UKC

How easy is it to link the lower and upper east face? I've never been there but was thinking about Hardland into Skydiver. This would make an absolutely awesome combo...if it's easily done and the climbers are up to the task!

In reply to French Erick:
Don't know exactly where Hardland is but it you can descent the terrace / old east to the foot of Skydiver.

Edit - having looked at the guide that would work fine.

In reply to French Erick:

Cross grass and heather right wards, traversing slightly upward if below Three Tier Chimney. Old East is an obvious rake trending down right wards below the upper tier and leads, with a short rock descent into the gully below Upper East Face.

In reply to French Erick:

Hi Erik,
There is an insitu thread at the top of Hardland (from 2013), so an ab down is easy enough before walking over to Skydiver. Cue comments re. threads,bolts etc etc etc....... Both brilliant routes.
Cheers, Iain

In reply to smally:

Hi Iain
There seems to be some confusion in the guidebooks about this route - what would you say the grade of Hardland was? The photo of Tony Stone on it in Great Mountain Crags of Scotland is, for me, one of the most inspiring climbing images ever.

In reply to Wicamoi:

I looked out an e-mail from Tony.

'Probably E4 6a, perhaps E3 but I thought the crux was quite tricky'

Graham must have decided to put it in the Inner Hebrides guide at E3.

In reply to Colin Moody:

Thanks Colin,

And while I'm at it, thanks for your fantastic effort in producing the lovely Inner Hebrides & Arran guide - a heroic achievement. I guess you don't make very much money out of it, and I don't know how much feedback you get either but, from me, please accept a genuine appreciation, both of the love and time you put into it, and of the finished product. I plan to make it dog-eared over the next few seasons and to still be referring to it in 30 years time.

Your guide describes Hardland as a variation finish of Fox Amongst the Chickens, at E3 6a; the Great Mountain Crags of Scotland (with the inspiring photo of the pocketed traverse) implies it's the main event at E4; while Gary Latter's guide (at least in the first addition), describes it, confusingly, as independent of Fox Amongst the Chickens and gives it E5 6a! There's a long, long way between E3 6a and E5 6a, and not even that photo is inspiring enough for me to commit to the latter.

In reply to Wicamoi:

Hi,
Tony led the route, but we reckoned E4 would be a fair grade rather than the original E5. It's a beautifully sculpted piece of rock with just enough pockets on the traverse.
Cheers, Iain

In reply to Wicamoi:

As Iain + Colin have said, I reckon E4 is fair and it is protected so worth a punt.

Fox Amongst the Chickens was the original line and takes in the hardest climbing on Hardland, which is essentially an aesthetic variation finish. I suspect the first ascensionist of Hardland was unaware of Fox Amongst the Chickens. Gary, I imagine, went by the FA descriptions, hence the confusion. I think they both deserve the same grade, either E3 or E4 and 5c or 6a.

In any case, it's a lovely bit of rock

In reply to TS and smally:

Thanks very much for your opinions, gentlemen. If there's a more beautiful rock than Arran granite I've yet to find it; those pockets in the blankness of Hardland, leading to the prospect of safety, are just so appealing. The shot of Iain on Sleeping Crack in the GMCoS would be almost as inspiring as the Hardland photos if it were even remotely within my grasp.

In reply to Wicamoi:

Thanks a lot for the feedback.

It was a team effort so any errors are nothing to do with me, obviously!

In reply to French Erick:

Thank you all for the heads up- whether allowing I will try Hardland / skydiver combo...probably abseiling down.
Cheers
Erick

In reply to French Erick:

Oh dear...my English has become so bad: weather allowing. I started to write whether the weather will allow and changed the wording to even worse English.

In reply to French Erick:

Try "weather permitting" next time!