In typical capitalist consumption mode, my displacement activity has been to buy some new outdoor kit to compensate for not getting out on the hill. First up was a new pair of climbing gloves. I’d looked on the internet for a replacement for my old Hotfinger gauntlets that I bought many years ago from Jim Leckie’s in Falkirk. They were great gloves, but they’re jiggered now. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be available outside the USA. I’d been thinking about thin gloves and Dachsteins, but the wee “trigger rest” on my Quarks requires the use of gloves. I eventually opted for a pair of Mountain Equipment Guide Gloves. As I didn’t get any proper climbing done on Skye I can’t report on their performance. Hopefully they’ll get good use at the Ochils MC CIC Hut meet next week.
One of our gang, Phil, told a story against himself which I liked a lot. Phil is just really getting in to climbing having recently retired and is doing really well. He was climbing with one of the more senior members of our group, and expressed concern that he’d threaded his harness without first tying in the first part of a figure of eight knot. Les patiently explained that he was using another knot called a Bowline. Phil was somewhat mortified to later learn that Les had used a Bowline on his first ascents, including on Nuptse!