When I first saw South Ridge direct in the guidebook, I was awestruck. A 400m VS up this perfect granite crest of rock? What could be better.
Lara, Meg, Fergus, and I were camped in Glen Rosa. After a fun evening avoiding midges, we set off in the morning to attempt this beautiful route. I was to climb with Fergus. This was his first mountain multipitch. How exciting!
I suggested I lead the inital block of pitches, till after the Y-Cracks, so he could get a feel for the rock and see if he wanted to lead any of the easier top pitches. Fergus was happy with this plan, so we set off.
I scampered up the first pitches. I was carrying a double rack of cams, which whilst not at all necessary, made the climbing far quicker. Rather than spending time fiddling wires into nearly parallel cracks, I could just wam a cam in and keep climbing – ideal!
The initial pitches are straightforward. The climbing isn’t harder than S/HS, and the gear, although spaced, is good. Rapidly, we were at the base of the S Cracks pitch, with Lara and Meg right behind us.
The S-Cracks pitch is the first ‘crux’ pitch of the route: a 30m S-shaped crack in perfect granite. The gear is good, and the climbing wonderful and flowy. This pitched exemplified the importance of confident footwork on granite: there were no edges to place your feet onto, but the friction of the rock combined with the slabby nature of the climbing meant you could completely trust even the smallest of crystals. Wonderful!
Fergus followed with ease, and we were soon at the base of the infamous Y-Cracks. I must admit it looked rather brutal: a slightly overhanging wall with an improbable looking mantleshelf? What joy!
I psyched myself up and climbed to the buldge, arranged gear, and commited. Throwing my arm deep into the crack, I desperately jammed as I threw my heal above my head onto the ledge above. Rocking over, I reached towards a jug shaped hold. Alas, it was not a jug, but it was a rather positive sloper. This enabled me to complete the mantleshelf in a somewhat composed manner. I built a belay and began bringing Fergus up.
“Oscar – watch me here!”
He commited fully to lunging to the jug, and just scraped it with his fingers.
Immitating Dave Macloed on Hold Fast Hold True, he screamed “SHIT” as his fingers uncurled and he slumped on to the rope. What a brilliant effort! Not easy to commit that much in such an exposed position!
He tried again, and this time, stuck the move. Fantastic! The difficulties were done, and wraps were required.
The next section of the ridge is basically walking, and would be easier to simul-climb as the blocky nature makes it a right pain in the arse to pitch it out. The gear is a little spaced, so if you chose to simul climb, I’d aim to have 15-20m between the climbers to ensure you can arrange enough gear to protect this section (no harder than Diff-Vdiff, but very exposed). This arrives you at the base of this wonderful flake, the final VS pitch of the route.
You follow the corner crack up to a juggy band of granitic mushrooms, before making a bold traverse along these to reach a large ledge, where this route joins Sou’wester slabs. You can also carry on up the corner at tech 5c.
Here, the climbing remains fantastic, but becomes far more traditional. A blocky chimney leads to a thin ridge crest, then to another large ledge where you have an opportunity to walk off the ridge if needed. As we were making excellent time, we quested on up to the very top of the ridge. The climbing here is fantastic: an unexpectedly easy pull through an overhang leads to a chimney were we belayed. From here, simple slab padding and a cheeky mantle leads to a spectacular granite crest.
With buckets of exposure, perfect views, and superb rock, this last pitch was brilliant! We sat atop the ridge, waiting for Lara and Meg who’d got caught behind a slower party. It was here Fergus introduced me to the joys of “T’ Tobasco, Chorizo, and Cheese wraps”. We spent a couple of hours enjoying the sun and chatting utter shit until finally Lara pulled over the ridge crest just as the sun was beginning to produce a wonderful golden light. What a wonderful day!
After a restful night, the plan for the next day was for Lara and I to tackle West Flank Route, and Meg and Fergus to take on Sou’wester slabs. After a slightly grim walk in, Lara geared up for the initial chimney pitch.
This was not a nice bit of climbing…
Water runs down the far side of the chimney, meaning the rock was lichenous and scrittly, and the crack flared significantly, making it difficult to protect. Lara battled her way up this utterly desperate pitch in an inspired lead (Tech 5a my arse!).
I got to the next belay, and stared up at the next chimney in dread. At least this one looked safe…
I grunted and cried my way up it. Periodically swearing, screaming about how much I hate climbing. It was strange to feel simultaneously stuck and like I was falling – genuinely an awful pitch.
The next pitch was utterly brilliant. A 35m diagonal crack. The climbing was straightforward, but the crack was shalow and sloping, meaning the opportunities for protection were scarce: I only managed to arrange a few tipped out small cams over the course of the entire pitch. Have faith in the friction, and you’ll be fine.
Next, there is the supposed crux pitch, a wonderful corner leading to a small traverse. The climbing here is simply joyus, and to me is amongst the finest pitches of climbing in this country. The line is obvious, a wonderful corner crack, near perfect hands the whole way with perfect gear. The rock is clean, immpecably solid, and a complete and utter joy to climb. I did scupper my rope management before the traverse a little bit which made it all a bit draggy, but still I reveled in the quality of this climbing.
From here, you interesect with Sou’Wester slabs, where I briefly chatted to Meg and Fergus, before surveying the rest of the route. The next pitch was a wonderful pitch at around VS traversing below a massive overlap. The climbing was wonderful, but covered in spiders. Given my crippling fear of these bastards, it was frankly a terrifying. I was glad the gear was good: I knew if one got too close I could jump off, hopefully avoding the wrath of these little monsters.
Two pitches of easy cracks (around VS) lead to terrace, where the route finishes and you walk off. I was absolutely freezing at this point: we’d only taken one belay jacket between us and Lara had been wearing it, so I swiftly put on both our waterproofs and all our other spare clothes and we walked down.
On the descent, we stopped and waited for Meg and Fergus. As we waited, we looked at the route we’d just climbed: each pitch was such an obvious and inspiring feature, especially the 35m diagonal crack. To me, this route stands out as the finest route I’ve climbed in Scotland, better than The Needle, the Pale Didre, and indeed, it’s more famous neighbor, South Ridge Direct. The combination of perfect granite, fantastic climbing, and an inspiring line makes it somewhat unbeatable in my eyes. The initial chimney pitches were utterly desperate, but somehow add to the route: the crux pitch to me barely warrents E1 (good gear, easy climbing), so without a bit of a desperate struggle, one would feel some what short-changed.
Arran is certainly one of the best places to climb in the UK. The quality of the rock is comparable to the very best Alpine Granite, and the views and wild feel of the island itself surely make it one of the best climbing destinations in the UK.
Oscar Outdoors 