Sou’wester slabs, Cir Mhor, Glen Rosa, 27th April 2008
I have only been to Arran once before but had been captured under its spell. This was a few years ago yet biking between Brodick and Glen Rosa felt so familiar. This time I was staying in Lamlash in a bunk house with a large group of mostly German’s. Most of them had walking plans so viewed the four climbers, myself, Frank, Michi and Kasia, with interest. When we arrived on Friday night we were greeted by Arran’s Elvis in the local where we more than quadrupled the attendance to his pub gig. All a bit random but crooning Elvis felt adored.
The next day we headed to Glen Rosa on our bikes. This included the ascent of quite a large hill just out of Lamla
sh and with climbing gear, would have been hard work. Also, it was pretty overcast so we’d opted for a scrambling day instead. Still, I made the mental note that on future Arran trips, staying in either Brodick or Glen Rosa was definitely the way to go. By lunch time the clouds had cleared to be replaced by sunshine, our optimism was to be rewarded as the rock dried. So Sunday was the day for our climb and proved to be a bit of an epic. Firstly, we’d left our bikes in Brodick with the intention of getting the first bus there but that wasn’t until 10.30am, it was a bit of a late start. The bike ride to Glen Rosa is an easy going one, we then stashed our bikes and set of up the valley, the aroma of suntan lotion in our wake. At this point I received a text from Jonni, it seemed he wasn’t so impressed at covering my Alien shift anymore.
So the deal was we had to get up the valley, do the climb, and make it back to Brodick in time for the last ferry at 7.20pm. The plan was to beast it. And that we did. It took us just over an hour to reach the base of the climb towards the top of the basin. We had time for a quick lunch then we were on our way, leaving the bags at the bottom. There was only one other climbing pair when we arrived and they were no where in sight. Save a curious stag, we had the place to ourselves. To save a bit of time, I decided to skip the first part of Sou’wester slabs and instead started up South Sou’wester Slabs (VS), a bit trickier but very doable. The rock type here is a coarse-grained 
granite, not particularly suited to nut placements. I learned this quickly with the loss of a chunk of my thumb as my first nut ripped. So the first pitch was tainted by blood running from my hand. In the end with a solid hex placement, I set an early first belay to bring up my second to provide me with tissues and finger tape. By now, two other climbing pairs had arrived but seeing the traffic, opted for different routes. Bleeding stemmed, I was underway again, continuing up the ramp and soon finding the first belay. ‘It’s up to the right now’ Michi shouted up. ‘Are you sure?’ I replied, gazing at the intimidating flake with interest, it seemed a bit steep for a vdiff. I made my way up the flake, using cams for pro (I was very glad I’d borrowed extra for this trip) and moving quickly.
For a vdiff it did feel quite stiff, more so than Ardverikie Wall. I think this is due to the lack of foot steps, lots of smearing is required on rock with very good friction, it just takes a bit of getting used to. And of course there’s the exposure to consider. At the top of the flake I stepped over the lip and with the roof in sight and considerable drag, began to look for a belay. After a wee wander I had the ultimate reward, a thread. With a lack of cams left, this was particularly sweet. As were the stunning views. I backed up my belay with a no.3 wc cam and Michi made his way up, Frank and Kasia hot on his heels. From here it was a short pitch to beneath the roof where there was plenty of cam placements in cracks for the belay, as well as a rusty old peg.
I then moved round the corner with the instruction ‘down a bit then up a chimney’. At this stage
I hesitated. Just round the corner there were two possible chimney routes but both looked harder than vdiff. Further down and round under the roof I peeked round the corner but the gully here didn’t look inviting. I went back to investigate the chimney options more closely. One was beyond me and my heart missed a beat as I slipped. The other was doable, feeling about a vs. We were now on South Ridge Direct. I placed cams and swung up on big holds. I arrived on a small platform beneath an intimidating looking corner and set belay. Michi soon in place, I was apprehensive about the next few moves. I edged my way up and placed a bomber moack. With this, my confidence soared, and clipping the in situ nut, I moved easily out the top of the corner, smiling, the moves had been good. From here it was easy ground to set the next belay by a boulder. Two scrambling pitches later we were at the top. We coiled the ropes quickly, hoping the other two wouldn’t be long, they had been just behind us.
I have only been to Arran once before but had been captured under its spell. This was a few years ago yet biking between Brodick and Glen Rosa felt so familiar. This time I was staying in Lamlash in a bunk house with a large group of mostly German’s. Most of them had walking plans so viewed the four climbers, myself, Frank, Michi and Kasia, with interest. When we arrived on Friday night we were greeted by Arran’s Elvis in the local where we more than quadrupled the attendance to his pub gig. All a bit random but crooning Elvis felt adored.
The next day we headed to Glen Rosa on our bikes. This included the ascent of quite a large hill just out of Lamla
sh and with climbing gear, would have been hard work. Also, it was pretty overcast so we’d opted for a scrambling day instead. Still, I made the mental note that on future Arran trips, staying in either Brodick or Glen Rosa was definitely the way to go. By lunch time the clouds had cleared to be replaced by sunshine, our optimism was to be rewarded as the rock dried. So Sunday was the day for our climb and proved to be a bit of an epic. Firstly, we’d left our bikes in Brodick with the intention of getting the first bus there but that wasn’t until 10.30am, it was a bit of a late start. The bike ride to Glen Rosa is an easy going one, we then stashed our bikes and set of up the valley, the aroma of suntan lotion in our wake. At this point I received a text from Jonni, it seemed he wasn’t so impressed at covering my Alien shift anymore.
So the deal was we had to get up the valley, do the climb, and make it back to Brodick in time for the last ferry at 7.20pm. The plan was to beast it. And that we did. It took us just over an hour to reach the base of the climb towards the top of the basin. We had time for a quick lunch then we were on our way, leaving the bags at the bottom. There was only one other climbing pair when we arrived and they were no where in sight. Save a curious stag, we had the place to ourselves. To save a bit of time, I decided to skip the first part of Sou’wester slabs and instead started up South Sou’wester Slabs (VS), a bit trickier but very doable. The rock type here is a coarse-grained 
granite, not particularly suited to nut placements. I learned this quickly with the loss of a chunk of my thumb as my first nut ripped. So the first pitch was tainted by blood running from my hand. In the end with a solid hex placement, I set an early first belay to bring up my second to provide me with tissues and finger tape. By now, two other climbing pairs had arrived but seeing the traffic, opted for different routes. Bleeding stemmed, I was underway again, continuing up the ramp and soon finding the first belay. ‘It’s up to the right now’ Michi shouted up. ‘Are you sure?’ I replied, gazing at the intimidating flake with interest, it seemed a bit steep for a vdiff. I made my way up the flake, using cams for pro (I was very glad I’d borrowed extra for this trip) and moving quickly.
For a vdiff it did feel quite stiff, more so than Ardverikie Wall. I think this is due to the lack of foot steps, lots of smearing is required on rock with very good friction, it just takes a bit of getting used to. And of course there’s the exposure to consider. At the top of the flake I stepped over the lip and with the roof in sight and considerable drag, began to look for a belay. After a wee wander I had the ultimate reward, a thread. With a lack of cams left, this was particularly sweet. As were the stunning views. I backed up my belay with a no.3 wc cam and Michi made his way up, Frank and Kasia hot on his heels. From here it was a short pitch to beneath the roof where there was plenty of cam placements in cracks for the belay, as well as a rusty old peg.I then moved round the corner with the instruction ‘down a bit then up a chimney’. At this stage
I hesitated. Just round the corner there were two possible chimney routes but both looked harder than vdiff. Further down and round under the roof I peeked round the corner but the gully here didn’t look inviting. I went back to investigate the chimney options more closely. One was beyond me and my heart missed a beat as I slipped. The other was doable, feeling about a vs. We were now on South Ridge Direct. I placed cams and swung up on big holds. I arrived on a small platform beneath an intimidating looking corner and set belay. Michi soon in place, I was apprehensive about the next few moves. I edged my way up and placed a bomber moack. With this, my confidence soared, and clipping the in situ nut, I moved easily out the top of the corner, smiling, the moves had been good. From here it was easy ground to set the next belay by a boulder. Two scrambling pitches later we were at the top. We coiled the ropes quickly, hoping the other two wouldn’t be long, they had been just behind us. By now it was after 5pm and we still had a way to go to get back to the ferry on time. We made 
the decision to make a run for it. We headed left and down a gully. It was quite an exciting scrambling desent. At the bottom we grabbed our bags and set off down the path through the basin. The pace down was pretty quick, we knew we were cutting it very fine. All the while I wondered whether rushing down was the right option, in the current conditions the basin was gorgeous and an extra day in Arran was certainly luring. Back at the bike stash, we jumped on and with some energetic peddling, set off, very glad it was downhill most of the way. We pulled into the ferry terminal office pretty much at 7.20 on the dot. ‘It’s not about to leave is it?’ I asked, somewhat frantic. I could have jumped over the counter and kissed the guy when he calmly replied that it wouldn’t be going anywhere till he said it could. Evidently he was in charge. We picked up the rest of our gear which we’d left in storage that morning (£1 per item) and pushed our bikes on board, the ferry doors closing behind us. Upstairs we walked into the lounge to be greeted by a cheer from the German crowd, we collapsed gratefully onto chairs. The curious glances from other passengers continued as we then sorted through our gear but this didn’t take from the therapeutic nature of this. So ended our trip to Arran, a place I am very keen to return too. Well done to Kasia for having faith in us getting back on time and thus winning the bet and a beer. And many thanks to her for letting me use some of her stunning photos.
the decision to make a run for it. We headed left and down a gully. It was quite an exciting scrambling desent. At the bottom we grabbed our bags and set off down the path through the basin. The pace down was pretty quick, we knew we were cutting it very fine. All the while I wondered whether rushing down was the right option, in the current conditions the basin was gorgeous and an extra day in Arran was certainly luring. Back at the bike stash, we jumped on and with some energetic peddling, set off, very glad it was downhill most of the way. We pulled into the ferry terminal office pretty much at 7.20 on the dot. ‘It’s not about to leave is it?’ I asked, somewhat frantic. I could have jumped over the counter and kissed the guy when he calmly replied that it wouldn’t be going anywhere till he said it could. Evidently he was in charge. We picked up the rest of our gear which we’d left in storage that morning (£1 per item) and pushed our bikes on board, the ferry doors closing behind us. Upstairs we walked into the lounge to be greeted by a cheer from the German crowd, we collapsed gratefully onto chairs. The curious glances from other passengers continued as we then sorted through our gear but this didn’t take from the therapeutic nature of this. So ended our trip to Arran, a place I am very keen to return too. Well done to Kasia for having faith in us getting back on time and thus winning the bet and a beer. And many thanks to her for letting me use some of her stunning photos. 
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