Back in the USSA

And now back in the states again. My last couple of weeks in Scotland have flown past, managing to get a bit of climbing done (yes there were sunny spells) a bit of Kayaking and even a two day trip down the River Earn with my Dad. Dad has lived over 40 years of his life somewhere in the Earn valley and wanted to explore the river (after an aborted attempt and a run in with a dead sheep/capsize last year). It was kind of the wrong time of year but we did get an amazing first day of sunshine through some amazing scenery, a cold night by the side of the river and then a whole lot of snow on the last day. The trip was great, to spend time with dad and also canoe a beautiful river so close to where I grew up.

Unfortunately as I was preparing to leave Scotland I found out that a good friend and colleague Travis Lizzotte passed away. Travis was living his dream and living life to the full and his loss to the world is immense. More on the amazing person Travis was can be found on the memorial page on Facebook. I am now back in the USA to work a 50 day Wilderness Educators course to start of another season with OBUSA. Finally time to work again, a bit of a shock to the system...

The put in for the River Earn (Comrie)

Paddling into the snow storm on the 2nd day
Ice in the pan, morning in the tent
Below the 1st portage (the weir up river swamped us)

An ancient monument - exploring a castle on the first day
Matthew pretending he isnt struggling! the final moves of the imaginately named "the arete"(E1) at the Hawkcraig
The Abseil into The Hawkcraig, Edinburgh
From left, Travis, Amber, me and Steve on prouty point in the sisters wilderness last summer

The Whirlwind. (end of grand canyon and beyond)

Already the grand canyon trip seems like a while ago but thats probably due to my laziness in not finishing the blog. We did eventually make it to Lake mead. Unfortunately Ryan left in a helicopter as he said he had an infection though its more likely that he just didn't want to do any of the flat water rowing. The last few days were crazy as the river cuts through the silt built up from the dam leaving big crumbling mud cliffs on either side. By this stage there was no power left in the river and the last few miles were tough, head down and get on with it rowing and trying not to focus on the 2 miles an hour boat speed. Suddenly the Japanese tourists in speed boats dont look so stupid. An early morning saw us pull into south cove take out to wash the gear and our ride back to civilisation but only after the driver had given us a full run down on a months news.

For me it was then a quick changeover straight from Flagstaff to see Becca in New York. It felt very strange to be back in "the real world" and definitely took me time to adjust though as soon as I was in New York, Becca whisked me up to Vermont where we house sat a beautiful old Inn for some people Becca used to work for and I got a quick tour of some of Vermont.

Then within a week another massive change back to Scotland and the wonderful Scottish winter. Rain that is. Since I've been back its been a whirlwind of catching up with people along with bits and pieces of walking, kayaking and climbing. Next up is a canoe trip down the river Earn with my dad.

Dont worry folks I will soon be back at work.......
Rowing into the Lake Mead eveningEarly morning sun across the Lake as we derig the boatsSome cold washing of boats (and people)The Whitford house Inn in Vermont Becca trying to avoid the camera on an icy cycle ride in New York

A sudden change. The New York Skyline from Central Park above and a storm rolling across Rannoch moor in Scotland

Scottish winter mountaineering at its best. Robin sheltering below Ben Lui

Whats so Grand about this Canyon? (part 2)

Having now watched the Lava falls video many times I'm pretty sure the boat comes out without the oar frame which means for any of you tightfisted scottish people out there there must be a free raft frame (aout $600) in the bottom of lava if you want it - go and get it.

So "the canyon". I'm not too sure how I ended up knowing how to raft, or even if I actually know how but here I was accepting the fact that I was meant to know what I was doing on a river running between 9,000 and about 15,000 cfs (thats 3-4500 cumecs for you people who like decimal) somewhere in the US of A. The Colorado River is dammed above Lees ferry by the Glen Canyon Dam and below by the Lake Mead Dam. Inbetween it is 300miles of the Grand Canyon with one access point about 80miles down where you can hike to the rim in about 5 hours a possible take out at Diamond creek (@ about mile 220) and a whole lot of rapids. The rapids on the colorado work a little differently from normail with basically anything around a 2+ to 3+ on the normal scale given a rating from 1-10. This suprisingly seems to work though as ever the guidebooks seem to have not graded some things which were definitely rapids while others seemed fairly inoccous.

Our plan was to raft from Lees Ferry down to South Cove on Lake Mead, taking 25 days and all our food and gear in 4 oar rigs. We outsourced to an outfitting company for our food, transport and one boat and Outward Bound (who most of us do or have worked for) kindly supplied the other boats. The trip was way more of an exploration than I think I expected with a lot of layover days to drink cofffee, play guitar and time to go for a wander around. The canyon itself was amazing, I would continually find that I had got sucked into staring at some impressive scenery to suddenly find that if I turned round that there was something as equally amazing all around. For me one of the beauties of the trip was that no-one knew more than 2 or 3 people and therefore the whole first 10 days just really felt like getting to know people. Also with it being winter there were no guided trips and we really only saw a couple of other people in the whole 25 days. Yes we took beer. Yes we it ran out near the end.

The good news is I managed to retrieve the deleted photos and most survived. The bad news is no videos. Anyway heres some more photos.

The gear piles up next to the snow in Flagstaff (with Eric in the photo)Unkar rapid (6) from above (the weather is about to change...)Yes we had a couple of cans of beerAnazasi granaries in the wall above the classic view of the river.Yes Ryan really is a big enough geek to play chess against himself. (2nd last layover day)Redwall cavernScouting lava falls, late in the (9)Jeff and Kai get the stove going after a late pull into camp (night 2 or 3)Jeff gets the right line almost perfect.. until the end. (Peirce ferry rapid) Kai tries to find a way around in a side canyon.You shouldn't really be able to do this. The raft that popped (day11?)Rowing into the evening light, lower river (below specter rapid)

Jeff at warp speed in specter rapid (6)

The Joy of the Unemployed (Grand Canyon part 1)

The year has started incredibly. From an epic new year across scotland with Robin I then got back to my parents house to hastily pack and jump on a plane to New York. After the usual abuse of a scottish new year (both the consumption and for my accent) it was great to be in New York with Becca who quickly changed my diet (dont worry folks i wasnt quite converted to veganism(okay so thats only funny if you know the difference between the average scottish diet and beccas!)). It was great to see some of New York (in 4 days!) with my own personal tour guide though our attempts to do any hiking were soon twarted by the ice everywhere. Very quickly it was time to leave and fly on to phoenix arizona. I thought I was being met there by Ryan and Kelly but as it turned out Ryan was still miles away. This meant that Kelly and I were going to stay with "grandpa" (Ryans Grandpa) I quickly realised, after warnings from both kelly and Ryan (on the phone), that this was going to be an experience. Really staying at Grandpas was great, kelly had leftovers in her truck which we ate so that we could tell grandpa we had already eaten, Grandpa talked to kelly most of the time while I pretended to be interested in American football, he only smoked 12 cigarettes in the evening we were with him, kelly only had to use her inhaler a couple of times in his house, he only swore at the TV a few times (including telling Bill cosby to get back to Mexico), he took us out for breakfast and promptly out ate us both(with whipped cream on everything) and the next morning we headed back into Phoenix to see if they sold new lungs. And then it was off to Flagstaff to meet the crew for the Grand Canyon rafting trip.

Unfortunately at this stage my photos are very limited as I am computer illiterate and seem to have lost most photos at this stage but I will see what i can do......... watch this space, some more posts to follow.

The crew, from left. Kai, Jeff, Caitlin (me behind), Sabari (Sage and Eric in front), Levi, Ryan, James and Timbah. (taken at Redwall cavern day 4 or 5)

The rafts tied up at camp, 3rd morning.

Ryan and Kai chilling on a Layover day (day something? maybe 7)

So while I desperately search for all the photos and videos i think i've lost above should be the famous "where are the people, take a photo" video of some folks running Lava falls (one of the biggest rapids on the grand canyon) taking the wrong line and paying the price. This will have to do till I can find the video of Kai getting the line spot on (river right is the correct line, these guys run middle and end up in "ledge hole") enjoy.....

Tourist in my own country

New year celebrations are never done to the same effect anywhere but in Scotland. Today is January 4th and I have just made it home. It was not all one combined party but rather lots of things tacked together (the good old tradition of first footing). After a mammoth family christmas I headed North with Robin on the 28th of December looking for snowy bits in the mountains. The first problem arose when we almost ran out of fuel getting up to Braemar and the second when we realised we only had four matches for two nights. The Third problem was that I used the last three matches trying to light the stove on the second night (in the Garbh coire of Bheinn a Bhuird). The fourth problem was that it was very cold and we kind of needed the stove to melt water (and cook dinner and breakfast) and the last problem was that my thermarest sprung a leak. All that aside the weather and remoteness of bheinn a bhuird was amazing and it felt very strange to be back in scottish winter and not in a white out. We then headed back to Braemar to join a massive crowd of people for hogmanay (new year) Impressively this lasted from the 30th to evening of the second with people even making it to climb hills and mountain bike inbetween the massive drinking sessions. Bob and I fitted in one day of rather scary ice climbing (the water was running underneath it and all the screws kept bottoming out after 5 cm). Robin and I then continued our road trip across scotland visiting friends and ending up at a massive local music session on Loch awe side with "big gill" (i should explain that gill is not big but is marginally bigger than "wee gill" (sorry big gill))Looking into the Central cairngorms from the North top of Bheinn a Bhuird Robin about to give the tent pegs a whack in the Garbh coire (for the climbers -the ice line about robins head is "the flume" (iv 4) the one to the left of it is a grade 2/3 and the far right of the picture is the bottom of mitre ridge (VS is summer or vi 6 in winter)Robin pretending he hasnt bust his ankle with the cairngorms in the background Some of the usual suspects - Ninian, Little Rich, Sue, Iona, Wee Ben, Stu, Bob, Paul and me on new years eve day. (taken by Jus) Little Rich celebrating his 100th munroWee Ben carrying his Paraglider above Glenshee (to later fly off Glas Maol)

One of many trips to the recycling

Frozen Heather A fragile state (bobs head as well as the ice as he proved by being sick on the first belay ledge!)
The joys of Scottish winter climbing - a 10cm screw tied off after 5 cm. Nothing like a confidence booster!

Its been strange and amazing to be back in scotland all at the same time. Whats most alarming is people asking where I'm from or not understanding me when I order drinks at the bar. It also feels weird to have no idea what things should cost and having to look carefully at notes to check how much they are worth. Amazingly the weather has really been the best thing about being home (as you might see from the pictures)(okay and the people) It is so unusual to get a high pressure system in winter when you want it and the only bad weather day was the 1st which gave an added excuse not to do anything too strenous with a hangover...........

One country, lots of systems

It feels hard to write about chinese sport climbing back in Scotland fully ensconsed in a family christmas but here goes. I finished work in Hong kong drank too many beers and ate too much food before hopping the border north into china. I jumped on a sleeper bus and was soon standing in the main street of Yangshou. It was 4 am. I wondered up and down the street in the dark until a kind fellow on a motor bike agreed to drive me closer to where i wanted to be for a mere 20rmb (2 pounds). Everything was closed. At this point I decided to sleep on a bridge in west street (where the climbers hang out) till dawn. This turned out to be pretty cold as i had forgotten to bring any trousers but it seemed the logical solution. That day after agreeing with myself (around 7 am just before the sun rose) that it would be a bad idea to do any climbing having not really slept i promptly went climbing. The first day was a bit of a shock as I was not really ready for the redpoint/projecting sport climbing mentality but i dragged myself up some beautiful climbs. The rest of my 9 days saw me teaming up with a variety of climbers including eben farnworth (who some of you should know). Eben and I went and climbed some good old fashioned trad and even managed to claim a first ascent of a big unclimbed (and obvious) crack line (2 pitch 5.10a (HVS 5a) Chinese Very Severe) Trad limestone in Yangshou is definitely more of an adventurous experience than an aesthetic one though it is a lot of fun to trundle massive blocks to scare the nearby sport climbers. Unfortunately the drill we hauled for the belays ran out of juice after one bolt but at least it backed up my belay that was crumbling everytime i shifted body position...... Essentially it was great to be out in a beautiful place, eat cheap food and escape hong kong. I am now back in scotland enjoying the family life. Trad Climbing ? (racked up and ready to go)

Why do i always have to lead these pitches? the final big wide crack.

Its a hard life but someone has to do it. The Li(?) river at sunset with some of the many towers

The first belay ledge with an excess of gear.

Drilling my first ever bolt with ebens shady chinese drill
Eben climbing above my high quailty belay.... you can see the quality of the rock below and to the right of the blue piece of gear...

No. It really is a hard life

Access, Yangshou style

Eben cruising up the 5.10b cracks of the birdman