[andy_e]

Due to my lecturer dying, I'm no longer doing my dissertation mapping project in Switzerland 

I'm instead going to Skye, where there are V15s aplenty.

Where are these though? I'll be staying in Torrin, is there any actual bouldering near there? Any help appreciated.

[dave]

torrin is probably an hour or so drive from where the cloud cuckooland V19s are. i did a little bouldering there, some shit low down and it wasn't worth it. personally i would kick any ideas of bouldering there into touch and instead do some of the following:

check out Elgol at sunsets
check out the Old Man Of Storr
check out some wildlife
bag some munros/cuillins
get on a boat trip to Canna/Eigg/Rum/Loch Coruisk
solo some easy routes
drink some skye beer

skye is amazing, enjoy but don't get blinkered by trying to find bas cuvier there.

[slackline]

I've a small guide to Skye Bouldering that was written by James Sutton (and advertised as freely available in OTE a good few years back so grabbed a copy, production and distrobution was funded by a Millenium Award  ).

Anyway, it lists the following areas for bouldering...

Carn Laith*
Coire Lagan*
An Caol*
Flodigarry
Staffin Slipway
Elgol
Colbost
Castle Crags
Claigan
Neist Point

* These areas are marked as "Excellent Bouldering Area", the rest are marked as "Limited Bouldering Area with perhaps just a few problems".



There doesn't seem to be any © so unless there is a vocal objection I could scan it to pdf for you Andi_e (will be a day or so, busy installing linux on g/f's laptop and sorting out other shit).

[SA Chris]

I think there may be copyright objections- if you emailed James I doubt he would be happy. It's only a couple of notes at the climbing shop - support grass routes guides!

I would only go to the spots marked as excellent, unless you are passing any of the others and wanted to bag a problem or two. All of which involve a bit of a walk. Otherwise, as dave says, it is a gorgeous place. Go check out Kilt Rock and falls too (morning for the best light) or get a rope on Grey Panther if you can borrow a second rack.

[slackline]

I think there may be copyright objections- if you emailed James I doubt he would be happy. It's only a couple of notes at the climbing shop - support grass routes guides!

Ahh, just found contact details in the last page (was foolishly looking for this info in the front).

No probs supporting grass routes guides, but this one cost me now't (was advertised as free by post in old OTE no doubt by virtue of Millenium award), and more than happy to respect authors wishes.

Sorry Andi_e.

[SA Chris]

I think the first few were given out for promotional purposes, but I definitely payed a few quid for mine.

[GCW]

The highest concentration of good quality rock is around Glen Brittle and the Black Cuillin.
I'll speak to you later.

[andy_e]

Thanks everyone, whereabouts are Coire Lagan, Carn Laith and An Caol?

[Johnny Brown]

Skye is a fantastic place for many reasons, the geology is amazing, the scenery is world class but don't fuck about bouldering, go to Coire Lagan, scramble up to The Cioch, then Sgurr Alasdair and round to the Inn Pinn etc. There aren't many more memorable mountain days to be had in Britain.

[andy_e]

Thanks, but I'd rather stick to small bits of rock, plus time will be limited...

Did you do geology at leeds?

[richieb]

Carn Liath is on Trotternish, the northern bit of the island. A few miles north of Portree.
To give some scale, the red dot in the first pic is me. Its been mentioned on here a few times in the past and theres been some good looking problems done.
Its certainly the biggest boulderfield I've yet seen in the uk, worth the walk up just to check out.

[Johnny Brown]

No, Sheffield. I did live in Leeds for a bit after though. I did my dissertation mapping project on Cilan. Brilliant, hung out on cumbling sea ciffs whilst having a watertight excuse to live in Abersoch for a whole summer.

Skye is amazing, whatever you do you can't really go wrong. Not been to Carn Liath, but I have climbed on similar basalt throughout the hebrides and not convinced it lends itself brilliantly to climbing.

Other thing - Skye is massive, and deeply divided by sea lochs, so getting around can take time. Add that to the walk-ins and grabbing an evenings bouldering is a bigger task than going to Caley.

[GCW]

Yeah, JB is spot on there.  A lot of the stuff around Coire Lagan and Coire Ghrunnda is a 30-60 minute walk in, often through a bit of bog.  And a lot of it is spread widely in complex boulder fields, so getting between problems can be fun.
It all looks good rock, so I'm sure you could get stuff done.  But the scrambling/routes are probably better if you're a non local.

[andy_e]

Anyone know if the bouldering at Applecross is any good?

EDIT: Sack that, it may only be 9 miles away as the crow flies according to UKC, but that involves a 42 mile drive to get to it...

[SA Chris]

OK, but definitely not worth the detour, stunning though the drive may be. Torridon is worth it though, IMO.

[andy_e]

check out Elgol at sunsets

Word. Fuckin' amazing. Went last night and we're going again tonight. The whole Elgol area feels like the end of the world, I love it! And the Jurassic cliffs at the north end of the beach have the most amazing honeycomb weathering I've ever seen, shame all the pockets are filled with sand!