Growing up I found the gate of rural life very much locked. Especially through the keyhole of childhood, my aspect of the world was that of limitation, and wonder. The internet was unbearably slow, and we had 4 channels on the TV.
The only influences that cast ripples in my direction at that time were Bob Dylan and Dave Birkett. At some point, MTV became available in Langdale and my mind was blown.
I had a Scarpa poster of Dave, climbing Skye Wall in my bedroom. I saw that route twice every day for over 10 years.
On a recent excursion to Skye, specifically the Loch Coruisk area, the sun never stopped spitting its glorious rays upon us. After climbing Boys Don’t Cry with Robbie. A new E6 left of the Skye wall face, we left the static line on top of the crag.
Skye Wall had a sprinkling of white chalk marks all the way up from a previous ascent, just a few days prior. I abseiled the line and practised the moves, quickly realising there was no stopper crux, just a ladder of sustained razor blades for the second pitch, with a long runout off the belay ledge hosting a seemingly clean fall.
Alex Moore is a boulderer turned trad climber, with the ability to climb font 8B, and complete a crossword in the time it takes him to drink a cup of tea. I was confident he had the skills to flash this route.
After my foot slipped, and my RP ripped on me, I took a relatively soft ground fall on rope stretch, from the crux about 10 meters up. Had 5 mins, then stopped messing around and got us to the belay ledge. Alex seemed nervous as he teetered out along the thunderstruck face of the second pitch, fingernails clinging to the crystals, with some sporadic and probably incorrect beta from me, he abstained from taking a ride down the crag.
Topping out of the third pitch felt inevitable, of course we were here, climbing this route. There was nowhere else we would have possibly been.
The weather on Skye is fickle. Most trips to Skye are usually spent chasing dry rock. The majority of our trip was spent chasing the shade. @robbiephillips_ spotted this line a few years back, left of Skye Wall and, Moonrise Kingdom, Right of Coruisk Corner. I was psyched to team up for the send. We had good weather and, a brilliant group of mates. The climbing was a bonus.
Photo: Ryan Balharry: Boys Don’t Cry. E6 6B.
A new 4-pitch line on Coir’ Uisg Buttress.