SMC Scottish Sports Climbs

This is the first definitive sport climbing guide for Scotland, written by 18 of the leading Scottish sport climbers for the SMC. The guidebook includes 1300 routes, from grades 3 to 9a spread across over 100 crags from the Central Belt to Shetland and Arisaig to Aberdeen. It is lavishly illustrated with action photos for each main crag, easy-to-use maps and photo diagrams, and a colour-coded route grading system. The guide covers sport climbing as well all Scotland's world-class 'dry tooling' routes. The landscape format is designed to lay open at the crags, and the cover flaps contain useful reference information for those new to sport climbing as well as climbers visiting from other countries. Sport climbing has a wider audience than traditional climbing; with quick drying accessible crags, it suits the busy modern climber and the family-friendly climbing day. Andy Nisbet, coordinating author of the guidebook, is better known for his wide ranging first ascents of traditional winter and summer climbs in Scotland. A zealous convert to sport climbing, he has established new routes on Scottish sport crags and has already worn out one drill. The section authors include many of Scotland's most active sport climbers who climb at the hardest grades but want to make sport climbing accessible to all. It is the local knowledge of these activists that not only make the history sections come alive, but give the latest information about crag access, the best local pubs and any other top tips to make a crag visit a great day out. The 18 authors, include: Rab Anderson, Dave MacLeod, Colin Moody, Neil Morrison, Andy Nisbet, Neil Shepherd, Paul Tattersall, Ian Taylor, Andy Wilby, and Orkney Climbing Club.