Yet another hectic year with work and travel but I managed to squeeze in lots of new Marilyns and a few Ultras. Here are a few of the highlights.
January: I did my first Welsh Marilyn, Waun Rydd, whilst on my way to Pen y Fan to get my second.
August: I ventured into the Arctic Circle with friends for a successful ascent of Kebnekaise, the highest mountain in Sweden. We had taken down jackets and warm clothes, but it was +24C. We headed up a side valley, crossed a glacier and climbed a via ferrata, before joining the tourist route for the final stage. It was a great mountain, thoroughly recommended.
September: This was the best bagging month for me. To get Boreray, Dun and Soay in fine weather and calm seas, using only two days of my holiday allowance, was great value. Later in September I had to go to southern Sweden for work, so I flew into Copenhagen, grabbed a hire car and made a 500km detour to nip up the highest point in Denmark with a friend. We did both Møllehøj and Yding Skovhøj.
October: I made my first trip to the Isle of Man and bagged all five Marilyns and a handful of Humps in a day before heading into North Wales for some more bagging, ending up in Liverpool on the Monday morning for work. A very productive weekend from northern Scotland.
November: Highlight of the month was a weekend trip to Gran Canaria, where I met up with Rob Woodall. In the gorgeous sunshine we tackled Pico de las Nieves. I had travelled with Ryanair carrying hand luggage only, in which I had a rope and a slimmed-down climbing rack. They were certainly needed. We had scant information as to the route up, but we found our way via a dead goat lying on a ledge, a couple of mantelshelf moves, and a chimney that had a huge red arrow painted on it. I occasionally had to climb down to remove protection so that I could re-use it. It would have been easier to have paid for hold luggage and a fuller climbing rack. The upper part of the chimney involved some awkward moves out from under a large overhanging rock. After that we cruised up to the summit then abseiled down. The route was approximately severe grade. Rob then ran off to bag some other peaks whilst I explored Gran Canaria.
December: No Marilyns, but a trip to Australia and New Zealand gave me two more Ultras and a P600 top. Mount Ossa is the highest mountain in Tasmania. Most people walk in for three days on the track, climb to the summit, then walk out for another three days. I had found that there was an alternative route that made it possible to nip in and out in just two days. Within 500 metres of walking into the bush, breaking spiders' webs on the way (remember that spiders bite and kill there), we came across a tiger snake on the path. It was a great peak to climb though, as it involved trekking through the Tasmanian rain forest then some scrambling higher up. I don't think that many people touch the true summit as it took me by surprise how difficult it was.
Thankfully I had carried in a 30m confidence rope, one sling and one karabiner. I threw one end of the rope over the 8m high summit block and tied it off around a huge boulder. I then went up the opposite side, protecting myself on this counterbalance rope. I'm glad I did, as I lost my footing at one point while descending and could have ended up very sore or very dead. I then travelled back to Melbourne, grabbed a hire car and drove up to the Snowy Mountains to attempt Mount Kosciuszko. The problem with Australia in summer is that it is hot and dry. On the day that I was going to climb Kosciuszko, there were 53 bush fires between me and the mountain, 17 of which were burning out of control. After getting advice from the local fire service, I drove a long way up some very hairy, unsealed roads and eventually got to the national park. I started up at about 2pm using the Charlotte Pass route, an 18km round trip. At the top I had a drink of wine whilst watching bikini-clad tourists celebrate getting to the highest point in Australia. This was my fourth of the Seven Summits lists. Carstensz Pyramid was a much more satisfying mountain to climb, but I was happy enough watching the girls in bikinis.
I then drove to Sydney and flew to New Zealand to spend time with my brother who lives there. Christmas was spent with his girlfriend's family but we bagged Mount Somers (P600), which has good views of Mount Cook. After Christmas we attempted Mount Tapuaenuku (2885m), the highest mountain in New Zealand outside the southern alps. We approached from the north up the Hodder river. This involved multiple river crossings; we probably did around 200. The mountain is covered in steep loose scree, and if it rains the river levels rise rapidly, making it difficult to get out of the area. We were short of time, and in bad weather and strong wind we turned back about 1.5km from the top and 500m below it. However, that col was still my high point for 2009.
At the end of December my Ultra total was 12, and I have now done the highest point in 17 different countries. Only 26 Marilyns to go to the Hall of Fame, which I hope to reach this year.
