Today Jamie Bankhead, Rich Parker and I headed north-east from a wet Lochaber in search of dry rock. With Plans A & B to visit Duntelchaig or Glenmarksie crags still looking like damp squibs after smartly bypassing the former and optimistically driving to Strathconon to look at the latter, Plan C finally took us to Cummingston on the Moray coast, where climbing that’s steep, juggy, sandstone and ‘different’ (home of the overhanging Mod?) can be strangely compelling even for a delicate slab creature like me…
Not too surprisingly, we took it in turns to lead, with Jamie choosing Doubtless Wall (Severe), me taking the central corner (VS) of the logically named Left, Right and Centre trilogy and Rich attempting (and eventually backing off) the supposedly soft E2 of The Prophet. After which Jamie led Bombproof (Severe), I took Doddle Diedre (same grade) and Rich the spectacularly spiky neighbouring arete of Stegosaurus (VS), which I’d found striking enough on my only previous visit to say (after a single look, and despite not normally ‘doing’ steep) ‘I want to do that’ and done that day!
So it might have been a long way to travel for a few short climbs but, driving smugly back into the rain along Loch Laggan side after a very satisfactory chippy in Aviemore, I’ve no doubt we all felt it had been worthwhile.
