Routes in North West Bay

An obvious gully, crack and chimney system at the left corner of the North West bay starting from Prickle Traverse beneath a large overhanging feature. Marked with "CS" painted on the rock at the base. An excellent climb in a superb position, with a number of obvious places to protect a belay. This route can be started after finishing pitch 4 of Right Anti-climax.

Historically, the most elusive climb in the Stirlings. Pleasant and airy if "The Nose" is climbed direct. Possibly the finest pitch on Bluff Knoll! Grade 10 if nose is avoided

Approach: climb the waterfall gully from the tourist track, trending to the right as you approach the base of the cliff. You will come to a small bay and a short rock wall where it becomes a good idea to put your climbing shoes on. Pitch 1, 35m (10): climb the series of short walls and vegetated ledges until you reach an overhanging, right leaning crack on the cliff proper, with a small alcove and comfortable stance to build an anchor. No good protection, climb carefully. Pitch 2*, 30m (15): Step down to the left and traverse 3-4m below the buttress, then directly up on good holds with sparse, but mostly good gear. Below a small roof you will come to a comfortable belay ledge with a solid vertical crack behind it to build an anchor (0.75 Camalot v useful here). Nice face climbing which is a bit run out. Pitch 3*, 40m (13): rising leftward traverse to the gully left of the belay, into the corner, then up onto the large boulder. From here, trend back to the right, climbing the large, detached but solid flake back onto the face. Nice climbing on good features and great exposure, with good pro for the first 2/3rds. Not much pro after that, but the climbing is easy. Rope drag can be an issue here. Belay on large, vegetated ledge. Pitch 4, 40m (10): you can go straight up. There's a fair amount of vegetation, and the rock quality varies, so it's a bit of a chore. There might be better options, ie, heading off to the right, where the rock looks cleaner. But straight up will get you to the Prickle Traverse.