Blue skies and sunshine greeted us in the morning. We had a loose plan to try to climb the final of the three classic stacks: Am Buachaille (The Shepherd) via its Original Route a.k.a. Landward Face (3-pitch, HVS 4c). In a way, this one can seem to be the most daunting of the three. It has the longest approach which includes about a mile of cross country travel over a (very wet) moorland. After the standard hike/scramble down to a tidal beach, one must cross a few hundred meters of extremely slick, microwave-sized boulders to access a tidal platform separated from the stack by a 15 meter wide channel which has to be swum by both climbers (no Tyrolean option). The climb itself features some runout climbing on pitch one; and, most importantly, you need to fit this within a roughly 4-hour window around the spring low tide or face a damp and cold bivy on the stack.
For us, this turned out to be the funnest climbing day of the trip. The timing worked perfectly, the sun was shining, and there was hardly any wind. Things were so comfy that Shirley did not even use her wetsuit: the water felt balmy; though our reference point might be skewed by the year old ice bathing hobby. The first pitch is indeed runout but easy enough to not lose sleep over it.
Photos
The amazing weather that greeted us the following morning (May 2024).Starting the 4 minute commute to the Am Buachaille trailhead from our Airbnb (May 2024).More highland cows (May 2024).Departing the trailhead (May 2024).A hairy pony near the start of the hike (May 2024).The first part offers many sheep petting opportunities and can be biked. In fact, there are bike racks a couple of kilometers in for those who want to do this hybrid type approach. But bikes were the one item category we did not pack (May 2024).Big sky of Scotland (May 2024).Overall, a pretty hike (May 2024).Shirley approaching the second major lake of the hike: Loch a’ Mhuilinn (May 2024).Loch a ‘Mhuilinn (May 2024).About a kilometer past this lake, you leave the trail and hike cross country across the (wet!) moorland to the edge of the headland (May 2024).Shirley starting the cross country bit of the approach to Am Buachaille (May 2024).There it is, the edge of the earth (May 2024).The first sighting of Am Buachaille (May 2024).A closer look at the formation and its landward face (May 2024).Hiking the edge of the headland to find the descent gully (May 2024).There it is. One of the easier scrambles down to the tidal beach of this trip (May 2024).Shirley with a buoy. The last bit of the scramble down to the beach involves that unpleasant teetering stack of boulders behind her (May 2024).Still wet from the receding tide, the boulders were incredibly slick and made for some slow going (May 2024).First sighting from the tidal “beach” (May 2024).Shirley carefully boulder hopping her way across the tidal beach (May 2024).The clock is ticking (May 2024).Nearing the tidal platform from where you have to swim to the stack (May 2024).Lots of seaweed (May 2024).Shirley getting ready for the ~15 meter swim across the channel (May 2024).And we’re off (May 2024).Almost there (May 2024).And the finish line (May 2024).Starting up the first pitch of the Original Route, a.k.a. the Landward Face (May 2024).Really, the only solid gear on the pitch; about halfway up (May 2024).The climbing above is not hard but just don’t blow it before the anchor or you’ll most likely deck (May 2024).Shirley starting up the first pitch (May 2024).Views from the first belay (May 2024).Looking back towards the mainland (May 2024).Pitch 1 (May 2024).Shirley higher on pitch 1 (May 2024).Nearing the first belay (May 2024).Shirley mantling onto the first pitch belay ledge (May 2024).More views from the first belay (May 2024).And more views (May 2024).Starting pitch 2: we went directly up the short dihedral and up the crack above via a roof (a bit of A0 at the roof; May 2024).Shirley on pitch 2 (May 2024).More pitch 2 (May 2024).Topping out on pitch 2 (May 2024).Starting up pitch 3: nice climbing on this one (May 2024).Higher on pitch 3. You’re aiming for that obvious horn above my head (May 2024).The horn on pitch 3 (May 2024).Looking back at Shirley from the lead of pitch3 just above the key horn (May 2024).Part of the summit belay anchor on Am Buachaille (May 2024).Shirley following the third pitch (May 2024).Looking back at the tidal boulder beach approach from the summit. At least things look dryer now (May 2024).More pitch 3 action (May 2024).Summit views (May 2024).A wanker at the summit anchor (May 2024).Shirley topping out on the summit ledges (May 2024).Shirley arriving on the summit (May 2024).Rapping off the stack: one double rope rap. We had double 70s but shorter cords would work (May 2024).Our colorful dry bags below mark the start of the lap swim (May 2024).Shirley rapping off the summit (May 2024).Almost there (May 2024).Just a swim and a short hike left to be done before the tide moves in (May 2024).The surface of the tidal pedestal (May 2024).Shirley getting ready for the swim back (May 2024).Ready?And done (May 2024).Packing up for the hike out (May 2024).Am Buachaille from the tidal platform (May 2024).The hike out across the tidal boulder field was actually easier as the stones had a chance to dry a bit (May 2024).Almost out of the tidal zone (May 2024).On the scramble back up to the rim (May 2024).Shirley hiking back along the very wet moorland (May 2024).Did I mention “wet” (May 2024)?Wet, wet, wet (May 2024).Looking back towards the trailhead (May 2024).Trailhead in sight (May 2024).Well, hello again!Drying operation in our cozy place (May 2024).Wrapping up the Scottish sea stacks portion of the trip. Tomorrow we head down to Wales (May 2024).
