My Blog
My Blog
Glen Torridon routes
I was asked why a climb was called Mechanical Sheep. The answer is below along with some other route names.
This is probably of no interest to most people.
Page numbers are from Northern Highlands South guide book (SMC).
P 201/202
Telegraph Pole E2)
Rock Agus Roll (E1)
Nematode (VS)
Che Guevara (VS)
Gondola (VS)
Had a bit of a gaelic theme, these were words I heard on the gaelic programs on BBC2.
Lysfoss (E2)
Is a 100m long ship that ran aground near Mull.
Photo above is Lysfoss, Tobermory on the left, lifeboat on the right, two people on the rock on the port side.
We are sure this big black crag is Creag Dubh an T-Sall but Andy does not agree, possibly because that is not exactly where it is marked on the map.
P 210
Two Bolts and Some Bailer Twine (E2)
Morris found the bolts wrapped up in twine on a shelf just above the base of the crag, they are probably still there.
P 219
No Brats (E2)
Rab seemed to have climbed everything, Yan found some rock that Rab hadn’t climbed!
No Brats is an anagram of Not Rabs.
P 220-224
Andy Had Fish and Chips for Tea (E1)
Andy wanted me to change the route name ‘Two Bolts and Some Bailer Twine’. He reckoned it meant nothing, it was just like saying ‘I had fish and chips for tea’.
Nasal Abuse ((E1)
I turned round quickly while abseiling the route and smacked my delicate little nose off the rock.
The Age of Confusion (E3)
We did some routes which I wrote up and gave to Stephen Kennedy but he ended up doing a couple of our routes thinking they were new (and getting different grades). We did this route after I worked out what had happened.
Mechanical Sheep (E2)
There was an advert on TV for car insurance filmed at Bealach na Ba, Applecross. A car came down the hill swerved to avoid a sheep and hit a tree. There are no trees so one was cut down at Loch Carron and moved there. The sheep was mechanical.
Off With Her Head (S?)
When I got to the top I went right to look for a belay, I was trailing ropes which pulled off a block, it nearly killed Louise.
Porpoise Scandal E1)
A porpoise jumped onto a fish farm net, so died. Norwegians working there cooked a bit of it. That was considered barbaric by some environmental expert. I think putting a porpoise into landfill is barbaric.
Apparently it was very good and tasted like whale.
P 231-233
Torridown Man (E2) (sort of highland Piltdown Man).
A Million Years B.C. (E1)
There is an old structure at the crag so I wanted an ancient man theme but the frog bin theme won.
The Great Brush Robbery (E4)
We stopped at the garage in Loch Carron and Yan ‘borrowed’ a wire brush, after he cleaned the route there wasn’t much brush left so he didn’t go back. I was the getaway driver.
Thursday, 20 June 2013