More summer bouldering in Scotland

Perhaps the worst time of the year to boulder in Scotland, July and August: midges still kicking about with the horseflies, the bracken at Jurassic height, the air humid and muggy, the rain biblical when it hits, impassable rivers in spate, the sun baking and lethargy-inducing. If you're not in the higher hills, it's a good time to head to the cooler coastal venues . . .

In Ayrshire, some new caving has been discovered, with plenty of potential. Some impressively steep caves may provide sport for the 8th grade climber and all will be revealed soon. Here's a pic of Colin Lambton on 'Mejico Prow', a fine 7a at the new venue.

Callum Johnson has been on the Isle of Arran and added a sit start to The Snare on Clach Dhruim a Charn to give The Rhythym which adds a little bit to an already brilliant problem! His party also added a few new problems in Glen Sannox: a technical wall problem on the front of the scooped project boulder which was Technical Merit and on the Great White boulder the south east arête that arches over the burn - an amazing feature that required some cleaning but yielded some brilliant moves up slopey lip holds to a crux mantle onto the steep slab: Jacks Little Brother 6c. At Cummingston Callum added a crimpy wall problem on the section between Batty Bat and The Shield giving; Attack Attack 6c. At Cullen Caves he completed a full low traverse of the sports wall giving To The Sea! 7a, a technical pumpy traverse.

Back in June, Chris Miele and friends added a tricky line at Glen Lednock: The Hurde (6c/7a) - the left arete of the kist boulder from sitting at a low crimp and high block. 03/06/13 - Chris Miele

In Glen Croe, Fraser McIlwraith added 'Float like a butterfly, sting like a Bieber' (7a+), a dyno from standing off a small crimp rail to lip, just right of The Nuclear Button. 04/05/13 - Fraser McIlwraith

Beinn Dòrain

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...

The Metadata of Being Human

Shamanistic zoomorphs, lithic graffiti, hallucinogenic tableaux, territory markings, knife-sharpeners … rock art – l'art rupestre – is so far beyond our traditional 'linguistic' history, it does not have an interpretative alphabet or a single line of confirmed meaning. There are many interpretations of the 'gravures' (carvings) and 'abris ornés' (decorated caves) in the hidden bivouacs throughout the forest of Fontainebleau. The sandstone marks easily under the nib of a hard flint from the deeper calcareous geology and this soft stone canvas has allowed our European ancestors to carve the stylised and modernistic strokes we might note as remarkable in a Picasso painting. Most of the carvings involve complex hash-marks and grids, overlaying each other, occasionally with mandala-like boxes. Sometimes there have been carved astonishingly beautiful anthropomorphs, (stylised human-like figures), or zoomorphs, (deities or humans manifesting in animal form) or argu...

Scotland's Iconic Mountains #Broad Law

BROAD LAW The rolling hills east of the modern motorway of the M74 hold much more character and history than they appear from the west, where they are now flanked by forestries of spruce and wind-farms. In medieval times this was a Scottish royal hunting ground – the ‘Ettrick Forest’. Further east towards the Tweed valley, there are echoes of a deeper Scottish history in the border towns of Hawick, Selkirk, Galashiels, Peebles and Kelso, all on the banks of the historic River Tweed and famous for their medieval forts and abbeys. Looking west from Broad Law to the monoculture forestry and wind-farms of 21st C Scotland This range of hills, along with the northern flanks of the Cheviot hills, marks the geographical transition to the once-contested border with Northumberland, with its high pass over Carter Bar on the A68. The more useful sense of boundaries are suggested not by the roads but by the watersheds: to the north the waters drain into the River Cly...

Stone Country – Landscapes and Lifescapes

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