UKC

Climbs 22
Rocktype Andesite
Altitude 260m a.s.l
Faces SW

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Graham on Mental Crack VS4b © Yourlead

Crag features

Lies on the SW face of Black Hill overlooking Dunsinane Hill in the Sidlaws.

Approach notes

The locals would prefer parking in the usual parking for Dunsinane Hill, Black Hill and King's Seat. NO2071 3211, https://w3w.co/tribes.tunes.envoy. It's a 15m walk up the hill taking a left-hand-fork either when the trees on your left stops at https://w3w.co/shuttled.cage.sleepless, or when you see the quarry fencing on your right at https://w3w.co/punctured.mimed.empty, which takes you through the bealach between Black Hill and Dunsinane.

The small cutting on B953 at grid NO223317 was filled with boulders indicating the locals do not like parking here. Alternately there is a layby (also with some boulders) at NO211310, or even on the verge of the B953 at NO218313 near a field gate but away from the house entrance on the south side of the road. The gate now (2021) has a sign stating 'no access to hill' also indicative of an unfortumate dislike of recreational use of the hill.

Parking and access from Collace is common, normal and accepted, as hill walkers and runners regularly park at the gate SE of collace (56.468853, -3.268226) as mentioned above, so it's seen as 'the' place to park locally for access to these hills from the south-west.

Update this Crag
Last updated on 02/Apr/2024

No Access Issues

Please don't litter.

Just accept you will be prickled by gorse. secateurs not a bad idea. Rock is also quite brittle. Still worth a visit though, really nice situation and a sun trap.
malcolm.harris - 08/Apr/23
second time at the crag and probably my last. too loose and far to much lichen, the gorse is unreal also. no wonder it's so quiet there.
Hawky - 29/Sep/15
parking is through Collace and on an uphill corner, not much space and a fair walk to the crag. We parked further up the road beside a house with the crag in full view, arrived back to a letter on windscreen, a nice letter saying not to park here and park outside Collace. The crag is nice except the gorse bushed everywhere, need alot more traffic. loads of potential new routes.
Hawky - 20/Sep/15
plenty new lines here to be done, we tried today, see if you can find my #7 gold dmm offset, thought we were on mental crack but apparently not. leader had to bail.
Hawky - 19/Sep/15
. The best place to park which also provides easier access anyway is minor road a bit further west going north west from the B953 to Collace. You can park on the wide grass verge near a gate at grid NO211312. Go through the gate and skirt the field, and cross the gate at its north east corner. Contour above the cottage and a go through a swing style taking you to the pass between Dunsinane and Black Hills. The crag is split into two halves of the west side of Black Hill. As far as I can ascertain this is the order of the climbs starting at the far left or north. Pinnacle Corner, Pinnacle Face, MC Corner, Mental Crack, Gorse Ridge, Gorse Buttress, No Root Wall, Tree Route, Tales of the Unexpected, Abernyte Corner, Windy Gap Groove and Brittle Rock Way. Lovely venue. Short climbs. A lot of lichen to be wary of. Possibility of adding more routes on the southern half.
alistairmontgomery - 05/Sep/13
Just wondering where I can find the decriptions for these new climbs as they are not in the book. Can anyone help.
hepy - 21/Jul/13
The "small cutting on B953 at grid NO223317" is no longer usable (unless I've got the wrong one). Went to climb here on Monday 01/04/2013 and it's had very large boulders placed along the permimeter in an obvious attempt to stop people using it as parking. There is no clear parking for access to this crag.
subflux - 02/Apr/13
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