Colin’s

Stac Liath

Wed, 1 Sep 2010 20:36:51 +0100

Stac Liath is one of many crags on Mull that I had looked at in the 80’s. It had very few cracks for placing gear and when I played about on it a hold broke, so I left the crag alone.
Michael Tweedley and Danny Brooks both said (more that once) that it was a crag that should be bolted. This year I worked out a couple of lines and bolted one of them with a drill that Steve Jones had borrowed.
Andy Hyslop repeated it last night (photo above), need to do a few more lines soon.

Lake Louise

Sun, 4 Jul 2010 05:49:37 +0100

The walk in is simple, along a large flat track, trying not to bump into tourists.
The rock is fairly perfect with a mix of bolts and gear. The mountain scenery is stonking.
There is plenty of wildlife and there is even a toilet at the crag.

Photos are here Alberta

Photo below is the view from the camp site.

Climbing on Barra

Sun, 6 Jun 2010 19:58:16 +0100

For adventurous climbers there are several islands south of Barra.
For the less adventurous Barra has four Hotels serving bar meals, a supermarket open 12 hours a day, internet access and showers.

There is a guide here Guides

Climbing on Canna

Thu, 20 May 2010 21:18:18 +0100

Most of the routes were first climbed by Pete Whillance, Keith Bennett and Andrew Jackson. Photo above is Pete and Cynthia on FA Madame Guillotine.

There are photos here Rum

There is a guide here Guides

The Weekend

Tue, 18 May 2010 20:19:31 +0100

On Friday night I thought I should go up the hill, I’ve had bowel problems for a while and I’m not the only one. I found a deer carcase high up above our water supply, I tied a length of rope round the back legs and dragged it round the hill away from the catchment area, think I’ll be boiling water for a few more weeks.

On Saturday we went to Shiaba, it was cold with showers so we didn’t see any adders. It was good to be back on the Quartzite and the routes are really good.

Sheltering under one of the overhanging crags at Shiaba.

On Sunday we joined the tourists on a trip to Staffa and Lunga. I had been past Lunga one evening in the 80’s, but it was misty and we never set foot on that island. Colin Morrison, the skipper, asked if I was still climbing then asked me about Staffa, I said there were better places to climb that are a lot easier to get to.
We had venison stew at the pub.

On Monday evening we went to Ulva Ferry with Pete and Hilary Moffat. They had been up A’ Cioch and Ben More that day but still managed a couple of routes.
In the 40s Pete had gone to Canada and trained as a fighter pilot, the war was over when he got back to Britain. Pete’s birthday is on Saturday when he will be 86.
Photo below is Pete seconding at Ulva Ferry 17 May 2010, Cynthia photo.