Big Hex challange September 2013

[Colin McA]

Ladies and Gents,

I will be taking part in a climbing challenge called the Big Hex.

It is a new challenge this year and Myself and 7 others in my mountaineering club "The Creag Dhont M.C" will be make our first attempt on the 18th September 2013. The aim is to complete the three designated peaks within 36hours.

Over the years I have done a fair bit of hillwalking especially Munro bagging but the climbing with ropes and Abseiling is a new experience. Over the next few weeks myself and other team mates will be putting in some practice.

The funds will be going to Mountain rescue which is a vital service to everyone who ventures on to the hills.
I would be grateful to anyone wishing to make a donation and leave messages of encouragement. We are all looking forward to the challenge.

for more info on the challenge they have a website. www.bighex.org/

Our just giving page is www.justgiving.com/CreagDhont-BigHex

The attempt date is just after the club national so on top of training I will be putting in some hours getting the P5B Coupé ready to come down so no pressure.

Colin

[Colin McA]

Lots of photos n the link. s978.photobucket.com/user/arthuy/library/Big%20Hex

Big Thanks for supporting The Creag Dhont M.C. undertaking the Big Hex. The donations have been amazing, having only started planing less than two months ago none of us expected to raise so much. our just giving page as brought in £1400 the gift aid is over £300 and this goes directly to the MRCoS. we have also got some cash donations which we will directly give to the Glencoe MRT. We are still getting donations from pledges so our total including gift aid is around £2,000. The moral support from friends and family has been awesome.

A brief summary of the events:

Day one:
Having met up at our Dhoss on Tuesday evening we got an unheard of start at 6am. Finished packing kit and headed down to Ben Nevis. Not being able to see anything over 800meters we set of optimistic that it would lift. 4 hours later at 1000 m we were all set to rope up when mountains had other ideas. We waited for the 30mph winds to die down and as we decided to down climb out of there the Snow and blast of hail stones confirmed it to be a wise move after all we are to raise funds for the Mountain rescue not test their abilities.

Day two:
With the weather looking grim we had checked the weather forecasts to see which of our three peaks were going to be best to tackle. Faced with similar report for each of them i.e. rain and gusts of up to 50mph we had headed to Skye and stayed at the Sligachan bunk house. Looking out to the Cullins confirmed the forecasts. At this point we lost Craig whom had been nursing a cold.
Although it looked up unfeasible to reach the summits we decided to hit the hills although a trip around the distilleries was a tempting option.
We set off in good spirits reaching the foot of pinnacle ridge where we got out the harnesses and helmets. It was an interesting time although we were denied a view due to the rain and mist. This was however a bit of a bonus for those in the team who feel a tad exposed at these heights.
The first major event was the 25 m abseil from the 3rd Pinnacle, the key word here was trust. Whilst the abseil is relatively short when you are 800m up with shear drops it certainly sorts out the men from the boys. Once on the narrow ledge below we have a slippery ledge to traverse, we did joke that there should be a sign post saying "certain death this way" but we have the safety gear and it was deployed, rechecking kit is essential. once by the ledge we got up Knights peak which is a great scramble in the dry but when wet it can turn menacing.
So 4pm we are at the top but decided that we needed to get off ASAP. Thankfully the fastest decent was via a handy 40m abseil into a blind gully on to a slope of loose scree. The main draw back was that we were now on the back end of the mountain with a long walk back to the car the pitch dark this only took us about 6hrs. Earlier whilst reading the route descriptions Alastair ask what an "epic" meant. He now has practical experience of one. With the pubs shut all we could do was hit the campsite and pitch a tent and have a bite to eat.

Day three:
Waking up at the foot of the Cullins was awesome. We still had to get back to Glencoe which was over three hours drive. The sensible option was a rest day so we took our time taking the Armadale ferry to Mallaig, stopped off in Fort William for provisions and then back to the dhoss. We enjoyed a relaxing few drinks with friends before going to bed still undecided about the final hills.

Day four:
Drew was up early and started making breakfast at 7:30am, so we said lets just get out there and do it. The walk in was good and managed to walk in t-shirts for a few hours. We then had to ascend the chimneys. Having done the same route 3 weeks ago in perfect conditions we were surprised at just how much more difficult and dangerous this had gotten.
We were almost clear of the chimneys when Colin whom was perched on the vertical rock lost his footing due to some wet rock. Never more happy to be attached to an anchored rope 850m up. Lucky he only ripped open a finger whilst trying to cling on for dear life before over coming the difficult part. On the plus side Drew and Alastair had well marked hand holds to lead the way. We had a long slog up to the summit in poor visibility but thankful of the improved gradient.
Once on the top we took shelter in the cairn shelter, packed up the ropes, took a picture and made our way down. When the forecast gusts of winds made the presence known. Sometimes the hills try to tell you things and the message was very clear and we didn't need to be told twice.
Off the hill and hit the Kingy for a celebratory steak dinner washed down with an ice cold pint and a Glava.

So the Big Hex challenge has been tough but we all had a great adventure and fun along the way. Even the experienced climbers found their skills tested. We are all glad to have done it and put something back into the Mountain Rescue coffers. Thanks again to everyone who helped us along the way.

The Creag Dhont Big Hex team 2013
Fiona, Drew, Craig, Derek, Colin, Alastair