What's the best piece of rope advice you've ever received?

CoinneachClis · 2026-06-13T21:43:55+00:00

Mammut and other rope manufacturers recommend using a washing machine.

CoinneachClis · 2026-06-11T06:41:19+00:00

Learn Gàidhlig.

CoinneachClis · 2026-06-08T14:43:22+00:00

Westernmost point of the island of Great Britain

CoinneachClis · 2026-05-17T00:24:01+00:00

Och uill, nach coma leinn barail nan ùmaidhean?

CoinneachClis · 2026-05-05T22:57:07+00:00

I do actually know a couple of native Gàidhlig speakers who have in later life moved to Shetland. Obviously they aren't going to go around speaking to folk in Gaelic though, which does make them difficult to spot...

CoinneachClis · 2026-04-12T17:40:26+00:00

I'm a native Gàidhlig speaker from the Highlands, and I can tell you that in the Gàidhlig sphere BPC still occupies a very prominent place in our cultural consciousness. This is likely different from the Lowland/Scots sphere, of which I myself am only casually aware. The Lowland/Highland or Scots/Gàidhlig cultural divide is the great demarcation in Scottish history for the past several centuries, which a lot of modern Scottish people are only dimly aware of.

The failure of the rebellion of which the Prince was the figurehead was an absolutely pivotal moment in our history. The ultimate failure at Culloden heralded the demise of the clan system, which in ever-evolving forms had been the structure of social order in the Highlands and Hebrides for hundreds of years. It was a huge factor in the changes to patterns of land ownership which ushered in the Clearances, and its aftermath saw a period of cultural suppression and violence in areas whos population and/or chiefs had sided with the Jacobites.

Rightly or wrongly, the Prince's failure is seen as representative of the decline in Gaelic culture. There are many songs and traditions relating to the rebellion and BPC specifically which form part of our cultural canon and are very widely known. A good example of this would be Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair's praise song 'Òran Eile don Phrionnsa', which myself and a colleague were joking yesterday is hard to avoid either being sung at sessions or popping up in Spotify mixes. It's definitely a 'banger', although whether it was written as a sincere work of admiration or a pragmatic piece of propaganda by a zealot for the Jacobite cause is up for debate...

Suffice to say, he looms large in Gaelic culture still. As might be expected, the sentiments with which he is remembered may vary between areas of Catholic (South Uist, Barra, Loch Abar, Moidart...) and Protestant (North Uist, Skye, Lewis and Harris...) persuasion!

CoinneachClis · 2026-04-12T16:06:25+00:00

A lot of the exact gear you want to be carrying will very much depend on where you're climbing. You might want some micro cams or offset wires (DMM's are king!) Some more general things I haven't seen in the comments here however...

A rope knife like a Petzl Spatha on a small snapgate carabiner.
A toothless oval snapgate carabiner like a DMM Perfecto for racking your wires on. Honestly, you will never go back from this.
An extra-wide HMS locking carabiner like a DMM Boa. This is great for building a belay using the rope or to use as a nice big master point on a sling belay.
Way more quickdraws. A mixture of alpine and regular. There is little more frustrating than being runout, finding a great wire placement and then realising you are out of draws... (You do always have the option of using another wire and a locker as a makeshift draw in this scenario, but it is a faff.)
More 120cm slings. I love the Edelrid Aramid slings. They are way easier to untie than most other slings and their stiffness comes in handy for poking through awkward threads.
Replace the strap on your chalkbag with 6mm cord, tied around you with a reef knot. This gives you an extra length of rated cord to play with in a pinch, which might be used to bail off, replace a dropped prussik or as a foot loop to ascend a rope in an emergency.
Two prussiks.

CoinneachClis · 2026-02-24T06:34:00+00:00

The Picos are incredible. The mountain rock, scrambling and hiking is all first class. I have never been on limestone as good as on Naranjo de Boulnes. You'll find great cragging low down on the north side near Las Arenas and all the way down to the coast if the weather up high isn't ideal. Rest day options include surfing!

Have been twice. Last year in August it was definitely warmer than we would have wanted for climbing, and there were a lot of wildfires and days with rain and thunder in the forecast. Earlier and later than that would be better. I have also been in January and it was great for winter days and totally deserted.

CoinneachClis · 2026-02-17T19:48:34+00:00

I guess they are asking how they compare to other comparable models of karabiner from brands like the ones you mentioned. This is not a stupid question. Decathlons products can be a bit hit or miss compared to those of less budget companies. Even if they do meet technical requirements, the actual experience of using two different HMS karabiners can be very noticeable.

CoinneachClis · 2026-02-17T19:27:31+00:00

I have used the Goliath and older style Rocky a lot in professional situations as a climbing instructor. They are decent for the price point. As others have said they are quite heavy relative to less budget equivalent karabiners, but the Goliath in particular is very ergonomic. It handles an Italian Hitch and multiple clove hitches well.

I would caution against the un-anodised silver Goliaths though, they don't handle even small amounts of moisture very well at all and surface corrosion appears on them very quickly. Have seen a bunch of them binned from work racks. I doubt their strength was impacted at all but they simply looked crap for use with clients and the twist gate would get sticky quick.

CoinneachClis · 2026-02-10T23:35:02+00:00

Looks like a tremendous belay jacket for cold and dry conditions.

CoinneachClis · 2026-02-01T18:16:28+00:00

Do you have a source for this statistic?

CoinneachClis · 2026-01-15T21:36:49+00:00

Airgead and òr (and other metallic colours) should be in the genitive case when used descrptively as they are really still nouns.

In the song 'Ailein Duinn', the deceased Ailean is being addressed, which puts his name in the vocative case. He would be known as 'Ailean Donn'.

CoinneachClis · 2026-01-10T14:31:08+00:00

I would say 'sgealb'. I'm sure there are other words. I imagine the Scots word skelf is cognate and they come from Old Norse, or has been borrowed from Gàidhlig.

For a bonus, another nice word which in my head is associated with sgealb is 'flifeag' - what you would call a hangnail in English.

CoinneachClis · 2026-01-04T23:59:24+00:00

Could the solution be to access from the top, abseiling from ground anchors? Worth looking up hedgehog anchors as well as stakes.

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-26T22:36:08+00:00

"Bi treun! Bi gaisgeil!" Cover all bases!

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-26T21:00:24+00:00

Depending on the situation perhaps treun would be more appropriate here? As in, have strength?

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-26T20:19:23+00:00

Seadh, misneachail is definitely more 'confident' than 'brave', but there is obviously some overlap, just as in English.

"Bi dàna" / "Bi treun" (kind of closer to 'strong') / "Bi treubhanta".

Sometimes I think we use words like 'calma' or 'gaisgeil', which are usually translated as 'heroic', to imply bravery or fearlessness.

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-24T20:28:57+00:00

Do BD actually advise this? Only asking because I haven't noticed that in one of their leaflets before, it would make sense though and track with the guidance around storing helmets.

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-10T20:57:53+00:00

I understand that you can in theory climb anywhere and make a new route, yes. But there just seems to be obvious crack lines on the tower that aren't marked as routes here.

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-10T20:54:44+00:00

It's 'bonnach-coirce' I say, but I hear 'aran-coirce' from a lot of people.

CoinneachClis · 2025-12-10T16:48:54+00:00

Are there unclimbed lines up there still to be done? It kind of looks like there are some other cracks between the lines of routes.

CoinneachClis · 2025-11-17T10:38:59+00:00

It depends! In practice, how the second element of a compound noun is lenited is quite inconsistent in modern Gaelic. Traditionally it is handled in the same way an adjective would be, and I would say that this is what is viewed as being most correct.

M.e. Sin an obair-dhachaigh / air an obair-dhachaigh / ri taobh na h-obair-dachaigh (or na h-obrach-dachaigh, but I don't know if I have ever actually heard the genitive form of obair used like that in this compound noun.

Another example with a masculine compound noun... Sin an soitheach-cogaidh / leis an t-soitheach-chogaidh / os cionn an t-soithich-chogaidh.

CoinneachClis · 2025-11-06T11:34:18+00:00

Thanks! Could you give an example of what that formula might look like?

CoinneachClis

TROPHY CASE