Saturday dawned a bit damp and warm but as Libby had come up from Wales we had a plan to head to the North West and attempt Poacher's Fall (V, 5) on Liathach. Andy and Catrin were also in the team, so we left Lewis and headed up arriving in the car park to a light drizzle.
Walking in we went through several heavy showers interspersed with light rain - but for some reason none of us sounded the retreat and before we knew it we were all at the bottom of the route and geared up.
Andy and Catrin headed up first with Andy doing a super long first pitch. Libby headed up and did a shorter pitch which left me the second pitch and a very steep little ice fall. Luckily I hadn't set off when Andy dislodged a MASSIVE chunk from a bove which crashed down missing us as we were tucked under a handy roof. The warm wet weather meant the ice was amazing for getting brilliant placements and really easy to get screws into, not sure they were that brilliant but made us feel better!
Libby headed up the next fab ice fall, quite a long pitch with a couple of steeper sections. By the time I was seconding up Andy and Catrin were abseiling back down with less than great reviews of the next pitch. I was feeling pretty chilly and my gloves and hands, and in fact down to my elbows, were completely soaked so we decided that we could bail from where we were and promptly did!
Definitely an adventure and good climbing in a lovely place - but not exactly enjoyable for much of the time! No pictures today - way too wet to get as camera out!
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