An introduction
I began climbing in Alien in spring 2002. It was half a year before I ventured outside for a bouldering trip to Goatfell near Wooler in Northumberland. The experience intimidated me rather than inspired me to do more. I concluded that either I wasn’t a boulderer or an outside climber. For the next few years I continued to climb indoors, convinced I would never trad climb, it just seemed so crazy and unsafe. But I had decided I wanted to climb on proper rock and with limited sports climbing in Scotland (our trip to a damp Weem had been uninspiring) I hatched the cunning plot to spend a year in New Zealand where there seemed to be more better quality sports routes. Many friends speculated that I wouldn’t return.
I arrived in New Zealand in March 2004 for what was to be their wettest winter and summer on record. With a lack of money-earning opportunities and fore-mentioned weather, I didn’t get much climbing done at all during my 11 months there. But I did do my first trad lead. It was borne partly out of rain frustration with Payne’s Ford being subject to torrential rain that new year. But more importantly, because James, my partner in crime had gone to the trouble of buying shiny new gear and like a magpie, I felt irresistibly drawn to it. It seemed rude not to use it. So in Charleston on the west coast of the South island on the last day of 2004, we set about our first trad leads. We were lucky to survive the experience. I returned to Scotland in April 2005 after a short stay in Australia where I sampled some of the sports climbing in the Blue Mountains.
So armed with my new trad ‘skills’ and extremely happy to be home, during the summer of 2005 I began trad climbing in ernest. In the beginning I had a tendency to place gear precariously, it wasn’
t unusual for my 2nd to shout up “have you placed your next piece of gear yet? Good, because your last 3 pieces fell out”. Aberdour was our favourite haunt and the train trip at the weekend became a regular feature during my weekend. At the time I was temping at the Scottish Executive in an office with former climber Ruth Campbell. One morning I arrived at my desk to find half ropes and an entire rack in my chair, I was stunned. Ruth had donated me her old gear which had been under her bed for 20 years. I don’t think I have ever been so touched by someone’s kindness. Now with my own rack I felt a bit more like a trad climber. I did my first mountain route this year, Agag’s groove with Duncan. It took us 5 hours to complete so we were glad there was nobody else on the route that day. It was shortly after this at Limekilns that my precarious gear setting became an issue on White Ensign when I misjudged a move and seemingly in slow motion found myself falling. I watched with interest as my 2 hexes popped and wondered if Barney would catch me, I was sure I was falling so slowly. I hit the dirt with a thud. Having fallen around 5 metres my only physical injury was a lump on my right hand – I held this up to Barney wordlessly as he enquired whether I’d like to have another go. This was my 2nd attempt at a VS, following Two Ringer a hour prior round the corner. I concluded that I wasn’t yet ready for VS’s, and maybe never would be.
A few days later I was in North
umberland at Bowden Doors, scaring myself silly on vdiff’s. Falling changed the way I thought about trad climbing. Not only did my gear placement improve dramatically, I now had a lot more respect for the importance of good gear placements, and fear of what could go wrong. I think it was from this point that I appreciated that placing gear wasn’t just something that was done for the hell of it, it was in fact an integral part of a trad climb. Some climbs are made because just when you get to the crux you can place a bomber piece of gear which can be greatly inspiring. So ended my first season in Scotland.
I began climbing in Alien in spring 2002. It was half a year before I ventured outside for a bouldering trip to Goatfell near Wooler in Northumberland. The experience intimidated me rather than inspired me to do more. I concluded that either I wasn’t a boulderer or an outside climber. For the next few years I continued to climb indoors, convinced I would never trad climb, it just seemed so crazy and unsafe. But I had decided I wanted to climb on proper rock and with limited sports climbing in Scotland (our trip to a damp Weem had been uninspiring) I hatched the cunning plot to spend a year in New Zealand where there seemed to be more better quality sports routes. Many friends speculated that I wouldn’t return.
I arrived in New Zealand in March 2004 for what was to be their wettest winter and summer on record. With a lack of money-earning opportunities and fore-mentioned weather, I didn’t get much climbing done at all during my 11 months there. But I did do my first trad lead. It was borne partly out of rain frustration with Payne’s Ford being subject to torrential rain that new year. But more importantly, because James, my partner in crime had gone to the trouble of buying shiny new gear and like a magpie, I felt irresistibly drawn to it. It seemed rude not to use it. So in Charleston on the west coast of the South island on the last day of 2004, we set about our first trad leads. We were lucky to survive the experience. I returned to Scotland in April 2005 after a short stay in Australia where I sampled some of the sports climbing in the Blue Mountains.
So armed with my new trad ‘skills’ and extremely happy to be home, during the summer of 2005 I began trad climbing in ernest. In the beginning I had a tendency to place gear precariously, it wasn’
t unusual for my 2nd to shout up “have you placed your next piece of gear yet? Good, because your last 3 pieces fell out”. Aberdour was our favourite haunt and the train trip at the weekend became a regular feature during my weekend. At the time I was temping at the Scottish Executive in an office with former climber Ruth Campbell. One morning I arrived at my desk to find half ropes and an entire rack in my chair, I was stunned. Ruth had donated me her old gear which had been under her bed for 20 years. I don’t think I have ever been so touched by someone’s kindness. Now with my own rack I felt a bit more like a trad climber. I did my first mountain route this year, Agag’s groove with Duncan. It took us 5 hours to complete so we were glad there was nobody else on the route that day. It was shortly after this at Limekilns that my precarious gear setting became an issue on White Ensign when I misjudged a move and seemingly in slow motion found myself falling. I watched with interest as my 2 hexes popped and wondered if Barney would catch me, I was sure I was falling so slowly. I hit the dirt with a thud. Having fallen around 5 metres my only physical injury was a lump on my right hand – I held this up to Barney wordlessly as he enquired whether I’d like to have another go. This was my 2nd attempt at a VS, following Two Ringer a hour prior round the corner. I concluded that I wasn’t yet ready for VS’s, and maybe never would be.A few days later I was in North
umberland at Bowden Doors, scaring myself silly on vdiff’s. Falling changed the way I thought about trad climbing. Not only did my gear placement improve dramatically, I now had a lot more respect for the importance of good gear placements, and fear of what could go wrong. I think it was from this point that I appreciated that placing gear wasn’t just something that was done for the hell of it, it was in fact an integral part of a trad climb. Some climbs are made because just when you get to the crux you can place a bomber piece of gear which can be greatly inspiring. So ended my first season in Scotland.In 2006, I was unable to do as much due to work commitments despite the fantastic summer. This year I climbed with Hanne, which was a good change from all the boys, and she had an edge on me which served to push me 
more. We visited Aberdour, Polney at Dunkeld, Auchinstarry Quarry at Croy and some Northumberland crags. I continued to lead vdiff’s to HS but nothing beyond, I left this to Hanne. But I was unsatisfied with this cut off. I decided to do SPA training to improve my gear placement skills and confidence. I did this at Ardroy Outdoor centre in July. At the end of this we had exit interviews. Mine consisted of something like this: ‘so what are your plans now?’ ‘urrmm, I guess I’m gonna climb some more’. And do you plan to do any instructing?’ ‘no’. ‘And what about VS’s, when are you going to lead some more of them?’ ‘I’m not sure I will’. So you see working at Alien was unintentional, they just kept bugging me. And then I realised I actually enjoyed working with the kids and the Friday night Cilla routine. And of course the money came in useful now that I was studying again. More importantly my time at Alien served not only to improve my confidence in climbing in general but also to improve my knowledge about what was out there. And in August, following my SPA weekend, I sandbagged myself at Aberdour and accidently flashed Gaucho, the HVS 5a next to Pain Piller (which I intended to do). It was only when I returned to the bags with Hanne that she gleefully told me what I’d done. I’m not sure I can describe what I felt in that moment, but recalled thinking that it was very exciting for a VS. The only reason I didn’t do Pain Piller was because I got nervous at the bottom by the smooth start with no gear. I knew there was a VS on one side and a HVS on the other and was convinced the climb on the right looked the easier of the two.
The season of 2007 arrived and with it rain. Being more flexible with days off I was able to work around this and still made plenty of trips out, now moving on to more serious crags of the likes of Creag Dudh. I have ‘first time crag visit intimidation’ and so was happy to 2nd pitches here though led the 3rd pitch of King Bee and 1st pitch of Brute. I really enjoyed the first pitch of Inbred but with an exciting run out am not sure I’ll be able to tick that one. During this season I became comfortable on VS’s and travelled further afield to Reiff and Duntelcaig. I was also starting to add mountain routes onto my wish list. On the disappointment of a postponed trip to Ardverikie Wall, I instead ventured to Limekilns with Pete, a friend from Cumbria who I’d met in Queenstown, NZ. Here I lead Deadringer, on a redpoint attempt. I nearly bottled it a third from the top and greatly appreciated Pete’s no-nonsense advice of ‘just get on with it!’. I felt not only immensely proud having led an E1, but also that I’d put my VS fears well and truly to bed. Except that is when I’m in Northumberland.
Still on a high from this and perhaps a bit cocky, I decided that a great mountain route to do would be the Needle
(E1) on Shelterstone, the Cairngorms. Again with Pete as my partner, and Iain and friends, we set out for the walk in. The experience was not what I expected. I’d taken ‘comfy’ climbing shoes which I don’t like, found the damp conditions a bit oppressive, the back pack heavy, the route finding tricky and the intimidation factor immense. Pete was great and supported me throughout, taking over the lead of all the pitches save the 1st and last. It’s only now that I appreciate what its like when your partner bottles it on a multi-pitch climb. During this climb I found myself questioning whether I did really want to climb after all? Perhaps the urge was gone? At the time I just didn’t enjoy it and was even reluctant to thread the needle on the last pitch. For the next few weeks this reluctance continued, and I felt unworthy of the praise I received for doing this climb. I also lacked the enthusiasm I once had, unsure of whether is would ever return. Thankfully it did up the Beanstalk in Glen Clova on a gorgeous sunny day in October, it must have floated over on the breeze. I fell in love with the beauty and tranquillity of this valley and look forward to my next trip there.
So this just about leads me up to current times, with the summer of 2008 upon us and hopes for dryer conditions than last year. Following years of training and persistence, I feel drawn to mountain routes, though perhaps mileage on easier routes is a definite requirement to get my head used to those heights and route finding. It’s been quite a journey so far, and now things are really starting to get interesting.
more. We visited Aberdour, Polney at Dunkeld, Auchinstarry Quarry at Croy and some Northumberland crags. I continued to lead vdiff’s to HS but nothing beyond, I left this to Hanne. But I was unsatisfied with this cut off. I decided to do SPA training to improve my gear placement skills and confidence. I did this at Ardroy Outdoor centre in July. At the end of this we had exit interviews. Mine consisted of something like this: ‘so what are your plans now?’ ‘urrmm, I guess I’m gonna climb some more’. And do you plan to do any instructing?’ ‘no’. ‘And what about VS’s, when are you going to lead some more of them?’ ‘I’m not sure I will’. So you see working at Alien was unintentional, they just kept bugging me. And then I realised I actually enjoyed working with the kids and the Friday night Cilla routine. And of course the money came in useful now that I was studying again. More importantly my time at Alien served not only to improve my confidence in climbing in general but also to improve my knowledge about what was out there. And in August, following my SPA weekend, I sandbagged myself at Aberdour and accidently flashed Gaucho, the HVS 5a next to Pain Piller (which I intended to do). It was only when I returned to the bags with Hanne that she gleefully told me what I’d done. I’m not sure I can describe what I felt in that moment, but recalled thinking that it was very exciting for a VS. The only reason I didn’t do Pain Piller was because I got nervous at the bottom by the smooth start with no gear. I knew there was a VS on one side and a HVS on the other and was convinced the climb on the right looked the easier of the two.The season of 2007 arrived and with it rain. Being more flexible with days off I was able to work around this and still made plenty of trips out, now moving on to more serious crags of the likes of Creag Dudh. I have ‘first time crag visit intimidation’ and so was happy to 2nd pitches here though led the 3rd pitch of King Bee and 1st pitch of Brute. I really enjoyed the first pitch of Inbred but with an exciting run out am not sure I’ll be able to tick that one. During this season I became comfortable on VS’s and travelled further afield to Reiff and Duntelcaig. I was also starting to add mountain routes onto my wish list. On the disappointment of a postponed trip to Ardverikie Wall, I instead ventured to Limekilns with Pete, a friend from Cumbria who I’d met in Queenstown, NZ. Here I lead Deadringer, on a redpoint attempt. I nearly bottled it a third from the top and greatly appreciated Pete’s no-nonsense advice of ‘just get on with it!’. I felt not only immensely proud having led an E1, but also that I’d put my VS fears well and truly to bed. Except that is when I’m in Northumberland.
Still on a high from this and perhaps a bit cocky, I decided that a great mountain route to do would be the Needle
(E1) on Shelterstone, the Cairngorms. Again with Pete as my partner, and Iain and friends, we set out for the walk in. The experience was not what I expected. I’d taken ‘comfy’ climbing shoes which I don’t like, found the damp conditions a bit oppressive, the back pack heavy, the route finding tricky and the intimidation factor immense. Pete was great and supported me throughout, taking over the lead of all the pitches save the 1st and last. It’s only now that I appreciate what its like when your partner bottles it on a multi-pitch climb. During this climb I found myself questioning whether I did really want to climb after all? Perhaps the urge was gone? At the time I just didn’t enjoy it and was even reluctant to thread the needle on the last pitch. For the next few weeks this reluctance continued, and I felt unworthy of the praise I received for doing this climb. I also lacked the enthusiasm I once had, unsure of whether is would ever return. Thankfully it did up the Beanstalk in Glen Clova on a gorgeous sunny day in October, it must have floated over on the breeze. I fell in love with the beauty and tranquillity of this valley and look forward to my next trip there.
So this just about leads me up to current times, with the summer of 2008 upon us and hopes for dryer conditions than last year. Following years of training and persistence, I feel drawn to mountain routes, though perhaps mileage on easier routes is a definite requirement to get my head used to those heights and route finding. It’s been quite a journey so far, and now things are really starting to get interesting.
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