For some the purity of a bouldering line and the clean tight power of a short piece of rock motivates more than the sweaty walk-ins, hot belays and meandering thoughts of a mountain route... in this spirit, in the cool Font-like dappled shade of Dunkeld woods, Mike Lee worked out the high voltage positions of his project to give Electric Feel Font 7b+. It is an isolated problem, but maybe all the more focused and classic because of this. It's an attractive scooped wall with lightning bolt features just down the hill rightwards from Marjorie Razorblade buttress at NO 020 438. Well done to Mike for climbing such a tough line in the searing heat we've had the last few days - I can vouch that this is a class modern addition and probably the best boulder problem in the area.
Viaduct and Beinn Dorain Once you cross the bealach under Beinn Odhar north of Tyndrum, the shapely peak of Beinn Dòrain is a visual fanfare to the Highlands. The mountain and its environs are richly detailed in the poet Duncan Ban MacIntyre’s poem Moladh Beinn Dòbhrain (‘In Praise of Beinn Dòrain’). [i] Its symmetrical convexity, deeply gullied flanks like pencil sketch-marks, and stern domed summit, make this a moment to instinctively reach for the camera. It is a steep but invigorating mountain to walk, which is more leisurely explored from its eastern corries, though the traditional ascent from Bridge of Orchy, up to the toothed ‘Am Fiachlach’ ridge quickly brings fine views from the heart of the Central Highlands, encompassing Cruachan in the west to Lawers in the east and the Mamores to the north. If you were set the task to name the features and character of this mountain, before a Gaelic toponymy, you may have come up with a similar voc...