UKC

Hi,

For dreaming, I asked myself what were the most adventurous climbing areas we can have.

By adventurous I mean:
-remote and wild place
-hard to escape
-no gear in place
-long climbs
-far away routes...

For me in UK, although I don't know all this places:
-Gogarth cause sometimes you can't escape
-oaklands for same reasons but more remote
-ben nevis
-some extreme loose rock scrambles

In Europe:
-Ordesa, Naranjo de bulnes in spain but I know there is very remote places in spain
-Alps, pyrénées, some routes in the Verdon or in the calanques, and Bavella in France
-Dolomites, val di mello in Italia

What else?? Have you some ideas?

(in the wold it's too hard cause there is everywhere crags like Tepuy in Venezuela, Mont Asgard, Himmalaya, Antarctica...)

In reply to Archibald: The Cuttings.

In reply to Archibald:
Surely loads of bits of Scotland - the Cuillin and central Cairngorms spring to mind are wilder and woollier than the Ben? It's got a hut halfway up and a nice path down with a pub at the bottom!

Also: Lliwedd, Dover.

In reply to Archibald:


Foula

In reply to Archibald: there are a few areas in el chorro that are only accessible by the Camino del Rey walkway. the walkway is in such a bad state you are meant to via ferrata all of it and the start has been removed to keep the public of it! looks quite scary, gotta be one of the worst approach routes i think i have every seen! (doesnt mean i wouldnt love to do it :P)

In reply to Archibald: First, Gogarth certainly shouldn't be on that list, it is not remote in the slightest and the not even particularly serious. In fact the only places in the whole of mainland England and Wales that could conceivably make the list are some of the crags on the Lleyn peninsula.

You could potentially put Carnmore Crag on the list as the most remote major inland Scottish cliff, but to be honest the only really adventurous areas in the UK are on the biggest cliffs on the more distant Scottish islands and potentially on some of our sea stacks.

Remote major crags:
- Sron Ulladale, Harris
- St Johns Head, Hoy
- Arch Wall, Pabby
- Dun Mingulay, Mingulay

Sea stacks:
Old Man of Hoy, Castle of Yesnaby, North Gaulton Castle, Am Buachaille etc.

In reply to Mr Mark Stephen Davies:

I've never been to CG, but I'm absolutely dying to go. Mercury Direct is one of my top routes to do, keep nearly getting there but conditions or wussy partners have meant it hasn't happened. I hear great things about the crag...am I being cruelly sandbagged into probably death?

In reply to Jon Stewart:


Not on Mercury Direct you aren't. We did the Mercury connection approach which is good fun in case you need a slightly longer outing.

In reply to Archibald:

The Atlantic coast of Cornwall provides a few highly adventurous routes: i.e. tottering Fowleresque brushes with the grim reaper.

Bukator, Beeny Cliff, Willapark, Lye Rock and of course the big daddy Henna Cliff.

In reply to GrahamD:

I'm not up to it at the moment, and I know it needs good conditions, but I view America as a top aspirational tick. I know it might be horrowing, but it's a route I would love to have done (that's my idea of a kudos route - not some hard Raven Tor redpoint!).

In reply to Archibald: Vicarage cliff; over a mile to the tea rooms! whaaaaaaaat

In reply to getandy:
Psychologically midly trickyfor nervous types, but physically totally undemanding.

10 minutes from the road.

Hardly fits the bill to be honest.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

I think there are a lot of routes on Gogarth far more commiting and adventurous than those last few sea stacks you have named, I have done the first three, actually if its Scottish stacks you're talking of then The Old Man of Stoer is a real commitment. And of course St Kilda has the most adventurous routes in GB.

In reply to Archibald:

Not quite in the UK,

http://www.uniqueascent.ie/sea_stack_guide

but with enough suitably adventurous locations for several lifetimes of playing out.

In reply to Archibald:

The north Devon (Exmoor) coast is probably the most remote climbing area in England. North Cornwall can be very serious Carn Gowla, the Culm etc, but never that romote -although it may feel it! Nice long routes abound often om suspect rock and with big seas to compliment.

In reply to Al Evans:

I don't think so. Things these days are rather different from when you were putting up routes at Gogarth.

Having seen the coastguard cliff rescue team out practicing top-down technical rescues along with the RNLI lifeboat at Gogarth and seen how proficient they are, I cannot consider any route there as having any real commitment in the sense of needing to be self-reliant in case of an accident/emergency.

There is phone signal (often Irish operators) over pretty much the entire area and if you call for help you're pretty much guaranteed that you'll be rescued within an hour, two at most. In fact, I would say you'd get rescued from half-way up Gogarth far quicker than pretty much any of the big mountain crags in Snowdonia.

Scottish sea stacks and the island sea cliffs are a completely different propositions and, as it was when you originally climbed at Gogarth, the chance of a timely rescue from halfway up a route are low or non-existent.

Carn Gowla felt very serious and remote, despite the fact we visited the friendliest buttress and there were loads of dog walkers wandering around the cliff top. MD looked very intimidated, due to the size of the ab.

In reply to The Ex-Engineer: I totally agree with you. Gogarth is'nt a remote place.

I've put Gogarth in the list cause I climbed there with a big big sea, big waves, lot of wind and the rain never far away. In the north stack arch, you think if you have a problem, you will not have rescue by the sea, not by the top (due to the overhangs). BUT it's possible by the route you just tryed, and the phone is OK (if you take one - if not, commitment can change everywhere you climb!)

But in Gogarth, you feel far away! I prefere it than Cloggy (only climbed right hand slab route: very bad, big easy runout and scrambling to the top...)

And have you some other places? I like seeing photos, new crags...

And thanks for the first topics!!

In reply to Archibald: Ive just got back from a climbing trip in Morocco(The jebel kest)It was very adventurous.

In reply to Archibald:

Lundy should get a mention - the Devils Limekiln is a pretty wild place to climb - especially when the seas are up!

In reply to Owen W-G: In a similar vein Ogmore feels like a pretty serious place until you top out into rolling green pastures. The speed of the tide there and some of the crumbly layers in the rock along with the free hanging abseil over a field of 3ft sea sculpted limestone needles all add to the atmosphere.
Climbing at the Needles on the IoW looks pretty adventurous, I'm sure some of the huge shale cliffs on the North Cornwall coast (e.g. Beeny and Bukator) are pretty "out there".

In reply to Archibald:


Spitzkoppe, Namibia.

Remote(ish), semi-desert location. No water. Bugs and critters. Access on unsurfaced 4x4 tracks. Some serious big wall routes with, er, "sporting" bolt spacing (where present). Real possibility of no other climbers anywhere around. No mobile signal. No nearby landlines. Nearest MRT is in the next country, thousands of miles away ....

Dave

In reply to Archibald: UAE & Oman takes some beating based on your criteria

In reply to Archibald:

+1 for Dover, which has extra criteria vs that laid down by the OP:

-Uncertainty whether you are on the right route
-Uncertainty as to whether the route you are trying to climb has changed or even still exists
-Uncertainty as to what the grade of the climb will be or where the crux will be
-Risk of the coastguard trying to rescue when you don't need rescuing
-Potential for new routes

In reply to Archibald: The Maiden at Whiten Head on the entrance to Loch Eriboll has Stoer and Hoy whooped on remoteness and access. Carnmore is a remote crag as are the Dionard buttresses on Foinavon or for adventure Creag Urbhard on Foinavon.

In reply to Archibald:

For me Ben Nevis wouldn't make the adventure climbing list.

For me personally its all about sea cliffs.

Example the Exmoor coast, about as good as UK adventure climbing can be.

In reply to Alan M:

I would argue that Ben Nevis is probably one of the least adventurous places to climb in the Highlands. Compared to say Torridon.

In reply to Mr. Lee:

It rather depends on what you do doesn't it?

In reply to Archibald:

Staple Edge Quarry during January and February of 2010

In reply to Archibald:

Lundy is adventurous. Boulder Ruckle Swanage always feels adventurous to me

In reply to Mark Warnett:

Agreed commencing with the free ab in near Marmolata Buttress. The degree of adventure increases with the sea state!