In reply to alan moore:
> It is an odd type of rock...
I couldn't agree more, Alan! It certainly varies immensely in style, quality and enjoyment.
The first climbs I did on schist were Punster's Crack and Whither Wether and these were so superb that it coloured my judgement for a lot of it. Both routes have great climbing on excellent clean rock with tremendous exposure, despite the fact that I nearly shed my load on the top half of the latter - I quickly learned that cams are a must for this rock!
I think Polldubh, Glenmarksie and some of the Aberdeen coastal cliffs (Deceptive Wall, Floors Craig, Earnsheugh) give great routes (Storm, Proteus, Resurrection, Untroubled Blue, Ugly Bugs, to name but a few superb ones), often following strong lines and with good protection (so long as I took at least 6 cams for each!). Glenmarksie is very unusual, with some fairly conventional schist moves, interspersed with some almost gritstone-like cracks. By contrast, The Cobbler, Arrochar Valley Crags (major yuck!) and much of Dunkeld are either trouser-fillingly run out (Springboard at Polney was a total nightmare when I led it, undergraded at VS in my guidebook - I came dreadfully close to brown trousers on this!) or dirty lichenous crud (Fold Direct's first 2 pitches were like the Hanging Gardens of Babylon!).
I learned to climb on Glencoe Rhyolite in the late '90s. As a skint student and dole bum, I found this rock often to be very well protected (Bludger's and Peasant's Passage excepted!), even with my paltry rack of 12 wires, 5 hexes and a couple of slings!
M