Black Mount

One of the best days I've had in the hills for a log time traversing the Munros of Stob a Choire Odhair and Stob Ghabhar from Victoria Bridge. I skinned from just above the small climbing hut as far as the steep bit going up Stob a Choire Odhair. The west ridge was ski-able in places but mostly scoured off.
I wasn't sure about continuing on to Stob Ghabhar but luck was with me and I bumped into Jamie Bankhead (whom I'd never met before). He lead me up the optimum route onto the Aonach Eagach which was quite steep near the top, crampons and ice axe essential. We continued on over the narrow section to reach the short climb up to the summit of Stob Gharbar.
A short Way down the south ridge I clipped into the awkward longs things that had been catching on rocks for the past hour or so, and (with slight feeling of guilt), left Jamie to trudge on while I linked it together all the way back to the corner of the plantation. A long rewarding descent after all that carrying.
To be fair, snow condition weren't that good being either icey or heavy slab with breakable crust, but the weather made the day. This is an area I don't know well and I'm looking forward to future trips and maybe the long traverse through to Meall a Bhuiridh.
No problems with the H. Beginning to feel more confident about out in the hills on my own again.

 

Heartside

Skied South from Heartside Pass in Cumbria for a few kilometres towards Cross Fell. Plenty of snow but no base so it was quite hard work. The full tour to Cross Fell and back would have been a long day. Great to be out in the hills. Bumped into Ron Kenyon on the way out. No problems with the H.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Fairfield

Took the heart fell walking in the Lakes. Beautful weather for a change. I was planning to keep my BPM below 140 but got a bit competitive going up Fairfield and ended up in the 160 range. Still, no problems but it took a long time to regain resting pulse after getting back to the van.  I'm guessing he's still feeling a bit bruised after being poked and frozen just over five weeks ago.

Suspecting that I might have a problem, I kept a log of AF symptoms for 12 months prior to getting diagnosed. See below:

St Sunday Crag

Dove Crag and High Street in the background

Dollywaggon and Helvellyn

 AF Log

July 2013. Got strange ectopics starting a walk from the top of a cable car in the Alps. Only lasted a couple of beats (big ones) but made me stop in my tracks. Same thing happened  the next day. For the rest of the trip started walking very slowly at the start of the day.

23/07/2013. Fractured back L3 in climbing accident.

August 2013. While recovering from back injury developed multiple ectopics whenever heart rate got above 120bpm. Went to see cardiologist (Dr Swan) privately in Rochdale. He did echocardiogram and said no problems. He also did tread mill test, ectopics kicked in at 120. Test was stopped and cardiologist said I might have coronary heart disease. Went to see my GP in Aviemore with letter from DR Swan. Arranged to have follow up tests locally on NHS. Symptoms did not reoccur

December 2013. Got AF symptoms in gym. Felt like ectopics every other beat. HR jumped to at least 20 above what I would expect for exercise level. (Did not actually know it was Afib until 9/07) Warmed up very fast because feeling fit. Lasted a few hours.

April 2014. Went for treadmill test to NHS Raigmore, Inverness. Managed to stage 5 of Bruce Protocol without any problems. Some ventricular extrasystoles in stage 2 which abated as exercise went on. Dr Clarkson said he was confident I did not have coronary artery disease.

May 2014 Had a couple of strange episodes first thing in the morning. Felt dizzy, faint and agitated. I could feel ectopics. One of which caused a panic attack. Went to health centre but ECG was normal. Was told to lay off coffee and alcohol.

15/05/2014 Got AF symptoms on treadmill at gym. Warming up too fast. Lasted 3-4 hrs.

31/05/2014 Cycling on logging tail with Pat. AF symptoms started with a flutter. Kept cycling over Ryvoan to Dorback. Seemed to ease during the ride. Lasted 3-4 hrs. Suspect coffee at Druie was the cause.

03/06/2014 Tuesday night ride up Meal a Bhuchaille. Very steep start from cold. Heart rate went up very fast. Got suspected AF. Lasted until 10pm.

15/06/2014 Felt very tired and dizzy in morning. Went for walk, which helped. Felt better in afternoon and had bike ride with Pat.

16/06/2014 Had big training day. Gym, run in woods, cycling with Pat. Felt fine but started with multiple ectopics in the evening when cycling up steep hill. Might have pushed heart rate too much too soon a start of the ride.

18/06/2014 (Had two pints as test night before). Went for run up ‘The Hill’ in the morning. Got spike in heart rate as it reached 150-ish after around 20 mins of running. All the usual feeling in chest and dizziness. Thought AF was going to set in but it settled as soon as I turned back downhill.

09/07/2014 Went walking/running in Cairngorms. Got an AF attack half way up the March Burn 2.5-3hrs out. Heart rate around 140 at the time. Hadn't drunk or eaten much. Happened shortly after a 10 min rest where heart rate would have dropped to normal and then been pushed back up very quickly. Decided to continue up rather than come down, hoping it would pass. By the time I reached level ground heart was above 180bpm. Felt grim. No phone signal. Eventually walked very slowly up to MacDui path and headed back. Heart still between 186 and 160bpm. Took a couple of hours to get back to the car park. Went straight to health centre who confirmed AF. Suspect I might also have had AFlutter at that point. Night at Raigmore, converted to NSR around 5am with help from amiodarone.

The Following Week. Had some ectopic/PVCs/PACs (not sure which) everyday but gradually feeling better. Woke with what might be A- Flutter on a two mornings, disappeared in less than a minute in both cases

15/09/2014 Over the last few weeks I have had minimal ectopics during the day or before going to sleep. I have been exercising up to about 150bpm which seems fine so long as I warm up VERY slowly. Walking up hills from cold brings on a feeling of pressure in throat/chest followed by faint ectopics. Almost feels like my heart won’t respond to the increased demand. This is the feeling I got back in August 2013 when I went to see Dr Swan. See Alivecor printouts.

10/2014

Had two further AF attacks, both exercise triggered with where converted with 'pill in the pocket' propafenone.

11/2014

Stayed very quiet on the exercise front not wanting to induce AF prior to my procedure at the London Bridge on the 19th

First Ski

Took the heart out for a short test run at The Lecht. I skinned up to the ridge behind the tows to where you can view magnificent terrain rolling out towards Ben Avon. Really didn't think I would be back in the hills so soon even if it was a very modest excursion.

Everything seemed to be working well (touch wood). In fact, without pushing my BPM above 130, I don't think my whole cardio system has felt so relaxed for years which makes me think that the short circuit that caused AF had been hampering my fitness for a long time before it developed into full blown AF attacks.

Something else that's changed is my resting BPM is back up to 60ish as opposed to 50ish pre ablation. I'm pretty sure that's where it was back in my early years when I was really fit. I wonder if the substrate that develops to transmit the unwanted electrical activity from the pulmonary veins had been suppressing the natural rhythm of the sinus node for many years. Hopefully the rouge cells will have a ring of scar tissue encircling them soon.

A Becks and a fag at the Lecht

Atrial Fibrilation

A couple of days ago a truly amazing young guy called Professor Richard Schilling inserted a catheter through a small slit in my groin and up the vein into the right atrium of my heart. He punched through the thin wall into the left atrium and proceeded to freeze rings around the four pulmonary veins that enter the heart. The following morning I walked out of London Bridge Hospital took a taxi to Euston and the train home.

I suspected there was a problem with my heart rhythm last year but it wasn't until July this year when I was lying in the small hollow at the top of the March Burn with a pulse of 186, that I knew I was in trouble. I managed to get back to the main MacDui path and descend slowly until I met a couple who escorted me back to the car-park. Once at the health centre they confirmed that my heart was in arterial fibrillation and sent me to Inverness for cardioversion which involves intravenous drugs to return the heart to normal rhythm.

Arterial fibrillation is the most common heart rhythm problem and effects 1% of the population. It is slightly more common in endurance athletes. Cyclist seem to have more of a problem than other sports but that might be just down to reporting. Male, mid fifties is the classic time to develop the disease but it can happen at any age.

Symptoms included breathlessness and dizziness which can be alarming yet some people are totally unaware they are in AF until they have a chance ECG. The other great news is that it gets worse. If you have one attack you are more likely to have a second then a third and so on until you are in permanent AF. AF begets AF.

The Shard from my posh room at The London Bridge Hospital

Treatments included rhythm control drugs, rate control drugs and the procedure I describe above called catheter ablation.  Most people start down the drugs route which may work for a few years but they have side effects. Catheter ablation is the only way of stopping the disease in its tracks but success varies and it is unclear as to how long it is effective for.

The NHS response to my ‘new’ problem was to give me pills that I could take when I had an attack; the ‘pill in the pocket’ solution. These did return my heart to sinus rhythm (normal rhythm) but suppressed my heart rate so much I couldn't walk up hills anyway so, next to useless in a mountain environment. I inquired about ablation but was told that I would have to try the drugs first.

The rest was pretty straight forward. I did a bit of research, found the number one AF guy in the UK and made an appointment. Richard Schilling was rather more upbeat about my prospects. With lone AF (nothing else wrong) he gave me an 80% chance of a cure with the first ablation and 95% if I needed a redo. He even said I was a “slam dunk’ for cryoablation! My health trust wouldn’t fund the ablation so I parted with some cash and got the job done ASAP. Fingers crossed now and hope that its all worked.

I’ll post some more on AF in the coming weeks but here are some useful links if you think you might have it.

The AF Association
The London AF Centre
Dr John - A cyclist and AF expert based in the US

The top European AF experts discuss the latest treatments

Longest Day Ski

Went out with Rob and Neville on the evening of the 21st (longest day), to see how much snow was left in the Ciste Gully. Quite a lot! There's probably a 300M strip which must be at least 3 or 4 meters thick in places. It will make a great base for the first winter snow if it manages to hang on through the summer.

Dirty old snow

Loch Morlich in the distance

Approaching through the remains of the Ciste chair lift

Winter Round Up

Not a great winter for touring. Huge amounts of snow in the Cairngorm ski area at times while the plateau was completely bare. Wind was the overwhelming feature of the whole winter period with just a couple of settled high pressure spells.

I spent most of November/December battling up to the Ptarmigan in dreadful conditions, lured on by the prospect of a fried egg roll and a chat with the ‘Hill’ maintenance guys. I even got the train down a couple of times, it was so grim.

The theme for the early part of the winter

With no end to the bad weather in site I bailed to Les Gets with Mike, Malcolm and John. Great conditions over there with some fantastic deep powder day.


My first significant tour wasn’t until 24th Feb when I traversed the west Dromochter hills from Geal-charn to Meal na Leitreach (see previous post). Despite great snow conditions the mist was down the whole way requiring some tricky navigation around the summit plateaus.

A week latter I traversed the east Drumochter hills from south to north on nordic skis. There was huge amounts of snow in the vast bowl that feeds down towards Sronphadruig Lodge.

A few nice afternoons in early March allowed Pat to sample the delights of Scottish ski touring. Lurcher's (of course), was her first journey outside the ski area. Like cycling, she prefers ascending to descending and likes it best when there’s no one else around, which isn't difficult to achieve.

Pat braces against a big gust on the way to Lurcher's

There were a few days of settled, and very warm weather in mid March. I booked a flight to Malaga the day before the forecast updated to high pressure. Despite feeling slightly frustrated that I was heading in the wrong direction I had a great trip to the El Chorro area with Cog and Cynthia.

Climbing at Turon

My last long tour of the season was along the ridge from Carn Liath to Creag Meagaidh, then on to Beinn a Chaorainn. I would liked to have continued on to Beinn Teallach but the snow line was too high.

Trackless travel between Craig Meagaidh and Beinn a Chaorainn

And the back? Amazingly good considering its only a few months ago that I could barely walk. Strangely enough, all my other long term back and pelvic stiffness has completely disappeared. Rob Edmond was telling me about some new research into back injuries which suggests that a general anesthetic may have a more beneficial effect that the actual surgery because it completely relaxes every muscle in the body. Several days on morphine can have a similar effect. I’m wondering if that’s why my old injuries seem to have disappeared (for now at least).

I don’t have any trips planned at the moment. I’m enjoying work and generally taking each day as it comes while not forgetting the frustration of lying in a hospital bed on the evening of July 23rd when I could have been down the pub having a drink with my wife.

West Dromochter Circuit

I manged to take advantage of a break in the weather to get round the Drumochter Munros west of the A9. Despite the relatively mild temps there's still loads of snow above 500M; just a 20 minute walk from Balsporran Cattages to reach skin-able snow. Touring conditions above 700M were really good with a light covering of fresh snow on a firm base. Unfortunately the clag stayed down all day which meant that navigation on the narrow summit plateaus of A'Mharcnaich and Sgairneach Mhor was tricky and time consuming. There was continuous snow cover for the long run off Sgairneach Mhor to the bridge in Coire Dhomhain.

I tried unsuccessfully, to hitch back up the A9; the walk wasn't too bad in TLT 6's. A bike would have been useful. The whole trip took about 6hrs including the walk back up the A9.

Looking towards the A9 from Sgairneach Mhor

Carn Liath

I had a drive west in search of some soft snow. The Cairngorms look good from a distance but they are very icy right now. Probably good for climbing but terrible for ski touring.

Creag Meagaidh was plastered but I kept driving to Fersit. Surprisingly there seemed to be less snow on the hill around Loch Treig so I procrastinated for a bit before driving back to Aberarder. If I'd had an earlier start the Creag Meagaidh circuit would have been possible. As it was already 11am and the weather was changing I settled for Carn Liath; the shallow south east coire just east of the summit looked like it might have some good snow. I followed the main Coire Ardair path for a couple of K's before cutting steeply up right and onto the ridge west of the summit. There was some very nice fresh snow on the descent and I managed to heather hop down to about 450M. A quad track gets you back to Aberarder farm.

Hyslops

It was 'Themselves' 65th wedding anniversary yesterday (18th December). We went down to the Bluebird Cafe for lunch; Mum, Dad, Jen and me.

The weather was typically wild for the time of year with wind and rain lashing up the lake from the south. It was a better day in Ambleside 65 years ago.

Rememberance Day

My Dad on his way to the Remembrance Day service in Conistion.

Waistcoat bought at Binns, Carlisle 1962. Irish tweed Jacket bought at Andrew Houston Ltd., Bank St,  Carlisle 1965. WW2 campaign medals.

He served on the v-class destroyer HMS Venus, in the Mediterranean, and spent time in Cyprus and Haifa, Palestine.  He was involved with British Government's attempt in trying to stop the Jewish 'Exodos' from Europe after the war which was later countermanded by the US Government.

At the age of 19 he got the opportunity to bring HMS Venus into Malta Harbour because the Royalty Petty Officer was too drunk to do it himself! This was no mean feat as the harbour was full of sunken ships after the epic Siege of Malta.

William Mansell Hyslop

HMS Venus

Bombing damage in Valletta, Malta

Broken Back

I had a brilliant trip to Spazzacaldeira with John Topping. We were both moving well on the long granite routes which all involved multiple abs to get off. Any kind of error on the descent would have been fatal. A few days later, back in Aviemore, I did something stupid while abseiling to retrieve some gear and fell 3M onto my back. Don’t ask me what I did wrong, I’m sick of telling the story. Suffice to say it was one of the most common errors.

Moving well. John Topping at Spazzacaldeira

I knew immediately that I’d properly hurt myself. It's all still a bit raw to talk about but I managed to write a log once I'd been stabalised in hospital. Here are the first few days:

Tuesday 23rd

Hit the ground hard. Immediate pain in lower back. Tried to stand and get harness off but only managed to undo main buckle. Eddie goes to road to get a phone signal while I'm hyperventilating with the pain and swearing a lot. Try to drink but can't get water to my mouth between breaths. Worrying spell where my arms went completely numb but eventually regained some feeling. Calmed down a bit and seemed to be controlling the pain with stomach breathing.

The ambulance guys arrive with gas and air which doesn't help much.  They get a line in and inject morphine which also has a fairly disappointing effect. They check my spine and can't find any breaks or direct pain by pressing on vertebrae. Eventually get me in neck brace and back board. More morphine and a carry out directly down through the woods to the road. Much swearing from me. More morphine in the ambulance before we set off which is starting to have  discernible effect. Trying to work out how close we are to Inverness by looking at passing tree tops.

Get into casualty and they try to work out the problem. They do the same check on vertebrae and get an X-ray. Can't see any breaks so try to get me walking.  Pat arrives.

Trying to stand or move is agony. A few comments like 'come on you can do it'. They think I'm not trying hard enough. More drugs and muscle relaxants. Try again and eventually managed to stand and sit down on a chair. Hot sweat and nauseous.  They check blood pressure which is in the red at 77 over something. Obviously a bit worried I might have bleeding. Sent for MRI scan "just as a belt and braces check".  Short wait before being told I have broken back.

 Got to a ward around 10.30pm after being in causality for several hours. Lots of IV morphine and IV paracetamol. 

Don't be such a whimp. Get up and walk!

Wednesday 24th

Spent most of the day in Inverness while they worked out what to do with me. Consultants sounded fairly pessimistic at first but eventually contacted Aberdeen who said they could fix it. Procrastination about how I was going to get there. Weather too bad for air ambulance so eventually went by road cocooned in a full body inflatable support. Fully doped up with morphine and slept most of way (3 hours).

Thursday 25th

Assessed by consultants in morning who said they would operate that day. By lunch time they decided to scan again to see if there was enough ligament to support the fracture without an operation. By evening they decided not to operate (yet) and try for natural healing and a brace.

Friday 26th

Bad night in ward not knowing where I was and slightly delirious. Had a wash and shave in morning and started to feel better. Consultant visited and asked physios to try and get me walking. Managed to end of ward and back. Got moved into single room. Had all IV lines out and catheter. Quite a lot of positive stuff happened that day after the uncertainty of the last couple of days. 

First Steps

Saturday 27th

Slept much better in a single room and on my right side which was a relief from being permanently on my back. Felt annoyed and pissed off in the middle of the day then a bit weepy later on. The big ticks for the day were one, having a shower and two, having shit; the first since the accident. Watched Gladiator on TV.

Sunday 28th

Must have been moving around too much in the night  cos felt soar in the morning. Hard work getting a shower again. Managed to move 1M from bed to a sink but when I tried it again later ended up in agony. All the pain seems to be on the left side and shoots down front of left leg. No big ticks today, probably a step back in reality because I now know how painful it will be if I get it wrong, especially with no bed to fall back on.


They kicked me out of Aberdeen after ten days with a brace and a bladder infection. I had to have the catheter back in after my bladder had expanded to an unfeasible size but once the antibiotics started to work things improved fairly rapidly.

I could walk down to the pub, but something very strange had happened to my taste for trad beer. In the words of the Aviemore locals I denounced it as ‘Mingin’. Only lager seems to do the trick these days; I wonder what was in those Aberdeen IV lines?

Craigellachie, a BIG tick!

Sitting at a desk is painful but I’m managing to walk a bit further every day. Walking up Craigellachie today was a bit of a mile stone.

I don’t know when I’ll be climbing again but I’m in no hurry. Most people seem horrified by my enforced lay-off but actually I’m feeling remarkably positive about life in general. Obviously the accident could have been much worse and it looks like I’ll make a full recovery; quite a few of my friends have not been so lucky.

This is the first time in 40 years of climbing that haven’t felt compelled to head out into the hills at every available opportunity and its strangely calming to not have the rat continually gnawing for a change.

Ski Touring Round Up

I have been holding off writing this post until the end of winter but with snow on the ground in Aviemore this morning it looks like there might be at least another week of skiing to come.

The best conditions came after the big storm in March which effected most of the UK. High winds stripped a lot of snow from the plateaus and formed amazing (and occasionally lethal), snow structures down to 500M.


Cárn Dearg Mor 20/03

An afternoon trip with Rob Edmond out the back of Aviemore. We cycled from High Burnside up to the commercial forest gate then walked up through the Caledonian Pines to break out on the Mor at about 550M. Lack of time prevented us from reaching the summit but we had a great run down through the trees on snow covered heather.

Rob Edmond, Aviemore behind

Sgor Gaoith 25/03

This was the first skiable day after the storm. The ascent was icy and scoured back to grit in some places but the up side was that the burn lines were packed with snow. This enabled a long descent down the Alt Ruadh to a point where it become too steep and narrow to ski. A short hike back up through the trees regained the path.

An arctic Braeriach from Sgor Gaoith

Bynack Moor 28/03

I wasn’t sure what to expect heading down Ciste Mhearad to The Saddle, but conditions were fantastic with a light covering of powder on a firm base, and even better, there were no tracks. Allt a’ Choire Dhubh wasn’t in as good a condition but still skiable for most of its length down to Strath Nethy.

Loch Avon and fresh tracks

Coire Gorm 30/03

Another trip with Rob Endmond to the shallow burn line in the NW slope of Sròn na Lairge. Rob had permission to drive up to Rothiemurchus Lodge from where we were able to ski right from the car park. Huge amounts of snow had been dumped in The Ghru, transforming it into a 50M wide piste. Conditions in the Coire were slightly disappointing with lots of sastrugi and variable cover.

The Lairig Ghru transformed into a 50M wide piste

Ben Avon 31/03

I finally worked out a stable method of attaching skis to a bike. The key was to attach the boots to the bindings and mount the whole lot as far back on the frame as possible to stop your legs catching on the bindings. Fortunately the estate road from Tomintoul to Inchrory had been cleared allowing an easy 10k cycle to within a short walk of the hill. I returned via Caol Ghleann.

The SkiBike at Inchrory

Beinn Mheadhoin 05/04

I had been wanting to do this tour for a couple of years. The descent from Cairngorm and down Coire Raibert was awkward but not difficult. Loch Avon was frozen and there were tracks straight across the middle. I whimped out on the direct route and cut across the ice closer to the head of the loch.

The plateau of Beinn Mheadhoin was scoured bare but the descent down the NW slope was in good condition with a final high speed schuss across the frozen loch towards The Saddle.

Loch Avon

Coire Gorm Revisted 19/04

A very early start (3am) with aspirations for a long tour over to Deeside. Unfortunately I was a bit too early for the weather and bailed out between Sròn na Lairge and Braeriach in strong winds and a white out. The descent back down Coire Gorm was in much better condition than in March.

Coire Gorm at 7am

March Burn (not)

I had a speculative trip across the plateau to see if I could get down the March Burn with my relatively lightweight gear. A gentle approach led to an icy funnel. I couldn't see over the edge so I removed skis and tried to kick steps to where I could get an idea of what I would be committing myself to. Not having an ice axe or crampons I gave up that idea fairly quickly.

Having admitted defeat I headed back towards Lurchers and also hoped to get a better view of the March Burn from further along the rim. I definitely made the right decision! The strong winds of previous weeks looked to have built a steep icy headwall with no easy entry to the lower slopes.

The top of the March Burn, Cairn Toul behind

The Escalator 03/05

The weather was not quite as advertised in the morning but I cycled up Glen Einich anyway. It took an hour to reach the point on the track opposite The Escalator. From there it was a short walk to reach the snow. Too steep for skinning, I booted it up to around the 1000M contour before the weather got to ferocious to continue.

A brilliant descent! The snow was soft and smooth, quite steep in a couple of places, probably a similar angle to The West Wall on Cairngorm or an average alpine back run. I was back in Aviemore for 12.30pm

The Escalator from Glen Einich

Ciste Gully 04/05

Possibly the last run of the season. An evening trip with Ole from Norway; astounded that he was skiing in Scotland, in May!

Mud and rain on the walk out from the Ciste at 8pm

Coire Laogh Mor

A good start to the season on Cairngorm. Nice snow in Coire Loagh Mor yesterday and great to be able to ski right down to the bottom car park (almost). This is the Coire east of Coire na Ciste at Cairngorm accessed by a long traverse from the top of there Ptarmigan Tow.



 

Longs Peak

Alec Sharp is one of the climbers who inspired me as a youth. He left the UK in 1982 and settled in Boulder CO. Jonathan Lagoe made contact with him during his stay in Boulder and through Jonathan I was lucky enough to get to know him as well.

The three of us climbed Longs Peak via the Loft Route and back down by the Keyhole Route. 7 Hours round trip. The weather was with us, it's raining this morning and snow is forecast for Longs Peak; winter has arrived in the mountains.

The Diamond

Alec Sharp on the Loft Route

On the Loft Route

Ice on the Loft Route

Freeway

A stupendous, funkadelic (yes, I've been here too long), 800 feet of high quality easy climbing on perfect rock in a beautiful, quasi wilderness/urban setting......alright if you like that sort of thing.

Low on Freeway, Boulder behind

 

A bit higher up

 

Near the top

 

A canny arch (Biffa)