Summer fun at Hawkcraig

It had been sunny all week so Friday morning CJ and myself decided to set off for a spot of sea cliff trad at Hawkcraig on the Firth of Forth.

We were pretty pushed for time as we were both busy in the afternoon so bashed out 5 routes in supper quick time.

We warmed up on a couple of Severs, then each did a HS finishing of quickly with the VS Saki.

Cheers CJ for a fun break from work!

SCA - Club Coach Development Weekend, Glenmore lodge

Once again the weekend was a great time.  We started in the lecture theater, getting an insight to how the SCA are working, what grants are available and what course to do next.

Lots of shiny new P&H boats

Giles then ran a "Coaching the mind" workshop in the afternoon covering things like; Concentration, Arousal, Imagery and how they can be used to effectively coach.

Start of the Sea trip on Sunday from Hopeman to Lossymouth

Sunday, our group was on the Sea kayak "journey and leadership" course with Giles.  We paddled from Hopeman to Lossymouth past beaches, caves and cliffs. 

One of the huge caves on the coastline

We talked a lot about the "planning tactics" of sea trips such as; weather, tides, distance, journey type, and equipment.  

Lunch in the sun

We did lots of close quarter paddling, in and out of caves, between rocks and even some surfing near the end.

Round the point of the coast where we had fun in the surf



Some fun surf near the end of the day

Monday was 3 start sea assesment at Fort George.  We covered all the aspects of the syllabus during our round trip across the tidal race of the Murry Firth.  I really enjoyed learning about all the ways to control the kayak learning the differences between sea and rec boats.  I found there was a lot more to know on tides, nav and trip planning so that is my focus now.

The crossing from Fort George to Chanorny point

Cheers SCA and Giles for a great weekend of boating. 

Birthday climbing

So for my birthday I thought, what better way to spend it climbing a 4 star, 200m Severe in the Caingorms; Eagle Ridge.  So accompanied by Joel we set off from the car park at the top of Glen Muick to Lochnagar, the corrie in question.

Crossing snow on the walk in is never a good sign!

On approach there the wind was howling, and there was a little more snow than expected.  We therefor opted for the slightly "less" snowy, Central Butress.

Lochnagar with a bit more snow than expected with Cenral Butress (highest point)

The route was great fun and was Joel's first climb outside/ multipitch.  There were a few grassy pitches interspursed with some great, expose ridge climbing.

Joel on an exposed ridge

Some more great Granite climbing

Near the top we realised that there was a rather magnificant cornice guarding the summit = not ideal.  So we aimed for the most rocky break and eased up and over the huge amount of snow.

Jonny wriggling over the cornice

We made it, after 2.5 h walk in and a 6 hour climb to the top!

Joel just ariving at the top

On the way back to the car we saw some amazing waterfalls and walked allong the amazing Loch Muick as the sun was setting.

Classic summet photo whilst being buffetet by wind

Cheers Joel for a great day out!