We woke up to beautiful weather, so we called, Outdoor Active Pursuits to book an afternoon of climbing.
After a delightful Scottish breakfast, we walked over to OAP to discuss the afternoon adventure. We met a dude, John, who informed us they did not rent climbing shoes (but he was nice enough to loan Dennis his!).
John looked up some climbing crags and hooked us up with Peter, an excellent rock climbing guide. Peter was nice enough to skip out on his day job to take us to Kingussie Crags. (Although he later put it a little differently, “Thanks guys, you rescued me from a slow desk”). Ha-ha-ha.
We walked back to the hotel room and Dennis got ready for climbing while I went for a 4-5 mile run and made it back just in time. Gotta get my run in for the day!
Back at OAP, we met Peter and piled into the van. He handed me the local guidebook and off we went! I was so excited, didn’t really think we were going to get the opportunity to climb! We parked at a campground / mobile home park and walked half a mile through a wooded glen on a jeep track.
Pete explained there were many fires in Scotland right now and most were due to the landowners burning the heather back in preparation for grouse season. When the heather is reduced, it encourages the grouse to move to denser portions of heather and it’s then much easier for hunters to “get a kill”. Even though the fires can go out of control, the land owners aren’t fined. Doesn’t seem right!
On the hike up and back, Pete also taught us about the local flora. We really enjoyed learning and he made it all very interesting! For example, he talked about the problems in Scotland with the red vs. grey squirrels. One thing I thought was cute: When Pete was a little boy, he thought the flower was called “Wooden Enemies”, when the adults were saying “Wood Anenomes”. Funny!
When we got to the crag, it was super crowded. I was surprised, but there were something on the order of 20 kids there! It must have been a field trip or something. Pete quickly scurried up to the top of the crag and went about securing a couple of top rope lines for us.
We did 4 climbs, I don’t know the names of any of them…I forgot to write them down from the guidebook.
Climb #1:
Dihedral, gear, 5.7
Climb#2:
Long Face Climb, gear, vertical, 5.8+
Climb#3:
Long Face Climb, gear, slightly overhangy, with a small roof, 5.10-
Climb #4:
Short Bouldery Face Climb, 5 manky bolts, slightly overhangy, 5.10+
The Scottish climbers call passive pro “Chalks” and they call racks “kits”. This was the only major difference in climbing lingo. After these four climbs, our time was up so we headed back to Aviemore.
Pete referred us to the Old Bridge Inn where we enjoyed a hearty but healthy meal! We fell in love with Thistly Cross Cider, which is 7.2% alcohol and is now my favorite cider! I had chicken and potatoes while Dennis had a garlic soup and lamb casserole.
Tags: Kingussie, Rock Climbing, Scotland, Wildflowers