Full Mead Tower, near Beinn Nuis.

The week after my ‘South Ridge Direct’ climb with Darryl the unusually long period of dry weather continued and a plethora of routes normally impossible due to the usual summer showers came into play. Many superb crags on the island are prone to seepage between the slabs of granite, making the rock dangerous to climb, one such is Full Mead Tower on the Nuis-Tarsuinn ridge which I have been dreaming of climbing since I moved here. This 120m jumble of granite blocks, one on top of each other, resembles a game of Jenga; one wrong move and the whole lot will come down. So, it was with heightened anxiety that I approached the foot of this intimidating tower with Stuart Wallace, a Mountain Rescue Team member from Lamlash. We agreed on the ‘severe’ graded ‘Full Mead Chimney’ route; a near vertical cleft in the mountain, sustained mix of cracks and right-angled blocks with good solid security. First recorded by GC Curtis & GH Townend in 1947, it is hard to find much written about it, in the end all we had were four lines attributed to it in the 1997 SMC Arran guide book. We approached the start via a 50m gully scramble to the right and across a thin grassy ledge leading to the Chimney. We arranged our 60m rope and rack of gear as we looked up excitedly at the Chimney for the first time. I set off on the first pitch with my heart in my mouth as I looked at a cavernous hole to my right and 6m section of overhanging blocks (pic1) that I had to make my way up before I could place some gear.



David Lilly leading 30m pitch 1 of Full Mead Chimney

My nervousness is always apparent to me, well hidden from my partner, when I start a climb on anything serious but anxiety quickly subsides once the first few bits of metalwork are in afterwhich calmness takes over. To reach the second section of this pitch I had to bridge across the dark abyss to my right in order to fix a cam in the opposing wall, which was a little unnerving. Then, following a pitch of another 8m with no gear placement I found good friction underfoot and some holds between each block to a ledge where I secured some rock-nuts. The final section of the first 30m pitch proved to be the most exciting for me, an exposed and technically interesting passage. Not only did the route become more vertical but it turned into a series of downward sloping flakes interrupted by grassed cracks almost as steep as the rock. The rear tread on my combi-shoes allowed me to use the grass where necessary and the sticky rubber on the toe to generate considerable friction on the rock when laybacks and a left knee drop were required to ascend this section freely. I must admit, before I reached the first belay point, the sustained nature of this pitch was apparent as I puffed like an old locomotive. Safely secured on a small ledge halfway up the face with a view across to the imposing face of Nuis, I slowly pulled the rope in as Wally ascended; it was a silent 20 minutes or so until I heard him puffing away like I had until he joined me on the ledge. The start of the second pitch was tricky, hard to balance and create force in various directions to overcome two facing walls on a 120 degree angle, but with his long gait Wally climbed well to reach a small rounded dome of weathered granite to place a sling and secure the lead rope (pic2).



Stuart ‘Wally’ Wallace leading 15m pitch 2 of Full Mead Chimney

The angle of the chimney then closed to 90 degrees making it more enjoyable to scale, but as he gained the upper section he had little choice but to use one leg as a piece of gear. By wedging it into a vertical opening in the rock he pushed himself upwards with a technique he described as ‘thrutching’; a word that sounds as attractive as the technique. With much effort he surmounted this right angled upper section to another ledge about 110m above the base of the Tower which offered tremendous views across Kintyre to Ireland in the distance. Above was a brutish end to an otherwise technically interesting yet rewarding pitch. The only way up was to hug a 7m vertical ‘V’ ridged block with the legs, squeezing the knees, both arms out straight with flat hands slapped on the granite, then push upwards until hand holds allowed for some normality to resume. At the top was a large table-top rock balancing above us which we pulled over to the next belay. I think Wally had a well earned laugh at my expense watching me fight gravity to get up this section; he did well to lead it. He ushered me on to lead the final pitch; a scramble up a broken gully to a featureless headwall which I was not keen on ‘thrutching’ up without security. On the right vertical wall was a thin diagonal seam for finger holds, so with my feet planted on the rock I pushed up and straightened my arms to work my way up and across. To get to the top of the head wall I placed two cams with foot slings in a crack about 4ms up the wall and ‘Aid climbed’ my way across. As I reached the top of the head wall with my outstretched left foot and clawed at a hand hold above I was able to reach down and remove the last cam, allowing Wally to work up to the first, remove it, down climb to the ledge and ascend the head wall whilst secured from above. This reminded me of how mentally challenging a first on-sight attempt can be and of a quote by Larry Kersten; “before you attempt to beat the odds, be sure you can survive the odds beating you”. In good company with the right conditions, Full Mead Chimney along with South Ridge Direct have shown me that Arran has granite climbing to rival the best in the World, and some Top climbers to boot! (Many thanks to Wally & Darryl)



Blue: approach. Red: pitches 1, 2 & 3 of climb.

Article by D.Lilly. As featured in the Arran Banner, all photos copyright D.Lilly 2010.