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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
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Swaledale Outdoor Club |
| > Home > Newsletter > Climbing > Ardgour, Scotland |
Ardgour, ScotlandRather than follow the crowds to Skye for the Spring Bank Holiday as we usually have done in recent years, Andrew Hogarth decided to try somewhere different in Scotland. The target was Ardgour, which is just over Loch Linnhe on the Corran Ferry at the A82 between Glen Coe and Fort William. In the end only three climbers headed north; myself, Andrew and Andy Platell. Things started well until we got to the ferry; we got there for 10pm and it stopped at 8pm!! The lesson has been learnt for the next trip, but we decided that we'd do the long circuit of going through Fort William and round both Loch Linnhe and Loch Eil in order to get to the planned campsite at the village of Strontian. The main target for the weekend was to do a big mountain route on the classic Garbh Bheinn. As we were to be a rope of three, we aimed for The Great Ridge, a 300m Diff on the south east side of the mountain. This involved a 2 hour walk-in but it did give the feeling of being in a remote mountain environment which can be lacking in, say, Skye or on Ben Nevis, when the crowds do seem to gather. Once at the route, we opted to do the Direct Start variant which added 105m to the route; Andy led the bottom two pitches of this and we agreed his observation that it was closer to a VS 4c than VD!! The middle day started with a mix of showers and sunny spells, with more rain on the way. We met some Scottish climbers at the campsite and they recommended we went looking for some crags near seal level close to the Ardnamurchan Point, the western most point in Great Britain. We did have a walk up to various 'possibilities' but heavy rain set up and reduced our efforts to a visual reconnaissance. There is a lot of rock over there with routes to be put up on, and it's becoming a popular weekend spot for the Glasgow climbers who want to open up new areas! Our last day saw a drive up to Glen Nevis to try out Polldubh. We had a go at Vampire, a classic 3 pitch VS 4b, 4b, -. Andy did the 1st pitch in great style (no gear to be placed, almost wandered off up an E1 5b, etc.) before the rain started to spit. Decision time saw myself hoping to get up the next pitch but the heaven opened and we were quickly forced to abseil down and beat a retreat to .... Nevisport! Well, no trip to or through Lochaber is complete without a visit there ..… Neil 'Bomber' Harold |