Out Fur a Walk: Black Rock Gulch Cove Aberdeen Abseiling 7/3/2010 Part 1,2 and 3

Black Rock Gulch Cove Aberdeen Abseiling 7/3/2010 Part 1

Black Rock Gulch from Google maps satellite image.

Directions to get to Black Rock Gulch, Cove, Aberdeen.
If you are in Aberdeen head for Altens Industrial estate.

If you're using a sat nav use the postcode below.

The Fishing Station
Burnbanks
Aberdeen, UK
AB12 3WN

If you are coming from the south of Aberdeen on the A90 turn off at the A956 fly over for the harbour, follow this road till you come to a big roundabout with Burger King on your left you should be in the outside lane.

1:-Take the fourth exit to Cove just follow this road till you see the sea in front of you and the road takes a left to follow the railway line, in about 1/4 of a mile you will come to Burnbank village just in the middle of it there is a car park on your left with a goal post like entrance which is quite narrow. You can park here or just along the road a bit on your right is a raised railway bridge where there is room to park a few cars. At the moment there is a big sign for Relaxatub and this is where you start.

Grid NJ 95971 02075, cross over the railway bridge and turn left on the coastal path there should be a house straight in front of you this is The Fishing Station or Relaxatub now. The path goes right along a fence and you skirt round a big inlet with a wire rope going down to the sea. This is where the fishermen used to winch up their catch to the cliff top. The path has been up graded a year or so ago as you get close to the sea the path turns north there is one narrow inlet which you pass and then head out on the rock to Black Rock Gulch. It can be difficult to find as the rock all looks similar but it's not far after you take the first bend.

2:- If you are coming from Aberdeen centre head along Market Street till the river Dee is in front of you then turn right along the esplanade and turn left at the next bridge, the Queen Elizabeth 2nd bridge. Go over the river Dee and then take the third exit at the roundabout, you will pass the prison on your left just keep going on that road till you get to the top of the big hill and a roundabout, go straight across following the duel carriageway. There is a Shell petrol station on your left just after the roundabout. When you get to the next roundabout take the second exit for Cove and follow the instruction above from 1:-

I was taught by Alan Crichton mountain guide to abseil here . There will be two Grahams in this story so I will refer to them as Graham S and Graham T but only one Brian. First trip with Alan Crichton and second trip here was with Graham T of the Aberdeen mountain rescue who at the time also worked at the same Institute on the outskirts of Aberdeen as I did. Graham T and myself also did a trip to Skye to climb Sgurr nan egg and Sgurr Dubh Mor which should be in another blog sometime later.

On my first trip with Alan Crichton he showed me all the gear and how to set up the slings to be as safe as possible. We did four different abseils at Blackrock round the Gulch and spent several hours there one evening which I found great fun going down a cliff face on a thin rope. I also climbed the face with Alan on the safety rope at the top of the cliff. Getting over the top I found to be the hardest bit but the 40 foot ish climb was quite easy. The Gulch has several climbing routes on it and is popular with climbers and people learning to abseil. I think you can get a pamphlet with the routes and grades on it but I am not sure where you would get it from.

On my second trip with Graham T was on the 16/2/2008, I had got an 11mm super dry climbing rope for my Christmas that year and was eager to try it out. I would collect my harness, ascender and slings over a period of time as altogether it came to quite a lot of money. Just about all I have came from Tiso's in Aberdeen and Inverness as the other shops don't seem to keep much climbing gear it's mostly walking and camping stuff they have.

Graham T was not a lover of abseiling but it would be good refresher for his mountain rescue work. Graham T took his own gear as I only had my rope and harness and a couple of slings at that time.

The gear we used, slings, carabiner, ascender, climbing helmet, prosic loop and an 11mm super dry climbing rope. On the third trip we also had a 9mm rope for a safety line. The slings you get now are very narrow and have a 22kn strength which is more than the carabeanas at 7kn or D links they are sometimes called.

Trip 2.

I picked Graham T up at his house in Aberdeen as he did not drive and we headed up to Cove on a chilly but dry February day. Graham set up the first abseil on the short pitch which is nearest you as you arrive using slings round a rock about 10foot back from the cliff edge. Double slings tied together for safety one high up and one low down adjusted to be the same length at the rope fixing point. We used a foam sitting mat at the edge where the rope went over to protect it against the sharp rocks. We used my rope on it's very first outing. I keep a rough record of how many times it has been used and it should be replaced after 10 year use. Graham went first down the rope we were just using the one rope doubled over on this occasion and a prosk loop.

Graham T using a prosac loop as a brake and the rope protected by the foam seat.

The first abseil is the shortest one here and they get bigger as you get nearer the sea.

It's about 30 foot down the first one to the floor.

Graham T descending on the first pitch. To get back up to the top there are two routes you can take if not climbing back up. Towards the back of the Gulch on the north side is a chimney which you can scramble up.

Chimney to scramble back up.

It can be a bit tricky in some places as the rock gets wet and slippery. The other route is quite a bit longer climbing up on the rear south side of the Gulch and round the grassy top back to the north side where we were abseiling.

We then moved towards the sea a bit and a bigger drop abseil. This one is much more tricky to set up the anchor point Graham T had brought wallnuts with him and had wedged them in to a crack in the rock. These are not the type you eat but climbing anchors for rock with a sling attached!

Wallnuts in different sizes.

A set of these will set you back about £75 in the U.K.

I once saw a guy who had set up his abseil on this pitch use a second rope with plastic guards on the corners right round the rock mass to provide his anchor here. This descent is a good bit bigger than the first one , about 40 feet down and into a puddle at the bottom. We did a few abseils down here and then moved onto the third pitch, the big one. There is a nice big rock about 10 foot back from the cliff edge you can get the slings round for your anchor. This one is about 50 foot and the most fun as you end up in the big puddle at the bottom. I did a climb up here with Graham T on the top belaying the rope. He said he had a job keeping up as I rattled up the rock face till I got near the top and the tricky bit. There is another way back up from here but it's not for the faint hearted. There is a narrow chimney towards the sea about a 60 foot climb, Graham T climbed up it with me standing at the bottom watching - not for me without a rope attached.

After a good afternoon abseiling and climbing I took Graham T home.

Part 2
That was the serious bit with information for you I am going back to my normal style of writing now. (Not serious)

As we were planning to bag the In Pinn which Brian and myself have now done I suggested to Brian and Graham S we could go abseiling. It will be Graham S from here on so I'll just call him Graham. Graham had been abseiling on a climbing wall and Brian was a climber in his younger days so he had done plenty abseils. I had spoken to Brian first about it and he was all for it. We both asked Graham if he wanted to go abseiling and at the time I think he thought we would be going abseiling on a climbing wall. I enlighten him as to our plan to go abseiling off the cliffs at Cove at Black Rock Gulch. Don't think he was 100% certain about jumping off a cliff but he would come along with us. We went on the 7th of March 2010. Now in the time between going there with Graham T and us going a new path had been constructed. The three of us walked along this path with me looking for the Gulch. With the old path it was just off a bend and easy to find, but could I find the bloody thing? We had walked way past it and came to a cave I had never see before, told the chaps we had missed it and I got a load of stick.

A cave too far.

We back tracked along the path a good bit me trying to spot where it was, and by good luck I saw a guy abseiling on it woo hoo found it. It all kind of looks the same along the rocks. Brian and I set up the slings for the short abseil and also a 9mm safety rope round the rocks as one of us would belay for extra safety. Graham had a wander about nervously looking at where we were about to go and also taking photos.

Think I went first down the rope a wee bit tricky getting over the edge and started but once you can get your feet planted you just walk down the wall.

Me starting down the abseil Brian on belay, Graham took this picture.