An absolutely glorious day out on Beinn Alligin to finish off 2015 in spectacular style. Days like this remind you why ignoring MWIS and getting up at 6:30am to climb in Scotland is so worthwhile.
We took a chance the rain would clear and were rewarded with a fine day at Shepherd's. Cat was quite new to outdoor multi-pitch so we climbed Ardus and then Crescendo which both featured fantastic final pitches.
Napes Needle is a fairly iconic pinnacle but Cat and I were quite glad to simply get up and down again. The forecast rain arrived as swirling spindrift which made the down-climb of the final pitch decidedly tricky.
Clay and Cat took me out for my first road bike ride, a casual 20 mile route taking in Winnats Pass. I later found out its one of the top 20 hills in the country, which made me feel better about getting off a few times for a breather.
The snow had melted, but the winds were still blasting the crags with freezing swirling gusts. Hen Cloud was another poor choice of crags on a blustery day but myself, Steve and Erinna still managed to tick off a couple of Classic Rock routes before hiking over to the Roaches for a third on the Upper Tier. An enjoyable first day of 2015!
The weather was freezing cold. The winds were cold and biting. Determined to get a climb in, we headed up to Castle Naze (poor choice) and battled up two fairly mundane routes. Then went for a walk.
