UKC

Hi UK climbers,

I'm originally from Berlin in Germany and have the great opportunity to live and work in Scotland till august. At the moment I'm near Oban but will move somewhere else by the end of march. As I have arrived here only some weeks ago I don't know what would be a good place for me. I'm thinking about Fort William and Inverness at the moment.
Maybe some of you have some advice for me?

In Germany I used to do a lot of indoor bouldering and some climbing, also a little bit of both outdoors, but not so much yet (I'd like to change that). Till now I've done only sport climbing and no trad climbing - I'm still trying to fight my fear of falling in sport climbing routes outside. I also like hiking and would be very interested in learning about mountaineering and exploring the highlands in general.
As I don't know anyone here to go climbing together I guess it's best to go somewhere where I can get in touch with other climbers easily? And I'd be happy to have an indoor bouldering/climbing gym near me, if possible.
Oh, and besides all that I'd like to find some new friends here, maybe go to a pub or concert sometimes.

What do you think would be a good starting point for that?
I heard about Glencoe, so Fort William would be great for that. But also in Inverness there might be more social life (is the climbing wall closed??). Hmm, I don't know. What do you think?

I'm thankful for any advice!
Pauline

In reply to Pauline_K:

Aviemore, Fort William, Inverness are all good shouts. Inverness requires a car.

In reply to Pauline_K:

My suggestion would be Stirling. It's nice and central, easy access to the Highlands and if (ie when) the weather's bad, it has good quick links to Ratho near Edinburgh and TCA / GCC in Glasgow. It's a nice, historic town with plenty to see and do (more than Aviemore or Inverness!) and has decent amenities and social facilities.

In reply to Pauline_K:

or even glasgow? can be a bit grim but a great location and easy to get out of, plus if you like sport and bouldering you have dumbarton rocks (Dumby) a short train ride away which is the best concentrated bouldering you will find in scotland with some sport and trad as well.

plus 2 good climbing walls and more pubs and bars than people!

Fort william is a great place to live for those who like the outdoors, there is no climbing wall yet, but the ice factor at kinlochleven is only about half an hour drive away which has indoor ice, sport, dry tooling and bouldering

In reply to Fraser:


There is a wall in Stirling too, don't even need to travel!! Stirling is a good shout in that it is fairly easy to get almost anywhere, the downside being that it's not close to anywhere!! Don't get me wrong, I love Stirling, it's my home town, but there's no mountaineering on your doorstep.

In reply to girlymonkey:


I suppose it all depends on your definition of "doorstep." I'm a born and bred Falkirk man and consider Arrochar and Glen Coe very accessible for mountaineering day trip destinations. Summer rock climbing in the northern corries of Cairngorm are also within reach for a day trip, although an early start is now required since the introduction of the average speed cameras on the A9! My rule of thumb is anything north of Fort William and Aviemore warrants a tent/bothy/ bunkhouse couple of days.

In reply to Joak:

I also consider the same places to be day trips, totally agree. I guess it does just depend how close the OP wants to be to the mountains. I was imagining heading to another country to enjoy their mountains, and I think I would want to be closer to mountains than Stirling is.

In reply to girlymonkey:
I was imagining heading to another country to enjoy their mountains, and I think I would want to be closer to mountains than Stirling is.


Totally agree, I would imagine heading to another country to enjoy their mountains, being based in Stirling would indeed pose some logistical hiccups