To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.
To reach out for another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk exposing our true self.
To place your ideas - your dreams - before the crowd is to risk loss.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair.
To try at all is to risk failure...

But risk we must, because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing. The man, the woman, who risks nothing does nothing, has nothing, is nothing.

..is all you've got.

I stayed up late last night, sitting alone in the darkness watching as the flames in the fireplace died down to embers.

The embers of 2007 closes the door on a lot of chapters - the memories of some of which I am grateful to leave behind, but others I leave with regret.

We have much to be thankful for.

Slainte mhath

"We'll get the worlds attention"

Savage Slit, the name says it all. On the 29th me and Donald headed south for a shot at this classic climb high in Coire an Lochain. From the beginning the signs were there for it to be a minor epic - cloud right down, patches of damp rock, and bitterly cold.

Donald led, while I stood around feeling cold. It wasn't just me suffering - he appeared to be having noticeable trouble handling his gear. Perched awkwardly on a small ledge at the first belay - with hands and feet feeling like they'd just received a local anasthetic - we seriously contemplated giving in to the conditions by calling it a day and abseiling off.

However, looking towards the sky the temptation to try at least one more pitch was too great. Ultimately, we made the right decision. Faced with the possibility of turning back, all thoughts of the cold were driven from our minds, and we started to really genuinely enjoy the climbing, so the decision to complete the third pitch was unanimous. What a fantastic route, and in such a great location. The higher we climbed the more of the views opened up over the Fiacaill seperating Sneachda from Lochain.

Nearing the top of the third pitch small flakes of snow began to fall, and the lingering feeling of cold seemed to grow as the eddying wind crept through our clothes. Looking uphill at a descending cloud threateningly hovering around the top of the coire, we decided to abseil back down Savage Slit, rather than the original plan of exiting the route via going round the coire lip.

Looking at the dodgy looking kit already in situ, we abandoned a sling and a krab in order to abseil safely off the top of the route back down the crack. When it came to tugging the rope back down, predictably the rope snagged. Realising that we would have to climb up to free it, then have to either downclimb or abseil back down a short distance and lose more gear, we decided that in the circumstances it would be safest to cut the rope.

One slice of the Swiss Army Knife saw us leave about 5 metres of our rope on the mountain. Our next abseil down saw us only just reach the lower belay ledge with about a metre and a bit of spare rope to go, and from there we abbed down to the scrambly foot of the route, again the length of the rope meaning it was cut slightly finer than we'd have liked.

Needless to say, we were glad to touch back down on terra firma. A brisk walk out the coire while battling hot aches in our hands and toes saw us rejoin the tourists back on the beaten track, and heralded the end of another highly enjoyable day (well, the climbing was, anyway)..