This might be an issue.....
As a team we decided it would be wise to do a mini Old Man of Hoy. This became a very mini mini mini Old Man of Hoy attempt due to a snowy couple of days. A short paddle across Lake Morlich in Aviemore over to the forest, and a small jumar up a tree! The important thing was experiencing the transfers and equipment transport though and it was all surprisingly smooth. The instructors set me up a lovely tarp to sit under to shelter from the melting snow in the winter wonderland which surrounded us. I will NEVER get bored of this place, its just TOO beautiful.
The one snag to the trip was the jumar against Glenmore Lodge’s training tower. It was my first attempt at jumaring against rock, but I felt more like a caterpillar dragging my way up sandpaper.
1/3rd of the Old Man of Hoy ascent will be similar to my current training conditions, a free running rope in space. Which leaves 2/3rds of the ascent with me pinned up against the rock similar to the training tower. After 8m I needed a sleep, it was just too hard going. I don’t quite know what the solution is yet, but I’m convinced there must be an engineering solution. Watch this space for the next adaptation.
Check out my kayak paddle video blog for the mini old man of hoy here.
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