Erinna wanted to explore a new part of Austria so I thought it time we headed to the wild towers of the Wilder Kaiser. A very misty first day made for an atmospheric scramble up to the col at Kleines Törl.
Some people do marriage courses before they get married. We do klettersteig courses.
Our final day of climbing on Mingulay. Clay and I abseiled into Lower Cobweb Wall, which took almost an hour due to the complex route finding issues on the final free-hanging section. Once down, we set off up Cuan a Bochan, but the final groove of the first pitch was too much for me and I fell off (a couple of times). Luckily, Clay took over and smashed his way up through this, and the even harder moves above on pitch 2. We topped out after taking about six hours to go top-to-top, very hungry and happy. A fun, challenging end to a very good week of UK trad.
What a day of climbing. The Arch Deacon is an incredible, guano filled line that traverses the lip of an enormous roof. Definitely the most amazing belay either of us have ever sat in. The whole day out was very sociable, with Casper and Sally close by, so we finished with Razorbill Roofs just to the side. Another great line through a couple of steep roofs.
Our third day on Mingulay and we were finally getting a feel for the climbing here. We rigged an abseil at Guarsay Mor on Al's dad's very stiff old rope, then climbed two great lines just to the right of the big roof: Alzheimer's Groove and Guanomala City. Thw weather was much improved but there was a heavy swell, resulting in some nervous belaying on pitch 1 and a careful choice of starting stance.
Day 2 on Mingulay, and even wetter weather to wake up to! A disappointing walk over to the far west was followed by a more profitable trip to one of the sheltered eastern Geos. We didn't start climbing until around 4, but still got three routes in, including my first E point in some time!
