The awe-inspiring Hayfork Wall of An Teallach. Haystack (VI,7) climbs the chimney in the centre and breaks left to finish. The Wailing Wall (IX,9) runs up the left side of the smooth wall to its right. (Photo Martin Moran)
Martin Moran and Murdo Jamieson climbed an exceptional new route on An Teallach on December 23 . Martin told me afterwards that this route “is definitely one of the best I’ve done.”
The Wailing Wall (IX,9) takes the left-hand side of the upper Hayfork wall which presents a superb fissured face 70 metres high on the left side of the classic Hayfork Gully in A’Ghlas Thuill. “The Hayfork wall is potentially one of the finest mixed climbing venues in the country,” Martin explained. “With a high altitude (900-970m) the wall gathers snow readily and is often in condition.” The 90m-long route climbs the slim corner-crack right of the modern classic Haystack (VI,7 and first climbed by Andy Nisbet and Dave McGimpsey in January 2000), before taking an unlikely line up the wall above.
Climbed on-sight, The Wailing Wall stands as one of the most challenging winter routes in the country. “The grade is a bit tentative because the route is quite short,” Martin told me. “But it certainly felt ‘a step beyond’ on the on-sight lead and is quite a bit harder than The Secret.”
