For all non-rock climbing Munroists this is the day of truth - the Inn Pinn. Ben alternated between looking forward to it and dreading it, but with a good forecast I thought we might as well get it over and done with. The weather was almost perfect and we had it to ourselves. Firstly we made the ascent of the South ridge of Banachdich which is quite airy in places and Ben needed a bit of encouragement in a couple of places, so I was a little apprehensive about how we would fare on the Inn Pinn.. I needn't have worried. Its quite an intimidating place and as you breach the top of Sgurr Dearg, there it is - a tooth rising out of the mists. To save him worrying about it, we immediately slithered down the screes to the base of the saw-toothed ridge which soars improbably above. I set off just dragging the rope behind me until I got to a decent belay, then brought Ben and Simon up together. Ben clearly had no problem whatsoever and the broad grin on coming in to view said it all. Its an easy scramble from there to the summit block, where we could lounge around a bit with no-one else to worry about. The descent was a different story. Ben didn't want to abseil and as I had feared when it came to the lower-off, he found the sensation of dangling in space very unnerving. I abbed off first then Simon inched him down. In the end we just had to get on with it, but it only took 5 minutes or so for Ben to recover his composure and feel exhiliration rather than fear. So much so that the descent of the An Stac screes and the scramble back up to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich was accomplished swiftly and purposefully. We romped down the screes to end a wonderful day.
Monday, 18 April 2011
Sgurr na Banchdich, Innaccessible Pinnacle, Sgurr Mhic Choinnich
8.5 miles 1450m ascent, 9 hours
For all non-rock climbing Munroists this is the day of truth - the Inn Pinn. Ben alternated between looking forward to it and dreading it, but with a good forecast I thought we might as well get it over and done with. The weather was almost perfect and we had it to ourselves. Firstly we made the ascent of the South ridge of Banachdich which is quite airy in places and Ben needed a bit of encouragement in a couple of places, so I was a little apprehensive about how we would fare on the Inn Pinn.. I needn't have worried. Its quite an intimidating place and as you breach the top of Sgurr Dearg, there it is - a tooth rising out of the mists. To save him worrying about it, we immediately slithered down the screes to the base of the saw-toothed ridge which soars improbably above. I set off just dragging the rope behind me until I got to a decent belay, then brought Ben and Simon up together. Ben clearly had no problem whatsoever and the broad grin on coming in to view said it all. Its an easy scramble from there to the summit block, where we could lounge around a bit with no-one else to worry about. The descent was a different story. Ben didn't want to abseil and as I had feared when it came to the lower-off, he found the sensation of dangling in space very unnerving. I abbed off first then Simon inched him down. In the end we just had to get on with it, but it only took 5 minutes or so for Ben to recover his composure and feel exhiliration rather than fear. So much so that the descent of the An Stac screes and the scramble back up to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich was accomplished swiftly and purposefully. We romped down the screes to end a wonderful day.
For all non-rock climbing Munroists this is the day of truth - the Inn Pinn. Ben alternated between looking forward to it and dreading it, but with a good forecast I thought we might as well get it over and done with. The weather was almost perfect and we had it to ourselves. Firstly we made the ascent of the South ridge of Banachdich which is quite airy in places and Ben needed a bit of encouragement in a couple of places, so I was a little apprehensive about how we would fare on the Inn Pinn.. I needn't have worried. Its quite an intimidating place and as you breach the top of Sgurr Dearg, there it is - a tooth rising out of the mists. To save him worrying about it, we immediately slithered down the screes to the base of the saw-toothed ridge which soars improbably above. I set off just dragging the rope behind me until I got to a decent belay, then brought Ben and Simon up together. Ben clearly had no problem whatsoever and the broad grin on coming in to view said it all. Its an easy scramble from there to the summit block, where we could lounge around a bit with no-one else to worry about. The descent was a different story. Ben didn't want to abseil and as I had feared when it came to the lower-off, he found the sensation of dangling in space very unnerving. I abbed off first then Simon inched him down. In the end we just had to get on with it, but it only took 5 minutes or so for Ben to recover his composure and feel exhiliration rather than fear. So much so that the descent of the An Stac screes and the scramble back up to Sgurr Mhic Choinnich was accomplished swiftly and purposefully. We romped down the screes to end a wonderful day.
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