UKC

Can anyone offer advice on;

Getting there; which crossing is best, and is it necessary to take a car?

Camping; which campsite is best for access to Cir Mhor? Are there any decent bunk houses?

Gear; and particular gear to take or leave behind?

Midges; how bad are they likely to be in mid-June?

TIA

Go from Ardrossan to Brodick. Car not necessary if you're just planning on climbing on Cir Mhor, but if you want to explore the island more it'd be useful. You can walk from the ferry terminal to the start of the walk in in probably around 30-40 mins.

There's a very basic campsite at the start of the walk in in Glen Rosa. Don't know re. bunk houses but there are hostels in Brodick.

Cams are useful on the granite. If you're comfortable at the grade you can probably take a fairly simple rack though. Can't remember any specific gear.

Midges can be absolutely grim in Glen Rosa and on the crag. Pray for wind or consider going to Pembroke instead. There will be ticks around too.

Have fun, good route and great crag. Do the Rosetta Stone near the summit once you've topped out if you fancy a bit more fun.

Whatever crossing fits your schedule. No need for a car, a bike is handy.

Glenrosa campsite.

Nothing special rackwise.

Depends on the wind, could be none or could be f-ing grim.

There is a very good camping spot in the Coire below the Rosa pinnacle beside a obvious giant triangular wedge shape boulder. It's like a lawn oasis. A little path at the side takes you to water draining sub Rosa gully about 50m away. I posted a pic recently with a cloud inversion. 

Walking up to the route there is a path but can be difficult to locate below. It's near the right side of the hanging coire above. Otherwise it can get a bit time consuming route finding through the slabs and steep gravel and slime.

Bikes are free on the ferry and can get you all the way to the Glen Rosa footbridge saving a fair bit of walking. Otherwise a taxi from ferry to campsite is £8. Book it before travelling. Bus will just get you round the bay. Just over a mile.

Take a least 3 1600mm slings. Big hex, big cams not really required. Mid range. Climb in 2 pitches probably best for a 50m single. Belay just before the traverse right. Big spikes and comfy. Common mistake people make is to miss the drop down up the flake pitch and carry on up the flake system. Should be a rounded spike at it.

Finish up 3 tier chimney and SRD at least to the terrace by far the best route off. The traverse round the side is mince. Its awkward to start but good pro and amazing position along the upper easy ridge. 

If you want to descend to the start of route. Drop down gully alongside Calibans Creep. Cross the easy slabs below the first proper pitch of Calibans Creep. This route is worth doing if you can and really just 2 climbing pitches and rest a scramble.

Thanks for the advice, everyone. I'll wait and see what the wind is doing, before setting off. I'm not sure if i can face the midges, if they're as bad as you've said...

Top tip. Don't get lost in the fog at the top, descend into the wrong valley, and end up walking 8 miles in your rock boots to the opposite coast.

We did South Ridge Direct late in July last year - midges weren't too bad, ticks in Glen Rosa were. (Probably picked up most of them walking barefoot in shorts through the wet grass on the campsite I think.)

We got the ferry one evening, taxi to campsite, route the next day. We opted to finish over Goat Fell, which made for a long day, so got the return ferry the following morning. You could easily make the evening ferry on the day you climb if you don't do this.

On South Ridge Direct mid to large wires (5 upwards) were more use than little ones. 

More detail needed please!

Just on the ferry back now. No need for car - you can walk from Broddick to glen rosa campsite in about an hour, and to the bottom of the crag in 2.5-3. We camped by the boulders at the bottom of the crag. The campsite at glen rosa would be ok if you're just going up for one day, but I wouldn't want to do the walk in on two days back to back. Normal rack - nothing special. One set cams, one set nuts and a set of offsets were fine. If you wanted to double up on purple to yellow cams they would be useful but not crucial. 

Midges could be hell if it's not windy. We were lucky. 

I was fortunate to be an observer rather than a participant in that particular life lesson. The lesson I learnt on that day was that there is no shame in bailing from halfway up a classic Scottish VS when the clouds roll in and the snowflakes start blowing around. Having reached the ground we spent quite some time waiting for our friends to return from Souwester Slabs, followed by a brisk circuit of the mountain in search of them and a retreat to Broddick, where the staff of the university geology field trip (of which our friends were part) had just received a phone call from the far side of the island...

Party climbing the first winter ascent of Cubic ridge did exactly the same. One of the party was in the process of putting together the new climbers guide for Arran at the time. So it's not an uncommon mistake.