Throughout the season, me and Doug would talk about what we were going to climb on our next day off. There was a commonly mentioned route every time we talked about it, the Fiddlers Nose. One of the best mixed routes in Scotland, a 300m long VII,7, which rarely comes into condition because of it’s low elevation in a remote and beautiful setting.

Myself and Doug had just climbed Central Buttress on Beinn Eighe. On the way back home we checked the weather and everything seemed to be lining up to make Fiddlers Nose a possibility. Apprehensively we planned for the route later in the week.

After a couple of days relaxing, enjoying the beaches at home in Gairloch and eating as much cake as my body could handle, tomorrow was the day. The alarm was set for an early start at 2.30AM as I would have to drive to Ullapool due to Covid restrictions forbidding overnight stays in the van.

The drive over was a blur with a surprising amount of snow falling while we weaved our way through the quiet roads, with the rest of North West Scotland still asleep. Luckily as we pulled up the snow eased and the sky cleared to reveal millions of stars.

The bitterly cold weather stung my face as we walked in, the wading through deep snow kept the rest of my body warm though. As we arrived the base of the route, the sky lit up and we turned around to experience the largest meteorite either of us had ever seen, this was going to be a special day!

I started up the first pitch as I happened to have most of the gear racked up on my harness. Starting up the obvious groove on good turf and hooks made for quick progress. It quickly steepened though and the snow at the back of the groove proved rather unhelpful. The sandstone provided some great hooks but smeary feet vastly different to the positive quartzite on Beinn Eighe! Doug shot up the next pitch of easier ground to the cave belay.

A slabby wall scarred with crampon scratches showed us the way from the belay. I spotted a couple of small sloping edges which I was going to use to escape the cave. Good hooks in the roof and feet on the small edges, I balanced rightwards ensuring my weight was pressed on my feet. If they became unweighted I would skate down the slab leaving my mark on the mountain. Easier unprotected ground led to the belay.

Where to go next?! I see a narrow ledge traversing left, extreme ledge shuffling! Doug fired across rather blasé about the position. The pitch is un-gradable and ends at the brilliant Hansom Cab stance at the edge of nowhere.

I headed up a short easier groove in a wonderful position with nothing below me, keeping my toasty Montane down jacket on as we braced the chilly winds. Another short pitch followed, much steeper than the last and leading to another out exposed belay.

A blank slab loomed above with sparse blobs of turf linking a line to our next haven of shelter at a ledge above. I set off delicately, we both struggled to visualize what the climbing was going to entail. I found my rhythm and thoroughly enjoyed the puzzle of linking the turf blobs together.

Doug had unknowingly signed himself up for the crux pitch, letting me have the first pitch a few hours earlier. I was rather jealous as it looked like a brilliant pitch. Doug set off climbing well and confidently. The rock provided great tourques and gear, the feet where on smeary sandstone fitting with the rest of the route. I followed on second, feeling cold to the bone after a chilly belay. We moved together to the top to be welcomed by a brilliant sunset!

A long wade out in the dark, followed by a drive to Tesco in Ullapool to do our monthly shop due to not having any big supermarkets back home. This was a brutal finish to the day, I must have looked slightly crazy wandering around Tesco in my tired state! I arrived exhausted back in Gairloch. A day I will remember for a long time!