The Black Wall

by Robbie E

A lovely 3-4m high wall of sea-weathered, hard, layered sandstone located conveniently near Stromness. Some really fun climbing in the 3 to mid 6's range particularly through the roof section. Some great direct lines and traverses and lots of options for eliminates and link-ups for boulder starved locals. The top section is non-tidal but the lower half with the best climbing requires a low tide. The crag is tricky to get fully dry and prone to a bit of seepage in places so takes a while to dry up after winter/prolonged wet periods. The best combo is a low tide, with a calm sea, a strong south-westerly breeze, the evening sun on it and after a prolonged dry spell. Easy to check though so worth having a nosey even if all the elements haven't aligned. All of the lines through and around the roof section are excellent particularly 24. Haar There and Everywhere and the right to left traverses 25. Scourge of the Deep and 23. Tentacular Spectacular Sit starts have been added to most of the upper section routes (1 to 10)l but as the rocks at the bottom get shifted about with storms fairly often they generally haven't been documented. It's a lovely secluded little spot that, like most of the climbing venues in Orkney, is just quite a nice place to spend some time even without the climbing.

Climbs

• 1. Seaweed Sauce — 3
• 2. Vulgata Fritata — 3
• 3. Patella Fella — 3
• 4. Eel Feeling Stand — 4
• 6. Conger Nattie — 3+
• 7. Cod Almighty — 4
• 10. Cuttlefish Crawl — 5
• 8. Lucid Breaming — 5+
• 9. Mussel man — 5+
• 14. Slinky Minke Blowey Whaley — 4
• 12. Butterfish Blues — 5
• 13. Butterfish Dub — 5
• 15. Winkle Picker — 5
• 16. Saithe It Aint So — 4+
• 17. But Can They Why — 4
• 18. Deep Sea Dangler — 4
• 11. Tidal Sidle — 5
• 5. Eel Feeling — 6A
• 19. Public Anemone Number One — 5
• 21. Keep Your Anemones Close — 5+
• 22. Keep Your Anemones Closer — 5+
• 24. Haar There and Everywhere — 6A
• 26. Seal the Deal — 5+
• 20. Rockpool safari — 6A
• 23. Tentacular Spectacular — 6A
• 25. Scourge of the Deep — 6A

Approach & access

Park above the EMEC site in in front of the fence. Head through the gate and then cut across the grass to your right, cross a small stream and then head down onto the rocky platform. Walk a 50m or so and you'll hit the top of the wall. Easiest descent is a short scramble at the inland end of the wall or you can walk further and loop round. Less than 5 minutes from car to the wall.