Mountain CV
I'm going to Skye at the weekend, to spend some time with my parents and to do a section of the Cuillin with a couple of friends. We're going to try and link a couple of the cruxes (the Inaccessible Pinnacle and the TD Gap) in a day - the full traverse is apparently better attempted as a two-day trip. My Dad offered to hire us a guide, which struck us as both generous and sensible. Said guide asked us to fill in a form detailing our levels of mountain experience, and I thought I'd share:
Me
Hillwalking: 100+ 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons), some hillwalking in Eastern Europe.
Scrambling: Aonach Eagach, A'Chir traverse, Curved Ridge, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch in poor conditions.
Winter climbing: Ledge Route on Ben Nevis (seconded)
Rock climbing: about a year's experience, mostly indoors. A couple of multi-pitch outdoor climbs. Leads V.Diff outside.
Michael
Hillwalking: ~30 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons).
Scrambling: Curved Ridge, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch.
Winter climbing: Ledge Route (seconded)
Rock climbing: about a year, mostly indoors. More outdoor and multi-pitch experience than me. Leads Severe outside.
Philipp
Hillwalking: ~130 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons), plus summer hillwalking in Norway and on lesser Alpine peaks. Former competitive orienteer.
Scrambling: Aonach Eagach, A'Chir traverse, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch.
Winter climbing: guided ascents of two Alpine 4000m peaks by the normal routes.
Rock climbing: little recent experience, all indoors.
It was quite a fun exercise, writing it all out like that, and (like all such exercises) it's helped me to see both how much I've done and how much further there is to go. I've been consciously trying to push my grade a bit this summer, hence the A'Chir traverse and Curved Ridge, both quite challenging scrambles. I really enjoyed the winter climb I did back in February (a colleague took Michael and I up Ledge Route on Ben Nevis - great conditions, and lots of fun), and would like to be more au fait with technical terrain, ropework and general mountaineering skillz so I can get the most out of the coming winter climbing season. Sadly, the thesis (or rather, my inability to get anywhere with the thesis) keeps getting in the way.
By the way, I have a question of terminology: what counts as "mountaineering" to you? Any activity in the hills? Climbing hills whose summits are greater than a certain height above sea level? Anything involving a rope? Anything involving crampons? The intersection of the above? I veer towards the "intersection of the above" definition myself, and hence don't count what I do as mountaineering: it's either hillwalking, or it's rock-climbing. Stuff like Curved Ridge (where we were roped together, and mostly climbing with hands and feet) might count, I suppose. And what about the title "mountaineer"? I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a mountaineer - at best, I'm a hillwalker with ambitions to better myself. Maybe when I've done a guideless Alpine four-thousander or two.
My Munro-count has gone up by one this weekend, after a trip to Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Sgor na h'Ulaidh on Sunday (my best guesses at the pronunciation are "Ben Finlay" and "scorn a hoolie"). All the guidebooks, being aimed at people with cars, recommend approaching Beinn Fhionnlaidh from Glen Etive to the South, but sadly there's no public transport to Glen Etive. Instead, we got the bus from Glasgow to the Glen Coe Visitors' Centre, arriving at about 0930 (having left at 0710), then walked around Sgor na h'Ulaidh (which we'd previously climbed, on the single least pleasant day I've spent in the Highlands), dropped down to the valley on the other side, went up a ridge with some diverting scrambling and gained the summit of Beinn Fhionnlaidh at about 1400. We then decided that retracing our steps on the way back would probably take too long and lead to us missing our bus home, so we instead set off further along the summit ridge to the col¹ between the two mountains, with the intention of returning over the summit of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. The descent to the col was... interesting. Much steeper than it had looked from the valley, rocky, and with some tricky route-finding. Frequently you were presented with a choice between scrambling over slimy vegetation or loose rock. Philipp couldn't remember a nastier descent, but I thought our descent from Beinn Bhuidhe had been worse - his glasses had steamed up that time, so he couldn't see enough to get scared, whereas I had the additional fear factor of responsibility for a party member who couldn't see properly but who kept charging off into the mist anyway. I have, I'm sure, mentioned Philipp's attitude to safety precautions. Anyway, I can't recommend the direct line down to the col as a descent route; come off the ridge to the left earlier, and descend via the corrie. Steeper, yes, but it looks much more straightforward.
We reached the col by just after three (considerably later than we'd expected), and headed up to the summit of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. We'd had to lose about five hundred metres of height to get to the col, and we had to regain every metre of it and more. The last time we'd come this way, it had taken us over two hours to get from col to summit: this time, aided by my greater fitness (life gets so much easier after losing a stone of excess fat) and the less miserable weather, we made it in an hour and twenty minutes, though I was pretty tired by the time we neared the top and had to stop for a sandwich just below the summit. We headed back down on the Glen Coe side, but were unable to find the path we'd remembered. So we had to go over another mountaintop (Stob an Fhuarain, which is a Top but not a Munro), then along the ridge for another couple of kilometres before finding a way down a fairly steep rock-studded slope. Nothing like as nasty as the way down from Beinn Fhionnlaidh, though. We had finally managed to locate the fabled Clachaig Inn (turns out it's actually marked on the map, and we needn't have tried to interpret the garbled directions that friends gave us :-) ), but as we didn't get back to the road before 7pm, and our bus was at 7.40, we didn't get a chance to go for a restorative pint :-(
You can see our route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2100666 . Total distance a bit over 22km, in just under 10 hours.
Returning briefly to the subject of the dreaded thesis, I added an index this evening, and managed to add four pages with a couple of hours' work (bringing me up to 108 pages). I think it's a worthwhile activity: it's given me another pass over the whole thing, so I have a better handle on what's there; it'll be easier to find definitions when I'm looking at a printout; it should help the examiners; it'll help me to identify gaps; and it'll make it easier for me to demonstrate to my supervisor that yes, I do deal with that issue :-)
1 A col (also called a saddle, bealach or pass) is the lowest point on the ridge between two mountains, or, from the valley-dweller's point of view, the highest point you need to travel over to get from one valley to another.
Me
Hillwalking: 100+ 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons), some hillwalking in Eastern Europe.
Scrambling: Aonach Eagach, A'Chir traverse, Curved Ridge, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch in poor conditions.
Winter climbing: Ledge Route on Ben Nevis (seconded)
Rock climbing: about a year's experience, mostly indoors. A couple of multi-pitch outdoor climbs. Leads V.Diff outside.
Michael
Hillwalking: ~30 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons).
Scrambling: Curved Ridge, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch.
Winter climbing: Ledge Route (seconded)
Rock climbing: about a year, mostly indoors. More outdoor and multi-pitch experience than me. Leads Severe outside.
Philipp
Hillwalking: ~130 3000ft mountains in UK (all seasons), plus summer hillwalking in Norway and on lesser Alpine peaks. Former competitive orienteer.
Scrambling: Aonach Eagach, A'Chir traverse, North Ridge of Tryfan, Crib Goch.
Winter climbing: guided ascents of two Alpine 4000m peaks by the normal routes.
Rock climbing: little recent experience, all indoors.
It was quite a fun exercise, writing it all out like that, and (like all such exercises) it's helped me to see both how much I've done and how much further there is to go. I've been consciously trying to push my grade a bit this summer, hence the A'Chir traverse and Curved Ridge, both quite challenging scrambles. I really enjoyed the winter climb I did back in February (a colleague took Michael and I up Ledge Route on Ben Nevis - great conditions, and lots of fun), and would like to be more au fait with technical terrain, ropework and general mountaineering skillz so I can get the most out of the coming winter climbing season. Sadly, the thesis (or rather, my inability to get anywhere with the thesis) keeps getting in the way.
By the way, I have a question of terminology: what counts as "mountaineering" to you? Any activity in the hills? Climbing hills whose summits are greater than a certain height above sea level? Anything involving a rope? Anything involving crampons? The intersection of the above? I veer towards the "intersection of the above" definition myself, and hence don't count what I do as mountaineering: it's either hillwalking, or it's rock-climbing. Stuff like Curved Ridge (where we were roped together, and mostly climbing with hands and feet) might count, I suppose. And what about the title "mountaineer"? I certainly wouldn't describe myself as a mountaineer - at best, I'm a hillwalker with ambitions to better myself. Maybe when I've done a guideless Alpine four-thousander or two.
My Munro-count has gone up by one this weekend, after a trip to Beinn Fhionnlaidh and Sgor na h'Ulaidh on Sunday (my best guesses at the pronunciation are "Ben Finlay" and "scorn a hoolie"). All the guidebooks, being aimed at people with cars, recommend approaching Beinn Fhionnlaidh from Glen Etive to the South, but sadly there's no public transport to Glen Etive. Instead, we got the bus from Glasgow to the Glen Coe Visitors' Centre, arriving at about 0930 (having left at 0710), then walked around Sgor na h'Ulaidh (which we'd previously climbed, on the single least pleasant day I've spent in the Highlands), dropped down to the valley on the other side, went up a ridge with some diverting scrambling and gained the summit of Beinn Fhionnlaidh at about 1400. We then decided that retracing our steps on the way back would probably take too long and lead to us missing our bus home, so we instead set off further along the summit ridge to the col¹ between the two mountains, with the intention of returning over the summit of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. The descent to the col was... interesting. Much steeper than it had looked from the valley, rocky, and with some tricky route-finding. Frequently you were presented with a choice between scrambling over slimy vegetation or loose rock. Philipp couldn't remember a nastier descent, but I thought our descent from Beinn Bhuidhe had been worse - his glasses had steamed up that time, so he couldn't see enough to get scared, whereas I had the additional fear factor of responsibility for a party member who couldn't see properly but who kept charging off into the mist anyway. I have, I'm sure, mentioned Philipp's attitude to safety precautions. Anyway, I can't recommend the direct line down to the col as a descent route; come off the ridge to the left earlier, and descend via the corrie. Steeper, yes, but it looks much more straightforward.
We reached the col by just after three (considerably later than we'd expected), and headed up to the summit of Sgor na h'Ulaidh. We'd had to lose about five hundred metres of height to get to the col, and we had to regain every metre of it and more. The last time we'd come this way, it had taken us over two hours to get from col to summit: this time, aided by my greater fitness (life gets so much easier after losing a stone of excess fat) and the less miserable weather, we made it in an hour and twenty minutes, though I was pretty tired by the time we neared the top and had to stop for a sandwich just below the summit. We headed back down on the Glen Coe side, but were unable to find the path we'd remembered. So we had to go over another mountaintop (Stob an Fhuarain, which is a Top but not a Munro), then along the ridge for another couple of kilometres before finding a way down a fairly steep rock-studded slope. Nothing like as nasty as the way down from Beinn Fhionnlaidh, though. We had finally managed to locate the fabled Clachaig Inn (turns out it's actually marked on the map, and we needn't have tried to interpret the garbled directions that friends gave us :-) ), but as we didn't get back to the road before 7pm, and our bus was at 7.40, we didn't get a chance to go for a restorative pint :-(
You can see our route here: http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=2100666 . Total distance a bit over 22km, in just under 10 hours.
Returning briefly to the subject of the dreaded thesis, I added an index this evening, and managed to add four pages with a couple of hours' work (bringing me up to 108 pages). I think it's a worthwhile activity: it's given me another pass over the whole thing, so I have a better handle on what's there; it'll be easier to find definitions when I'm looking at a printout; it should help the examiners; it'll help me to identify gaps; and it'll make it easier for me to demonstrate to my supervisor that yes, I do deal with that issue :-)
1 A col (also called a saddle, bealach or pass) is the lowest point on the ridge between two mountains, or, from the valley-dweller's point of view, the highest point you need to travel over to get from one valley to another.