The Clisham is the high pass through Harris connecting Tarbet to Scaladale & Lewis beyond. At 700mtrs & strewn on both sides from the s-bends on the high pass road are countless boulders. Some are giants, hidden from view, which have escaped the attention of passing climbers heading out to Ulladale & beyond, becuase they are tucked away on shepherding & ghillie routes, thus unexplored by, those who would dare to dangle. Some are steep enough & large enough to harbour communial bivvies & complete roof warrior outings. Others are obvious from the roadside, seen by many a passing climber, giant bowling balls perched precariously on thin plinths of rock above the loch, they threaten to trundle furiously down the hillside taking houses & scruffy sheep with them should a climber hang on one side & tip the scales. The reality is, they are going nowhere, although the eye views with suspicion at first glance, their creaking pin-point of contact with earth. [easily solved with an acro non?] There is great mountain bouldering potential hidden up here far from the thousand tons of roadside dross. It's a relief to be away from the beaches & ubiquitous sandy bouldering of Europaidh for a change, a relief to get away from stomping across endless creaking sea stones.
Great dark highball walls welded into the steep rye grassed mountain slopes await here; insanely steep, long, blank & rounded traverses, formed from glacial erosion also scamper in & out of the shadows, [not to mention the short sport crag i found last year beside the loch!] & I'm psyched with enthusiasm. The Clisham has the same wind torn silent feel of the Coire, a Buddha like peacefulness, a similar vastness & a similar ionized air.

Extradition - mountain bouldering, 2200ft above sea-level, icicles & -9°C

Doubtless my battered old yellow & grey Quasar will do some snow bound winters up here as the lines unfold; & doubtless I'll be stopping off here every other week, inbetween working the monster Coire project, to add a line or 10 through summer. Altitude moves in a midge free cool breeze, big V's & lazy V's, the Uists out to the right, the odd tour bus snaking through way below...The higher bouldering areas are also alot more definable than the chaos in the lower reaches, thus, having a markable area of activity should make Clisham less of a topo nightmare come hide & seek game for other players looking for new or established lines. That said, some of the huge free-standing lone gems hiding along the shepherding paths, despite their remoteness, are worth the long jolly in their own right. There should be some black & white photography of the bouldering soon. I've added the Clisham Pass to the Scottish Climbs NRDB =here= anyways. Look out for the Loch-Down roof, a near horizontal tour-de-force, & the v.Vo2-Loch n' Load steep arete & finger breaker, both to be added soon. [For those of you wondering what the v.Vo2 bit in the name is, it refers to minimal-maximal running velocities & lactate thresholds]. So anyway, if you pull over in the lay-bye for a brew & hear a Hilti clattering away in the distance, or the frustrated scream of a loon eminating from the surrounding tallus & decide to investigate...I take it strong with one sugar.