At the end of May, 12 of us from various parts of the UK headed up to Oban to board the ferry and take the 5 hour ride across to Barra, Outer Hebrides. From here we were met by Donald (who was pretty flabbergasted by the amazing amount of kit we had brought) and headed out in his little, and very full fishing boat to Pabbay.
The lovely staff on the ferry informed us we had to carry everything on in one go rather than shuttling it. This proved to be impossible for certain people who had brought a stack of crates full of food with them.
We didn’t have the best welcome to the island as the cloud was down and it switched between drizzle and rain. It continued like this for the next 36 hours until the weather relented and we could mission across the island in the drizzle just in time for it to clear up for an evening climb.
The team in the big stronghold tent that got rather messy with 15 people cooking and basically living in it when it rained.
Morning frisbee on the beach, the crags didn’t dry out until lunch time so we would spend the morning chilling then head out and not return until dark, luckily that was around 11pm.
Photo: Nathan Lee
Donald’s buddy picking us up from Pabbay and taking us to the fishing boat.
The island is shaped like a wedge, so you camp down on the beautiful sandy beaches where it is nice and flat and then walk up and over to the massive 100m sea cliffs on the opposite side. The cliffs are steep, solid, have bomber gear and big hand holds. Jo and I climbed a ridiculous looking line that went right past The Great Arch, it looked impossible from the headland but was actually a four pitch E2 called ‘Prophecy if Drowning’ on the most exposed sea cliff I have ever climbed on.
Jo and I climbing Prophecy of Drowning next to The Great Arch.
Photo: Rob Greenwood
This guy is a Great Skua who along with about 7 or 8 other Great Skua’s were fully dive bombing Jo and I when we walked close to their nesting area. It was pretty scary, they are really aggressive and big birds.
The weather was pretty much mint for most of the trip apart from on our island transfer day from Pabbay to Mingulay.
Lovely beach on Pabbay
Jo and I went on an E1-E3 rampage and I did some of the most amazing trad routes ever, truly world class.
The hightlights:
Spring Squill E1 5b ****
Prophecy of Drowning E2 5c ****
Voyage of Faith E3 5c ****
Sula E2 5b ****
We watched hundreds of Puffin’s for about an hour one evening. We just sat amongst them all as they went about their evening duties, they are such cool little birds.
The whole experience from the people to the climbing to the wildlife made it one of the best trad climbing trips I have ever been on.
Ferry ride home!