Cioch West

Today I was out with Simon, David and Brian and some rock climbing was on the cards. Weather was good and dinner last night was even better so we were all full of energy. With a mixed group (experienced climber but done nothing for 20 years, indoor rock climber and another lapsed climber) we didn't want to push ourselves to hard especially as this was day 1 of 5. We went and climbed the classic Cioch west (Severe), first climbed in 1919. What a brilliant route, I had never done this route before but I will be keen to do again. It has some fantastic warm up pitches before the crux, an easy-ish crux (just a little exposed) and some excellent finishing pitches. From the top of the route we climbed Cioch Nose (VD) to the summit of the Cioch. From here we down climbed a wee bit the abseiled down the slabs and traversed back out to the scree's and descended back to the minibus where we met the other team who had just been up the Inn Pinn. Well done to the guys today, they all put in a great effort and I'm happy to announce that their cob webs are well and truly blown away. Ridge traverse tomorrow.....I think so!