Scotland Trip Video Finally Hits YouTube

So after many months of forgetting, stalling, distractions and whatever else, I finally got around to putting the final touches on the video of our trip last year to Scotland.  If you saw it at the Chili Cookoff last fall at Seneca Rocks, the main difference is that I added sub-titles to the videos...which took a lot longer than planned, but was necessary.

Without further adieu, here is the video (hopefully YouTube doesn't take it down anytime soon...if it doesn't load for you, it might be an issue with YouTube and copyrights in your country).  Enjoy!

http://youtu.be/JFuN-bTKjxc


There's so much to tell and so many little stories about this, that and the other thing that happened in the course of this amazing adventure; hopefully I will pull some of those out and blog about them now and then.

It still amazes me to watch a month long trip get squeezed down to 27 minutes and 14 seconds.  As I watch it, the memories hit me and I can't help but smile and think of how I will always be grateful to Alan for being a wonderful friend on a fantastic adventure.  We really worked well as team and just figured out ways to make things happen every day beyond just the climbing.  The mundane things like cooking, food shopping, finding a campsite and making camp/taking down camp.  I'll never forget the times I was driving and Alan was constantly shoving more cheese and sliced meat at me before we got to our next crag.  We had to have lunch!  All these things were accomplished quickly and orderly and made the actual climbing that much more enjoyable.

Anyway, in case you're wondering, here are the crags we climbed (in order):

Craig-a-Barns, Dunkeld
Weem Hill Crag, Weem
Ardverikie Wall, Binnein Shuas (middle-of-nowhere off the A-86, east of Spean Bridge)
Aladdin's Buttress, Cairn Gorm (northern Cairngorms, southeast of Aviemore)
Erraid, Isle of Mull
Coire Laggan (Cioch), Isle of Skye (near Glenbrittle)
Kilt Rock, Isle of Skye (near Staffin)
Old Man of Hoy, Isle of Hoy, Orkney Islands
Huntly's Cave, north of Grantown-on-Spey
Pass of Ballater, Ballater
Creag an Dubh Loch, southwest of Ballater in the Southern Cairngorms
Ben Nevis, Fort William

Update: Nut tool post re-visited

Many of you may remember my post from last year when I picked up a new nut tool.  If not, here's the link: http://achockandahardplace.blogspot.com/2013/07/a-new-nut-tool.html

I completely forgot to update this story...so I'm doing it now.

Turns out that a few weeks after acquiring the new (to me anyway) Metolius nut tool and prior to leaving for Scotland, I stopped in to Mountain Trails in Winchester, VA.  Alan was in the shop while he was home and I'd ordered some stuff for our trip that I was picking up.  I told him the story about the new nut tool I'd picked up and he had a bit of interesting news for me.  He wasn't sure he wanted to tell me what he had since I had gone through such a rig-a-more-ole getting the Metolius tool.  But as it so happened, I convinced him to tell me what was up.  Turns out he had a brand new Grivel nut tool sitting there behind the counter.  I don't remember exactly how it came to be there because I don't think it was actually part of the store inventory.  Hell I don't even know if I paid him anything for it.  Regardless, he offered it to me along with a small keychain-type biner and some 3mil cord.  How could I possibly have said no?

To complete the circle, a week or so later I presented a very happy Simone with her "new" Metolius nut tool in exchange for a whopping $10.  So in the end, it was win-win situation all around.  My new tool made the trip to Scotland, saw a great deal of action the rest of the season and hopefully will continue in that regard for many more years to come.

My old and new nut tools