is best).. Then first thing off you go.. makes the walk in bareable.
Matt
Matt
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Walked 6 miles up Glen Rosa in blazing sunshine to do Artic Way the next morning, camped, ate, slept, and woke up to snow. Ended up retreating from a diff.
Walked 6 miles up Glen Rosa in blazing sunshine to do Artic Way the next morning, camped, ate, slept, and woke up to snow. Ended up retreating from a diff.
In reply to Paddy Duncan: Unlucky Paddy, I did the A’Chir ridge in horrible weather. The walk out down Glen Rosa was in gorgeous evening sunshine!
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Walked into Carnmore one Easter, with a big bag of food and high hopes. Poor weather meant we got half a route done then eventually walked the 12 miles back out again!
Chris
Walked into Carnmore one Easter, with a big bag of food and high hopes. Poor weather meant we got half a route done then eventually walked the 12 miles back out again!
Chris
In reply to Chris Craggs: Ouch, that must have really hurt.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Been climbing long?
Pillar probably - the route was inches deep in moss
> …only to find that your route is out of condition.
>
This was a bit of a bummer as the walk in was definitely the longest/hardest I have ever done.>
Been climbing long?
Pillar probably - the route was inches deep in moss
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
I don't know how far that is.
Yeah - next time I might be tempted to camp rather than walking in and out in a day, but we'll see - camping just means more kit to carry.
> (In reply to Tall Clare) I forgot to say that I started in Chapel le Dale and went up Whernside first!
I don't know how far that is.
>
> By the way, better luck next time with Squareface
> By the way, better luck next time with Squareface
Yeah - next time I might be tempted to camp rather than walking in and out in a day, but we'll see - camping just means more kit to carry.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: Have walked into; Cloggy, Gist Ddu, Carnmor (on several occasions), Dubh Loch, Squareface, Etchacan, Lochnagar, Sron a ciche, Creag Dionard, Ben eighe,Ben Nevis, Scafell; ALL the big ones just to get rained and snowed on. Climbed a lot in the wet. But its over now.
In reply to Tall Clare:
It's about 14 miles
> (In reply to Nicholas Livesey)
> [...]
>
> I don't know how far that is.
> [...]
>
> I don't know how far that is.
It's about 14 miles
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
but surely you had to walk out again and you'd have to go back a similar way to get to wherever you'd dumped your car?
but surely you had to walk out again and you'd have to go back a similar way to get to wherever you'd dumped your car?
In reply to Tall Clare: I was going to hint that we did exactly that but my partner would probably see this thread and expose me as a charlatan so I’ll admit it…we got a taxi!
We were intending on doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks with a climb en route but time got the better of us…and heavy sacks
We were intending on doing the Yorkshire Three Peaks with a climb en route but time got the better of us…and heavy sacks
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Something in the Himalaya for me.
Or the Andes.
However, the walk in was quite nice in itself.
J
Something in the Himalaya for me.
Or the Andes.
However, the walk in was quite nice in itself.
J
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: California, summer 2008. We were lucky enough to get permits for Mount Whitney, highest point in the lower 48. We drove to the end of the road, packed bags full of camping gear, climbing gear and food. Walked in for about 5-6 hours, elevation gain of 1500m, some pretty exciting scrambling and some really dull scree.
We pitched camp at around 4000m and looked forward to the East Buttress, a classic 12-pitch VS, the next day. But we woke up to cloud. "It'll burn off during the day" said the passing mountain guide. So we set off, scrambled up to the base of the route and started climbing the perfect granite. Three pitches up, it started to snow. It soon became apparent that it wasn't going to stop and clear, and the holds and cracks were rapidly filling up. So we abseiled off. Luckily, this was relatively easy and we returned to our tent. What was even luckier was that the slightly damp matches lit the stove.
The next morning we woke up to the beautiful blue skies we had enjoyed for the rest of the trip. But the route was still covered in snow. So we lit the stove with the last match, ate our porridge, and spent another 6 hours walking back to the car.
Maybe next year we'll give it another try.
We pitched camp at around 4000m and looked forward to the East Buttress, a classic 12-pitch VS, the next day. But we woke up to cloud. "It'll burn off during the day" said the passing mountain guide. So we set off, scrambled up to the base of the route and started climbing the perfect granite. Three pitches up, it started to snow. It soon became apparent that it wasn't going to stop and clear, and the holds and cracks were rapidly filling up. So we abseiled off. Luckily, this was relatively easy and we returned to our tent. What was even luckier was that the slightly damp matches lit the stove.
The next morning we woke up to the beautiful blue skies we had enjoyed for the rest of the trip. But the route was still covered in snow. So we lit the stove with the last match, ate our porridge, and spent another 6 hours walking back to the car.
Maybe next year we'll give it another try.
1
In reply to cat22: I remember that walk-in...it's a long way up humping that great big bear cannister and climbing gear. East Buttress is about HS and has around 100ft of climbing on it and lots of shambling around. Sympathies tho': there is something extra hard about going all the way to California for rubbish weather.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Probably up the Matukituki to Mount Aspiring. It is about 15 miles over rough ground from what I remember and pretty ridiculous. Climbing up a waterfall was a particular highlight.
Nice hut at the end and a nice ridge, but nothing compared with the walk-in and the walk-out obviously!
Beautiful place
Probably up the Matukituki to Mount Aspiring. It is about 15 miles over rough ground from what I remember and pretty ridiculous. Climbing up a waterfall was a particular highlight.
Nice hut at the end and a nice ridge, but nothing compared with the walk-in and the walk-out obviously!
Beautiful place
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
The 8mile, 5000ft ascent walk in to Half Dome shoulder carrying all the ironmongery for Regular Route plus water as there isn't any.
Only to awake to the mother of all thunderstorms followed by snow.
You begin to see the appeal of El Cap at this point.
The 8mile, 5000ft ascent walk in to Half Dome shoulder carrying all the ironmongery for Regular Route plus water as there isn't any.
Only to awake to the mother of all thunderstorms followed by snow.
You begin to see the appeal of El Cap at this point.
In reply to Tall Clare:
Same here. The corrie was white over and the route banked completely up, so we walked back to the Tink bar in time to watch England play Scotland.
Same here. The corrie was white over and the route banked completely up, so we walked back to the Tink bar in time to watch England play Scotland.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Walked/waded into Coire Kander from Braemar in March couple of years ago as the road was closed due to snow. Not too far in terms of distance but it took us forever as the snow was knee deep most of the way and waist deep in places. Got into the coire to find the buttresses were surprisingly bare given the amount of fresh snow and the gullies were probably a bit too avalanchey. Could have probably got something done but had ran out of steam and motivation so we ate our sandwiches and walked back to Braemar!
Iain
Walked/waded into Coire Kander from Braemar in March couple of years ago as the road was closed due to snow. Not too far in terms of distance but it took us forever as the snow was knee deep most of the way and waist deep in places. Got into the coire to find the buttresses were surprisingly bare given the amount of fresh snow and the gullies were probably a bit too avalanchey. Could have probably got something done but had ran out of steam and motivation so we ate our sandwiches and walked back to Braemar!
Iain
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Once walked up to Scafell East Buttress early in the morning, with designs on Lord of the Rings. Forecast mentioned showers in the afternoon, but we were greeted with thick mist and rumbling thunder, and then heavy rain.
However, had the forecast been accurate we wouldn't have stood a chance, as I discovered when we did the route a couple of years later. We finally got bored and abbed down Mickledore Grooves slab at about 11pm...
On another occasion, we extended a weekend trip to Buttermere because the weather had been so perfect. We drove round to Wasdale on Monday and walked up to Scafell in sunshine, bound for Ringwraith, but then the mist descended. We did P1 and sat on the ledge waiting for it to clear for about 3 hours. We got occasional tantalising glimpses of brightness through the gloom, but it never did clear, and the rock remained damp.
In the end we sacked it off, abbed off and stomped back down the hill. Big disappointment.
It took another two attempts before it all finally came together...
Neil
Once walked up to Scafell East Buttress early in the morning, with designs on Lord of the Rings. Forecast mentioned showers in the afternoon, but we were greeted with thick mist and rumbling thunder, and then heavy rain.
However, had the forecast been accurate we wouldn't have stood a chance, as I discovered when we did the route a couple of years later. We finally got bored and abbed down Mickledore Grooves slab at about 11pm...
On another occasion, we extended a weekend trip to Buttermere because the weather had been so perfect. We drove round to Wasdale on Monday and walked up to Scafell in sunshine, bound for Ringwraith, but then the mist descended. We did P1 and sat on the ledge waiting for it to clear for about 3 hours. We got occasional tantalising glimpses of brightness through the gloom, but it never did clear, and the rock remained damp.
In the end we sacked it off, abbed off and stomped back down the hill. Big disappointment.
It took another two attempts before it all finally came together...
Neil
1
In reply to alan moore:
The obvious answer is to do as we did and do it in the day - no permit, no tent, bear cannister etc, just a small rack and one 9mm rope. For what it's worth I think the route is VS and not HS, and is a lot longer than Peter Croft states in his guide. Trouble was there was too much snow and ice to come back down the Mountaineers Route in our trainers, so we had to hike all the way down the normal route - for which, on Whitney you need a permit whether you do it in a day or not. Luckily we didn't see any rangers...
However, to the OP, we tried the same 'in a day' trick with Mt Russell. The approach does all the approach to Whitney, then goes up and over a steep col and then up to the base of Fish Hook Arête... Despite a good forecast, I guess we should have known better when it started snowing at Boy Scout Lake. At the foot of the route it was so cold we couldn't even take gloves off so turned around and walked out. Still, it's good to have unfinished business in such a wonderful place!
> (In reply to cat22) I remember that walk-in...it's a long way up humping that great big bear cannister and climbing gear. East Buttress is about HS and has around 100ft of climbing on it and lots of shambling around. Sympathies tho': there is something extra hard about going all the way to California for rubbish weather.
The obvious answer is to do as we did and do it in the day - no permit, no tent, bear cannister etc, just a small rack and one 9mm rope. For what it's worth I think the route is VS and not HS, and is a lot longer than Peter Croft states in his guide. Trouble was there was too much snow and ice to come back down the Mountaineers Route in our trainers, so we had to hike all the way down the normal route - for which, on Whitney you need a permit whether you do it in a day or not. Luckily we didn't see any rangers...
However, to the OP, we tried the same 'in a day' trick with Mt Russell. The approach does all the approach to Whitney, then goes up and over a steep col and then up to the base of Fish Hook Arête... Despite a good forecast, I guess we should have known better when it started snowing at Boy Scout Lake. At the foot of the route it was so cold we couldn't even take gloves off so turned around and walked out. Still, it's good to have unfinished business in such a wonderful place!
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Once trudged up to Stanage Popular and it was wet.
Once trudged up to Stanage Popular and it was wet.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Seriously, walked in to the Orly hut in the Mont Blanc range, which must have been about an hour and a half from the lift, and the following day the weather was evil so had to go back down.
Generally, I don't go for mountain crags if conditions are marginal.
Seriously, walked in to the Orly hut in the Mont Blanc range, which must have been about an hour and a half from the lift, and the following day the weather was evil so had to go back down.
Generally, I don't go for mountain crags if conditions are marginal.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Once walked from Hathersage to Stanage to climb Heaven Crack and utterly failed... Damn fool chum of mine decided to route us via the arctic just as the ice shelf was retreating. Thousands of miles on foot and snowshoe, narrowly avoiding the jaws of hungry bears and the loins of horny seals, only to find that we'd bally well forgotten to pack a no. 8 rock. It would have been suicidal to attempt it in such a state. I hailed a cab back to the Little John and drowned my sorrows in Timothy Taylors Landlord.
Damned close thing, but better safe than sorry.
Once walked from Hathersage to Stanage to climb Heaven Crack and utterly failed... Damn fool chum of mine decided to route us via the arctic just as the ice shelf was retreating. Thousands of miles on foot and snowshoe, narrowly avoiding the jaws of hungry bears and the loins of horny seals, only to find that we'd bally well forgotten to pack a no. 8 rock. It would have been suicidal to attempt it in such a state. I hailed a cab back to the Little John and drowned my sorrows in Timothy Taylors Landlord.
Damned close thing, but better safe than sorry.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: 2 days, mont dolent (dunno the name of the line but it's a superdirect gully) that wasn't complete.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: 6 hrs back. It got dark, we got lost, that's all you need to know.
In reply to alan moore:
Really? It looked pretty good from the guidebook, which says it's quite sustained at 5.7. You're not thinking of the East Face?
Jon - that might be the way forward next time, but I'm really glad we got to camp at Iceberg Lake. Awesome spot to camp, and the views of the snowy peaks when we woke up were quite something.
> (In reply to cat22) East Buttress is about HS and has around 100ft of climbing on it and lots of shambling around.
Really? It looked pretty good from the guidebook, which says it's quite sustained at 5.7. You're not thinking of the East Face?
Jon - that might be the way forward next time, but I'm really glad we got to camp at Iceberg Lake. Awesome spot to camp, and the views of the snowy peaks when we woke up were quite something.
In reply to cat22: No, I'm talking about the East Buttress. It's perhaps comparable to Eagle Ridge but with another 1000ft of scrambling thrown in. The Hard bits on each pitch were quite technical but very short. The 20ft 'unprotected' crux rib had about 5 poor pitons. It was very nice, in a mountian ramble sort of way. I was dying from altitude sickness at the time which may have jaded my view. All the yanks were doing it in big boots. We descended the same day via mountaineers route.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: carried enormous packs with a weeks food etc and all camping ,climbing gear up the small tarn under the stone shoot on Alastair Skye,intended to camp and climb up high,poured down going up,poured down for 4 days ,and poured down waking back down,,ended up in the Old School House in Borrowdale !!!!
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Oykel Bridge to Seana Bhraigh with a notion of heading up one of snow plods on the hill. As it turned out there was sod all snow so we dossed down in the bothy. Woke up in the morning to a couple of feet of snow and blizzard conditions. Went home instead! Fantastic bothy though
Oykel Bridge to Seana Bhraigh with a notion of heading up one of snow plods on the hill. As it turned out there was sod all snow so we dossed down in the bothy. Woke up in the morning to a couple of feet of snow and blizzard conditions. Went home instead! Fantastic bothy though
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: drove 250+ miles to Llanberis in North Wales.
got one route done due to typical north wales weather.
got one route done due to typical north wales weather.
In reply to alan moore: Hmmm, interesting, cheers for that - certainly not the impression we got from the guidebook! Maybe Fishhook Arete will be a better objective next time.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
Around an 8 hour walk-in to Charlotte's Dome only to have rain/thundered off. I guess that qualifies!
Around an 8 hour walk-in to Charlotte's Dome only to have rain/thundered off. I guess that qualifies!
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
we had an epic walk in to climb mitre ridge on beinn a' bhurid at the end of the winter season. the 'cast was poor but improving throughout the day. so we took the gamble, the weather didn't improve, if anything it got worse so we retreated it took us about 12/13 hours from car to car a round trip of 20 miles in total, much of this was in thigh deep snow. beinn a' bhurid is a scary place when the weather closes in.
r.s.
we had an epic walk in to climb mitre ridge on beinn a' bhurid at the end of the winter season. the 'cast was poor but improving throughout the day. so we took the gamble, the weather didn't improve, if anything it got worse so we retreated it took us about 12/13 hours from car to car a round trip of 20 miles in total, much of this was in thigh deep snow. beinn a' bhurid is a scary place when the weather closes in.
r.s.
In reply to mulletcocktail2000:
Yes, I went to take a picture of the Mitre Ridge for my first book, with two climbers from Dundee. We took camping gear (two small tents, I think) and all my camera gear i.e. Hasselblad with 3 lens, and teleconvertor, plus by Wista 5 x 4 view camera, plus a very heavy tripod. And they had all their climbing gear, ropes etc. We had monstrously heavy sacks. I don't think I've ever felt so footsore when I got back. It was one of those occasions when you finally took your sack off that you seemed to float about 6 inches above the ground ...
> (In reply to Nicholas Livesey)
>
> we had an epic walk in to climb mitre ridge on beinn a' bhurid at the end of the winter season. the 'cast was poor but improving throughout the day. so we took the gamble, the weather didn't improve, if anything it got worse so we retreated it took us about 12/13 hours from car to car a round trip of 20 miles in total, much of this was in thigh deep snow. beinn a' bhurid is a scary place when the weather closes in.
>
> we had an epic walk in to climb mitre ridge on beinn a' bhurid at the end of the winter season. the 'cast was poor but improving throughout the day. so we took the gamble, the weather didn't improve, if anything it got worse so we retreated it took us about 12/13 hours from car to car a round trip of 20 miles in total, much of this was in thigh deep snow. beinn a' bhurid is a scary place when the weather closes in.
Yes, I went to take a picture of the Mitre Ridge for my first book, with two climbers from Dundee. We took camping gear (two small tents, I think) and all my camera gear i.e. Hasselblad with 3 lens, and teleconvertor, plus by Wista 5 x 4 view camera, plus a very heavy tripod. And they had all their climbing gear, ropes etc. We had monstrously heavy sacks. I don't think I've ever felt so footsore when I got back. It was one of those occasions when you finally took your sack off that you seemed to float about 6 inches above the ground ...
In reply to mulletcocktail2000:
This is one of the pictures I took on the Wista from that trip:
http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/MitreRidge.jpg
I don't know why I haven't put it in my UKC gallery. I suppose because the scan leaves a bit to be desired.
This is one of the pictures I took on the Wista from that trip:
http://www.gordonstainforth.co.uk/images/MitreRidge.jpg
I don't know why I haven't put it in my UKC gallery. I suppose because the scan leaves a bit to be desired.
In reply to Nicholas Livesey:
In 1986 we drove from Dongola on the Nile in Sudan to Burge et Tuyer. This is a fantastic quartzite tower with great little routes above a sand dune. It took two days to drive there - all off road and navigating without gps. Heading west after another 3 days we arrived at Jebel Uweinat where I soloed a 3000' route on the Central Triple Peak (the one east of the big rockfall scar visible on Google). It was only V.diff and I had to come down the same way. Some magnificent bouldering on big (30') sandstone blocks around the base of the hill. It's great to be a geologist!!!
Mike Hammill
In 1986 we drove from Dongola on the Nile in Sudan to Burge et Tuyer. This is a fantastic quartzite tower with great little routes above a sand dune. It took two days to drive there - all off road and navigating without gps. Heading west after another 3 days we arrived at Jebel Uweinat where I soloed a 3000' route on the Central Triple Peak (the one east of the big rockfall scar visible on Google). It was only V.diff and I had to come down the same way. Some magnificent bouldering on big (30') sandstone blocks around the base of the hill. It's great to be a geologist!!!
Mike Hammill
In reply to Nicholas Livesey: Into the foot of Ben Lair, mate got a phone call to say his father had been taken into intensive care. Retreat.....
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