Land and Sky merge

The plan was to go winter climbing but I wasn't sure what state Loz would be in on his arrival as it had been his Birthday party the night before.

The Mess of Pottage area

He arrived and respectably requested that I drive as he felt a wee bit delicate and hadn't slept well...

land and sky merge

Again we headed to the Northern Corries as it seemed a safe bet. We had a rough plan of climbing 'The Message, IV, 6' on the Mess of Pottage but this plan looked in doubt until the very last minute as lots of teams (well maybe 6) were swarming the area.

Loz on the top corner

But leaving the route choice to the last minute it all worked out with only one team ahead and the other teams on neighbouring routes we got on it as planned.

Another team topping out

I lead off in a wild frenzy of a Blizzard, but the weather settled for the remaining pitches. It was never particularly good weather as you will see from the pictures and my camera got pretty wet on the rare times it came out.

Happy on top!

The route was amazing! Every pitch was good, and the 2 corners were just a joy to climb on great hooks. A thoroughly enjoyable day, only slightly marred by slipping on the icy path in the dusk 1/2 a mile from the car and spraining my ankle :-(. I'm hobbling today but don't think its broken and it was worth it to get the best route on the Mess of Pottage in!