Easter Friday saw Richard Davies, Hannah Mcgregor and Ben Clark battling a typically fresh westerly breeze up the Clyde. Rain (and the thought of sharing McCoy with Thar hunters) forced an early stop at Watchdog hut, and we didn’t begin again until Saturday afternoon when the rain stopped. Saturday night was spent in the clag at the confluence of the Agnes and the Frances. Sunday was a great day and we made the long slog up the Wee Mcgregor to Perth Col, with plenty of slots en route. Many other slots were negotiated on the top of the Perth glacier, but the good campsites at Adams Col were safely reached. The plateau itself was surprisingly slow travel and quite cut up in places (needless to say quite different from my previous visit there in Feb 2001) but was negotiable to the head of Adverse Creek which we descended into and camped in lower down. From there we bounced down the boulders of the Perth for a night at Scone hut. After a night in Bettison stream, bad weather prevented us sneaking across Dennistoun Pass which meant a rather longer trek back to the car via the now flooded Perth and some lucky hitch hiking from Whataroa. Another great Transalpine wander. Richard Davies Summer Rock 2008 It’s a Tuesday night in early February and the first session of the Summer Rock course at Ferg’s. There are 12 students – Melody, Clare, Catherine, Ralf, Neil, Dawn, Shichang, Gwen, Sarah, Kate, Lou and me (Gill) – most of whom have done a little climbing before. There is a sense of nervous anticipation as we sit around putting on shoes and harnesses and listening to Scott introduce the course and the instructors. Over the course of the next few Tuesday nights, we learn to climb, belay, abseil, lead climb and tie anchors. At first we spend a bit of time each session on the bouldering wall learning how to use holds for our hands and feet, practising in-lines and diagonals, and then practising on the slab, in my case, using any hold I can reach. Helpful advice comes from the floor: “there is a good hold for your right foot up by your elbow. Can you get your foot there, then get your weight over it and stand up”. We spend a couple of Tuesdays focusing on abseiling with Blair. He runs through safety issues and how to set up for abseiling with three of us at a time, then each in turn we attach ourselves to the rope, talk through our set up to Blair and the other students and one by one stand up on the ledge, undo our safety sling and step backwards to descend rather slowly to the ground. Then we do it again, and again. Later in the course, we learn about knots and anchors, and to lead climb out the back at Ferg’s. Clare belays when it is my turn to try lead climbing. We have chosen a climb which is in a corner and has a large fat bulge of an overhang two thirds of the way up. It’s not too difficult at first and I manage to climb and clip the rope into the first three quickdraws relatively easily, then I come to the overhang. I have one foot wedged against a small protrusion on the side wall and the other pushing into a round hold just above the overhang on the main wall. I’m not happy with where my hands are; my right hand is losing its grip on the hold, so I try to adjust it, so that I can use my other hand to clip the rope I have pulled up with me. Before I manage that my left hand starts to slip. Somehow I do a backward flip and suddenly I am face down in sky diving style not very far above Clare’s startled face. The force of my fall has pulled her right off the ground.