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

Three years of work, fund-raising and organisation came to a successful end last month (20th) with opening of the Gairloch Climbing Wall. This corner of Scotland has long been known for quality trad climbing and, more recently, it has gained a reputation as one of the best venues for sport climbing in Scotland (and possibly the UK). The one ingredient lacking was a venue where local climbers can train, where young climbers can cut their teeth and where visiting climbers can retreat when the weather turns. go further Scotland’s Paul Tattersall has been at the heart of the local campaign to get the wall built and pushed things forward at various times when all seemed bogged down in council red-tape.
The new wall has replaced an (almost) useless blockwork and cement ‘climbing’ wall in one corner and a blank blockwork wall in another. Hopefully, it shows the way forward for other venues in the Highlands and Scotland where vertical space can be utilised to make leisure centres hugely more appealing and useful. Perhaps with this success, more pressure can be put on Highland Council to follow this lead in other areas - such as Ullapool.
As well as giving everyone in the area a whole day to visit and try the wall, the opening included other activities including rope climbing, spinning and rowing. Climbing films were screened and stalls were provided by Tiso, Craigdon, the local mountain rescue team and local businesses. Volunteers provided a feast of baking and snacks and Gairloch High School provided much of the support and the additional space. The day was a fantastic success, where the whole climbing community came together to support what must be the best boost to climbing the area has yet seen. Thanks again to the companies and organisations who supported the project - Ineos, SportScotland, Highland Leader Fund, Great Wilderness Challenge have all contributed to the money raised by local community.


Everyone who came along had the chance to try the routes.


Local climbers with some of the team from Avertical World (Dundee) who built the wall.


Relaxing with tea, cake and a climbing video.


Some familiar faces. Local climbers - Steve and Ray from the local rescue team.


Rowing challenges....


....and spinning tasters put on by Gairloch Leisure centre.

Tags: Gairloch, 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

During a busy summer the go further team have still found some time to put up a few more routes in Wester Ross. There is a lot of rock on the Poolewe to Slattadale path near Gairloch but few sections hold much potential for worthwhile rock climbing. One exception is an obvious clean corner of gneiss to the east of the path about 1km south of the A832. Paul has established four new sport routes here with a good spread of grades:
Creag na Oisean (Crag of the Corner)
From R to L the four routes are:
The Otter Final 7a+
Oshan Toshan 6a
A Game of Towels 6b
Stormy Monday 5+

Paul is pictured here on the first ascent of Otter Final.

Another location with few established rock routes is Dundonnell. Colin has also put up four new routes here on a substantial sandstone outcrop - Creag Nan Ord (Crag of the Hammer). The routes, all at least 25m in length, offer varied climbing on immaculate rock. Ray Wilby is pictured (below) on the crux of Siostan (6c).This month also saw the first ascent of the crag’s best route - Guga, (7a) - a 30m line with a strenuous start and a delicate finish. More on this crag soon.

Tags: otter final, Creag na Oisean, Creag Nan Ord, Siostan

From time to time we profile some of the best climbs in Wester Ross so here are a few shots of gofurther’s Paul and Colin on Snowflake - one of the best routes on Goat Crag which is one of the best sport-clmbing crags in Scotland. The pictures, taken in the last couple of weeks, hopefully capture how steep the crag is yet, after the mid-height crux, the holds become a lot more forgiving as the climb leads diagonally up and left over a massive jagged flake.



The climb starts delicately up a steep face to a bulge above the second runner. The climbing is not hard for the grade here, but the holds aren’t obvious.



The crux section starts after leaving the obvious diagonal break. As the angle steepens the route goes left on good holds before turning back right over the obvious bulge above Paul in this picture.



The hardest section of the route from a different angle. Here you can see the obvious flake line at the top of the picture which takes the climb up and left to a second hard section at the top of the flake, just below the lower-off. A knee-bar rest is possible when you reach the flake.

Snowflake is the furthest left route at Goat Crag which now has more than 15 routes of the highest quality ranging from 6a+ to 8a. A topo should be available from Wild West Topos soon.

Interested in sport climbing or climbing instruction? See our climbing pages for more.

Thanks to local climber Ian Taylor for this bolted line.

Tags: goat crag, Snowflake, Gruinard, Gruinard climbing, Wester Ross

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

Happy 21st to local climber Megan Macrae pictured here on the crux of Superblue (7b+) at Creag Nan Luch - not far from her home.

Creag Nan Luch (Crag of the Mouse) is one of Scotland’s best sports crags and is found at the West end of Loch Maree near Poolewe and Gairloch. For more information see Superblue (7b+) below.

Tags: Superblue, Creag Nan Luch