This is the only trip I’ve ever done that involved both boats and climbing… Islae of Skye, Autumn 2011, with Steve Broadbent, Adrian Baugh, Georgina Brooke and Stefanie Mesch. All photos courtesy of Steve Broadbent.
The Team: Steve, Stef, Georgina, Adrian, Peter. The Boat: ‘Excursion’, a rubber dinghy belonging to Adrian, designed to take four people (you may notice there are five of us).
Georgina: let’s go boating!
Chossy chossy sea cliffs, somewhere in North-East Skye
A massive tunnel in the cliff…
‘Excursion’ finds its way into said massive tunnel… and the engine stops working.
Adrian rows around: from the top of one of the sea stacks
Me on Excursion, HVS, one of our new routes on Stacan Goblach, named after the boat
Gurn!
Top of the sea stack: as this was apparently unclimbed before we got there, I decided a bottle of beer was required to celebrate
Quick quick, one more new route! Solo on Nevis FM (VS)
Stef abseiling off the Stacan as the clouds and tide close in
Rainbow at Port Goblach
Flodigarry sea cliffs. Surf’s up!
Stef above a rather foaming sea
On the midway belay of Raining Men (VS). Peter (blue), Georgina (pink – what else?) and Adrian (yellow). Examine this photo carefully. I have my arm around a block of stone the size of a person, which has recently become detached from the cliff, pinning Georgina behind it. She has escaped from the block and is now unroped on the ledge. But Adrian and I are still attached to the block, which is part of our belay. I am holding the block in place to prevent it taking us all into the sea, while Adrian and Georgina un-attach us from it and attach us to something else. I am then going to let go of the block, which will fall into the sea with an almighty crash!
Oxford Greenland Expedition 2013 