The crux move

Craig approaches the difficult overhanging crux of the climb. I got a video clip of him a bit higher up and you can hear all of us yelling him on. The photos are silent so I thought I would mention that to give you an insight into the atmosphere that's lost in the stills....Anyway....that was the trip that was. We had a fantastic time and we hope to get back up here again sometime. We had a big meal and celebration back at aviemore afterwards. It would be fair to say that a few nice malts were quaffed as Ron told us stories round the fire about horrific avalanches and near misses on the mountains. He told us that he was forced to crawl on his belly one time off the Cairngorm plateau because the winds were so strong. Craig and myself saw three bright streaking meteors in the sky as we walked home in the pitch black to our b + b. It was a nice omen and finisher really. Our thoughts turn to the winter months now. The first snows have hit the summits on the cairngorms. I have looked out my ice axe and warm gear in preparation for some play time over the christmas hols which are now only four weeks away. Dougs and Diane are fine too. Will post soon...

Craig on prophet's walls

Craig gets tore into the prophets walls. This was a tester for the pair of us and the high point of the trip in terms of achievement.

Gerry abseiling

Gerry makes his way down. Fi looks after the ropes for him at the bottom.

Happy faces

The happy faces say it all don't they. What a great way to clear your head.

Lunch

Craig and myself grab a bite as Gerry gets ready for his shot at abseiling down.

The milk tray man

I just need a black SAS suit and a box of milk tray eh hee hee hee!

Look out below!

It's always easier getting back down again. That's Gerry on the far right by the way. He is thinking of heading to mont blanc as well next summer. Hope he does. He is a decent guy.

The easy way down

Next day we found ourselves at the cummingstone sea cliffs on a perfect sunny day. With reinforced pants we set about the prophet walls and the sea stack. Gerry saw dolphins playing in the bay and they were leaping clear of the water before we arrived. Natch they had all absconded or went for a snooze by the time we showed up. We hastily abseiled down off the stack again when we realised the tide was coming in at the base of it. I love abseiling. Fantastic!

Almost there!

I made it to the top after a few more pantalon busting stretches. I now realise why some rock climbers wear silly spandex tights.....Maybe I should get some?...yeah....red shiny efforts. Xmas is coming after all and I have been very very good this year :-)

Another big stretch

Yet another big stretch. I don't know if I will be fit for these moves at 80 years of age. Who knows. I may still have it in me if I keep eating my oily fish hee hee. I thought my pants were going to tear wide open at the crotch at this point. Look at the stress lines round my troosers...

Don't look down!

It sometimes helps if you have long legs for this lark. Unfortunately I'm not blessed with the flexibility of a ballet dancer so you may find that grace is a bit scarce in some of these shots. Craig is in the same boat. We get up in the end mind.. :-)

Rock climbing at kingussie

Back again! Life has been hectic lately so I haven't really had a chance to update my blog as much as usual. Anyway, here are some pictures from the last rock climbing trip. My brother Craig and myself spent our first day at kingussie crag before heading to the sandstone sea cliffs at cummingston. We finished off our trip in huntly's gorge. Both of us had a great time. It all went by so quickly though. This first picture shows me scaling one of the pitches at kingussie crag. For ease of identification in the rest of the shots...I'm the person with the banana yellow shoes. Craig has blue ones :-)