My Five Favourite Hard Rock Routes in Glencoe

Davy White Wall Crack Free HVS 5b photo Alan Thompson

Davy Line Up HVS 5a photo Alan Thompson

Plenty of time on my hands at the moment and it's so dry, so I got to thinking about rock routes that inspired me or made an impact on my climbing be it good or bad.  There are quite a lot to sift through and many of the most enjoyable routes have been notable not just by epics or grades but by the people I have shared them with.  I also confess that I have always loved climbing in the Lakes and the Peak.  I have done a lot also in North Wales but as someone from a Gaelic culture always struggled with the attitude of some of the locals as it was so out of keeping with what I was used to.  An example being deliberately speaking to friends in a language they new they couldn't understand.  I have never come across that here even in tight knit Island communities where hospitality and courtesy is seen as normal. I have to say that I liked Cloggy though, but always shat it at Gogarth while above the sea!

There just isn't space here to cover every route that made an impact so I will stick with the ones I literally grew up on before expanding my ambitions a bit more to the Ben, Shelterstone and further afield. Some routes especially when I was a young man, were notable because of the psychological barriers they presented. That was often because myth and an aura of impregnability surrounded them, or in one case because I had been on two fatal rescues on the route where leaders had fallen, and yet it was a classic I wanted to tick (Big Top "E" Buttress).  It took me 10 years after the last rescue there to have the courage to climb it.  An absolutely stunning big mountain rock climb in outstanding situations and technically not too hard at all.  I even managed the pitch that had claimed leaders in a heavy drizzle. The sense of elation at finally laying that itch to rest was pretty heady.  Trapeze, Big Top and Hee Haw as a triple in a late afternoon sunset gives the very best of Glencoe rock.

The harder rock routes of Glencoe for me all had an aura and were shrouded in legend.  The names Smith, Marshall, Cunningham and Whillans were all in there, as was Dougal Haston (although Turnspit and Kneepad hardly do him credit) and also home grown hero's such as Thomson and Hardy (Kingpin). My top five to bag in the graded lists were:

• Big Ride
• Gallows
• Carnivore
• Yo Yo
• Shibboleth

There are others that are also memorable. Bloody Crack or Ravens in summer (a hard little number!) Marshalls Wall or Valkyrie, or maybe Lechers/Superstition which is a fantastic combo. These five above though had the biggest aura so I will work through them although not by chronological order.  I have worked from Glen Etive to down Glencoe as per guidebook. Kingpin came when I was much older and wiser and less overawed by who had done what, and is one of the best routes in Scotland.  That came 15 years later!

The Big Ride. Dougal Haston fell off the big ride many times before giving up and producing an inferior line with a tensioned rope traverse called "Frustration".  He finally went back and straightened it out to give "The Big Ride" aptly named for the scalps it claimed pre sticky rubber.  Alan Fyffe took on a bet that he would shave off half his beard if he fell off it when doing what may have been the second ascent. Sure enough he peeled off the crux going for a 100ft slide and removing a lot of skin and had to comply with the bet. Alan was and remains one of Scotland best mountaineers.  Still graded at E3 6a this route still requires some bottle.  I did it on the 5th May 1983 with Wall Thomson and Mary Anne his daughter with me leading all the pitches so Wall could look after Mary Anne who was just 15, and also take pictures.  I still remember the knack of reading the slab for tiny indents and gently rubbing off any loose grains as the crack of a granite grain under your rock shoe would have you off.  The crux is at about 100ft out with no gear up a thin flange where the slab steepens by a few degrees and if you are very careful you can get a micro nut behind it before committing to the last 50 ft.  So 150ft one runner and a 6a move takes you to the belay.  A mental game!

At the pier Glen Etive sometime in the 70's I had long hair!

Gallows. I had been climbing with "Wull" on the Buachaille and we were wandering about doing various routes as you can there.  I think we had come up from Central Buttress doing a route over there that might have been "Iron Cross". I don't know if its recorded but it was Squirrel club little test piece, then we did Engineers Crack and a route that's called "The Widow". We then went across and did Brevity, and a couple of other HVS routes when John Anderson walked across and suggested I should cut my teeth on Gallows.  I hadn't really thought of it -  but why not!  Although quite short the first few crux moves are about 5c and take you out on a rising traverse for about 50ft before the first bit of gear. So Gallows is a test of bottle and thankfully as well warmed up, and with an audience of Creag Dubh who had come to gloat should I fall off, I managed to piss up it and make a bit of a  name for myself. This was in 1982 so forgive me for being chuffed as I daresay its regarded as an easy tick these days. We did a route onto the middle of the top tier after up a thin crack line well right of the corner and it was harder!

Carnivore.  I was beaten to this by Fiona my wife. We climbed very many routes together and she was a pretty able climber.  Sadly removal of the lymph glands on one side from breast cancer later scuppered. We lived in Duror when first married and I worked as a woodcutter. To say I was fit and strong would be an understatement.  George Reid my regular climbing partner phoned me up to see if I would take the afternoon off and go climb "The Villains Finish" with him.  I was away up the wood out of contact so Fiona offered to hold the rope.  The back rope on the first traverse pitch jammed on them so they climbed the entire route on a single 9mm which was pretty necky.  The Villains finish had a fairly big reputation for being brutal so a good effort. To say I was pissed off would be an understatement.  The monsoons came then winter arrived early and so I had to wait until the following year to work off my frustration.  I was in a hurry to get it done and so I press ganged a young instructor at the Glencoe outdoor centre to be my rope man.  So mid March in a snowstorm I stormed the first pitch. Linked the second two pitches into a one and belayed by Duncan Freeman prepared for the overhanging crack that gives the direct finish.  Good rock, but hanging out over big space it's an  up out and right move with a stiff 5c pull onto the wall above then a  gearless runout to the top at a steady 5a and it had started to gently snow.  Kev Howett and Dave Cuthbertson were on the crag that day dropping a rope and cleaning what is now a tunnel wall bolt classic.  Kev snapped a photo of me which I have always wanted to see. I knew Don Whillans a bit as he was often a Glencoe visitor, first meeting him and playing darts against him and Joe Brown at the Padarn pub on trips to Wales. I never climbed with Don but I did climb with Joe who was a fairly regular visitor to Glencoe at that time.

Carnivore first pitch

Yo Yo.  As I worked as a woodcutter accidents were sadly common. I had a bust pelvis and crushed vertebra then unzipped my Achilles and a friend was killed next to me in the wood. Fiona eventually persuaded me to use my brain and I left then went and studied pharmacology, human physiology and went on to become the first person in Scottish MR to be a paramedic who was also registered by the state. This was before the NHS had "Paramedics" so a lot of training was based on the US DOT syllabus and Nancy Caroline "Emergency Care on the Streets".  I left the wood and Duror's monster old Sitka and Douglas and my life went in a different direction after this.  When  I did Yo Yo and I was recovering from my chainsawed my Achilles. The tendon was nicked and I had unzipped the back of my the ankle.  Lots of stitches in the Belford by a Dr Sen and a few weeks recovery and I was gagging to get a route in. Loads of holes from the stitches just recently pulled out didn't deter me from persuading Duncan the lad I did Carnivore with to come and do Yo Yo. So on a hot July afternoon we made our way up the scramble to the bottom.  That whole N. Face intimidates me having been rescued off it at 16 stuck and hypothermic with some others. And I had taken a fall late at night in winter up there on a rescue, getting pretty badly ripped up legs.  So there was an edge to just getting to Yo Yo.  I thought my foot would trouble me but it was fine. The first pitch is supposed to be hard and wet but it was  just a wee bit  damp, and fairly easy.  I found the middle pitch hard and thrutchy. The last pitch was out into late afternoon sun and the climbing was superb.  Steady and interesting with a huge atmosphere, it finished all too soon on "unpleasant terrace".  Getting off the terrace is interesting so worth keeping on the rope.  What a great route. Quite thuggy but nothing too bad, and what a place!  Ed's route the Clearances next door is also one of Glencoe's best, but a tad harder and a bit more serious.  

Shibboleth. Of these routes this one was a bigger breakthrough than all the others combined. This route was Robin Smith's finest in Glencoe, and while maybe not technically the hardest route of it's time, it was the boldest.  I know the routes history fairly well as I new folk that had had climbed with Smith. He made several attempts at it, one resulting in a broken leg for Al Frazer his belayer and a huge impromptu rescue operation from the combined forces of Squirrels and Creag Dubh clubs.  Al Frazer had broken his leg badly and was pulled up onto N. Buttress, along above Ravens and out onto the Buachaille summit ridge and then carried down to the bottom.  Smith soloed off the route to the side to go summon help which on its own was bold and brave. The rescue was a huge physical task.  Al Frazer later worked in Raigmore with a climbing friend of mine who has sadly passed away, Bill Amos.

My early interest in the route came from the infamous graded list in the red coloured guidebook I had covering Buachaille Etive Mor and Glen Etive. This guide listed Agag's Groove as suitable route of decent from Rannoch Wall (Ian Nicholson is the only person I know who used it as this).  With various friends and later Fiona I had been working my way up the graded list and only Shibboleth was left. Many routes at the bottom deserved a place nearer the top!  I had looked across at the route from various angles doing routes on either side and watched another party from the SMC (Graham MacDonald) on it while I was doing Bludgers/Revelation with George Reid. I even had John MacLean (The Great White Hope was John's nickname after Smith got chopped) regaling me with the tale of the 2nd ascent he did when he was "looking for that fucker Wheechs peg" while rolling a fag while I was on the crux of "Pete's Wall" at Huntly's Cave. "Wheech" being Smiths nickname.

Gearing up for Shibboleth with George aka "The Mole"

1982 was a washout summer and despite getting a lot of routes done in the Lakes, Derbyshire etc it was very much a poor Scottish rock season until in late August the weather finally cleared and we had a few dry days and sun.  So one Saturday in early September, George Reid and I  arrived at the foot of Ravens and looked up the black winking groove of the 5c second pitch. The SMC party who  had been on the route while we were doing Bludgers were back doing the Bludgers/Revelation combo themselves, which was a coincidence.  Fiona came up to take a few pictures but had to leave as she was  guiding a group up Gear Aonach later that day as the senior instructor at an outdoor centre.

I can still remember stepping onto the first pitch, up past a block with no gear until just before the winking black groove.  I was pretty nervous.  The black groove was wet necky and hard with a cold welded nut hammered into the crack.  The 3rd pitch up to below Revelation flake is a joy but with a sting in the tail pulling onto the belay ledge. The best pitch is up the wall to the right of Revelation flake.  A long pitch of steady successive 5b moves on little rough holds on a plumb vertical wall, then a pull over a small overhang then up the wall to the belay.  With one runner!  All with the gaping maw of Great Gully below, and Ravens winking from the shadows. Absorbing climbing.  The final two 45m pitches to N. Buttress are great 5a climbing up steep walls, or go back as we all do one day and do the route again but traverse right across the cave and do "The True Finish" which Smith added later. The Hard Rock book version is the 5a finishing pitches which really are great.  The cave is just truly spectacular! On finishing we went across and did Yamay, Yam, Happy Valley and May crack in the company of the now sadly dead Tam Macaulay and Glencoe ski regular Dave "Paraffin" who were well impressed we had done Shibboleth, especially as the crux groove was so wet.

We went to "The Ferry Bar" later that night (under the bridge at Ballachulish) which was "the" climbers pub at that time.   Ian Nicholson and several others shook our hands saying well done lads, and for the next week we had folk saying I hear you guys did Shib well done! I don't think many routes had that reputation credibility and aura in Glencoe.  It was nice for once to feel the equal of the legends. I can't think off many mountain routes since that were such a turning point in confidence.  Winter perhaps doing the point in the early 1970's was still something, even though Ian had soloed it in an hour.  Rock climbing probably doing Cenotaph Corner in a pair of big boots might come close!

Ronnie Rodgers on the slabs with the sticky boots of the day! Ronnie and I were probably the only two local boys of the time to take up climbing.  Ronnie did Centurion with Jimmy Marshal and his first route on the slabs was a solo of Spartan slab with Ian Nicholson who said it was just an easy intro to the slabs.