Stone Country

The south peak ('Jean') on The Cobbler, 12th December 2015 Here's an interesting round-song of place-names for Arrochar, in cartullaries and statistical and printed records since 1395: Arrochar/Arochar/Arrochquhair/Arrochquhare/Arroquhar/Arachar/An Tairbeart Iar/An t-Àra ... I was walking uphill wondering what sticks, what's in a name, why do they change, does the landscape care, who are the caretakers of a place-name? We might just be flecks of mica flashing briefly on a sun-struck pebble in the streams, but names are important to us in our brief mappings of our landscapes. Our human territories are marked by names, sign-postings, marker boulders, paths and cairns, amongst other structures, both textual and physical. 'The Cobbler' mountain - Arrochar's finest and most distinctive peak - is a curious example of the fluidity of naming the landscape; of confusion, habit, fashion, politics, class, and misinformation. The confusion starts even w

Mountaineering in Scotland: The Early Years by Ken Crocket (SMT, 2015) Review by John Watson History is the silent traveling companion of any mountaineer. The thematic thrust of this major work – as the back cover copy suggests – is that a knowledge of history and landscape enhances our climbing experience. Indeed, it is necessary to appreciate this fourth dimension as grounding for a longer-term sense of place and deeper satisfaction of our sport. Climbing in Scotland follows a deep palimpsest of visitation as climbers since the middle of the 19th century have traced each other’s steps on vertical ground, deviating only where the technology allowed deviation. Difficulty is always relative, but the landscape is the same, the challenge always present. There is one thread between us, and a hungering urge for return and revisit. This book looks to the first hunger pangs. The initial chapters guide us through the transition from landscape and geology as neces

Fancy bouldering underwater, floating up holds? Try 'The Ark' blocs at Loch Arklet, beside the Stronachlachlar boulders. Usually submerged, they emerge clean and smooth and rippled in late summer, when the thirsts of Glaswegians drain this feeder loch enough to reveal a pair of conjoined blocs. There are a few nice sit starts on perfect schist, with a tough wee roof on 'The Arklet'. Being 3 minutes from the road, they are a perfect summer's picnic venue, with often a breeze rippling the loch to keep the midges to the higher blocs in the bracken up at An Garadh. Loch Arklet from John Stewart Watson on Vimeo . The Arklet from John Stewart Watson on Vimeo .

Girvan Bloc from John Stewart Watson on Vimeo . The Wind Oyster from John Stewart Watson on Vimeo . Escaping to the coast has been the only bouldering option in the summer heat, especially in a summer where the bracken seems to have gone Jurassic. The first video shows the excellent 'Wind Oyster' boulder problem on Gigha, and the second video is of the fine little Pinbain pinnacle at Girvan. Good news for those new to bouldering in Scotland - the third edition of the guide is well under way and we hope to have it available by early 2016. These two new venues feature in it, amongst about 150 other venues. It's almost impossible keeping up with all the localised developments and this will be the last gazetteer of Scottish bouldering before it goes entirely fractal and into area guides, so email me your venue information if you want it featured >>>

High above the residential northern shores of the Clyde is a strip of sandstone geology outcropping all the way to Craigmaddie Muir in the east. It lies hidden under a mossy understorey mostly, and varies in consistency and quality, but was once the attention of neolithic archaeologists, until they had to bury what is one of Scotland's greatest rock-art sites.The 'Cochno Stone' was uncovered by the Rev James Harvey in 1887 on open land near what is now the Faifley housing estate. It is covered with dozens of cup and ring marks, grooved spirals, along with a ringed cross and a pair of four-toed feet. It was briefly a chalked-in tourist attraction until it was buried to prevent vandalism in 1964. Rock-art these days is a kinaesthetic thing, recorded as bouldering on photo-video networks, rather than pecked out on rock plinths. I've always like the connection between the vibrant, fluid circles and lines inscribed on the rock and the modern tracery of bouldering; ther

Dan Varian visits Glen Nevis and confirms two hard lines by climbing them and filming them, no edits, no doubt... the first is 7c+ and the second the amazing arete of the Cameron Stone at 8a+. Nice conditions at Reiff-in-the-Woods, Ian Taylor repeating The Rasper : And Ian again on a nice looking line, Unknown Air,  near Stac Pollaidh, which would have made a nice walk-off: And a nice topo from Ian Rankin for the highball bouldering at Cairnrobin Point, which looks good, and incredible geology to boot: Some new backwoods bouldering round Glasgow as things dry out in the good weather: Cochno Prow from John Watson on Vimeo . Craigmore north tiger wall from John Watson on Vimeo .

Social media is good at one thing: telling us how good the weather is elsewhere. There's nothing like the itch aroused by hearing that pop-up alert sound and a cobalt blue sky behind a climber on Facebook/Vimeo/Flickr etc. But sometimes good weather does coincide with a day or two off and it all works out. Here are some examples of people timing some good conditions with a bit of fine bouldering weather in a Scottish springtime... Dan Varian on his new direct on the States bloc at Garheugh - Big Mac 7c Richie Betts on his 6c (???) at Reiff As the forestry is gradually being cropped round Arrochar, dozens of new stones are appearing. Luckily, after decades in the pine-dark gloom, they are silvery and clean, and require little gardening. Topos for the new stones will appear in the new Bouldering in Scotland guide, hopefully with all the other new areas, though venues are being opened faster than I can map them! The Creagh Dhu always said there

I hate the term 'rampage', as though boulderers are locusts devouring some resource and moving on, it's an awful term and I'll talk about it in another post, but it's maybe an apt term to explain the pent-up energy released when weather and new blocs coincide in Scotland. Cabin-fever can lead to a frenzy of sudden activity after the long winter months, on boulders so good they crave movement and release themselves. We've had a good spell of weather recently (now over!) and the usually dank blocs have dried out. I won't release any location details out of respect for the hard-working and civic-minded pioneers, but the Highlands in particular have always held project stones generally ignored by the global bouldering community, maybe they have good reason. If they want 8c's and 9a's, they are here for the taking, though we're hoping some home-grown talent finds a way to move Scotland onto new levels. After all, this is the home of Malc Smith and

With the high pressure settling over most of Scotland and providing windless weather and cold temperatures, the bouldering conditions are pretty good at the start of February. Some new projects are being worked on across the country. On the Moray Coast, a new sandstone roof venue akin to Cummingston looks excellent, if this little video is to go by, thanks to Hamish Fraser, Dave Wheeler and friends. New Bouldering Project, Moray Coast from Hamish Fraser on Vimeo . In Glasgow, Serious Climbing is putting the finishing design touches to the Commonwealth Games legacy project that is the Cuningar Loop Boulder Park. This park is due to open in the spring sometime, and first glimpses look jaw-dropping. The site features what appears to be about a dozen moulded blocs on a forested plot of land in a loop of the Clyde river, near Dalmarnock. Alex Gorham has blogged a picture of a nicely-cleaned sandstone bloc near Milngavie, hopefully we'll have some hard projects