Great Stones of ScotlandPart 5: BOULDERING IN THE NORTH EASTby John Watson

HAAR’D ROCK AND BUNNET STANES

The ‘North-East’ has a reputation – not a bad one, don’t shiver – but certainly it is known as aclimbing republic in and of itself, tempering its philosophy on the mighty flanks of Cairngormgranite, or on haar-hidden sea-cliffs of the great Grampian ‘ear’. Bold onsight solos and hardnew trad lines are not uncommon news, nor has the bouldering been ignored and desperatetestpieces are being found on the schist boulders of Portlethen and roundabout. But behind theblood and thunder of the hard stuff, there are many isolated giant boulders to enjoy at all levelsof bouldering, as well as the extensive crag-bouldering on the sea-cliffs from Arbroath rightround to Cummingston. The weather is the best in Scotland, as it lies in the rain shadow of theCairngorms and is often bright and sunny in winter when the west coast is clagged in. In summer,a cool haar (sea-mist) can cover the coastal venues - though the Ruthven Stane, Brin Rock andDuntelchaig are usually clear of this creeping ghost. Most of the bouldering is still beingdeveloped, so new problems can be found everywhere for those with an appetite for exploration.There are classic boulders such as The Ruthven Stane, new areas such as Brin Rock, thesandstone bouldering of Cummingston, but we begin at the most developed bouldering aroundAberdeen – the sea-washed schist of Portlethen.

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Of Sea Pigs and SeaTurtlesPortlethen is a faded north eastern fishingvillage just south of Aberdeen, blurred by thehaar that seeps in off the North Sea andbleached by sunny rain-shadow days when thewest is cursed with south-westerlies. Theresidents’ gardens are decked with the deadmemorabilia of the sea and everything feelslike the detritus of time. It is easy to sit hereand soak up the sun on a good day, listeningto the seagulls squabble, feeling the bouldermat warm in the heat. You can wait for theTurtle boulder to rise bubbling out of the tide todry its flanks. The shoreline itself is littered withscratched fishing floats, cloudy glass andplastic bottles and sleeping boulders. Theschist boulders, squat and rubbed by the sea, have delightful textures, like chocolate sweets rubbed down to the hardtoffee underneath. They suggest shapes to the mind, like clouds which have solidified and dropped to the ground. TheSea Turtle sits in a rock-pool and its tidal belly is veined and smooth as a turtle’s shell, whereas the Sea Pig is a snoutylittle gem you feel floated in with the jetsam one day. Portlethen is a sea-salt’s exotic collection of rock animals withstrange and contorted features.

Portlethen, or ‘Old Portlethen’, is situated midway between Stonehaven and Aberdeen off the A90. At the motorwayflyover for Portlethen, make your way into the main village, then at a roundabout turn off over the railway bridge andfollow a country road down to the old village, where careful parking must be found. The last cul de sac on the right has asmall access path between the houses which swings left down through a field and right over a fence by the cliff-top. A bitfurther on there is access to the shore, where the boulders lie under a small sports crag.

On the approach down to the shore a gully leadspast slabs to the shore. ‘The Big Slab’ on the leftunder the sports crag provides excellentproblems. Once on the shore, look behind you atthe cave roof with the hanging lip: this is TheEdge of Reason V8 (Font 7b) – a technical andcommitting lip problem finishing up the nose.Round the corner southwards is ‘The Pit’ whichis the hidden roof on a mezzanine overlookingthe shore – this is where Tim Rankin’s testpiecessuch as Kayla V11 (Font 8a) and Georgie BoyV10 (Font 7c+) can be found – both directanswers to the longest sections of the roof.Excellent classics here include L-R: The BuzzV5, Pit Left Hand V4, Pit Right Hand V5, ThePain V6 and the monkeying lip traverse ofPendulum V4.

Down left in the tidal rock pools, is the beautifullywater-worn squat boulder of ‘The Turtle’, and afull lip traverse of this from the seaward sideprovides the Turtle Traverse V8 Font 7b+. Thesmall prowed boulder on the tideline is ‘The Sea-Pig’, and the nose of this from a sit-start is a realV5 (Font 7a) puzzler. The big lichen-coveredboulder south of the rest is ‘The BroccoliGarden’. Fortunately it has a clean underbellyand the best problem is the Barrel Traverse V6(Font 7a+), coming round from the north faceand travelling left under the lip.

PORTLETHEN CLASSICS

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The Boar Hound’s LeashOn a hill above Alford in Aberdeenshire, can be seen a largeprow of rock keeping sentinel over the Don valley. Surroundingthis large post of rock (the Luath Stone), to which Cuchulainnmay have tied his hound, are numerous schist bouldersproviding playful bouldering problems and a fine area to picnicin the summer. They were developed by Stuart Stronach andJo MacLeod in 2002 and now provide a pleasant diversion forthe itinerant boulderer. The boulders can easily be walked upto through dirt tracks from the back of the walled house in theforested estate – parking can be found behind this. Theentrance to the estate is via a gatehouse after the village ofWhitehouse, just before the junction of the A944 and B992, afew kilometres east of the town of Alford.

The bouldering has good flat landings, is never toohighball and the smaller oddly-shaped boulders such asThe ‘Sherman Tank’ boulder provide quality traverses andfriction problems. The Boar-Hound’s Leash V3 (Font 6c) isa superb traverse along the steeper lip of this boulder fromleft to right to finish up the right arête and Cuchulainn V5(Font 7a) climbs the left side of the wee prow from a sittingstart. The excellent Traverse Link V4 climbs from the leftarête all the way around the slab and prow to finish alongThe Boar Hound’s Leash.

The Arch boulder is the first significant boulder encoun-tered, with a tiger-striped main arched face. Archbishop V1(Font 5+) bridges up the obvious left scoop finishing rightat the arête. Archangel V2 (Font 6a+) takes the arête on itsright side, Archdeacon V2 (Font 6a) takes the flake in thecentral wall and Architect V4 (Font 6c+) is the difficult rightarête from a sitting start. Archenemy V2 (Font 6a) is thepuzzling arête slab on the east face, and can be climbedstatically with technique and faith.

‘The Prow’ itself has a desperate test-piece in the centralproblem of North for a Day V6 (Font 7a+), which is a tip-bursting excursion up the tiger-striped face from the seam,traveling slightly right, then back into the high scoop tofinish direct. The right arête on the left side is Jo’s Arête V1and the left arête is the excellent sloper exercise of A LittleLess Conversation V3 (Font 6c).

‘The Mouse’ is the offwidth-split hump of rock to the right ofThe Prow. The best problem is Five Days Till Heaven V2(Font 6a) which climbs the hanging crack just right of themain offwidth. Slim Shady V1 (Font 5+) takes the grooveon the far right of the wall. Broken Rib (V1 Font 5) takesthe arête at the far left end of the face with a high andexciting crux.

The rest of the boulders can be played on and traversed atwill and many imaginative combinations and sitting startsadd variety to a relaxed bouldering atmosphere.

A full topo can be found online at www.scottishclimbs.com

LUATH STONE BOULDERING

“This problem takesthe challenge of thewidest part of the pitroof from the backthen climbs the fainthanging arete featureto finish up ‘ThePain’ Start sitting at theback wall under thewidest part of the roofon the right side ofthe Pit. Desperatelypull on using anundercut and a smallside-pull, grab thegood hold on the lipand power up andleft to gain the goodundercut and an easierfinish straight up.”

Tim Rankin on KaylaFont 8a

The Luath Stone Prow

Gorillas and Jet FightersThe Moray Coast is a fine place to see the AuroraBorealis, listen to jet fighters squealing in the skies,or simply boulder. From the granite caves of Cullento the sandstone of Cummingston, the weatherhere is cool and kind with only the occasional haarto dampen the holds. Cummingston itself is the bestplace on this coast to boulder, offering fierce finger-testpieces or butch pocket-pulling on a hard orangesandstone of the Triassic era, not as old and hardas the Torridonian stuff, but good nonetheless.

Situated between Lossiemouth and Burghead onthe B9040 north of Elgin, the crags and associatedbouldering are easily found once in the linearvillage of Cummingston. Take a seawards turn intoSeaview Road, just east of a white memorial cross,turn left, then right and park beside the play park.The Tunnel area is straight below the car park,whereas the Seastack areas are a short walkwestwards along the old railway cutting. The cragshave been climbed on for years. but the boulderinghas only recently been developed, mainly by IainMacDonald and friends. Most of the bouldering ison the crags and finished at climb-downs, or jump-offs, but on most problems, reaching these will feellike a just accomplishment. The Tunnel Area is agood place to warm up. The Pipe Wall, split by aneponymous iron drainage pipe, has some goodbold warm-up problems. The Tunnel itself providessome good problems, though the holds may be abit sandy after absorbing the haar.

Tunnel Vision – V2 Font 6a - Starts on the north wall bulge in the cave and traverses right along theobvious break to a jug undercut which gains the central roof-flake, then lock up to a pocketed walland rock over to finish.

Bulgy – V3 Font 6b - On the south wall of the cave, climbs the west end of the cave from a sit start atpockets. Crimp and pocket up to a jug, then climb a chicken-headed wall with a long reach right tofinish.

The Prophet Area, opposite the sea stacks, provides good bouldering. From east to west the bestproblems are:

Jaws – Font 7a V5 - The small boulder at the east end of the crags has a short prow, three moveslong, from a sit start on pinches.

Surf Nazis – Font 6c V4 - On the crag to the west of Jaws - climbs the wall below the peg, crankingup on underclings to a ferned slot, gain another undercling, reach jugs and jump off.

The Shield – Font 6c V5 - climbs the obvious shield of rock round the corner to the right - from holdson the left slap desperately rightwards, aiming for crimps up and right, then stand on the wee ledgeto finish.

Masonic Finger-shake – Font 6c V4 - Just right again, on the other side of the cave is this puzzler,which takes the mono with the left hand and climbs to a thin break, eliminate but good.

Highball – Font 6c V4 - Takes the slopered wall right of the first corner opposite the Balamoryboulder, climbing up and right to escape.

Balamory – Font 5 V1 - The best problem on the freestanding boulder is the full traverse, starting onthe descent ramp, then anti-clockwise round the boulder to finish up the seaward east arête.

Nest – Font 6a V2 - Further west, just before the sea stacks, is Nest Wall. This limbs the awkwardsquare-cut corner to the jump-off jug at ‘the nest’ ledge.

Bird Man – Font 7a V6 – This is a hard problem from the thin crack on the left, gaining the slot, thentraversing thinly up and right to the nest.

Bat Man – Font 6b V3 - Doubt Wall is the shingle-washed wall opposite the big sea stack. Thisclimbs out of the wee cave on the left, pulling up on pinches to the left wall to finish at a jug up andright.

Cave Man – Font 6c V4 - The Cave Area, opposite the next sea stack eastwards, is a fine spot. Thebig bulging wall with the obvious horizontal break provides a superb and endlessly reversible problemdepending on fitness! From the left arête, pull up to the lower line of pockets and monkey rightwardsto midway jugs, then drop down to edges and stretch to the right arête to finish, or reverse until youdrop.

Gorilla V5 Font 7a – sit start in cave and gain arête – continue into traverse if strong!

Ginger Rides Again - Font 7b V7 - One of the hardest problems at Cummingston this is, young Jedi.The sit-start to the blunt arête opposite Gorilla. Sit-start crack on left and gain arête up to jugs.

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CUMMINGSTON CLASSICS

Barry Manilow and The HulkThe Ruthven boulder, or the ‘Bunnet Stane’, is the Hulk ofScottish boulders, swollen with primeval stone anger,isolated and alone; bursting with gneiss veins; a steroid-pumped glacial erratic. It sat in the belly of a glaciermetamorphosing, its underbelly becoming smoothed andbicep-ed, its upper surface roughened and abraded intoshark’s skin. Then it burst from its icy cocoon and howledits loneliness on a perfectly green tuft amongst the heather,until boulderers came along and gave it sympathy. TrevorWoods, our guide for the day, and its main developer andkeeper, turned up on his bike from Inverness and showedus the tricks of this massive beast. It is so big, we wereassured, that it is beyond the ability of all modern cranes tomove. Perched above Loch Ruthven, it will never budge: itsits there, fat-bellied and brooding with power and baseness. The bouldering requires commitment and grit and themoves are sweet and delicate despite the brutality of the approach required. Like the Hulk gently melting back into thehuman, the problems have a tender nature to them, with technique and knowledge and hard-earned familiarity their ownrewards. It is not a kind boulder, nor is it gentle on your hands, but it is perfect, a sort of mutant-perfect - a lost creature:warped, muscular and transfixing.

The boulder itself is easy to find. It sits quite visibly on a grassy knoll overlooking Loch Ruthven, south of Inverness. TheB851 should be taken south-westwards from Daviot, through Farr to a right turn before East Croachy. The road crossesthe River Nairn and winds down to a car-park beside Loch Ruthven, from where it is a short walk up through the heatherto the stone. The problems are described clockwise from the bulbous nose of Barry Manilow.

Barry Manilow (V6 - Font 7a) This tremendous problem startsunder the east roof and climbs up and right to holds beside thejugs, then reaches left to the bulbous nose where a desperatecrawling mantel might gain a quartz hold just out of reach.

Sloping Off (V4 Font 6c+) To the left of BM is an obvious flatsloping ledge. Climb from two small edges to gain the sloper,then a crux move right gains the ramp and a top-out rightwards.Going direct from the sloper up over the bulge is slightly easier.

Razor’s Edge (V7 Font 7a+) The Left arête, which sit-starts atgood edges and reaches for blind razors and continues up oncrimps to a flake and direct finish.

Austin Powers (V1 Font 6a) The groove round the corner isexcellent!

The Cheeky Girls (V3 Font 6a+) Left of Austin Powers is a wallbeside the descent groove. The right side of this has a slopingledge out of reach, which is gained from small edges, leading toa round hold and delicate finish.

‘Rock ’n’ Roll Baby’ (V1 Font 5) Round the corner the west sidehas a roofed right arête opposite the ‘baby bunnet’ stone. Startson low jugs and traverses left to the crack until a rock-over cangain the slab.

Neil Armstrong (V1 Font 5) Left again is a wall. This climbs froma horizontal crack directly up on quartz holds

Shreddies (V3 Font 6b) The undercut arête facing the loch.

The Big Tease (V2 Font 6a+) Next left, takes big quartz holdsup and right.

The Big Lobowski (V6 Font 7a) The front face of the boulderholds some of the best problems on the stone: this is a traversealong the low sloping rail; from the lowest incuts travel right togain a sidepull and pull up on sharp holds leftwards to acrescent crimp, then aim for a small hold over the bulge tofinish. Linking the traverse from the far left gives a F8a traverse.

Outstanding (V2 Font 6a+) is the obvious line up and left fromthe start of the traverse incuts. Good incuts lead to a long throwfor a quartz hold, then a long move to a jug allows a finish upand left on crystals.

Get Into the Groove (V3 Font 6b) is the obvious challenge to theleft again. A variation wanders left and up the wall at V4.

Nefertiti (V2 Font 6a+) The left-hand wall of the front face givesa classic! Start at two tiny edges and pop for the good hold, thenmove up right to an incut, from where a twisting reach up leftgains a good edge, finishing by a layaway flake.

Trev Woods on Nefertiti - Pic Tim Morozzo

...and on Barry Manilow - Pic Tim Morozzo

RUTHVEN STANE CLASSICS

Gneiss VampiresLoch Duntelchaig lies on a heather moor above Inverness, its southern flankslittered with crags and boulders. Until recently the bouldering has beeninexplicably ignored, for the crags have birthed some huge boulders andchallenging lines jump out everywhere. The rock is a mossy gneiss, but whereclean provides generous pulling on sharp incuts and small edges. Some obviouslines have been climbed in the pleasant ‘main area’ under the cracked orangecrag, but many boulders lie hidden in the boulder fields beneath the crags, andexposed on the hillsides above, waiting for the boulderer’s homecoming. The

best time to visit is an autumn afternoon, or in a sunny spring, for the midges are bad here and the rock ‘sweats’ in theheat anyway. During a dry spell in winter, it is might be possible to claim some of the harder lines on the smoother holds.

If traveling along the A9 from the south, take the Daviot exit, a few miles before Inverness, and follow the single-trackB851 road west over a bridge and towards Inverarnie. Once in the wee village turn right just after the football fields (theB861 to Inverness), and after a kilometer, take a left at a small crossroads. Follow this for a few miles to the crossroadsat Dunlichity and go straight on. The road skirts a small loch and then arrives at the layby by the east end of LochDuntelchaig. The Loch Duntelchaig crags and boulders are easily accessible from the loch-side path. Walk over thesmall dam and follow the path round for ten minutes past some huge boulder-fields (mostly too cluttered to provide goodlandings), take a left over a wee stream, unclip your mat and start bouldering.

Other AreasPortlethen is only the most accessible of thebouldering round Aberdeen. There are goodproblems on the walls and boulders furthersouth all the way round to Cammachmore andClashfarquhar. There is the traditional granitebouldering on the sea-cliffs north of Aberdeen,covered in the SMC North-East outcrops.There is also good bouldering on the Arbroathsea cliffs and at Muchalls shore further south.Duntelchaig and Brin Rock continue to bedeveloped, as does the bouldering in GlenClova - all of which I’ll cover in the last GreatStones article.

Tim Rankin’s introductory guide to the classicproblems of Portlethen can be found in theVirtual Guides section at:www.scotlandonline.com/outdoors .Updates can be found on the blog atwww.stonecountry.co.ukTopos for many of these areas can be found onwww.scottishclimbs.com

The book Stone Country covers these andmany more bouldering areas in Scotland. Itcan be bought at outdoor bookshops, oronline from www.amazon.co.uk search bytitle or ISBN number 095487790X

John Peel Boulder - Glen Clova - Chris Fryer

Gold Rush - Clashfarquhar