A summer dawn at Almscliff

The other morning I watched the sunrise at Almscliff. This was unusual and unexpected. Between early spring and late autumn I am rarely awake at dawn. The evening before, making the best of good weather, I visited the crag to do some bouldering with friends. On return home I was unable to find my wallet and became convinced that I had dropped it while bouldering. One sleepless night later, during which I dwelt on all the problems that come with losing and replacing the contents of a wallet, I found myself in my car on the road to Almscliff.

Although most of my attention was devoted to scouring the ground  for my lost wallet, I did manage to take few photos.

Sunrise from Almscliff

In the East the sun rose into a hazy sky.

Looking West

To the West the farmland was covered by wisps of mist, reminiscent of casually draped lace. The sun quickly burnt this off, revealing the more substantial forms of a few sheep.

Great Western buttress, Almscliff

Different aspects of the crag's character were revealed by the dawn light. Great Western buttress was lit from behind. With its features in shadow, the buttress was a dark monolithic lump of gritstone, even more imposing than usual.

I didn't find my wallet at Almscliff. After a frantic search, and a drive back to Leeds, during which my mind went over every card that I would have to cancel and replace, I got home, walked through the door and decided to check my climbing bag one more time.

My wallet was in the top pocket.

The coming Spring and cold climbing at Froggatt

Crocuses flowering beneath a tree in Harrogate

Over the last few days I have seen more and more bulbs flowering, probably due to the unseasonably warm temperatures the UK has seen over the last week.

Besides clumps of snow drops, with their monochrome flowers that bring to mind the passing winter more than coming spring, there are large patches of colourful crocuses, like those in the above photo, and even a few daffodils tentatively starting to flower.

I admire the optimism of these plants, and I hope that they herald the arrival of spring for one reason: it is the perfect time to get out and rock climb on the gritstone crags found around Leeds and the nearby Peak District. Then I will be ready for more adventurous climbing on mountains and sea cliffs just as the warmth and long days of summer arrive.

Indeed, enthusiasm got the better of me this weekend and I visited Froggatt in the Peak District to try and kick start my rock climbing season. Although my climbing partner and I managed a couple of great routes (including the notorious Three Pebble Slab), the temperature had fallen from the mid-week high, and, combined with a bitter wind, made the experience of placing hands on cold rock an unpleasant one. By lunchtime we admitted defeat and were back on the road home.

Come soon spring!

Brimham Rocks: Bouldering

Brimham Rocks are a collection of boulders and crags near Harrogate in North Yorkshire. The rocks, made of gritstone, have been sculpted by erosion into unusual shapes including rounded towers, loaf shapes, and rocks are balanced in surprising locations.

The grippy nature of the rock, and the shapes it is formed into, make Brimham Rocks a great place to go climbing and bouldering. There are climbing routes up to about 14 metres long across the grades, and a similar range of bouldering problems scattered across the formations. Jamming cracks seem to be a common feature here.

The second weekend of January was blessed with sunny, still conditions - a perfect opportunity to make my first visit to Brimham and try and work off the excesses of christmas.

Sculpted shapes: around Castle Rock at Brimham Rocks

We started by doing some boulder problems and routes on Castle Rock, the most impressive large rock formation at Brimham. Despite the frosty conditions the rock faces in the sun were warm to the touch, making climbing pleasant. Lots of walkers stopped to watch as we soloed some of the easier routes, although some of the parents with young children were not impressed by the example we were setting.

Cubic Block, Brimham

We then tested out a few boulder problems in the Cubic Block area of Brimham. The problem in the photo above goes from a lying down start, at full stretch, into big pull up the arete to the break at the top of the photo. The big pull defeated Neil and I despite repeated attempts. One for next time!

Heather Wall, Brimham

As the sun dropped towards the horizon, the temperature fell rapidly. We kept moving to keep warm, accomplished by soloing some easy routes on Cubic Wall. In the photo above Neil is climbing Heather Wall (severe).

Cubic Corner, Brimham

Neil climbing Cubic Corner (Hard Severe 4b). The route follows the arete on Cubic Block and had a tricky move at about 2/3rds height that gave a touch of excitement to my solo attempt. When the rock became to cold to climb we called it a day. A great start to 2012!

Winter climbing on Brown Cove Crags

Last weekend, to take advantage of a week of cold, snowy weather across Northern Britain which had brought the Lake District into condition for winter climbing, I visited Brown Cove Crags with two friends.

Brown Cove Crags are on the North Eastern side of Helvellyn. The crags are high up but with uncommitting routes, and are just a short walk from the car park: the perfect venue for a short mid-winter day.

Brown Cove Crags from below

As we walked up, the crags emerged from the cloud. There was already a handful of climbers on the routes.We chose to try the most Northerly route on the crags: Two Grooves. At grade IV (6) we hoped that it would be quieter than the easier routes further along the crags. The route divides into two pitches, each with a groove to climb up.

Looking North from Brown Cove Crags

By the time we reached the start of the route the cloud had cleared. The clear air meant that there were extensive views across the Lake District, free from the haze that is often present on cloudless summer days.

Climber moving onto the crux of Two Grooves, Brown Cove Crags

The groove on the first pitch was covered with a deep layer of powder snow and the turf underneath was not yet frozen. The left face of the groove was iced up however, and using this ice and rock on the righthand side of the groove we were able to climb the pitch, only resorting to snow wading for last few metres.

There were a couple of climbers on the technical second pitch, so we did the obligatory jumping up-and-down to keep warm while we waited for them to finish.

Dave seconding Two Grooves - about to enter the crux groove

Neil led the second pitch, calmly making some tricky moves. Dave followed him up, and I followed close behind Dave, removing some of the pegs and gear that Neil had placed to protect himself. The difficulties began on entering the rocky groove, where I had to hook my tools on rock and find small foot placements to climb. Towards the top there was a featureless slab with a crack on one side that you could jam tools into. A couple of big pulls, hoping feet wouldn't slip, and I joined Neil and Dave at the top of the route.

The snow slope at the start of the second pitch was well consolidated, making for easy, satisfying climbing. Progress up the groove involved a series of rock hooks and bridging/backfooting. The rock faces and the cracks were iced up, rendering cams useless, and ice tools and crampons were essential for climbing.

Brown Cove Crags from the top of Two Grooves

From the top of Two Grooves, we could see that the rest of Brown Cove Crags was swarming with climbers - lots of people were making the most of the great conditions!

Sunset over the Lake District

To finish the day we walked from the top of Brown Cove Crags to Helvellyn, reaching the summit just as the sun was setting.There were large cornices on the Red Tarn face that would make the climbing routes up there more difficult, perhaps requiring some tunnelling at the top of the route, and also more dangerous, due to the possibility of avalanches.

Autumn in West Yorkshire

Fly Agaric (Amanita muscaria). Caley, near Otley, Yorkshire.

Almscliff: Leeds local crag

Almscliff

Almscliff, halfway between Leeds and Harrogate, is the most famous of Yorkshire's gritstone crags. It is a huge lump of high quality gritstone perched on top of a small hill, rising up over the flat surrounding landscape. This means that although the crag is small relative to the gritstone edges of the Peak District, it has climbable rock on all sides, which compares favourably with the single climbable aspect of many of the Peak edges. It also means that the crag is very exposed; you will definitely feel the wind on all but the calmest days.

Almscliff west face

On a dry and sunny saturday afternoon in October Almscliff was busy with climbers, walkers and casual visitors. In this photo a handful of walkers look on as a climber starts up Zig Zag, on the West Face.

Many of the climbing routes require good arm stamina - something that often catches out first time visitors to Almscliff (I write from experience). This is because the major faces are steep and much of the crag is undercut at the base, which requires some monkeying around, putting most of your body weight on your arms, to get started on the routes - as can be seen with climber in the photo above.

Great Western area, Almscliff

No climbers were tackling Great Western or the adjacent Crack of Doom, which are two of the most famous routes on the crag, despite the fact that the weather conditions were perfect and both routes were in the sunshine. Great Western goes up the large vertical crack in the middle of the photo, heads left along the break, and then finishes by going up and around the corner to the left. Crack of Doom follows the same vertical crack, then heads out right onto the projecting wall and a quick finish on top of the wall.

Almscliff is also home to lots of great bouldering problems, both on the main crag and on the boulders that are scattered around its base. Many of these problems are described in the Yorkshire Gritstone bouldering guide. The arete shown in the photo above is part of the Virgin group of boulders, and can be climbed with a bouldering grade of font 6a.

Matterhorn boulder

This is the Matterhorn Boulder. The prominent arete was first climbed over 100 years ago by Claude Benson. Today, the climb up the arete is worth font 4+; easy by modern standards.

The Crucifix, Almscliff

The distinctive cross-shaped pair of cracks can be climbed as a problem called The Crucifix. It is worth a grade of font 5. It is a long way to fall from the top of the vertical crack - padded mats and someone to spot you would be useful.

The Crucifix is part of the Demon Wall area of Almscliff, which is also home to several hard boulder problems - these tend to terminate 3-4 metres above the ground - and a handful of climbing routes that lead to the top of the crag. Numerous chalk marks on the rock show how popular this area of the crag is.

The location of Almscliff, and the large number of popular climbing routes and bouldering problems there, means that many of the key hand and foot holds are polished, so the famous gritstone friction is often lacking.  This doesn't appear to affect the quality of the routes much (apart from making them a bit harder!). It is certainly worth visiting Almscliff as an occasional treat, however, rather than an as a regular practice crag, to minimise further damage.

The Mamores: Ring of Steall

The Mamores are a range of mountains that lie South of Glen Nevis in the Lochaber region of Scotland. The range is dominated by a long ridge running East to West, with smaller ridges heading North from the main ridge. Two of these subsidiary ridges can be linked together via a stretch of the main ridge to make a fantastic circular walk called the "Ring of Steall" (after An Steall waterfall, which descends into Glen Nevis from the corrie that the Ring of Steall encircles).

Unlike some other of Scotland's great ridge walks (such as the Aonach Eagach, Liathach, and the Five Sisters of Kintail), the Ring of Steall is circular rather than point-to-point, so doesn't require two cars or a return walk along the road. It also crosses land which does not have access restrictions during the stalking season, when the weather in the Scottish Highlands is often at its best.

Although I have  walked extensively over the mountains and ridges of England and Wales, I have much less experience of walking in Scotland, where the mountains are bigger, the ridges narrower, and the routes longer and more committing. I decided to walk the Ring of Steall to get a taste of Scottish ridge walking, surrounded by some of the most dramatic and varied mountain scenery in the country.

There are a number of options to consider when attempting the Ring of Steall: clockwise or anti-clockwise? Quick brutal climb to the ridge or a longer, gentler ascent? Visit Munros off the main route (Stob Ban is a prime candidate)? I set out to do the route anti-clockwise starting with a short, steep climb to the ridge, and without any detours to visit extra Munros.

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Glen Nevis

Mid-september. I woke to a cool, clear morning at the Glen Nevis campsite, and, after a quick breakfast of cereal bars and coffee, drove up to the roadhead in Glen Nevis.

Nevis gorge

I followed a footpath through a wooded gorge along the River Nevis. The walls of the gorge have been carved into sinuous shapes by the river, and, lit by early morning sun, the gorge had an alpine feel to it.

Steall Falls and Glen Nevis

As I continued upstream, the gorge opened out into a flat, grassy glen with steep slopes on either side. An Steall, a huge waterfall that descends the side of the glen in a gentle curve, lay straight ahead, shaded by the peak of An Gearanach.

Steall wire bridge

I wanted to climb the steep wooded slopes on the south side of the glen, but to do so I needed to cross the River Nevis. Fortunately there is a bridge across the river that provides access to the Steall mountaineering hut near the base of the waterfall. The bridge consists of three wires - two for the hands, one for the feet - stretched tight across the river. I climbed on to the wires and edged a third of the way across. The anchors for the bridge are high on either bank; by the time you are out over the water, and the banks have fallen away, it feels like a long way up. The thin metal cord wobbled as my feet struggled to stay balanced. I began to speculate about the worst that could happen, despite having been in many more exposed situations, dangling in space on the end of a rope. I edged back to the start of the bridge, emptied my mind and hurried across.

Ben Nevis

From the bridge, I climbed straight up through the woods on the south side of the glen. As I waded through knee-high bracken my trousers became soaked with dew, and the boggy ground ensured that my boots were wet through. I passed the Steall hut and Steall Hut Crag, where  bolts, drilled into the rock and clipped with brightly coloured quickdraws, traced the lines of some of the hardest rock climbing routes in Scotland. Across the glen Ben Nevis was bathed in sunlight.

Sgurr a' Maim from the north

I emerged from the woods. Ahead lay Sgurr a' Maim, the first Munro of the day.The top is blocky grey quartzite, a rock which started out as sand, solidified into sandstone around half a billion years ago, and, subjected to heat and pressure during subsequent periods of mountain building, transformed into quartzite, a hard rock made of interlocking quartz crystals. I followed a faint path took me along a northerly spur of the mountain to the peak.

Stob Ban from Sgurr a' Maim

Sgurr a' Maim is a high point on one of the subsidiary ridges going north from the main Mamores ridge. Looking west from the top, I could see the rocky North face of Stob Ban, which is one of the peaks on the main Mamores ridge. For avid Munro baggers, Stob Ban is a short detour westwards once you reach the main ridge after descending from Sgurr an Lubair.

The Devil's Ridge

I descended to a col and then followed the Devil's Ridge to Sgurr an Lubair. The Devil's Ridge was narrow and rocky, but with a well-worn path that tempered the feeling of exposure. The views from the ridge were unsurpassed in every direction -  The great mass of Ben Nevis,  rocky tops of Glencoe and the Grey Corries, and, stretching away into the distance, the wild landscapes of the Inner Hebrides and Knoydart.

Mamores ridge

From Sgurr an Lubair I descended to join the main Mamores ridge and turned eastwards towards the next peak: Am Bodach, my second Munro of the day.  At this point the ridge was broad, grassy and lightly sprinkled with sharp, shattered, quartzite.

The Devil's Ridge and Sgurr a' Maim

Looking back from Am Bodach, I could see the Devil's ridge; a shallow-curved grey crest heading south from Sgurr a' Maim.

I startled a small flock of Ptarmigan on the slopes of Am Bodach. Chubby little birds in their grey-speckled summer plumage, they were well camouflaged amongst the quartzite scree and my -rather limited- camera on my phone was unable to photograph them clearly.

Ben Nevis capped with cloud

Ben Nevis had become capped in cloud like a gloomy cartoon. Big bad Ben indeed.

An Garbhanach from Am Bodach

I continued along the Mamores ridge, which, although steep and rocky, remained reassuringly broad. I crossed the peak of Am Bodach and climbed Stob Coire a' Chairn, the third Munro of the day. An Garbhanach and An Gearanach (the fourth Munro) lay ahead of me, connected by a narrow ridge. It had been a roller coaster walk from the wire bridge to Stob Coire a' Chairn - steep climbs followed by steep descents, all under the hot sun, had sapped me of energy, so I stopped to eat a handful of nuts and some oatcakes.  Up to this point I had seen a few people, all walking in the same direction as me, and though they offered polite hellos, it was obvious that they were keen to keep walking rather than stop and chat. In contrast Stob Coire a' Chairn was crowded with people relaxing in the sunshine. One couple told me that they hoped to enjoy a beautiful sunset on Sgurr a' Maim, but were concerned about dusk arriving before they had negotiated the Devil's Ridge.  I wished them luck.

Ridge connecting An Garbhanach and An Gearanach

The ridge between An Garbhanach and An Gearanach presents two options: a gentle scramble along the top of the ridge, or a footpath a few metres below. I followed the top of the ridge and enjoyed picking my way through the blocks and spikes of the crest, with a few hands-on moments to make things exciting. It was the most technical and exposed part of the route, with serious drops either side; I found it similar to, but longer than, the Y Gribin ridge above Cwm Idwal in North Wales.

Crampon scratches on An Gearanach ridge

The rocks on the ridge were deeply scratched by ice axes and and crampons. The previous two winters had been cold and snowy; under such conditions the Ring of Steall would have made a perfect winter day out for experienced and energetic parties.

Looking back to the Ring of Steall

Looking back from An Gearanach I could see the corrie that my route had circled. The landscape was tinted with the browns of the coming autumn.

At the base of An Steall

A steep descent from An Gearanach brought me to the base of  An Steall waterfall. Attempting to descend directly adjacent to the falls is best avoided - accidents have happened here. Instead I aimed for the corrie to the east of An Gearanach, where there is a good stalkers path, before turning westwards along the bottom of the glen to pass beneath the falls. At the base of the falls I tried in vain to find somewhere with enough dry rocks to hop across the stream on. After 10 minutes of searching I resigned myself to wading across. With trousers rolled to my knees and boots on to protect my feet from the sharp rocks on the stream bed, I plunged into the stream. The cold water flowed over the tops of my boots, refreshing my tired feet. Worth staying in for a little paddle, or continue the journey? Eventually I scrambled up the bank and followed a path back to the the wire bridge.

Scots Pine in Nevis gorge

Back over the bridge, a short walk through the Glen Nevis woods, and I was back to my car. Perfect weather, rocky peaks and airy ridges made this a day that I will remember for a long time. Indeed, the Ring of Steall, when the weather conditions are favourable (summer or winter), is probably one of the best days out the keen walker can have in Scotland.