Benny Beg

Today the weather forecast was looking dry and still... but a little chilly! So instead of heading to the EICA, I wanted to make the most of the weather and get out on some real rock. I suggested that we head to Benny Beg - mainly because I had never been before and wanted to check it out. I had heard folk say that it was very accessible, had loads of easy routes, was a great place to take groups... and it was right next to a cafe. Sounds perfect!

Gearing up for the first easy climb of the day, Benny Beg

By the time we had set off, it was almost lunchtime - but only an hour and a half later, we were standing at the bottom of the crag. At first, we pulled into the main car park at the Benny Beg Plant Centre but we noticed the sign that directed climbers to an alternative car park about 100 yards further along the main road towards Crieff. After no more than a 30 second walk we were at the foot of the first bolts and spotting the numerous lines.

Trying to warm up my feet, Benny Beg

We spent our time ticking off most of the routes on the first sector; I lead and threaded the rope at the top and then Emily bottom roped. There was a little water trickling down the main crack lines but most of the rock was surprisingly dry and didn't feel too cold to the touch. The quality of the rock, the lines and the bolts are highly recommended and very worthwhile, even at the easy grades.

Emily trying to get some feeling back into her feet, Benny Beg

Before the first sector, the height of the crag is much lower and looked like the perfect spot for a group warm up with some 'hang on' or some 'follow the leader' traversing. It also looked like there were more lines possible between the bolted ones and plenty of good anchors at the top of the outcrop that would enable the use of further bottom-ropes. An excellent group venue for sure.

The view from the crag in the fading afternoon light, Benny Beg

Soon, the afternoon sun vanished and the temperature dropped. As the light started to fade, the cafe and a hot chocolate were calling. A great afternoon climbing and I can't wait to go back and tick off the remaining routes.

The excellent DMM Alpha Sport Quickdraw, Benny Beg

Sport Climbing - North Berwick Law Quarry

It was a very clear blue-sky day and we were keen to make the most of it. Without any planning, we took the easy option and headed for North Berwick Law Quarry.

Down safely after leading Wild Iris F5+**, North Berwick Law Quarry

It was after lunch before we were at the car park and gearing up. It was a fantastic day - not a cloud in the sky. As we headed round to the Quarry, we saw many folk out on The Law and making the most of the good weather. When The Red Wall came into, to my surprise, there were a number of folk already on a number of the climbs.

Lots of gorse on route, North Berwick Law Quarry

Down safely after leading Wild Iris F5+**, North Berwick Law Quarry

I decided that I would warm up by leading Wild Iris F5+**. It was a little tricky about halfway due to the gorse bushes being in full bloom! Safely down, it was Emily's turn to follow on the bottom-rope. It was at this point that a fellow climber, a middle-aged gentleman who had been climbing just next to us, came over and asked me how the route was. I grinned at him and told him that it was a little "gorsey" and dirty. He smiled back at me and then proceeded to quiz me about what I had done at the top of the route. He asked me if I had placed two quick draws through the lower-offs and I told him that I hadn't; I had just threaded the lower-offs in the usual textbook fashion. For some reason he didn't seem like he was too convinced by what I had done and asked me if I had my SPA. "No", I replied, "But I climb regularly and have climbed here a few times before". He then left us alone to climb. I'm not sure what his problem was, but Emily followed up the climb in no time.

Bottom-roping Old Law Breaker F6b**, North Berwick Law Quarry

Looking up The Red Wall, North Berwick Law Quarry

Leaving the rope up, I bottom-roped Old Lawbreaker F6b** and tried to work out the sequence. The climb has a couple of hard and committing moves to better holds higher up, but having worked it out I didn't fancy the lead - perhaps next time.

Having a look at the rather bold-looking Darkness Falling F6a+*, North Berwick Law Quarry

Shiny stuff, North Berwick Law Quarry

Taking down our rope, we now had the Quarry all to ourselves. I had a long hard look at Darkness Falling F6a+* but the move to the first bolt still looked terrifying. Feeling a tired and far from brave enough, we called it day. Fish and chips on the shore in North Berwick were calling. A great day.

Looking up The Red Wall, North Berwick Law Quarry

Emily enjoying the sun, North Berwick Law Quarry

Grass Crag Climbing

Tomorrow was looking like it was going to be another stunner so I wanted to keep that for a big hill. Today, however, the weather looked like it might be a little hit and miss. James and I decided to take the kids for some more climbing at Grass Crag in Gairloch - we just had to hope the weather would hold and try to get done what we could.

We were away sharp and soon all stumbling over the boggy ground towards Grass Crag, struggling to carry all the gear. I got the kids sorted out with helmets and harnesses etc. while James threaded the bottom ropes in double-quick time. We had four ropes going between James and I and the kids new what they were doing after our intro-session last week at Beginners Slabs.

Unfortunately, the kids found it quite hard and struggled to get to the top of most of the routes - it didn't stop them trying their hardest and putting everything into it though! Then the rain came... and it really hammered down and, looking up at the clouds, it was on for the rest of the day. We made a run for the minibus and headed for hot chocolates in Gairloch on our way back to the hostel.

On reflection, it wasn't an ideal venue for a large group - as most of the climbing was simply too hard. James and I both said that we would check out Aztec Tower for future sessions. A good day though, considering the poor weather. I forgot my camera today so no pics, sorry.

Bouldering at Uvongo

We had spent a further 10 days (unplanned) in South Africa - but we certainly weren't complaining. Emily and I had both been in contact with our employers in the UK and we had both been told that we would still be paid our usual salary, regardless of the situation. An excellent problem to have!

We were lucky because we had Bini's folks to stay with and we had spent most of the past week lounging around on the beach and generally just chilling out. As we had made the most of our time in South Africa, we hadn't had a great deal of time to just chill out and enjoy the good weather - so now we were certainly making up for it! But today was our last full day, as we had managed to get booked onto flights back home tomorrow. Originally I was a little concerned about not getting home for another three weeks (which was what we were told originally) because I was due to lead my first Project for GWC on 10th May - so I really needed to be home to sort things out.

Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

We spent today at the stunning Uvongo Beach. While the others topped up their tans for one final time, I turned my attention to the shady sandstone cliffs towards the back of the beach. As I got closer, I could see a couple of bolts glinting in the sun; sport climbing routes. There was a very prominent overhanging roof a short way from the ground that was just crying out for some bouldering. The rock was a little damp but the friction wasn't bad and there where lots of big features to grab hold of to pull along the roof of the overhang. It didn't really matter that I was without my rock shoes, as it was mostly all about the arms. I had great fun traversing along the roof and occasionally pulling up and through on to the main headwall of the routes. The lines didn't look too difficult (as the difficulty seemed to be pulling over the initial roof to gain the main face) and certainly looked worthwhile. Wish I had a rope and some 'draws.

Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

Bouldering at Uvongo beach, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa

A great end to an amazing trip.

Torridon & Gairloch Reflections

After a fantastic few days exploring Torridon & Gairloch, I had time to reflect on what a successful trip it was. I know felt much better about leading the 2010 Torridon Project and was confident that I knew the area well enough to formulate some plan Bs.

It really highlights just how worthwhile it is going to check out a specific place before taking a trip/group there.
Here's a wee video I made to sum up our time in Torridon & Gairloch:

Torridon - October 2009 from Chris McMorris on Vimeo.

Torridon & Gairloch Climbing

Loch Torridon from the road to Diabaig

We are heading home tomorrow so today is our last full day in Torridon before making the long drive back down to Edinburgh. I was pretty happy with the hills that I wanted to take the group up on Projects but I wanted to check out some of the potential crags to take the group climbing and abseiling. A colleague, James, was part of my staff team for Projects next year and he was SPA qualified, so he would be in charge of those activities. However, he had asked me to check out a couple of crags that he had spotted in the guidebooks.

The first one, that we headed to, was Beginners Slabs. This was very easy to find; we parked at the viewpoint on the road to Diabaig and had a very short walk to the southwest. The massive 35 metre slabs were rather obvious and easy to find. As we geared up at the bottom of Long Thin Slab D, we laughed once again about how glorious the weather was. As I set off up the warm and grippy Lewisian Gneiss, I was struggling to spot were my first piece of gear would be... and the second... and the third... hmm. It didn't really matter, as the climbing was easy and the rock was very dry so the friction was excellent, but it turned into a solo with a heavy harness and dragging a rope attached. The anchors were also a country mile away at the top but luckily there was a massive boulder close by that I used as a single, bombproof anchor to bring Emily up safely. The climbing was excellent and I could see how it would be great for beginners, hence the name of the crag. I then ticked off Pink Slab D and Right Slab D and Emily, once again, followed me to the top of each. From a group point of view; a top rope would work well on Long Thin Slab and Right Slab is well suited for rigging an abseil.

Beginners Slabs, Torridon

Beginners Slabs, Torridon

Beginners Slabs, Torridon

After a lovely morning climbing in the sun, we headed along the road to Kinlochewe. Along the road from Torridon, we spotted a couple of stags rutting near the Beinn Eighe car park. It was an amazing sight so we got out for a closer look and to snap a couple of pictures. We headed on to Gairloch and to Grass Crag. We had climbed at Grass Crag not too long ago and James thought it looked like a very easy place to rig for a group, being a sport crag. As I hadn't been climbing that hard recently and hadn't much experience climbing outdoors, I didn't fancy trying anything to hard so, as before, I lead Third and Final F5+ and then bottom roped Kick Ass Yoga F6a+. It was quite hot in the afternoon sun, so we called it a day there and headed back to Gairloch for an afternoon coffee. It was an ok group venue, but I had my concerns that it might be quite hard for the kids.

Hanging out with the locals in Torridon

Red Deer, Torridon

Grass Crag, Gairloch

A great day and it felt good to have some idea about possible climbing venues in the area - a very successful scouting trip to Torridon. Very lucky with the weather also.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

After a great start to the summer so far, my folks were due over for a couple of weeks holiday in July. They hadn't been very far north before so they fancied doing a bit of a road trip - with me as tour guide. Naturally, I was more than willing; as I never miss an excuse to go north for some outdoor action.
Our first day was spent driving to Kinlochewe from Glasgow; a lovely scenic drive but not forth mentioning here. We settled into our B+B and then made some plans for the next day. I was keen to show my folks Gairloch, as I knew it would be right up their street, and I was also keen to do some climbing (I had really got the bug after The Lakes, some bouldering and having just purchased some shiny gear). I had borrowed a copy of Scottish Rock - North and had just had a quick skim through the local area. Being new to trading, I didn't really want to try anything too daunting and I wasn't too clued up on anchors at the moment so I was a bit unsure about what we could do. But then I found Grass Crag, very close to Gairloch. A small sports crag with a short approach and some easier graded routes - perfect.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

After exploring Gairloch in the sun and taking in a hot chocolate from the excellent Mountain Coffee Company, Emily and I set off to find this crag. We parked at the tip entrance on the right hand side of the road, as you head out of Gairloch towards Poolewe. We grabbed our gear an set off due northwest over the boggy terrain. After around 15 minutes of bog-slogging, we spotted the shiny bolts glinting in the sunlight - we had arrived!

Grass Crag, Gairloch

We geared up and were soon ready to climb. We were focussed on the far right end of the crag - where the easy routes were. I set off leading Third and Final F5+ and it looked ok from the bottom. The rock was warm but rather harsh on the skin; fingertips especially. It was quite easy climbing and it didn't feel daunting in the slightest, considering it was my first sport lead in the outdoors. I was soon at the top and clipped into the lower-off... not to attempt the thread.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

I recently invested in a copy of Libby Peter's excellent book: Rock Climbing - Essential Skills and Techniques and I had read up on what to do at the top of a sport climb with a lower-off. It was fairly straightforward but I just had to concentrate to make sure that I did everything in the right order. But it was nae bother and I was soon securely attached to my figure-of-eight on a bite of the rope and being lowered safely to the ground with a huge grin on my face :-D
Next it was Emily's turn. She had never climbed outside before but was super-keen to give it a try and she flew up it in no time at all - I was most impressed. With the rope still up, I thought it would be rude not to give something harder a shot on a bottom rope so I had a bash at Kick Ass Yoga F6a+. This felt a lot harder than what we had just done and I struggled up to the top but ticked it nonetheless - happy with that.

Grass Crag, Gairloch

We packed up and headed back to the car and then met up with my folks at The Old Inn for some excellent grub. I was nice to share and reflect on our afternoon at the crag over good food and with good company. When we headed outside later on, we saw that the sun was heading towards the horizon and that it was going to be a spectacular sunset that evening. We headed back to Kinlochewe and I remembered from the Cycling Project last year, that there was a fantastic viewpoint just a wee bit up the road from Kinlochewe.
We made it there just in time to snap a few amazing pictures of the sunset - what an end to a great day.

Sunset over Loch Maree

North Berwick Law Quarry

With the kids finished their block for climbing this session, we had a free Tuesday session for some staff climbing. Richard T had suggested that we head to North Berwick and check out North Berwick Law Quarry, as apparently there was some sport climbs there. I had been up and around Berwick Law a handful of times in the past but couldn't recall anyone climbing or seeing any bolts. However, after some brief online research, I had found us a topo of North Berwick Law Quarry.

We left sharply at the end of school and after negotiating the Edinburgh Bypass traffic and blasting down the A1, we were at "The Law" carpark and gearing up. The approach was less than 10 minutes; go over the style at the carpark and head right along the path that goes around the base of the hill until the quarry comes into view on your left. As this was only my second climbing trip in the great outdoors, I was pretty excited to check out the routes. However, I was a little intimidated and I thought some of them looked quite tricky! After a bit of a chat, Richard T decided to get on something easy(ish), so he lead Wild Iris 5+** and I gladly belayed and then followed on a bottom rope to strip the route after him. It was more tricky than I had planned for and I have to say that I struggled a little to find the holds - this was most probably just down to my lack of experience. Not impressed by my first attempt, I got back on it and this time made fast work of it. The rock wall is quite blank and has had the holds chipped out to give the routes - not much visable traffic for a while made them quite tricky to find.

Richard G bottom roping Darkness Falling F6a+, North Berwick Law Quarry

Richard G had now joined us and was keen to get on a route, but with none of us climbing particularly hard recently, there wasn't many easy options as we gazed at the topo. We had a look at Darkness Falling 6a+* and the description said, "Tricky first clip"... and it really wasn't kidding! The first bolt was high above the ledge that appeared to be gained by a rather tricky move in the corner - certainly the crux. As we didn't have a clip stick, and none of us fancied risking an injury, we decided just to top rope it; this seemed the sensible option. Richard T headed up Wild Iris again and swung accross the top to put the rope through the lower off above Darkness Falling. We all felt more compfortable with this approach and we all had great fun on it, but I wouldn't fancy leading it without a clip stick!

Richard T bottom roping Darkness Falling F6a+, North Berwick Law Quarry

The Richards then had a play around on a few of the harder routes but they both soon discovered that they were quite nippy! A great evening of climbing and great company too. I was really impressed by The Law as a climbing venue and I fancied coming back to try a few leads when I had gained more confidence and experience; a venue that I would recommend.