Early season conditions, skipping uni, and an utterly brilliant mixed climb on a sunny day – is there a better way to enjoy life? The Message is a route I’ve had on my radar for a while – it looked spectacular, but rather difficult for me, and I was always a little nervous to get on it. Upon getting some beta from some friends (both very strong winter climbers), they advised me not loads else would be in good nick, and that the gear was very good. I. knew I was unlikely to fall – but I also knew I might choose to back off. I decided to give it a go – given the quality of the gear, if it stopped being fun, I could just abseil off for the price of a train ticket (we got the free bus, as usual!).
The day started with an inconvenience – the bus did not go all the way to the ski centre, so we hopped off at Glenmore and got an amazingly quick hitch to the car park. A short walk in, relishing the sun, followed.
Upon reaching the base of the route – I set off on the first pitch. An initial turfy section lead to an engaging and three-dimensional chimney, involving hooking blondly round a corner, stepping up, and then sitting down beneath an overhang – a series of moves only mixed climbing could offer! I could not stop smiling – the combination of positive hooks, and satisfying movement is pure joy.
I brought Milo up, and we both agreed that it had been an engaging pitch. The next pitch looked far more difficult. First, we had to overcome an initial corner which looked awfully delicate, followed by some thin slab climbing above.
The initial corner proved technically beautiful. I placed a perfect offset, before using thin feet and hooks to eventually bring a knee over the lip and mantle over – what an excellent section! The thin slab above proved engaging, first relying on laybacking a torqued axe to reach a resting point, afterwhich a step out to the right gave way to some shallow peg protected hooks with poor feet – I was wishing for monopoints!
The crux pitch was next – and I was nervous – but it proved straightforward (I found it easier than the previous pitch in these conditions). I established myself in the corner on good feet, before standing there perplexed – the feet vanished and good hooks above did not immediately appear. I placed a couple of pieces of gear, and after some conversation confirming I was indeed going up the right way, I launched upwards – standing on small crystals of granite.
Thump – a hook of dreams! A series of superbly positive hooks followed, enabling for progress up the groove despite the poor feet. What an excellent section of climbing!
The final pitch too – was joyus. An initial layback on a torqued axe gave way to a move of interest stepping round the corner. I grinned – the gear was good and the climbing was superb – I topped out grinning cheek to cheek and brought Milo up. What an excellent route and start to the season!
Oscar Outdoors 