Realm of the Senses |
| Date: 13/09/08 Submitted by: Iain Miller Once more myself and the humble, but tetchy Gri-Gri find ourselves at the An Port road end. The original object of todays activities was immediately abandoned due to monstrous southerly motion, Neptune had indeed "entered the building." Approx 300 meters directly out to sea from the road end is a perfect 20+ mtr tower of black rock, no monster walk in! HURRA! Launched the boat from the road end slip as a large group of hilwalkers assembled out of nowhere, ate sandwitches, drank tea and watched in silence as a solitary clown paddled into the distance. The route to the stack was a long winding one as I had to use the lee of the enroute stacks to avoid the violent southerly motion. Upon arrival at the cauldron which seperates the 4 seaward stacks it was all very atmospheric as approx 50 meters all round me monster waves battered the southern faces of all 4 stacks, there was also no way I could land on "Stumpy" of "Chubby" the two most distant of the 6 stacks. What to do....What to do...... And up popped a diver, don't know who was more surprised, him or me, and up popped another one, they didn't look particuarly pleased to see me and as they were wielding spear gun's, I pressed on. Landed the boat on the North side of the 50 mtr bad boy at GR546893, the route to the summit took the center of a superb ramp and through a steep wee rock scar (lightening strike?) and up primary jungle/rubble to an exposed wee summit. Built a cairn and down climbed to the mighty vessel. Rolling Thunder, 80 mtr, V.Diff, was the road to success. Launched the boat back into the cauldron and paddled North to land on the East face of the "classic wedge" stack at GR545894. Climbed up the center of the landward face, pulled over onto the seaward ramp and swiftly padded to another exposed summit. The summit block of this beast had defo suffered a lightening strike, so I beat a hasty retreat and down climbed the route to the boat. Fortitude in Distress, 40 mtr, V Diff was the result. Immediately to the landward side of this stack "Twin Arch Stack" lives and contains two superb sea arches one through each each of it's legs. Landed the boat on the eastern tip of the south face, using the lee of Rolling Thunder. scrambled up the SW face and up through a very exposed wee totter and on to the exposed pin point summit. Built a cairn and grovelled my way back to the mighty vessel. Twin arch Stack 40m V. Diff was the result of this foray. Paddled through the southern sea arch and along several superb wee channels, constantly aware of the deafening roar of the southerly seas. Landed the boat on the western end of the ominous looking stack which overlooks the road end. GR547893. Climbed the west face, up superb rock and a grassy ramp to another superb exposed summit. Built a cairn and down climbed the east face/ramp. Reclimbed the eastern face as a sea level traverse back to the boat looked monsterous. Thus by default, down climbed the western route back to the boat with major concerns. :-( :-( Realm of the Senses, 50 mtr SVRish was the western face and an 80 mtr Moderate climbed the eastern face. Felt I had now most defo pushed my luck as far as possible, so an atmospheric paddle through the tidal surge back to the road end slip was made. Excellent, Mish Moneypenny! Five hours, 4 stacks and many, many moments of mild concern, at the hands of an increasingly tetchy Neptune, today had probably pushed the envelope of what was possible in a small inflatable dingy and a single paddle! :-) Cha Cha Soloing, it's not big it's not clever and only the divers can hear you scream. :-)
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