| Description: |
'Garth' is one of Scotland's most talented winter climbers. As well as repeating many of the hardest lines such as Citadel(VII,7), The Vicar in `96 (VIII,8) and Neanderthal(VIII,7), he has added many of his own outstanding test pieces, including; the ground breaking line of Logical Progression, Scotland's first technical grade (XI,10), on Ben Vorlich; Fear of a Flat Planet (VII,8) on the Buachaille - a brilliant, direct line on a classic crag, and the "glaringly obvious line" of Punsters Crack (VII,8) on the Cobbler. Both Punsters and Logical Progression created much controversy - the former as it is a superb Severe in summer, and the latter because it was the first time a winter climb in Britain had been climbed 'sport-style' - pre placed protection, top-roped and then red pointed.
There is however more to Garth than his winter climbing. His summer new routing exploits include developments on Mull, Iona and the Ben Vorlich crags, where he has added numerous excellent climbs including two powerful E6's. He has on-sighted up to E6 on traditional routes and flashed 7b+ sport climbs. In more recent years, Garth has played greater emphasis on getting stronger, through strength training and bouldering. Achievements that stand out include a one day ascent of The Nose in Yosemite, and an on-sight of Souls (E6) at Huntsmans Leap in Pembroke. For Garth, fun and success are the motivating factors - succeeding on climbs he's thought about, prepared for & dreamt of. |
