UKC

Heading to do the old man of Hoy next week. Hoping to do one of the better routes on the crag than the original route. Maybe Fistful of dollars, or GMB.

Does anyone have any info/advice on them?eg, take loads of tat to re-equip belays, similar faff regards leaving belays in place for getting back towards the stack on the ab.

Any advice gratefully received. Just hope the weather's nice...

(Old Man of) Hoy

In reply to CharlieMack:

Climbed the GMB a few years ago. It was epic but great. A bit scary.

In reply to CharlieMack:

Not sure it's of any help but I just looked at the listing for GMB and I'm very surprised it's described as 6 pitches. Quite likely it's just well-faded 18 year old memories, having conveniently omitted the dull bits but I recall 4 rather than 6. Lovely climbing though in a really remote-feeling situation, and even though there's plenty of it I don't recall anything notably hard for E5.

In reply to john arran:

It took us loads of pitches as we kept getting scared and placing all our gear and then stopping to belay.

If you were climbing with a bit more capability in hand I think you would do it in four.

In reply to CharlieMack:

There are no in situ belays on A Few Dollars More but there are in situ Fulmars on every belay ledge so watch out! Some dodgy rock and climbing not worth 3 stars but fantastic situation/positions etc.

Retreat is via original route, if you have time a couple of the ab points are in dire need of tidying up, particularly the top one, we cleaned up one of the others.

In reply to john arran:

Cheers all. Lots of useful info. Going to hopefully stop off en route to see how we're climbing. Will take some tat anyway add in sure we'll be glad to have it.
If retreat is via original route, is it not hard to do logistically?
Will be getting a guide book to have a proper look through tomorrow.

In reply to Drexciyan:



Well worth two stars though, which is what it gets isn't it? I don't remember and dodgy rock, the beds are variable with some softer than others, but you're never too far from a good one. I thought it was sustained at the grade, more than I was expecting, packed a lot of good climbing in. The fulmars should have moved on by now.

If you can get up any route harder than the original route you shouldn't have any problems getting down.

In reply to Adam Long:

How crucial are 60's for the abseil? We've both only got 50 halves.

In reply to CharlieMack:

60s reach the ground from the top of the 2nd belay. Without them you have to either hope there is still a rope in situ (there was a few years ago) so you can get diagonally down to the 1st belay, or do something complicated. If you can beg borrow or steal some 60s I'd recommend it as making things massively less faffy.

In reply to CharlieMack:

I went to do the E3 but it was in a biting wind, quite cold and misty. So we did the E2 which was sheltered, a lot warmer and, laterally, quite sunny at times. It had quite a lot of fulmars but the climbing was good with only one tricky wee section leaving the original route. There is rather a worrying runout on steep grass near the top (less worrying if the nesting birds have left). This was... I think 3 years ago.

In reply to CharlieMack:

We came down on 50s - but then there was a brand new military-grade 11mm static rope left fixed in place so it was trivial. Crag swag I think it's known as nowadays
I still have it, having cleared the litter from the route, and still use it to this day for bolting new routes in Ariège. In fact it's fixed down a half-bolted route right now.