Always Summer

Na h-Eileanan Samhraidh; The Summer Isles.

Located within the Coigach and Assynt national scenic park, this group of Islands offer a truly incredible location for sea kayaking.

  

This group of islands (17 in total) are home to a huge variety of nesting sea birds and water dwelling wildlife. Porpoise and seals are regularly spotted in their the waters, as well as Minky whale, dolphin and basking shark patrolling the crossings between islands, in search of food. I've been incredibly lucky to work with both Wilderness Scotland and Norwest sea kayaking in this beautiful area and in only one day this year whilst working, i sighted two sea eagle, a pod of porpoise and two minky, not too mention a huge amount of arctic tern, guillemot, razorbills and other sea birds.

The largest of the islands, Tanera Mor and Tanera Beg, translate from the Norrsk meaning "harbour", Mor and Beg meaning big and small respectively. Whilst once being home to around 120 permanent residents, (and even having it's own stamp,which has been in production since 1970) the numbers of permanent residents on Tanera Mor rapidly dropped after the first world war with the decline of the herring fishing industry and the great depression. As of 2014, there are no longer any people who call Tanera Mor their home, with the final two permanent residents, moving off the island this year. The islands future is currently unknown with no current buyers for the land.

The sandstone cliffs of the summer isles offer a stunning array of caves, arches and skerries for the sea kayaker to explore and crystal clear waters give beautiful views down to a sub-aquatic jungle, no less stunning than surrounding the mountain ranges and coastline.

 

The island furthest from shore, Priest Island, is one of the reserves managed by the RSPB and is host to an array of species of coastal birds; but it is also home to rare non-avian life, such as a rare species of pygmy shrew.
Often over looked for its further flung neighbors, Isle Ristol, the island closest to civilization (or at least a harbour) hides some of the best caves and rock hopping potential of the island group on its northern and north-west flank, with the neighboring Eilean Mullagrach having some incredible caverns and rocky amphitheaters to explore.

 

A crossing out to Eilean Dubh (The black isle) is a must, with a rocky beach that serves as a excellent viewing platform back across to the rest of the isles, and stunning rugged cliff faces guarding the rest of the island as you make your circumnavigation.

If you've not visited this area then i'd highly recommend it, with the above companies both offering trips and holidays in the area, and of course private guiding offered by myself!

  

Scratching

Despite my previous blog whinging about poor winter conditions, i have had some excellent climbing days this season already.
 Before Christmas I caught up with my pal Will who had his eyes set on a hard project in the brief time he was up in Scotland before heading home for Christmas.
 Will is currently on the cutting edge of mixed climbing and fresh back from first ascents in the rockies, and to be quite frank, i was worried i wouldn't be up to what he had in mind. I packed my jumars just in case! Walking in to Lochain, we met up with my pals Ian and Andy, who were also on the hunt for early season mixed fun. Neither team was disappointed and we were met with excellent conditions, the rock well plastered in rime ice with the temperature kicking around minus 5 or 6. We parted from the other team who were heading for "Auricle", a classic VI 7, and made our way over further around the crag.

After swimming through powder, a lot of swearing and sweating (from me), we made it to the base of the crag.  Looming above us was a section of the number 3 buttress area which is host to several of the hardest lines on the crag. Will had several options in mind, but with the cracks looking severally iced up on some of the routes he opted to climb "Happy Tyroleans", a route disputed to be in the region of IX, 9 in grade, several number grades harder than my most difficult lead to date!
It was cold. Really cold. I was certainly glad of an extra belay jacket whilst Will made his way up the crag in an incredible feat of mountaineering prowess.

 Gaining the belay, Will pulled the ropes tight and off i set. A little bit of dangling around, and huffing and puffing later, i joined Will on the ledge beneath the second pitch. I'd hoped to lead the second pitch, which goes at around technical 6, but after battling up the pitch below i wasn't sure i had it in me without a rest, so off Will set again.
   It's always inspiring for me to watch people much more adept at their disciplines than i, and climbing such a route as my first of the season certainly planted the seed of future hunger in my head.

A couple days later, i caught up with my good friend, and sometimes employer, Liam of Cairngorm Adventure Guides to bag another route in Lochain, this time of a more amenable grade.
It was a beautiful day, and we shared the route with my friends Rory and Emma, enjoying the views.

The weather after the Christmas and new year break has been generally poor, but good conditions on several days has allowed me to squeeze in a few more routes, catching up with Alex, who was over from Aberdeen, and Simon, who was visiting from North Wales in preparation for his MIC (mountaineering instructor certificate) assessment.
Our first day out saw us walking in to the mess of pottage, a crag in coire an t'sneachda. With a bit of confusion on the routes, i ended up leading "pot doodle", a great little pitch of IV,6. Simon then took the reigns to lead the classic "hidden chimney", which in its lean condition probably warranted IV.
Our following day out turned into a non-starter unfortunately. Poor snow pack and high avalanche risk, as well as deteriorating weather prompted us to call it a day early, and to go and enjoy coffee in the warmth of the living room. Sometimes it's best to live to fight another day!

With the forecast looking great for the following day however, i managed to head out with Louisa Reynolds to climb the excellent "Honeypot", again on the mess of pottage.

 Deep powder plastered the crag, and the going was slow, with us needing to dig out good gear and axe placements. A brilliant lead from Lou on the first pitch saw me taking up the mantle for the chimney pitch.

Me on the lead

Unfortunately i had to stop just shy of the final corner, with the rope dragging quite badly due to the bulgy nature of the route. Bringing Lou up we swapped leads.
 A great effort from Lou on the slightly-off-balance corner saw her make the first few moves confidently, however it was then that things went awry.

It's always important to color co-ordinate! 

"Luke my axe is stuck!"
One of the axe heads of her shiny new axes was firmly wedged in a crack, barred from exit by the narrowing at the top of the crack, and the nut she had placed for protection below it. After what seemed like an age of battling and still unable to remove the axe we had to come up with a plan.
 "Lower me a sling Lou and i'll clip on my axe, then get yours out on a tight rope."
With a complete pair of usable axes (not to mention one bomber bit of gear/axe placement!) Lou made short work of the remainder of the route, a heroic effort after expending so much energy on a stuck axe!
 I managed to dog my way up to where Lou's axe was with my single tool and the help of a tight rope, where i managed to free the stuck nut, thus freeing Lou's stuck axe.
Truth be told, i didn't mind hanging around on the belay for a bit longer than usual. The views were stunning and despite some cold hands, an excellent day was had!

  

Winter Water

I haven't blogged in a while. My bad.
I recieved an email the other day from a previous client (one of my favourite, obviously!) checking i hadn't fallen off the face of the earth. Which was really lovely.
 I tend to keep this blog as a bit of a personal diary and to share with friends and family, who i don't see that often, and it's really nice to know people enjoy hearing about my adventures, i certainly like hearing about other peoples! (Even if i am guilty of becoming a green eyed monster!)
 Lots of different things have hindered my social media going on's this summer, and i'll do my best to get around to retrospectives blogs at some stage as i have a few partially written ones which i'd like to share.

Me running "constriction" on the Spean Gorge, high level.

This winter has been difficult so far from a work front, with not a huge amount coming my way. This has been due to a number of factors, but primarily the state of "not so winter" conditions up on the hill. Gale force winds have made it hard to get up on to the mountain and fluctuating temperatures have been stripping the mountain of snow that has actually been falling. These warm periods have, however, brought one great bonus... Water in the rivers!

It's actually been quite nice to have a whitewater season this year, with last year seeming to go straight from summer into a maelstrom of a winter. Taking advantage of the snow-melt, I've managed to have some great days out with some great friends on some of the Scottish classics. Whilst i haven't managed to get out on anything really difficult as yet, it's been awesome to get lots of mileage under my belt on the rivers, after spend a lot of time in a sea kayak again this summer.

Me and my pals have also managed to run a few rivers that at least one of us have not paddled before, and before Christmas saw Chris Withers, Matt Haydock and myself on the Perthshire Blackwater. I had paddled this before a few years ago, but kept confusing the rapids for those on the northern Blackwater, or other rivers, so it was great to familiarize myself with an excellent river of varying character again.
 We struck it lucky on the level and got it at an excellent "high" with the crux rapids being chunky, but whilst still maintaining their technicalities.
I did forget almost all my kit that day... but we'll not go into that.

Matt nailing an intricate line through the boulders

Me

Chris nailing the boof like a big deal... with schlegal workblades!

 Another highlight for me this Autumn/Winter has been getting a couple runs on the uber-classic North Esk whilst doing some work over in Aberdeen.
 Lots of variety keep this run interesting and it's runnable at most levels, offering a different style of river depending on how much water is in it.

This week i managed to catch up with Bastien, Anne and Joe for a sweet run down the top and upper Findhorn. I often don't run the Findhorn when it's high, as it's my closest run, and the gorge goes even at low levels; so when there is water, i am often attracted further a field. However, i shouldn't be. There's something on this river for everyone, and the ability to link a couple of the sections together to give a long descent makes it an excellent day trip.
 The "top" is only enjoyable in quite high levels, giving big volume bouncy water, with the "upper" becoming slightly washed out in places, with other rapids getting quite spicy.

Bastien riding the tongue of "levens"

Dulsie

I'm planning on keeping up to date with the blog again this year, so as always thanks for reading and keep in touch with all your own adventures!