Bull’s Eye. New route on Sgurr nan Gillean, 27 July
Mike’s report.
Big buzz from another long-term project today. I had spotted an unclimbed crack line on the Bhasteir Face of Gillean about 5 years ago and finally had the combination of dry rock and willing climbing partner to give it a go. Lucy and I were a bit jaded by yesterday’s efforts but reached the foot of the face while it was still in the cool shade.
Bull’s Eye, 90m; E1 5a,4c,5a,4b. X marks the belays. Forked Chimney is the fault-line to the right.
The climbing needed full-on concentration with a combination of route finding, cleaning gear placements and superb moves.
Pitch 1 complete after an hour of head games; carry on or run away? 
Lucy reaches the end of pitch 2
Pitch 3; Lucy exiting the steep chimney before the exposed slabby arete
From the top of pitch 3 it would have been possible to escape and descend north back to 4/5 Gully and would be my recommendation. We continued directly for a final 20m pitch; the climbing was good but the rock really not justifiable. Above a huge bowl of agglomerate gave a scary escape before traversing out to the West Ridge and descent.
Possibly the crux right at the top of the 3rd pitch
Grading and giving stars for new routes is always hard I find. I’ve gone for E1 but it may be closer to HVS. Although only 5a technically finding good gear took patience and some run-outs were quite bold. For quality I’m going for 2 star but 3 stars wouldn’t be too much of an exaggeration with 3 pitches of quality climbing at a very consistent technical difficulty. There was some loose rock but only dangerous for one tiny easy section.
Too late for the imminent guidebook this will have to wait until the next generation; shame but not for Lucy or me!
