A Summer at Home - Rock Climbing

In late March when the country locked down due to Covid I was in the middle of enjoying the best ice climbing conditions Scotland had seen since the Beast from the East graced us. It was a shame to leave the season there but at the end of the day there were more important things going on in the immediate term so I settled in for over two months of a sedentary lifestyle in the centre of Aberdeen. Emerging from Lockdown in early summer, Dave and myself opted to make the most of travel restrictions and no work to focus on rock climbing within Scotland for the foreseeable future.

Leading Strawclutchers Wall

For me the goal lay at getting established around E1. I had climbed this grade a few times over the last couple of years but would never say I had been an E1 leader. I’d also never even set foot on an E2. our mindset was to focus on cragging within Aberdeenshire and to get to the southern Cairngorms when the weather allowed. The longer term idea for the summer was that we would be climbing well for when the travel restrictions eased and we could make trips out west when the weather allowed.

Dave Starting up Amethyst Pillar

In the initial weeks we got loads of Mileage at VS and HVS and before long Dave began to probe E1’s. I wasn’t far behind and eventually I managed to lead Saga Slab at Burn o Vat. A week later I managed Strawclutchers Wall at Meikle Paterns which I had failed to second a few weeks earlier when Dave led it. The most encouraging thing about these routes is that they represented my weakest climbing styles, slabs and face climbing.

Dave Aiding the Huge Roof on King Rat

In amongst the cragging we managed to get weather for some decent mountain days. The ones that Stand out were Amethyst Pillar on Ben Macdui, King Rat on Creag an Dubh Loch and Koala on Braeriach which Katie joined us for.

The Crux Corner of Koala (Photo K. Bowen)

Once the travel restrictions eased there was a brief spell of good weather in the west that would allow some cragging. I went over with the goal of climbing my first E2, specifically The Pillar at Diabaig. The pillar is a 35m high steep slab of Lewisian Gneiss. It is low in the grade with sustained 5a/5b face climbing with adequate protection. It is a phenomenal piece of rock and one of the best pitches of rock in the country. All of these factors also make it quite a common objective as a first E2.

The Pillar, Diabaig

One evening I set off with Dave giving me a belay. I wasn’t climbing or moving very well and hadn’t been all day, perhaps through nerves but I was there and this was my shot at it. Over the course of the next two hours I battled my way up the technical balancy moves. It once again represented a weaker style of climbing for me and I thought I was coming off a few times but I always managed to push through to the next piece of gear and semi rest.

Birthday Treat, Clashrodney

With the Pillar climbed I had reached my main climbing goal for the entire summer. It had only taken me five and a half weeks from lockdown to completely surpass my previous highpoints in rock climbing ability so the question became what next?

Earnsheugh on the Coast South of Aberdeen