More Baggin'

I am so looking forward to Christmas. Over the past weeks we have been rushing about desperately getting all our visits in to friends and relations before Emily sprogs in the New Year. Fortunately the conditions for climbing or ski-ing haven't been THAT good. By that I mean perfect, and I have been able to enjoy trips down to London and the Peaks without an over-riding sense of missing out.

It hasn't been all travelling though and I have still managed my aim of a Marilyn a week. The forested Bin of Cullen was made slightly more interesting as darkness set in just after I reached the trig point during my torchless ascent. My other hill runs have taken me over Beinn Mhor near Grantown which is a great viewpoint for the 'Gorms...

... and Dungavel Hill convienently within striking distance of the M74 near Abington. At last I am getting to run in a place I have always wanted to and it certainly helps break up the long trog to and from Englandshire.

On the same day I was running in the sun in the Borders, we stopped earlier at Slochd to play in the snow.

Training has been difficult. With everything concentrating on speed I have been doing intervals and short, but hard, runs up to about an hour. I thought I had cracked the XC thing when I reduced by time from 125% at Dornoch to 116% of the winners time at Elgin. Unfortunately a slight runny nose, exacerbated by very frosty temperatures, made todays course at Forres (despite being very hilly which should suit me) very tough. It was really demoralising to feel so bad and not be able to hold a decent pace. Ah well, I have a month until the next race so I will be resting a wee bit to get some enthusiasim back.

A perfect Cairngorms day - Andromeda

I really wasn't that convinced by all the positive reports on the web going on about the fantastic winter conditions. So, I wasn't that fussed to be running a XC race on Saturday, which can only be counted at best as training as it was more a trail run. The weather didn't follow the forecast and it remained cold, grey and overcast. I was even less convinced when Steve called me about his and Kenny's climbing plans for Sunday. Going to the extreme of packing a book just in case the trip to the 'gorms degenerated into session in the cafe drinking coffee. We didn't even leave Inverness until 8.30. Sometimes it pays not to be so negative and when we arrived at the Corrie Cas carpark, it became rapidly apparent that the bloggers hadn't just being trying to justify their actions and drum up undue excitement. The only problem was there was too much snow for easy walking. I can never be happy!

After a brief route discussion in Corrie Nan Lochan we headed up to Andromeda (IV,4), hoping that previous climbers had cleaned off much of the loose snow. I was a bit apprehensive as I haven't really done that much climbing this year at all. The first pitch was scrappy and not well protected, but as soon as we headed to steeper ground the climbing and the protection improved. We took the very leftmost groove and the main pitch was probably the steepest climbing I have done in winter and I was over-joyed not to have taken any tension on the rope. There is something just so fun about mixed climbing and the weather, the company together with the sheer unexpectedness of getting some climbing done all made this into one of my most enjoyable days out.

The plateau was sun-drenched and still and for once there was no mad rush to pack all the kit away and get down. We ambled down Fiacaill Ridge just to stay in the sun. The easy climbing adding to what had already been a fantastic day.