Behind the headlines, the last few years have seen a transformation in ground up and insight trad climbing north of the border. Guy Robertson reveals the quiet men breathing new life into traditional rock climbing in Scotland

Hype has never been a word synonymous with Scottish rock climbing. Back in the 60s and even the 70s, the eponymous catch-all upper grade of ‘Scottish VS’ probably did more to simply keep would-be raiders out than to cement the reputations of the leading pioneers. Into the lycra-clad 80s, Dave ‘Cubby’ Cuthbertson’s wild under-grading of routes like Morbidezza (then E4, now hard E5) and Wild Country (then E4, now hard E6) served to tame the average British climber’s view of the cutting edge on Scottish rock. 

And this tradition continues today. With the global advent of blogging, we’re all kept up-to-date on the daily activities of the climbing digerati. Meanwhile, in the shadows, a considerable band of talented and committed yet largely unheard of Scottish activists is carrying forth the ‘dark horse’ tradition and breathing new life into some of Britain’s best hard traditional routes. None of them are full-time or professional climbers, and most have families and full-time jobs. And, like earlier generations, they have one thing in common – a deep passion for traditional climbing.

In the 90’s, as sport climbing really took off across Europe, Cubby and a few others, including fellow Scots Graeme Livingstone, Gary Latter, and Murray Hamilton, were joined and then succeeded by other little known active traditionalists like Paul ‘Stork’ Thorburn, Rick Campbell, and Julian Lines – out there doing their own bold thing, often climbing virgin rock ground-up to E7. But they were still relatively few in number, and it’s only really since the turn of the millennium that the number of Scottish climbers out there cruising E6’s and onsighting E7’s has pushed more fingers than one hand. There are many reasons to be excited about this. Some of the great hard routes of the previous two decades are being rediscovered and cleaned up, and one can’t help imagining that given the common indulgence of today’s generation in a regular diet of training boards, hard bouldering and sport climbing - and a shared passion for adventure - the current breed will inevitably leave behind their own historic routes. These are exciting times indeed.