Tintern Abbey, is a brilliant ruined construction, just round the corner from some great limestone crags in the Wye Valley. A sunny Saturday before the rain came in gave a sociable atmosphere at the bottom of Shorn Cliff. Completed three single pitch routes with Becky, including an unplanned adventure up the direct finish to No Musketeers.
Warmer and wetter - so we wandered up Glencoe's nipple in the driving rain for a spot of Soplica and cake on the summit. The ascent was helped by some poor navigational decisions through a woody bog, but luckily the views on the top were worth the climb...
It's not often you get to wild camp in an ancient lava field, waking up to views of a perfect volcanic cone. Erinna and I backpacked the three day loop of Mount Ngauruhoe, famous worldwide for its role as Mount Doom in the Lord of the Rings. Stunningly volcanic scenery, blue lakes, sulphur vents and beautiful sunrises. We opted not to climb the huge scree slope to the volcanic summit, which was a wise choice as we heard the screams of descending hikers dodging falling boulders on the steep path up and down.
On Monday morning I flew to Glasgow and by nightfall Ross and I had hiked our way up to the CIC Hut. Unsure of what the late season conditions would bring we opted for Tower Ridge and stormed the route in around 4-5 hour, moving together for much of the ground. Neither of us had climbed the iconic ridgeline before and it was in great shape with a bonus little ice pitch thrown in early on that we weren't expecting.
Two days of scrambling and training in the Lakes in preparation for the Altai expedition. Spent a day recapping rescue techniques at the foot of Gillercombe Buttress. Sunday was a bit wet for climbing on Pavy Ark, so we wandering up Jack's Rake then headed home.
Stupendous ridgeline ascent of Traunstein Südwest Grat with Matt Blackmore after waking from our bivy on the Barmstein in the morning. 500m of vertical climbing in just over 2 hours across some very atmospheric pinnacles and ridgelines, not bad for a man who twisted his knee six days before (Blackmore, not me)! The next day the winter snows arrived, what a way to finish the summer rock season.
