I had a longer 2010 than most, by about 11 or so hours, as I started off the year in New Zealand and finished it in Tobermory. The hogmanay celebrations were so much better in Tobermory than they were in Queenstown, New Zealand. However, the slightly longer year did not result in any more Marilyns being bagged.
My main objective in 2010 was to attempt, and survive, Denali (also known as Mount McKinley) to gain my fifth of the seven summits. I started the year with 574 Marilyns done, so I set myself the goal of getting to 600 and entering the HoF before attempting Denali. I wanted to make sure that I was in the HoF in case something happened on that big scary mountain.
Bob Kerr announces his 600th on Arthur's Seat
I duly climbed my 600th Marilyn, Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, about two weeks before flying out to Alaska and, thankfully, I survived that trip too. Now I just need to work out how to raise the finances for attempting Mount Vinson in Antarctica and Mount Everest.
My high point of 2010 was the top of Denali, which is a mere 20320ft high. I would say that this was my scariest and coldest mountain to date. We almost did not get to the summit as the weather was turning when we were on the summit ridge. On the summit the temperature was off the scale on my thermometer (below -30C) and the wind speed had picked up to about 25mph, resulting in a wind chill of about -50C. I am glad to report that I suffered no frostbite, so it was worth investing in top-of-the-range kit to survive intact. On the way out we had to wait for a few days to get a plane off the glacier, and I met up with a mountaineer from Copenhagen. We ended up drinking beers in Anchorage and I still can't quite work out how I ended up on a flight to Japan. I had 36 hours in Japan with him and we had a fun time on Fuji before I flew back home. I think that this is one of my most expensive trips to date.
Bob Kerr carrying supplies for the ascent of Denali
Having returned to the relative normality of Scotland, I continued to increase my Marilyn tally and also repeated 26 Munros. The hill which gets my poorest visibility rating for the year was An Cuaidh (13A), due to the pea-soup mist.
In August and September I had two separate quick trips to Norway. The first was for a weekend of rock climbing around Oslo and the second was a weekend in the Romsdalen area. I really enjoyed climbing the multi-pitch route up the north face of Romsdalshorn and then abseiling off it to ascend a Norwegian classic mountain. The following day, still in glorious sunshine, we made an ascent of Trolltindane and looked down the Troll Wall from above. I could barely bring myself to crawl to the edge of this mile-high cliff to look down its mighty face, yet there were base jumpers leaping off it like lemmings. That was impressive to watch but it is not for me, even if it is a quick way to get to your next summit.
Some of the least inspiring Marilyns were in the deep south -perhaps I am biased coming from Scotland. I did manage to complete region 42 in December, a classic example of opportunistic bagging. I was down in East Sussex for my grandmother's funeral but got seven Marilyns done the day before and two on the day after - she would have approved of this, I am sure. May she rest in peace.
One of the year's best weekends was a repeat of the Fisherfield six. The previous time, in 2004, I had done them solo in the rain and wind and did not see anyone all weekend. This time I had glorious sunshine and views. This is encouraging me to revisit hills where I have had bad weather so that I can truly appreciate them for their natural splendour.
Fisherfield (photo: Bob Kerr)
I finished the year with a trip to Mull. It was great revisiting this island and I also nipped over to Iona to bag the island's high point. I do not know what 2011 holds in store but I hope to continue getting out and bagging more Marilyns. Perhaps I should push myself towards the 700 mark?
