New climbs in the Findhorn Gorge and River Divie.

Ted Collins (author of the moray coast bouldering guide) has extended his reach inland, with the development of bouldering and some DWS in and around the Findhorn Gorge and River Divie. The crags are of compact schist and gneiss and set amongst old, mossy woodland. Of particular note is The Tomb, where Ted has added a slew of fine looking problems, particularly in the mid 7's. Curiously the area doesnt appear to host a problematic midge population so could be an idyllic summer venue. 

Teds friend Johnstone has also put together a short film. It uses high end videography in a muted style which I felt complemented both the place and Teds understated approach to climbing.

Ted takes up the story, complete with historical scene setting:

The Tomb is just off the River Divie and it’s a part of the somewhat newly developed Findhorn Gorges bouldering. It’s pretty cool, it’s got a couple of 6’s, loads of 7^th grade probs with linkups and a cool 8A/+ project which folk are totally welcome to check out! I’ve got it linked in 3 sections but it’s way above my paygrade, someone strong should get on it. Pretty much all the info is there on UKC with some topos at https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/findhorn_gorge-23177.

The wall is actually featured in an epic tale which took place the 14^th century (I think), where Alastair Comyn (of Randolph’s Leap) was smoked to death with 4 comrades in the narrow deep cave just down and left of the crag (I’m fairly certain). Gets a bit spooky there at night! The event is well covered in “The Great Moray Floods of 1829” by Sir Thomas Dick Lauder but Electric Scotland covers it aswell at https://electricscotland.com/webclans/atoc/cumming2.html. This is an extract from Electric Scotland.

“The Comyns at Dunphail had a similar fate, which is well told by Mr. George Bain in his book on the Findhorn. When Bruce’s nephew, Thomas Randolph, was made Earl of Moray, the Comyns found their old privileges as Rangers of the king’s forest of Darnaway restricted. By way of reprisal the Comyns set out, a thousand strong, under the leadership of young Alastair of Dunphail, to burn Randolph’s new great hall at Darnaway. The force, however, was ambushed by the Earl at Whitemire, and cut to pieces. Young Alastair Comyn fought his way to the Findhorn. He found the further bank lined by the Earl’s men, but, throwing his standard among them with the shout "Let the bravest keep it," he leapt the chasm at the spot wrongly called Randolph’s Leap, and with four of his followers made his escape. Moray then besieged Alastair’s father in his Castle of Dunphail, and brought the garrison to starvation point. On a dark night, however, the young man managed to heave some bags of meal from a high bank into the stronghold. Next day, by means of a bloodhound, he was tracked to a cave on the Divie. He begged to be allowed out to die by the sword, but was smoked to death by the Earl’s men. Then the heads of himself and his companions were thrown into his father’s courtyard, with the shout " Here is beef for your bannocks." The old chief took up the head of his son. "It is indeed a bitter morsel," he said, "but I will gnaw the last bone of it before I surrender." In the end the little garrison, driven by hunger, sallied out and were cut to pieces. Early in the nineteenth century the minister of Edinkilly found the skeletons of young Alastair and his companions, seven in number, at a spot still known from the fact as the "grave of the headless Comyns."

My friend Johnstone Macpherson-Stewart put a film together about me climbing there. His talent really shines through and the film nicely captures the mood of the place. I swear it took him like 15 mins to get those shots before he joined for a climb and I didn’t even notice he was filming half the time! It’s absolutely worth checking out his website (www.jmsfilms.com) and his instagram (@jms.films). 

The film can be watched here: https://vimeo.com/498723568

Sheigra - updated guide

The tumbling megaliths perched on the Atlantic frontier of the far North West are to me emblematic of Highland bouldering. Characterful and rugged, their searing features draw upon an instrinsic desire to interact with rock. The archetypal arete, the wall climb, the notched roof. These are top quality boulders with a stage presence, a license, thats fits their regal position. 

Robbie Gardiner and Dave Carrington have updated their Sheigra bouldering guide. Robbie tells us a little about his motivation to climb in the area (as if its not obvious!) and fills us in on some recent developments:

I have been travelling to the far North West of Scotland all my life, and there is really no place I would rather be. It seems to me, the further North you go the more beautiful it becomes. Perhaps less spectacular than the Munroes of Skye or Torridon, I find the uniquely characterful peaks of Sutherland stunningly beautiful, and the view on the road to Sheigra along the side of loch Inchard towards Fionaven and Arkle is simply breathtaking.

 

In 2019 Dave and I made out sixth climbing trip to Sheigra, over which time we had documented over 150 problems. The intention was to try to encourage other to come, and our first guide prompted several climbers to make the trip. This has led to development of Sheigra itself, but also Droman Pier just along the road and the Backstage Boulder near Rhiconnich. Most recently, Ullapool based climber Eadan Cunningham has been climbing numerous new lines and it was our real pleasure to meet up with him this trip. Another amazing discovery we made on this trip was the Gneiss bouldering up near Durness on the promontory at Rispond. We climbed some outstanding problems (not least 'RSVP - 7b', an overhanging rising line with beautiful flowing moves) and Eadan has since visited with his brother Calum to climb the amazing looking 'Simple Jack - 7c'.

 

In essence, the far North West of Scotland is just a wonderful place to explore. The rock is simply everywhere, breaking through the thin soil which hangs like a threadbare carpet between mountain, loch and sea. And no better place can be found than Sheigra, where countless clean boulders have tumbled onto a flat stone shelf just asking to be climbed. The rock and the climbs are so varied and plentiful, you could never tire of it. And whilst you wait, you can enjoy the view, where Oystercatchers glide over breaking waves, and curious Otters come for a nosey, and clouds skip across moody seas, and pensive climbers stop to watch and listen for a moment or two.

The updated climbing guide (2020) can be downloaded here.

Robbie uploads videos to his vimeo site here.

New Bouldering in Strathconon and Strathgarve

Climber, Ecologist and Dad Gaz Marshall (aka easter_ross_choss) updates us on development of his local patch: the lesser known interface between Inverness-shire and Wester Ross. 

Gaz takes up the story:

As far as bouldering goes, the area that lies in between the well-travelled venues close to Inverness and the promised land of Torridonian sandstone in the north west is a bit of a hinterland.  However, there are a few things worth seeking out if you’re in the area or in need of a break when crawling behind a campervan has lost its novelty. There are already a couple of well-known venues in Strathconon at Scatwell and Meig, both documented in John Watson’s Boulder Scotland guide.  The former is still probably the best single boulder in the area while the latter is now rather neglected and dirty. The addition of these new venues now means there’s actually a fair bit of fun to be had, with the usual caveats of ticks, midges and navigating rarely travelled choss.

Achilty Wall

Gid ref: NH421562

This short crag is visible up above the road in the trees just west of Loch Achilty.  At the far left of the crag is a wee roof with a couple of good problems.  They finish at jugs and you then jump off onto pads, although with a bit of cleaning the brave/reckless could continue to the top. There are a few other things lurking in the undergrowth in this area that are yet to be climbed.

Approach

Just north of Contin turn off the A835 on to the minor road into Strathconon, passing Loch Achilty. About 0.5km after the Loch Achilty car park there’s a house on the left (south) side of the road.  The crag is opposite this, up the hill in the trees.  It’s best to carry on for another 200m and park in the big forest entrance on the right, then go through the gate, immediately turn right and follow the deer fence until nearly opposite the house and then strike uphill to the crag.

Achilty Wall

1. Scuttlebug, 6A+. Crouch start at the left of the cave and head straight up to finish matched on an obvious protruding nose feature. Standing on the low embedded blocks isn’t allowed!
2. Heartbeep, 6C+. An excellent problem climbing the obvious feature of the cave roof. Crouch start in the same place as Scuttlebug (similarly, no blocks for feet) and use heels and a bit of burl to follow the underside of the cave roof rightwards to pull up into the hanging corner and finish stood on the protruding boss on the right with hands on hidden jugs on the slab.  2a. Lefthand Finish, 7A. Perhaps better than the original - from the hanging corner go left to the finishing nose of Scuttlebug.

Heartbeep 6C+

                                         

Gold Dance Boulders

Grid ref: NH398566

This is a little cluster of roadside schist boulders uncovered after recent forest felling makes a very worthwhile companion to the nearby Scatwell boulder. It’s surrounded by the usual chaos and confusion of a forestry clearfell but ignore that and enjoy the quality of the rock and views across the strath.  As well as the natural lines a few eliminates are included here to add to the fun.

Approach

Just north of Contin turn off the A835 on to the minor road into Strathconon, passing Loch Achilty. About 2 miles after the loch there’s an obvious clearfell on the right (north) side of the road. The boulders are on a knoll 200m after the 2nd gated forest entrance (parking, but don’t block the gates). If you get to Luichart Power Station, you’ve gone too far!

Most of the action is on the main block on top of the knoll visible from the road, but there are problems on the blocks higher up the hill behind this and on the short prow lower down to the west.

Gold Dance, 7A

Gold Dance boulder North

Gold Dance boulder South

Problems are described anti-clockwise, starting on the north (up hill) side.

1. North Wall, 3. Stand start. Climb the short wall right of the step and left of the wide crack (North Crack).
2. North Crack, 3. Sit start the flakey crack.
3. The Sleeping Lady, 5. The left arête of the west face, sit start.
4. Finger Crack Eliminate, 6A. West face. Surprisingly good for an eliminate. Sit start on the wee boulder.  Thin crack for hands, feet on whatever.
5. Gold Dance, 7A. Start sat on the wee boulder and squeeze upwards using the arête for the right hand and crack for the left.
6. Real Fool's Gold, 6C. The arête climbed on it's right side from a sit start directly under the arête. Finish the same as Fool's Gold. Linking the start of this into the finish of Gold Dance is still a project, get on it.
7. Fool’s Gold, 6A+. South face. The wall between the arete and wide crack. Sit start and straight up the wall, avoiding the arête and the crack.
8. Crack, 4. Sit start, layback to the left, right or jam straight in.
9. Crack & Flake, 4. Start up 8 and follow the flake rightwards.
10. Pixie Face, 6B. French start, jump up to the jug. Doing it static is an obvious challenge.
11. Pixie Righthand, 4. Low start just left of the edge and follow the flakes leftwards. No feet on the plinth!

Uphill Boulders

12. Gold Rush, 4. The right edge of the detached block just left of the big Flake (Frankie's Flake).
13. Frankie’s Eliminate, 6A+. The left side of the pillar formed by the flake, avoiding the flake until up high.
14. Frankie’s Flake, 4. The obvious big flake.
15. Cracked Slab Left, 4. Pad up the left edge of the big easy-angled slab to the right of Frankie’s Flake.
16. Cracked Slab Right, 3. Right side of the slab, using the crack and right edge.
17. Scrambled Gregg, 6A. Round the back of the upper boulder (behind Cracked Slab) is an egg-shaped slab. The vertical crack in the centre of the slab from a sitting start - the first move is hard, but the crack soon improves.
18. New Gold Dream, 6A. An eliminate on the arête right of Scrambled Gregg, climbed on it’s left side and avoiding the SG crack.
19. New Cold Dream, 5+. The NGD arête climbed on it’s right side, without using the block behind.

Prow

Downhill to the west of the knoll is a short steep prow.  

20. Sleep Thief, 6C. Only little but one of the best here. Sit start at the bottom right and follow the lip leftwards to mantle at the highest point. Despite appearances the landing is fine with a couple of pads.

Rogie Falls

The spectacular falls are worth a visit in their own right, but there’s a wee bit of climbing worth seeking out too.  Only a few problems have been done so far but they are surprisingly good (when clean…) and really easy to access so worth knowing about. There’s quite a bit of rock in the area so there may well be more gems lurking in the trees.

Approach

Park at the Rogie Falls Forestry Commission car park just west of Contin on the A835 and follow the path down toward the falls.  After a couple of hundred metres a path breaks off left (the blue signposted Forestry Commission Riverside Trail).  50m or so along here there’s an obvious boulder up to the left with a steep prow at its’s left end.

Prow Boulder 

Grid ref: NH 4441 5854

1. Rogie Prow, Font 5. Sit start. The steep prow, obviously!  Looks like it should be much harder but the holds are huge!  
2. Rogie State, Font 6B+. Round to the left of the prow, sit start at the short pillar that forms the left arete, moving rightwards to the same top out as Rogie Prow via a short hanging arete.

Rogie Prow, 5

Rogie Wall 

Grid ref: NH 4447 5866

Continuing about 200m further along the Riverside Trail there’s a steep bank on the left and above that Rogie Wall is hidden amongst the larches. It’s a bit of a battle up the slope and through the trees.  The problems here are all highballs and because they’re in a larch forest the tops get a bit of needle build up so worth checking and cleaning first. Problems described left to right.

1. Awake but Always Dreaming, 6C Straight up the middle of the tallest section of wall on the left.  The best problem here but sadly it seeps so needs a good dry spell. 
2. Left, 6A+ Right of the dirty corner, sit start up a ramp and climb straight up the left side of the clean wall.  
3. Middle, 5 The blocky crack up the middle of the wall.  Some slightly loose blocks low down so take care.
4. Right, 6A+ Sit start and climb the right arete on it’s left side. 

Awake but Always Dreaming, 6C

Tarvie Wall

Grid ref: NH 4215 5989

This one has all the hallmarks of a classic backwoods Scottish bouldering experience: a bit of a pain in the arse to get to, a bit tricky to get in good condition and only two problems done so far. But, if you’re willing to try you’ll get the best two problems in the area on a smooth bulge of brilliant rock. Both problems are quite high so a few pads are recommended and sadly they both take a bit of seepage so you’ll need a dry spell.

Approach: 

The wall is a cutting on the edge of the forest track that runs between Contin and Garve on the north side of Loch Garve.  It’s about 2 km from the parking on good tracks so easiest accessed by bike. Park at the first forest entrance west of Tarvie Cafe on the north side of the A835 and follow the track down to Loch na Croich. Cross the dam and follow the short continuation path through the trees to break out onto the main Contin to Garve track. Turn left and follow this. Just after passing under the railway bridge take a left and the wall is obvious on the right about 1km further on.

1. Reckoner, 7A. The left side of the blunt prow. From the big break slopers lead to the higher break then high rockover gets you established on the slab. Brilliant.
2. The Bends, 6A+. The obvious crack in the leaning wall round to the right. The top feels quite high but it’s all there.

Reckoner, 7A

Video of Sleep Thief at Gold Dance Boulders: http://flic.kr/p/22wzVQx

Video of The Bends at Tarvie Wall: http://flic.kr/p/28dKjoa

Videos of Heartbeep at Achilty Wall: http://www.instagram.com/p/CIsLhAEjNzj/

Video of a section of local things, some of which aren't in this guide (they're in Inchbae and Strathrusdale): http://vimeo.com/289517843

Aviemore bouldering guide

In this exclusive release, Strathspey dark horse Rory Brown shows us theres more to Aviemore bouldering than meets the eye. He's been dusting off old school classics, digging out warm up cracks and cranking out testpieces. Of course this has all been done in true Highland fashion, under the radar. #YouwontfindtheseonInstagram! 

Rory has produced a great bouldering guide to the area. Ive no doubt it will inspire fellow locals and passers by to get involved. Who knew there was a font 7c within a mile of the ski centre!? He takes up the story:

"Bouldering around Aviemore has a mysterious air to it. It's certainly not the first thing that springs to most people’s mind when planning a climbing trip to the area. A quick look at the Scottish Bouldering guide will satisfy a session or two at The Link or Cuca. But what if one desires more? There are whispers of hidden roofs, walls, midges and heathery adventures.

With a bit of searching the old Strathspey guide, produced by Mike Gale et al in 2000, will be found. A great local guide, in black and white. This was then updated sometime around 2010, with colour and pictures. But the rumour has it, there is more to be found.

So, the internet searches become even more nuanced. Pages from Gaz Marshal’s ‘Soft Rock’ begin to appear, and with your browser security turned on, links to pdfs of unusual venues will follow. The enthusiasm and effort put into these guides, blogs and videos is surely enough to get anyone psyched.

A further 10 years down the line this guide aims to bring all that information plus a few new areas into one place and focuses specifically on the boulders local to Aviemore. Although the bouldering may not rival more established areas, there is plenty of fun to be had if the mystery entices you."

The new guide can be downloaded here.

Moray Coast bouldering guide

Ted Collins has produced a fantastic new bouldering guide for the Moray Coast venues Cummingston and Primrose Bay. Its a real labour of love and his enthusiasm for the area really shines through. It includes simple approach descriptions and grid refs as well as some useful info on local conditions. This should be of particular value to those visiting for the first time as climbing here in poor conditions can be disappointing . Newly armed with this knowledge don't be surprised if you turn up on a low tide winters evening to meet other lamp wielding enthusiasts taking advantage of mint conditions! The guide also includes crisp photo topo's and trad grades where appropriate. Ted takes up the story:

"There's been a lack of information for the bouldering at Cummingston. It's been about who you know to pass on the knowledge, watching vids online or piecing obscure descriptions with sections of rock. So many times I've been down there and bumped into folk trying to suss out what is what. The conversation would usually turn to how Cummingston doesn't have a decent guide despite it being a good long-standing venue. After a while I decided to take on the task.

I've been lucky enough to have these wonderful spots close throughout my life. Cummingston has always been great to me, with top-roping diffs with dad as a child to later learning the game of bouldering. Finally sending The Nest 6A after five sessions remains one of my best climbing experiences ever and got me totally hooked! I've also been fortunate to meet friends along the way through sharing an enthusiasm for the area. 

The aim of this guide is just to pass on the info I've learned over the years (although there's plenty I don't know, first ascents of the older classics would be cool to find out). It's been a great process putting it all together. Hopefully you'll find it comes in handy for exploring this amazing coastline, enjoy!

This dropbox link should let you download the guide, it may ask you to create a dropbox account but just dismiss it and go to download."

Ruthven Additions

On some pretty small and slopey crimps, a new problem finds a way through. Mike Lee gets the loose flake project in the bag after about 3 years of attempts on and off. QED is a varied, non-eliminate bit of climbing, first on a roof flake then on to some non-existent crimps and a bit of heel hooking.

Rich Betts made a bid at directly tackling the Barry Manilow nose. The meat of the original problem is a tasty mantle move to a quartz lump resembling cauliflower. This direct version looks to add a slice of steep bouldering action into the mantle making for a technical delight. It's called Barry Manilower.

Highball at Pinnicle

Mike Lee climbed an old ian taylor route, Sare, at pinnicle in highball bouldering style. Previously E4, word is a good hold and a couple of pegs have fallen off/been stolen leaving a line of crimps on the overhanging wall up to a good jug, then one spacey move to the top. It was top roped then soloed above a couple of mats.... It's like font 7a+ and to ground up would be bad ass!


First move of Sare

Nic Duboust bouldered a tricky low ball sit start at the Voodoo Working bloc, The Bum, Font 6C, takes the crack and slopers on the left end of the bloc.



Nic on Voodoo Working

Strong Luke Tears it Up

In an all too nonchalant style, Luke Fairweather has demolished just about every Inverness hard problem. He's ticked all the stuff at Brin, (except Put your new shoes on which he hasn't been able to find...), The Jamie Boulder, breezing up the "fun" testpiece, The Farr Side Facet (commenting that it's about 7B - I still think 7C, maybe hard 7B+ is more like it) And ticking everything on Knifewound wall, barring the Settler where it sounds like sore skin got the better of him. He also completed a desperate one move direct sit start to knifewound, at around 7B+/C. The question on everyones lips is "will we see an 8th grade problem before too long?".

In other news, Richie Betts has ripped the crucial flake off The Untrained Ear, a "proper bouldering" classic below 70ft wall at Duntelchaig. No prizes for guessing who will be seeking to re-climb the line, now thought to be around 7B+....??

Inverness Top Fives - Walk-ins....

Got this from Rich Betts...

5. Tom Riach. Fallen trees and logs to negotiate, tracks leading off in random directions to sandbag you. No one finds it first time. A bit spooky too.

4. Ruthven Boulder. Always further than it looks but not far enough to be bothered with walking boots or wellies, which is usually a mistake. One or two technical muddy sections to cross. A real tester.

3. Brin. You just know theres going to be a bull in that field one day and due to the curvature of the earth you wont see it until you are right in the middle.

2. Anything up the hill at Brin. Bottomless crevasses, weird animals, no paths, everytime you go there the boulders have been moved around.

1. Duntelchaig backside. (knife wound / the dagger) A classic stamina test. This one has everything, no path, deep heather, bracken, boggy, an underground stream. No view of the crag until you get there, so you cant check if its wet until its too late. Just as bad in reverse too. Epic.

How to get to knifewound wall/the dagger area

Park at the usual spot for climbing at duntelchaig. Probably the simplest thing to do is as soon as you cross the overflow of the loch, over the fence on the left and head for a big pine tree that's standing by itself around 200m away, straight a head. If you're not following the loch or the river, you've got a chance of going in the right direction! Once here drop down to a bog/stream and follow it up hill to the action (around 100m).

There's a steep wall with a terrible landing that looks maybe ok for short sport routes if the rock is solid underneath a load of flakey rubbish, a good steep boulder identified by a stream running underground, home of the Dagger and a couple of other things... Behind this is a good bouldering wall with grassy flat landing though it can be very boggy.

Scourguie Project Climbed

In Craig Phadraig woods, above Scourguie, Inverness, is one of the steepest walls in the area. It's about 3m of 40 degree "good" conglomerate with a couple of decent lip traverses and some holds up the face. Not the most remarkable boulder ever but, at 20 seconds from Inverness, it's not bad. Mike Lee climbed central line giving a super powerful and crimpy "board" problem called Walk the Dog, around 7B+... The problem starts at a undercling and uses a few small pebbles and a pinch to slap for the left shoulder of the boulder. Unfortunately going to the apex doesn't really work,but a desperate sit start could be done... could that give the area's first 8th grade?

A film is on the video clips page.

Brin Action

The Climber's Flat; Nic Duboust, Murdo Jamieson and Mike Lee, have made some news worthy (ish) ascents at Brin! Firstly, Mike Repeated the Scientist, 7B, after about a year of trying, largely thanks to Nic showing the way. It's no longer a tall persons sandbag which has got to be good. Amped, Mike added two new ways to enjoy the scientist boulder, a RH variation which cops out of the crux of the original by reaching to an obvious jug, around 6B, and a left variation, The Biologist, starting just after the crux of the scientist and breaks left into steepness on good holds. It needs to be linked in from the bottom of the scientist eventually, but it makes a great 6C. Else where in the forest, Murdo repeated Put Your New Shoes On, saying he thought 7B+, you could be right. Good effort dude.

The Catch Repeated

Richie Betts has made the second ascent of the Catch (7B) at Scatwell. It's great to see someone succeed as lots of people (by inverness standards) came close to it. "It was bitchin" says Richie.

Top Fives - Aretes

To get this blog going a little bit, this is the first top five list. I tried to do a top ten but ran out of ideas - in fact, it's hard enough coming up with 5. So without further ado, here's Inverness's best aretes.

Forest Mechanics, Brin: Font 6A+

This is obviously going to make list due to it being such a knife egde. It's high with a terrible landing but climbing it takes all what arete's should require; technique, balance, composure and a degree of style.

Richie's Arete, Duntelchaig: Font 6C

The Arete right of the dagger. Difficult to top out - but nicely chilled moves, lay backing on good holds up to that point.

Gorrila, Cummingston: Font 7a

Quality steep sandstone prow at cummingston.

Shreddies sit start, Ruthven: Font 7A+

This is maybe more of a bulging nose than an arete but I'm struggling to think - It's the most arete-ish problem at Ruthven. Two hard moves between sharp crimps at the bottom is the crux.

The Scientist, Brin: Font 7B

Another great line at Brin, this is a steep prow with huge reaches between good crimps. The top out has now been brushed up, but it still is highball. A really stylish problem, unrepeated.

Blog Launch

Hi everyone

Video Clips

Featured Video...

Barry Manilower at Ruthven

***

Other stuff...

Brin Rock

• Graeme's pinch
• Spank the Ramp
• Brin Done Before
• Pitbull

Duntelchaig

• The Stabber

Scatwell

• Road to Domestos (night)
• The Catch
• Scatwell
• Scatwell Massacre
  

Cummingston

• dyno fun

Ruthven

• QED
• Barry Manilower
• White Russian

Scorguie

• Walk the Dog
  

Contact

Drop me a line if you do some bouldering! or whatever...

email: flair_player@msn.com

Guidebooks

This guide from Stone Country has a good selection of bouldering in Inverness area. You can buy one from here.



An Inverness area guide is in the pipeline, hopefully out sometime next year.

Links

Here's some links:

• Stone Country / Blog - Scottist bouldering updates and info
• Scottish Climbs - The hub of climbing in Scotland
• UK Bouldering - The hub of bouldering in the UK
• Boulder Scotland - New site from stone country
• Alpha Mountaineering - Nick Carter Online

Flickr Groups of Interest:

• Scottishclimbs
• UKB

Related Blogs:

• Soft Rock
• Dave Macleod
• Mike Lee

7+8's list

7a
Old Love - Brin
Blunt arete

The Untrained Ear - Duntelchaig
proper bouldering

Voodoo Working - Duntelchaig
Looks like a skin shredder, because it is

Magic Streets - Duntelchaig
Harder for the short?

Match and Snatch - Cummingston
Easier with good beta

Fingerlicker - Cummingston
Quality traversing action

Birdman - Cummingston
fingery wall

Gorilla (sit start) - Cummingston
steep prow

Ginger Ninja - Cummingston

Cave Man - Cummingston
Long traverse that everyone finds desperate

Razors Edge - Ruthven
Technical

The Dude - Ruthven
Superstar moves

The Big Lebowski - Ruthven
Quality feature, climbs well too...

Pinch Punch - Ruthven
Sit start between Nefertiti and Get into the Groove

Crystal Maze lefthand finish - Ruthven
aka Jeds Traverse

Fly Tip Lip - Scatwell
Makes the most of the good rock

Road to Domestos - Scatwell
"funky"

Herbie - Scorguie Boulder
Lip 40 seconds from Inverness

7a+

Sare - Duntelchaig
More like a solo

Up Beat - Brin
Low ball traverse - needs a clean

Knife Wound - Duntelchaig
curving crack

The Grim Weaper - Ruthven
Say "cheerio" to your skin

Shreddies (sit start) - Ruthven
Couple of bouldery throws to skin destroying edges

Barry Manilow - Ruthven
Nearly impossible rock over

White Russian - Ruthven
Squeased in

The Stabber - Duntelchaig
Extends the fun of the Dagger

7b
Guillotine (sit start) - Brin
Low ball

The Scientist - Brin
Great highball arete

Down Beat - Brin
Similar to Up Beat

Ginger Rides Again - Cummingston

Sine Wave - Cummingston (Gorilla sit start into a reverse of Cave Man, I think?)

The Catch - Scatwell
A classic of the area.

Wooden Nickles - Duntelchaig
Difficulty in pulling off the floor

7b+

Walk the Dog - Scorguie
Steep conglomerate wall

Pit Bull - Brin
climb out a pit. needs repeated

Crocabot - Brin
Roof problem at brin

Farr Side Facet - Farr
Quality problem

7c

The Susurrus - Brin
horizontal action to campus funk

Put my new shoes on - Brin
has been done without new shoes

The Dude direct - Ruthven
Giant dyno move to sloper

QED - Ruthven
Wobbly Roof flake into desperate bulge

The Settler - Duntelchaig
Hardest in the area?