The usual suspects and dark horses have been in play across Scotland over the rock season of 2014.  One of the main characteristics of all the main players is an ability to climb at the same level across a wide range of different rock types such as gneiss, sandstone, rhyolite, granite, mica schist, quartzite and basalt; necessitated by the ever changing weather conditions and the need to travel to different areas to find dry rock.  All the different rock types lend themselves to different styles of climbing and protection possibilities.  There is, however, a trend towards routes which are long, steep and offering good protection; reflecting the fitness and movement skills acquired by regular sport climbing and climbing walls.

Whilst there have not been many ascents at the cutting edge of rock climbing standards across the Scottish mountains this year (Dumbarton Rock aside), some impressive new routes have been uncovered and forgotten test-pieces re-discovered; as with the previous five years many mountain E6s and E7s from the 80s and 90s are being re-climbed after a long period of neglect.  In most cases, any pre-inspection, especially in the mountains, appear to be solely to clean the rock and most pre-practice kept to a minimum, maintaining the adventurous ethic of traditional climbing in Scotland.

North West

Creag Rodha Mor

This impressive gneiss crag in Assynt, north of Ullapool, was revealed in 2012 by Ian Taylor and Tess Fryer.  It has justifiably been nicknamed “Supercrag” by many; the climbing is reminiscent of the Barra Isles with long sustained pitches of high quality.  Further details can be found here.

Many of the harder routes on the front face have been receiving attention with rave reviews.  In particular Murdo Jamieson pulled off a clean onsight of Heart of Beyond E7 6b, confirming both the difficulty and quality.  Heart of Beyond may well come to occupy a status similar to that of Boat to Naxos in Pembroke as a good E7 to onsight, featuring a long run-out on positive rock.  Murdo also made a ground-up ascent of The Assyntialist E6 6b suggesting that E6 6c is more accurate and the hardest E6 on this crag.

Reiff

The evergreen elder statesman of Scottish trad from yesteryear, Gary Latter, has been back in action this year; his trained eyes ferreting out routes from previously unnoticed spaces.  Most obviously was Sanderlings E6 6b** a direct start to Strangeways in the pinnacle area which takes the widest part of the roof.

Carnmore Crag

One of Scotland’s big mountain crags; climbing here can be a lonely experience due to its remote location and 4 hour walk in.  Iain Small and Murdoch Jamieson spent a fruitful few days here, repeating some of the extremes, in particular Death Wolf E6 6b which may only be its 2^nd ascent in 28 years.

Iain and Murdo then turned their attention to the immaculate and sheer wall of gneiss in between Carnmore Corner and The Orange Bow.  They elected to pre-practice the crux section in the middle of the wall as it appeared very thin and run-out.  The result was 100 Years Of Solitude E8 6c ***, led first by Iain and then Murdo the next day; a truly superb route of modern difficulty on one of the best cliffs in the country.  Murdo describes his experience:  “You would have gone miles if you blew the stab into the break!   Hanging out, shaking out, I absorbed my surroundings.  Lochs, sea, mountains, sun, cloud, breeze...perfection.”

Beinn Eighe

The mottled grey quartzite of the Far East Wall saw a flurry of attention over late July and early August before the annual summer monsoon arrived.  Murdo and Guy Robertson (taking a break from publishing coffee table books on Mountains of Scotland) tackled the obvious corners and roofs directly above the 1^st pitch belay of Fascist Groove Thang.  This was impressively tackled ground-up with 2 falls; Murdo having to deal with dirty and greasy rock to give New World Order E6 6b ***.  Iain Small made the second ascent and agreed with it being top end of the grade.

Fascist Groove Thang E7 6c then saw a tenacious onsight attempt from Murdo, bravely attempting this unrepeated mountain E7 originally climbed by Paul “Stork” Thorburn in 1995; awaiting 19 years for another ascent.  After a protracted battle in trying to work the powerful crux, Murdo had to admit defeat and fell; he then worked the crux to the belay and returned another day to lead the crux pitch. 

Iain Small added a new start to Ling Dynasty E5 6b with Blair Fyffe (starts left of the cave and goes up the wall).  Where it meets Fascist Groove, he went hard right into Ling to give a long, sustained and bold direct start at E6 6b and worth a couple of stars at least.  Not to be outdone by Murdo’s recent efforts, Iain linked this direct start into the crux pitch of Fascist Groove Thang to give a truly monster single pitch 50m long. Suffice to say - and an indication of the difficulties - this effort took two days of ground-up effort but overall the grade remains the same, albeit at a very stiff E7 6c.

Lochan Dubh Crag, Gruinard Bay

Welcome to the Terrordome E8 6b, first climbed by Ali Coull in 2011 saw a flash ascent by Murdo Jamieson after abseil inspection to check the gear and chalk the holds, similar to that of Iain Small a few years previously.  Both Iain and Murdo felt that the route in this style felt like a hard E7 6c.  Welcome to Terrordome consists of sustained climbing between good but spaced gear in between Dead Calm and Major Domo; both much sought after E6s in an idyllic setting.

Sport Climbing Wester Ross

Making full use of a dry and midge free atmosphere in the spring, Alan Cassidy had a productive week before jetting off to hang upside down in various corners of Europe.  He accounted for The Pillar 8a at Am Fasgagdh thinking it had been done before but which turned out to be an “excellent”  1^st ascent; nice when that happens.  Another 1^st ascent was Nuclear Nightmare 8a+ at Creag nan Cadhag with 3 star climbing but described as being “hard and morpho” up the crux groove.  Finally, Remember to Rock 8b at same crag saw a 2^nd ascent from Alan; confirming it as a great and amenable 8b.

Outer & Inner Hebrides

On Mingulay Greg Boswell and Mike Shorter climbed The Secret’s Out E5 6a*** on Undercut Wall, an area that may well get more attention given that Greg reckoned his new route deserved 4 stars.  Other new routes from this crag include The Ocean of Time E5 6a*** from Sam Williams and Uisdean Hawthorn; Kelvin and Hobs Direct E3 5c*** and Fine Lines E5 6b*** both from from Gary Latter and Ed Nind.  That’s a lot of stars concentrated on so many new routes and this crag could be become the new go-to crag on the Barra Isles for the E5 leader.

Sam Williams and Usidean Hawthorn also got Huffin’n’Puffin Direct E6 6b *** on the Pink Walls climbing from the original route and moving diagonally rightwards into Ancient Mariners and proving you can climb anywhere on this crag at a sustained 6b. Greg did note, however, that the volume of traffic in the isles has increased with as many as 50 climbers being counted on Pabbay in one week;  a certain boatman must be doing well out of this state of affairs.

As reported on UKC earlier, Charlie Woodburn made an ascent of Skye Wall E7/8 6c by Loch Coruisk after several years of playing cat-and-mouse games with the weather to get the right conditions for an ascent. Special mention must be made for all the logistical efforts required to get to this crag in a remote corner of Skye that does not have any road access, necessitating the purchase of a dinghy and outboard motor.

Ben Nevis

The Wicked (E6 6b) E6 6b on North Buttress saw a second ascent by Dave Macleod and Donald King who managed it in a day but with falls due to wet and dirty rock. The route is a product of Gary Latter and Rick Campbell from 2000 and 2001 in which they worked and led each pitch on different days so it had yet to be done in one push.  In case you are wondering where the name comes from, it is part of the title of a seminal essay, “The Wicked and the Bat” written by Robin Smith about his and Dougal Haston’s ascent of The Bat. Nearby, Trajan’s Column E6 6b also saw some repeats; confirming its status as a classic mountain E6 with its devious route-finding crux pitch.

Glen Nevis

Down in the glen, Kev Shields continues to stare down his inner demons and various orthopaedic complications to produce a number of technical routes on Wave Buttress. Cu Sith E7 6c (pronounced Coo Shee and apparently a mythical wolf-like creature that carries folk off to the afterlife!) takes the obvious slab to the right of Edgehog with blind smeary climbing protected by a single cam and sky-hook.  Whilst Smackaroonies E5 6a, takes the arête to the right of Teenoso on the very edge of the crag.

Staying on Wave Buttress, Dave Macleod who has been conspicuous by his almost absence on the Scottish cliffs this year, added Final Wave E7/8 6b.  This is a direct finish to the already gnarly E5 Frantic across the Atlantic with the crux moves “teetering above a collection of appalling gear that [Dave] wouldn’t even lower off on.”

Glencoe

Creag a' Bhancair

As reported previously on UKC, Iain Small has climbed two new hard multi-pitch routes here and judging from the amount of cleaned routes, existing and new, to emerge from under Iain’s wire brush, Glencoe appears to have become his 2^nd home:  The End of Innocence E7 6c and the Constant Gardener E6/7 6b.  Repeat ascentionist Niall McNair has this to say:  “Both these routes feature incredible climbing up top-quality mountain rhyolite in exhilarating positions.  It astonishes me that they were not done in the era of Cubby, Howett, Latter and Storky.  They should be on the ticklist of anyone in the UK operating at this level.”

Iain also cleaned and climbed the Extreme Rock tick of Romantic Reality E7 6b.  The headwall crux of this appears to get dirty quickly so if it is on anyone’s ticklist, it’s worth getting on over the next few years.

On Tunnel Wall sport routes, Niall McNair made a flash of Axiom 8a, considered by many to be hard for the grade.  This is the first time Niall has flashed a route of this level in the UK despite having first onsighted 8a ten years ago in Europe.  Incidentally, Dave Macleod’s big link up on this wall, Vector Space, has been seeing off strong contenders, including Alan Cassidy, for the 2^nd ascent which suggests that Dave’s proposal of 7c+ should be taken with a shovel of salt.  There’s a rumour going round of a petition to ban Dave from grading any route below 8c and E9.

No match for crag id:531,"Aonach Dubh, North Face", North East Buttress

It’s not hard to understand the concentration of Extreme Rock Ticks (Freak-Out E4 6a, Spacewalk E5 6b and Crocodile E3 6a) on this crag with its immaculate andesite and spectacular outlook over the glen.  Revengeance saw a rare repeat from Iain who confirmed its mean technicalities; typical of many Cubby routes of the 80s still packing a punch these days. 

Even rarer still, Iain then made an ascent of Zodiac Mindwarp E7 6c, dispensing with the baby-bouncer siderunner set-up used on the first and second ascent by Malcolm Smith and Paul “Storky” Thorburn in 1995. This fiercely technical and bold wall climb has remained neglected since then perhaps due to its baffling omission in the current SMC Glencoe guidebook. Niall McNair, a week after Iain’s ascent, then did his usual parasitic thing and flashed this making full use of Iain’s gear beta and chalked up holds.  

Church Door Buttress

Another route emerged here from the constant gardener; Ian Small and Blair Fyffe climbed the Wall of Evening Light E6 6a, 6b ** which wends it ways up grooves and roofs in between Kingpin E3 and the Lost Arrow E3.  The crux pitch provides bold and blind climbing on rhyolite so rough it almost resembles gabbro.  It can be tricky getting conditions right on the crag as it is prone to seepage and dampness so it is best to wait until a dry spell in the summer and go in the afternoon/evening time to allow the sun to dry the rock out.

Central Highlands

No match for crag id:17070,"Creag Dubh"

Barrier Wall on Bedtime Buttress saw a sustained and frenzied campaign of development from Gary Latter determined to fill in all the obvious gaps on this compact and slightly overhanging crag.  Seven routes ranging from E2 to E7 were unfolded out of a higher dimension in between the existing routes:  f particular note were Zen E5 6a *** taking the wall to the left of The Art of Relaxation and Aye E7 6b ** taking the wall to the right of Apathizer the latter requiring a rare headpoint approach and being well protected by small cams.

Cairngorms

Shelterstone Crag

Over the course of a few weekends in September Murdo and Iain made a few attempts and finally came away with a repeat of Aphrodite E7 6c, which is probably its first repeat since Jules Lines in the early naughties and 3^rd ascent overall. They had to contend with a crucial peg snapping off in Iain’s hand on the first 6b pitch, poor route descriptions and then rain another day. The day of the actual ascent was fairly stressful due to all the wet streaks coming down the main pitch; typical Scottish conditions! Iain led the first pitch and Murdo the main pitch.

Staying in the Cairngorms area, it’s worth noting that many of the upper extremes in No match for crag id:23,"Creag an Dubh Loch" have seen repeats in recent years and are in good clean conditions- a rarity in the Scottish mountains.  These routes include Flodden E6, Devolution E6, Ascent of Man E5, Origin of Species E6, Naked Ape E5 and Cannibal E6.  Unfortunately there has been major rock fall on Cougar E3 and most of the 3^rd pitch is now missing.

Aberdeen Seacliffs

Not technically climbed this year but worth reporting is Julian Lines' new DWS solo at the Red Tower, Longhaven north of Aberdeen in December 2013.  Akela E7 7a or 8a in new money straightens out Bagheera E6 6c with a fierce technical section.  Whilst most folks would consider such a DWS when the climate is warmer such as August, Mr Lines elected to climb this route when the air temp was 5c but the sea water temp was 9c; there is method to his madness.

Further south and in warmer conditions in the spring, Alan Cassidy also made a few repeats of the harder routes in the Orchestra Cave accounting for Blobstrop 8a, Airberries 8b and Bang Tidy 8b, the last of which was also repeated by Gordon Lennox. Tim Rankin also added a variation finish to Blobstrop at 8a+ called What the Funk. The ‘O’ Cave has been garnering many plaudits and fans over the last few years as an unusual addition to the Scottish sport-climbing diet; it features steep and powerful climbing involving bizarre granite blobs and volumes sticking out of the schist in a marine setting.

Southern Highlands

The Cobbler

Dalriada E7 6b continues to lure in tigers from across the country such as a visiting Steve McClure and there was even an ascent from Mark Garthwaite which must be the first one by an OAP.  Murdo Jamieson also flashed this route and Wild Country E6 6b on the same day. Wild Country, another of those tough Cubby routes from decades ago and immortalised in Extreme Rock, has seen very few ascents compared to Dalriada and it is not hard to see why with its bouldery sequence and hard to place gear.  Murdo and Iain Small who also made an ascent have suggested a tech grade of 6b/c might better reflect its difficulties.

Central Belt

James Pearson brought his media road-show along to Dumbarton Rock to seek penance on probably the most famous eliminate in the world, Rhapsody E11 7a. Equally impressive was Caroline Ciavaldini’s ascent of Requiem E8 6b ground up in just 8 goes, this being the 2^nd ground up ascent (after Will Atkinson in 2011) and the first ever female ascent.

Further east again and a completely new sport crag near North Berwick has been discovered and developed by Jamie Sparkes, Balgone Heughs. Please pay attention to the access issues here regarding parking and approach.  This should provide a much needed evening venue in the corner of the country for those operating in the 6s and low 7s.