Stone Country – Landscapes and Lifescapes

A long, cold winter extended the bouldering season into a chilly spring lasting well into May. If there is still ski-ing into May, it means then there is still good bouldering to be had.

Latest update on Dumbarton and the clean-up in a fine piece of film by Chris Houston, capturing some of the problems as well  - post-graffiti...

Saturday 20th April and Sunday 21st April. 10am - 4pm.  Please come and show your support for Dumby by lending a hand getting the place cleaned up along with the local people of Dumbarton. The idea is to pick up litter and get the place looking a little tidier and maybe do some anti-erosion work below the problems, as well as some other work in tandem with West Dunbartonshire Council. There will be a BBQ set up to make a focal point which will be selling food and drink for after and some climbing may even happen! It shouldn't interrupt your climbing plans other than making you feel guilty for not cleaning and going climbing instead, but that's fine, you can join in for a bit if you're there. Things will kick off from 10am on Saturday 20th April and Sunday 22nd at the waterfront area beneath the Eagle Boulder where the BBQ will be set up. Some bin bags, gloves etc will be provided but if you could bring your own that would be great. Exact details of what will happen...

Just to let everyone know that Historic Scotland, who own the boulders and crag at Dumbarton Rock, have agreed to clean the boulders of graffiti, overseen by climbers so no holds are damaged. After excellent concern for our sporting heritage and good consultancy (thanks to Ian Lambie of Historic Scotland and Andrea Partridge at the MCOS!), I'll be attending the first day of cleaning on Monday 11th March. I would like to ask climbers and boulderers to avoid climbing here in this period while the cleaning goes on, as for safety reasons parts of the crag and boulders will have to be cordoned off. I would ask all to respect the arrangements we've made on behalf of climbers, as much good work has gone on in the background to arrange the best form of cleaning and restoration. Unfortunately much of the 'historic' graffiti has vanished behind modern graffiti, so it's impossible to restore the lower 'layers' - it will all just have to come off. This is a good o...