Limestone and schist

At the weekend i had two sessions up at Warton on poison and met up with the elusive Mike Binks at Shucks lair. The sessions on poison went well and it should go soon. I managed the problem in two overlapping halves but didn't have enough juice left in me to get the tick. By the time I met Mike at shucks i was pretty spent and struggled to climb much at the lair although it was good to go to a new spot and eye up some new projects to get ticked.
Last night I head North to kippen to see Sully, Jeeka and there new baby Charlie. A cute little girl who fortunately is no where near as ugly as his dad and taken on her Mum's good looks!
This morning Sully and I managed to sneak out for a bit of a session. Sully suggested the Loch Katrine circuit in the trossachs. This was a spot I have wanted to visit for a while after seeing a photo of Pete on the problem fight club so very little persuasion was needed
The boulders are situated above the southeast basin of Loch Katrine on the path to the Bealach nam Bo. The boulders are described as some of the best mica schist in the Southern Highlands, granitic and rough in texture, with good landings and a fine outlook.
Well i wasn't dissappointed with the outlook:

but although the boulder faces were dry the top outs were very wet and slimey a bit disappointing. We got stuck in anyway and started climbing. First up was the easy left arete and then a nice technical wall problem called mind trick. I managed this second go but the top out was a little sketchy with a film of horrible green slime. Sully got it soon after showing his long lay off had not allowed him to forgett good technique .

I then threw myself at Jawa. Definetley a sand bag at the grade (or I have very little technique ). The problem has one long positive hand rail about half way up the wall, shit feet and then the top. From what we could work out you pull on matle the rail and use some extreme leg flexing to get your foot next to your hands. This is the point I kept getting to but couldn't get my foot on the rail. After twenty goes and then checking out the damp top out I sacked it off.

Next up was the cool arete of HB. Sully gave me a run through on the beta and a bit of a demo. I pulled on, ignored his beta and managed a flash. Cool!

Next was the problem tourist trap. The cool arete left of HB. I pulled on made the big move to a flatty, thought it was all going well and then managed to get myself trapped before I could move to the good hold at the top of the arete. A few more goes and a suttle foot change and I was freed and able to dangle off the good hold. The only problem now was topping out on to a horrible green and slippy boulder. A bit of engouragement, drying, brushing and ' you can't take the tick unless you top out looks from sully' I maanged to sketch myself over the top. A great little problem worth the walk in! Sully looked solid on the start pull and another month in his climbing shed and i think he will piss this.

Tourist Trap a two star problem good lime, nice moves but bad ish landing

As time was getting on and we were only out for a 'bit' it was time to head back towards the car but on the way was the ace looking problem of Fight club. As i said earlier i wanted to try this problem ever since seeing a photo of it on sully's blog. The moves looked cool. As Pete got it second go back in 2008 I wanted to flash it. Unfortunatley conditions weren't great, with things being a bit damp and it took me a few goes to get it in the bag. BUT looking in the guide it seems Pete had done it wrong and had missed the ace starting moves out, so i set to work and linked the full problem from the ledge, past the incut trangular hold and up the slopers to a very damp and wet top out. A brilliant three star problem and one of the best 6c+'s i've done. Awesome!

Despite the damp a great little session and good to climb with the new father that is Sully. Good luck mate and keep the shed sessions up!