Go Further’s Paul (pictured left) is organising a Gairloch Climbing Wall fun day with a competition.

The event will take place on Saturday, March 19th from 1pm to 5pm. Everyone is welcome and the competition will include three categories - P4-P7, S1-S6 and adults.

Points will be awarded for different graded climbs.

Tea, coffee and refreshments will be available.

The new wall is located in the Gairloch Leisure Centre (IV21 2BP) next to the Gairloch High School. Contact 01445 712345.

For those competing the entry fee will be £2 for adults and £1 for under 18’s.

Gairloch Climbing wall opened late last year after years of fundraising and effort.

Tags: Gairloch Climbing Wall

The new Gairloch climbing wall will officially open on November 20th. The event is being marked by an open invitation to everyone interested in the new facility to an open day between 11.00am and 16.00pm at the Gairloch Leisure Centre - part of the Gairloch High School. As well as the climbing, the organisers are arranging activities for children and refreshments.

The wall, which has room for roughly 65 routes, has been taken forward by the Gairloch Community Climbing Wall Partnership (GCCWP) and has taken three years to raise the £100,000 necessary. The wall has lead routes and top-roped climbing for all levels of ability. Ineos, SportScotland, Highland Leader Fund, Great Wilderness Challenge have all contributed to the money raised by local community. go further’s Paul Tattersall has played a key role in the planning, design and organisation needed for the whole project. Here is a quick preview where the go further team were enjoying a few routes after a technical session with the wall’s builders - Avertical World.

Tags: Gairloch Climbing Wall, Great Wilderness Challenge, Ineos, Highland Leader Fund, sport Climbing

Go Further’s Paul and Angela (left) organised a unique triathlon last Saturday at the west end of Loch Maree at Tollie Farm between Gairloch and Poolewe. The event combined a gruelling 10km hill run with a 22km bike ride. After that, all the entrants had to complete at least one roped climb at Creag Nan Luch - one of Scotland’s best sport climbing venues. Combined personal times for the run and cycle were reduced depending on the hardest grade climbed by the competitor in under 5 minutes.


Local and not-so-local climbers, runners and cyclists turned out to compete or to enjoy the atmosphere at the crag. Although the wet conditions the night before didn’t make it perfect for climbing, at least there was no rain and the craic was awesome.


The difficult run from Tollaidh to Slattadale was made even more strenuous by the overnight rain. The route climbs around 250m over a very rough and rocky path before descending to the banks of Loch Maree and the Slattadale Forest.




First back by some margin was Graham Bee (pictured left) who finished the run and cycle with a time of 1 hour 27 minutes. The cycle route climbs out of Slattadale before following the River Kerry back to Gairloch. From here, there are two strength-sapping hills before the road drops steeply down back to Tollaidh. Unfortunately, the wind was head on for most of the route.







Also at the head of the pack at the end of the cycle were Paul Tattersall, Steve Hammond, Alf Chammings (pictured left), and Ray Wilby (pictured finishing the cycle leg, below).










After the cycle the focus then shifted to the crag where the damp conditions on some of the routes made it tough going. Quick draws were pre-placed in routes graded from 6a to 7b+. Competitors could choose to finish the event by top-roping an easier route or going for time deductions by choosing a harder lead climb.






The Macrae family surprised everyone by bringing along a barbeque which kept the chill from the crag and gave people some sorely needed energy to try the harder routes. The slippy conditions and the strict time limit of 5 minutes for each lead climb attempted proved to be a real challenge. Despite the pressure, all but two of the competitors completed at least one route.



After adjusting the times to take account of the climbs completed, the award winners included Kirsty Noble (first Veteran), Megan Macrae (first female) and winner of this year’s Golden Carabiner was Paul Tattersall with an adjusted time of 1 hour, 31 minutes. Steve Hammond came in second (1.39) overall and Colin Meek third (1.41).



Plans for another Golden Carabiner are already underway. Go Further’s Colin Meek (pictured swimming, below) tested the water during this event with a 700 meter swim in Loch Maree before the run. He had hoped to make it 1km but was driven from the water by the cold. Given the freshwater temperature in April, any future event that includes a swim will have to be held in summer or early autumn.



Thanks to everyone who took part and helped organise the day and special thanks to: Jim Buchanan, Terry Doe and the gang from Gairloch climbing wall for all their time and effort on the day; Helen Meek (pictured on the fiddle below) for these pictures; and, of course - to Paul and Angela for the inspiration and slick organisation.

Special mention here as well to Rich Betts (pictured climbing left) who, after completing the whole event, still had enough energy left to cruise the tough 7b Shotabeena - one of the best routes at the crag.

A few more pictures from the day (and the evening) below.

Tags: poolewe, sport Climbing, running, Cycling, A832, tollaidh, tollie, paul tattersall, Creag Nan Luch, Shotabeena, Colin Meek

With the weather perfect for long mountain routes and cimbing gofurther has had a busy May. This picture was taken in the middle of the month during a walk through the Fisherfield Wilderness following the route of the Great Wilderness Challenge (GWC). The GWC is an annual sponsored walk and run held in August organised to raise money for local charities. The longest GWC route leaves Dundonnell in the north and ends 25 miles later at Poolewe in the south. Here Clive and Jan are enjoying the stunning view from the path above the Dubh Loch.
This walk normally takes around nine to ten hours. See our pages on guided walking for more.

Tags: Great Wilderness Challenge, fisherfield

There was a buzz of activity in the Gairloch Leisure Centre last Saturday afternoon (November 24th) as well over a hundred people of all ages tried their luck at the Gairloch Climbing Wall Event.
The activities circuit involved 12 stations. Scaling any (or all four) of the routes set up on the climbing wall was the main challenge. Some of the other stations were; doing pull-ups, teetering along a balancing frame, knot tying, and completing a climbing quiz. Points were awarded and scores were kept with prizes for the top three in various age categories.
The event was primarily organized to raise local awareness of the campaign to get the existing climbing wall upgraded and expanded. On the day £450 was raised towards the project. Estimates for the cost of a new wall have come in at around £100,000. Through a local contact, petro-chemical business Ineos offered £25,000 towards the cost which gave the whole idea a kick start. Having applied to various funding bodies to try and find the remaining £75,000 needed the best hope seems to lie with Sportscotland, a government body, who have intimated they would fund 45-50% if the other 50-55% is secured. So there is still a lot of fund raising to do, any ideas then please get in touch.

The organisers of saturday's event, Jim Sutherland and go further Scotland's Paul Tattersall, would like to thank everyone for coming along and making it such fun, with a big thanks to all who helped out behind the scenes and on the day. Thanks also to the local people and businesses that kindly donated raffle prizes and to the generous prize sponsors, namely Torridon Activities, W D MacPherson & Sons Climbing Shop in Inverness, North West Outdoors in Ullapool, Tiso in Inverness, Craigdon Mountain Sports in Inverness and Rua Reidh Lighthouse near Gairloch.
There certainly were a lot of little smiling faces at the end of the prize giving.

Tags: Gairloch, Climbing Wall, Climbing