You may remember last year the farsical exploits I had when I decided to go to Creag Meaghaidh. Well since then I've actually really wanted to get back to the place, not because I'd been swooning over the guidebook all year, but because it had beaten me before the walk-in had even started! To be perfectly honest it wasn't until Andy brought up going to Meaghaidh that I did pick up the guidebook and start searching for decent routes in our grade. So this is what happened...0630: I lie in wait in bed for the alarm to go off. I could get up, but I'm stubborn and will enjoy my 10 minutes of lying still before I have to start moving. I'm feeling the aftereffects of a late night and a few beers on Hogmaney (New Year to everyone else).
0800: I'm behind the wheel. Andy is groggily sat next to me.We've got string quartet covers of rocksongs playing the the car at full blast while we drive through the morning sun.
0845: We refuse to get out of the car and start walking. It's cold, we're tired and we're hungover. Creag Meaghaidh is a long walk and we can't be arse. I think we sat there for a while we decided that maybe starting the year off bailing on a day out because of a self-inflicted hangover wasn't the greatest omen ever, at least I did anyway. We got out of the car and stay out this time.
And that's probably the last time I looked at my watch, that I can remember at least. I mean that honestly, we had enough food, water and gear for about 24 hours outdoor and short of an epic we'd be back at the car eventually. I after nearly a week of winter routing I think we getting pretty fit, or just acustomed to it. My shoulders didn't ache from my sack, my arms didn't ache from my poles and for all that was said to us about the walk in to Creag Meaghaidh, it wasn't that bad. Infact it was just nice walk.
My first full view of the cliff is one thats imprinted on my brain. It just dominates the end of the valley. Masive towering cliffs that make Lliwedd in wales look like a small jumbled footnote. I don't think it helped but the recent thaw had stripped the faces of any snow and hoare frost leaving the long gullies of the post face as white streaks up the black wall. Even this far away I could make out several long ice pitches, ready for the taking. As the soonest opportunity I got out the guide book and checked were our original route was (Staghorn Gully, grade III). I eventualy fond it and was dissappointed. I'm sure Staghorn Gully is a good route, but I now only had eye's for one of the post face routes. I checked them over and found the easiest (South Post Direct, grade V,4) which also happened to look the best of all the routes. I knew andy would take some convincing...
Andy was ready to listen to my suggestion that we abandon the easier route in favour of a really hard, long adventure. He err'd and um'd and then his face broke into a nervous smile as he accepted the challenge. I was now so psyched. And back to walking we went, it was still a distance to reach the base of the route. We had a little discussion about leaving the bags and I wanted to carry them, just incase we finished in darkness than we'd be able to just walk off instead of searching round for the bags.
The first pitch fell to me and it was very close to being the last pitch of the day. Nothing other than my head would have stopped us though. I jumped straight on the ice and immediatly little doubts started flickering in my mind. The ice was steep going on vertical for a short section. I still carried on climbing, placing screw after screw until I realised that I was using them up too quick and I wouldn't have enough for the pitch. I slowed down my screw placement and started concentrating on good ice climbing technique, trying to move as quickly as I could and read the ice for the easiest passage but by now my calves were burning and my mind was screaming at me. I was a little harder than I was expecting, to say the least but I knew I couldn't bail. I think pride forced me to carry on.
I finished the pitch, running it out a long way from my last screw as I'd only one left and decided to keep it just incase I needed to bail. The last little bit was easy enough to remind me why I enjoyed ice climbing. I finished the pitch, banged in a peg and clipped a nut. All I wanted to do was scream with joy and happiness. Grade V ice! Hell year. It's not often you achieve your aim for the year on the first day! This had gone from type 2 to type 1 fun in seconds. Andy came up the pitch while we got bombarded with ice from the team above. I think he was definatly experiencing some type 2 fun at that point. He lead off up the 100metre or so snow couloir with the intention of us moving together to the next ice pitch.
The next steep ice pitch was mine as well (all the steep ice was). Andy had kept himself off to one side, to avoid falling ice from both me and the party above us. This pitch was infact pretty easy (when compared to the last) and was only a short steep section before the angle relented and I could move a bit quicker. I tried to run it out to the stance above me, but was short by about 5 metres so had downclimb to my last piece of gear and belay there. This probably cost us quite abit of time. Andy seconded and led off to the stance I couldn't reach before and we stopped for the first time that climb to take on a little tea and food.
With warm vimto and some form of palatable high energy snack in my gut I comtemplated the next pitch. I didn't look too long, but I knew it curved off near the top so there wa plenty of ice I couldn't see. Either way we didn't have much choice. I'd been watching the weather all day and keeping a mental note of how dark it was getting. I knew deep down that we wouldn't be finishing this climb without or headtorches on. Looking back I should have put it on then, but thought I had enough time to complete the pitch. I'd also calculated in my head that it would be much much more hassle to actually bail off the route and abseil back down, rather than just finish. This was the last hard pitch.
Did I mention that although the ice was solid and it was freezing cold the pitch was still running was water from the days before when it had obviously defrosted a little. What a way to climb. I couldn't look up without getting wet but need to see where I was going all the time. In the end I negotiated the easy section, place a final screw and just ran out the hard section trying to just push through the waterfall and not waste time placing gear. I caught sight of my screw now metre's beneath me and I paniced. I was almost through the hard section. Then I had a nice moment of clarity. Everything was going to be alright and I just carried on climbing. It was alright, I finished the pitch in the dark and Andy joined me before we both put each other's headtorch for them. We checked the camera to find out our position from the photo's I took on the walk in. We were nearly there...
And an hour or so later we took off our gloves and shook hands on a cold, dark featurless plateau while grinning wildly. The final section hadn't been without it's problems (running out of rope, the rope freezing etc) but it didn't matter. All we had to do was descend. I guess it really it's over till you get back to the car. So we hand railed the top of the crag whilst following the masses of converging footprints to find the grade 1 gully which was to be our descent. Nice and safety we plodded along down the gully and made down with no problems. Even once we'd removed all out climbing gear, the actual walk out wasn't that bad.
I checked my watch when we got back to the car. It read 2110. Not bad for our first day of the year. 12 hour day, a new cliff, our longest route and our hardest all in one day. I guess it's going to be a good year.
0845: We refuse to get out of the car and start walking. It's cold, we're tired and we're hungover. Creag Meaghaidh is a long walk and we can't be arse. I think we sat there for a while we decided that maybe starting the year off bailing on a day out because of a self-inflicted hangover wasn't the greatest omen ever, at least I did anyway. We got out of the car and stay out this time.
And that's probably the last time I looked at my watch, that I can remember at least. I mean that honestly, we had enough food, water and gear for about 24 hours outdoor and short of an epic we'd be back at the car eventually. I after nearly a week of winter routing I think we getting pretty fit, or just acustomed to it. My shoulders didn't ache from my sack, my arms didn't ache from my poles and for all that was said to us about the walk in to Creag Meaghaidh, it wasn't that bad. Infact it was just nice walk. My first full view of the cliff is one thats imprinted on my brain. It just dominates the end of the valley. Masive towering cliffs that make Lliwedd in wales look like a small jumbled footnote. I don't think it helped but the recent thaw had stripped the faces of any snow and hoare frost leaving the long gullies of the post face as white streaks up the black wall. Even this far away I could make out several long ice pitches, ready for the taking. As the soonest opportunity I got out the guide book and checked were our original route was (Staghorn Gully, grade III). I eventualy fond it and was dissappointed. I'm sure Staghorn Gully is a good route, but I now only had eye's for one of the post face routes. I checked them over and found the easiest (South Post Direct, grade V,4) which also happened to look the best of all the routes. I knew andy would take some convincing...
Andy was ready to listen to my suggestion that we abandon the easier route in favour of a really hard, long adventure. He err'd and um'd and then his face broke into a nervous smile as he accepted the challenge. I was now so psyched. And back to walking we went, it was still a distance to reach the base of the route. We had a little discussion about leaving the bags and I wanted to carry them, just incase we finished in darkness than we'd be able to just walk off instead of searching round for the bags. 
The first pitch fell to me and it was very close to being the last pitch of the day. Nothing other than my head would have stopped us though. I jumped straight on the ice and immediatly little doubts started flickering in my mind. The ice was steep going on vertical for a short section. I still carried on climbing, placing screw after screw until I realised that I was using them up too quick and I wouldn't have enough for the pitch. I slowed down my screw placement and started concentrating on good ice climbing technique, trying to move as quickly as I could and read the ice for the easiest passage but by now my calves were burning and my mind was screaming at me. I was a little harder than I was expecting, to say the least but I knew I couldn't bail. I think pride forced me to carry on. 
I finished the pitch, running it out a long way from my last screw as I'd only one left and decided to keep it just incase I needed to bail. The last little bit was easy enough to remind me why I enjoyed ice climbing. I finished the pitch, banged in a peg and clipped a nut. All I wanted to do was scream with joy and happiness. Grade V ice! Hell year. It's not often you achieve your aim for the year on the first day! This had gone from type 2 to type 1 fun in seconds. Andy came up the pitch while we got bombarded with ice from the team above. I think he was definatly experiencing some type 2 fun at that point. He lead off up the 100metre or so snow couloir with the intention of us moving together to the next ice pitch. 
The next steep ice pitch was mine as well (all the steep ice was). Andy had kept himself off to one side, to avoid falling ice from both me and the party above us. This pitch was infact pretty easy (when compared to the last) and was only a short steep section before the angle relented and I could move a bit quicker. I tried to run it out to the stance above me, but was short by about 5 metres so had downclimb to my last piece of gear and belay there. This probably cost us quite abit of time. Andy seconded and led off to the stance I couldn't reach before and we stopped for the first time that climb to take on a little tea and food. 
Did I mention that although the ice was solid and it was freezing cold the pitch was still running was water from the days before when it had obviously defrosted a little. What a way to climb. I couldn't look up without getting wet but need to see where I was going all the time. In the end I negotiated the easy section, place a final screw and just ran out the hard section trying to just push through the waterfall and not waste time placing gear. I caught sight of my screw now metre's beneath me and I paniced. I was almost through the hard section. Then I had a nice moment of clarity. Everything was going to be alright and I just carried on climbing. It was alright, I finished the pitch in the dark and Andy joined me before we both put each other's headtorch for them. We checked the camera to find out our position from the photo's I took on the walk in. We were nearly there...And an hour or so later we took off our gloves and shook hands on a cold, dark featurless plateau while grinning wildly. The final section hadn't been without it's problems (running out of rope, the rope freezing etc) but it didn't matter. All we had to do was descend. I guess it really it's over till you get back to the car. So we hand railed the top of the crag whilst following the masses of converging footprints to find the grade 1 gully which was to be our descent. Nice and safety we plodded along down the gully and made down with no problems. Even once we'd removed all out climbing gear, the actual walk out wasn't that bad.
I checked my watch when we got back to the car. It read 2110. Not bad for our first day of the year. 12 hour day, a new cliff, our longest route and our hardest all in one day. I guess it's going to be a good year.
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