Stone Country – Landscapes and Lifescapes

This quartz-veined schist wave of rock is a south-facing glacial crag easily spotted in a field on the A84, opposite St Bride’s Chapel and graveyard, a few kilometres north of Callander as it passes along the Garbh Uisge’s ‘Falls of Leny’ and the south end of Loch Lubnaig. It is easily accessible from a straight-road layby south of the chapel, cross the road (carefully, as traffic is fast), walk north and enter a field to walk over to the crag - two minutes. The bulging crag has a number of short traditional routes surmounting the ramp onto slabs, such as the flake crack Bride’s Crack (HVS) on the right, but below the distinctive rising ramp feature is a steep wall with increasingly hard and higher problems from left to right. The wall has been bouldered on only sporadically since the 70s, so names and grades are speculative and first ascents are murky. Angus Clark and John Watson repeated the obvious problems in 2007 and 2008 respectively, possibly documenting and naming alrea...

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.

The sandstone boulders under the cliffs of Raasay have seen some serious attention from top-end climbers Michael Tweedley and Dave MacLeod. Dave reported an amazing and very continental-looking project on the giant boulders round Screapadal. Dave reports on the stunning potential of the area in his blog : 'We spent ages looking round the boulders finding countless problems in the V0-V3 range that looked great, but not much for ourselves. But finally we stumbled upon one line that changed our psyche - the biggest, baddest Font 7c/+ roof in Scotland!' Beastmaker Dan Varian has written a hilarious blog about the ups and downs of Scottish bouldering, cranking out some big new testpieces in Torridon and Applecross in June. Lovingly entitled '3 days in Paradise, 1 day in a Shithole', you can tell he wasn't impressed by Dumbarton! Don't worry, Dan, we feel you and are trying to get the place cleaned up! See here for further developments on the clean-up and developme...

Taking photos in Glencoe. Managed to catch Daniel Laing and Murdoch Jamieson on the Freak Out wall ticking the classics, then some pleasant bouldering down at the boulders beside Loch Achtriochtan.

The latest film from Hotaches , The Pinnacle is a welcome historical tribute set amidst our normal dietary blizzard of modern Youtube ascents and techno-sodden bouldering movies.  Tracing one epic week on Ben Nevis in 1960, and the two climbers who took to the wintry corries of Ben Nevis (Jimmy Marshall and Robin Smith), it brings into focus a clear Scottish ethic that climbing is about the landscape, the adventure, the friendships and the moment...something which Jimmy Marshall insists is the core lesson of a lifetime in the mountains - that climbing is not about the noise afterwards but rather those brief moments of unseen joy in the mountains. This filmic tribute is in essence a remembrance of Robin Smith, a luminary climber of the 1950s and early 60s who sadly lost his life in the Pamirs in 1962. In one of the many poignant interviews in the film, an older but still rugged-looking Marshall describes Smith's climbing...

Pete Murray and myself travelled up to meet Dave MacLeod at his '8c' cave in Morar. This secretive and impressive venue took us a while to find, but was obvious once we did - a 50 degree walled quartzite cave with no moss or drips or lichen and a singular line of chalked holds disappearing into the triangular darkness - Dave's 8c project. I pulled on a few holds the first day and tried one or two moves, but the sheer brutality and power required was too much and we let Dave show us his rubric of moves and contortions that allow the cave to be climbed. The 'easiest' lines appear to be butch 7a's and the top level is close to Dave's idea of Nirvana - long power-plays and complex link-up sequences. We bagged some good film and a short interview about the place which will be forthcoming in a new short film from Pete Murray, to go along with a new collection of writing on bouldering from Stone Country.

I have glanced at these crags many time passing along the Loch Lubniag road, trying not to wipe out bikers as I veer over the white lines. They are really obvious just across the water above the new fancy chalet community and there may be sports potential. I certainly haven't heard of any trad action there. I walked up today into the impressive steep wilderness of Sgearnach a Chait (the 'Cat Scree', presumably there are or were wildcats here) to check a couple of walls named on the OS map as Creag na Comh Sheilg. I got bogged in poor cleared forestry ground, which blew my mojo a bit and I retreated. However, it seems there is one particularly impressive 25m sport wall at a hellish angle above the larch forest (which might be a better approach from further north along the shore path). It looks featured and clean and might be worth a drill, does anyone know this wall? it's above and left of the impressive but messy lower crags which might provide hard sport as well... ...

Beinn Udliadh has continued to fatten and form some of the best ice in years. We passed a pleasant short day in the corrie on Tuesday with parties on almost every major route: Quartzvein, Cut throat, Peter Pan, Sunshine, Green Eyes, Junior's Jaunt, Doctor's Dilemma etc, with Organ Pipe wall looking particularly fine and the Smirk in as well. Expect it to be busy however - we saw 15 cars parked when we arrived and popular routes were fairly chopped. Little cornicing and the tops were well frozen with the finishing neve good.

What is the finest hillfood in Scotland? You will have your own favourites. I guess it's all about the situation - how battered you are, how thirsty or simply how hungover. You will have gathered this is not a post for you muesli-munching banana-peelers who demure at the sight of amber bottles and frying pans. Two days in Glencoe absorbing some fine and traditional weather alike leads to different conclusions on this. A wet day of sleety rain with sodden feet frozen from bare-footing it through a frozen river or two (cursing the forgotten wellies) and I'd murder a flask of French Onion soup for some reason. The end of a sweaty walk-in and the blue Power-ades work a treat for the thirst. Babybel cheeses seem inordinately fun to unwrap in a private moment - little parcels of chewy cheese that remind me of 'No-Entry' signs as you unpeel the wax strip. Or winegums found congealed together in the bottom of your chest pocket (with glove fluff) are the best for winter belays,...

Took a walk up Ben Nevis to take a few photos and scope out the conditions. The settled weather has left the Ben looking good but a lot of classic ice doesn't seem to be there in quantity (eg. Orion Face, the Curtain, Megaroute X etc) needing maybe more snow to freeze thaw - it's probably been just too cold for that. The CIC cascades were in good nick and touching down however and I saw a party on good ice on Boomer's Requiem, and abouyt 3 parties in Point Five. Most classic gullies look good and full of firm neve and in fast nick. Of course, it's Marshall Smith week, with Dave MacLeod and the Hotaches crew out filming on Minus 3 gully. If you don't know what this means, it's the 50th anniversary of Robin Smith's and Jimmy Marshall's remarkable week on the Ben step-cutting their way to now-famous classics. Here's the list of what they got up to 50 years ago without front-points and sans drop-head axes: The Great Chimney (IV,5) 6th February 1960 Min...

We've just received stock of the new Scottish Climbing Yearbook. It's an 80 page full colour summary of the best in the last year's Winter, Bouldering, Sport and Trad in Scotland. The book is full of features and, most notably, guides to new venues and crags. It's perfect to throw in the glove box of the car for those hours spent sitting out the rain! You can buy it next day FREEPOST on the right... just follow the Paypal check out and we'll pop it in the post first class mail. Guides included: Winter - Bridge of Orchy Ice Winter - Ben Nevis No. 3 Gully Buttress Sport - Orchestra Cave Sport - Red Wall Quarry Sport - The Anvil Sport - North Berwick Law Sport - Dunglass Sport - Ardvorlich Sport - Cave Crag Dunkeld Sport -Dumbuck Sport - Rob's Reed Trad - Craig More, Crieff Trad - Sheigra Trad - Cir Mhor Arran Bloc - Hebrides Bloc - Shelterstone Bloc - Trossachs Bloc - Rankin Bloc, Galloway Bloc - Culdie, Applecross Bloc - Craigmore Bloc - Glen lednock ...plus fe...

Ardvorlich Hidden Upper Cascad e Though I knew of the Loch Lomond falls at Inverarnan and Eas Ruaridh having been climbed and often in nick in a cold winter such as this, I'd not heard of the Ardvorlich cascades having been climbed, though I expect they may have been in distant cold winters such as '96, '79, '67 or even the big chill of 1946? They can just about be spotted from the roadside at Ardvorlich B&B just after Inveruglas on the A82 on Loch Lomondside, just above the 400m contour. We hiked up there in deep snow, an exhausting hour's trek hauling up the square-holed wire fence to the obvious cascades which looked blue and chewy and inviting. As usual in winter, the climbing was not as steep as it appeared from the roadside, but two very good lines can be climbed on the lower falls in two pitches to a tree belay at the top, from where a bonus surprise awaits: a frozen enclosed gorge with tumbling blue ice, its central feature a frozen blue chamber of ice w...

So who thought we would never get a winter again? The festive freeze, which looks like lasting over a month at a below 0 average temperature, has caused traffic chaos and made it pretty difficult to actually get into (and out of) some of the hills, especially the remoter car-parks, so activity has been limited if you can't afford snow tyres or 4x4's. Compounded by overstretched (or gambit-funded public roads services), travelling in Scotland has ground to a halt in most places. One trip from Glasgow to Ullapool at the height of the chaos took me 9 hours and one 4km hill walk took 5 hours. Not a great average. I'm sure many folk have had excruciating walk-ins to the cliffs, or simply bagged some convenient roadside ice instead. 2010 is here with a cold vengeance so what has Stone Country in store? Well, in mid January we are expecting delivery of the 2010 Scottish Climbing Yearbook , an 80 page photo/topo magazine to the most exciting developments in winter, bouldering, tra...

Having been beavering away at autumn projects at Craigmore, we thought we'd produce a guide to the bouldering here which will be available soon, but I was shocked at the amount of problems which have vanished under the moss. Have a look at the two pictures below, the first is of Cammy Bell on Leech Direct, a photo which famously graced the 90's edition of the SMC's Lowland Outcrops, while the second is the same wall today... Cammy Bell on Leech Direct in cleaner days... Leech Direct wall today... I've started a mini campaign to clean up some classics here, starting with Wide Eyed Wall. Hopefully by next spring we'll have rersurrected some neglected classics at this magical little venue. Possibly the growth of trees is shading more of the crag and global warming wetness has maybe encouraged the moss. The blocs in the forest are being left well alone as it's environmentally more important than climbing, but some of the classic crag walls could do with some attent...

We are developing the main Stone Country site into a book, film and topo resource centre for outdoor activities in Scotland & Europe, with new Topos, DVD's and Books for sale in the shop. We are also keen for articles or topos on climbing or bouldering in Europe, so please send anything you'd like published to the edtior John Watson . We can design, price and host your pdf guidebooks, ebooks or articles on our site, so don't hesitate to send us any of those old topos you worked on years ago and we'll give them a facelift. Recent new features are: Glen Lednock, Cowal & Arrochar Blocsport, Monkey See Monkey Do DVD and lots more...

The new edition of the SMT publication 'Ben Nevis' has been published and it's a real treasure trove for the Scottish climber! Ken Crocket has done a great job of updating his sections from the older edition and Simon Richardson has added an inspiring and knowledgeable section on modern winter development. The production levels of the book are tremendous, with full colour photography and illustrations on every page. It's the absolute bible on our biggest mountain and weighs in at a hefty but soild hardback of 416 pages. The book delves deep into the details of misty history and introduces us to an almost-lost character list of rum characters who have climbed on this mountain over the years. Early travellers and mappers are given due introduction and the early Raeburn years are given due credit for their technique and boldness. The book is divided into chapters just like the 'eras' of devlopment on the mountain: the Ben seems to go through fashions and modes li...

Each autumn brings two seasonal imperatives: Autumnwatch and the new Hotaches film. Unlike Autumnwatch, Hotaches give us adventures without wings. The art of a good climbing film, especially in this saturated media age, is to tell a good story. Any film-maker should keep this truism close to heart and Hotaches don't disappoint: the 2009 film 'Monkey See Monkey Do' is a collection of fantastic climbing tales, focusing closely on character and motivation. Every shot is saturated with the emotion of the climber, committed to telling the inner story as much as the wobbling, sickening 'real' world of the climbing. Some sequences in this film had me frozen in disbelief, particularly in the highlight of the four films: Single Handed . The first film is entitled Slate Monkeys and follows three very different climbers to the slate quarries of Wales. Matt Segal, Hazel Findlay and Johnny Dawes attack a classic slate route with a heady mixture of youth, canniness, experience...

Much as I was impressed by the news that Stevie Haston had creatined himself stupid to climb 9a over 50, the future belongs to kids like this... surely the limit for him is just how long and thin they can make ropes: 200m silk/carbon rope pitches of Font 8b cruxes - what would that be? Bring it on I say. An impressive piece of climbing: Enzo.Chocholoco by oddofrederic

I'd never been to the top of Ben Macdui, shame on me, but once on the Cairngorm plateau it really doesn't look like a mountain top, more of a bowl of piled gravel so I'd never got beyond the Ben Avon basin. This remote paradise is far more spectacular and alpine in its dramatic sweep of rock and water than the plateau, so it tends to suck the climber downhill amongst the waterfalled crags into the heart of its monolithic geology. The weather was settled with high pressure stamping out any hint of summit winds, so I took the excellent path up into Sneachda by the bubbling burn and over the goat track down into Shelterstone. Adrian Crofton and Graham Tyldsley were steadily inching their way up Cupid's Bow, so I took a break to boulder around the blocs, chased by unusually potent midges. I was lured into the big gully to the left of Sheltertstone by the bubbling sound of two Ring Ouzels boulder hopping. I'd never seen these birds before, though I knew this rocky talus ...

You never know who your heroes are going to be in the climbing world. They end up being people entirely different from the abstracted heroes you started with in the climbing mags - the ones photographed doing crazy solos and hand-stands against the cliff faces. If you are lucky enough, they are people you climb with for a few years. They often disappear from the climbing world into real life and don't come back, which only makes their legend stronger. For me, Craig Parnaby was one of these vanishing legends. Craig was inimitable and his ability on rock was terrifying. I first met him at the Bowderstone in the early 90's, a 'beginner' doing laps on the classic 6a crack. He was a youth from Coniston in the Lakes, with Gecko hands and lithe forearms, reminding me instantly of Ron Fawcett's build - you could just tell he had the genetics. Even as a beginner he moved on the rock like a bent bow, always tensioned, never loose and arse-out-the-window like the rest of us. H...