UKC

Cloggy was unsurprisingly a popular venue on Sunday and judging by the chalk I could see on nearby routes probably busy on Saturday as well. I counted about 30 people there, about the same as on all my previous visits combined.
Anyway, if you happen to be the young man in a black Arcteryx top who followed me up Great Slab/Bow Shaped Slab Combination I took a few photos of you on the pitch 3 crux traverse.
If you want I'll email them to you, send me a message through UKC, cheers.

In reply to pec:

Hey, I did that combination the other week. My best climb for years or so it felt like.

In reply to Sean Kelly:


Yes, its a great route. I did Great Slab as my first Cloggy route over 25 years ago and was a bit disappointed by it. With the crux being the first 10 feet and gradually diminishing ineterest and quality thereafter. Finishing via Bow Shaped Slab was a much better variant. Even the easy pitches are interesting and there's remarkably little poor rock or veg for a 500 foot route.

In reply to pec:

Hopefully no rockfall or looseness after the winter. Cloggy can be dangerous on the first busy weekends of the season.

In reply to pasbury:

It was busy in May too, far from the first busy weekend of the season! Although admitedly not 30 people busy, but did get some rocks "thrown" at us back then.

In reply to pasbury:


I didn't encounter any 'properly' loose rock on the whole route, nothing you wouldn't expect on any 500' route on a mountain crag and didn't hear any rockfall elsewhere. Then again, we didn't really have a winter this year to loosen it.

In reply to pec:

I was just checking my guide the other night and noticed that it was 49 years ago that I first did Great Slab. Bit of an epic because of the heavy rain we encountered. But it was amazing how the entry pitch on Great is now so clean. It still had quite a bit of grass on it at the time.

In reply to pec:

30 people! Thank goodness for Scottish mountain crags

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Respect. It's only 46 years since I first tried it - an attempt aborted when my mate fell off the traverse and, because I hadn't placed any gear after the first MOAC, came within an ace of pulling me off my stance and an early demise.

In reply to Michael Gordon:

Only 30. In its heyday I estimated 100 one Saturday

In reply to Michael Gordon:
Never dry enough for that number on Scottish crags. In fact the weather lately up there has been awful whilst we have been baking! I'm hopefully up there in a little over a week for a fortnights climbing, but it's not looking promising.

In reply to Sean Kelly:

Well it is definitely sometimes dry enough. I agree, not often though!