News The Peach, most of The Prune and Corwar Wall were all climbed and cleaned of moss and pine needles in September 2011, hopefully we'll get back and tidy up some of the other routes soon. News
Introduction Corwar is a nice wee crag of excellent granite in western Kirkcudbrightshire and the closest rock-climbing venue to Newton Stewart. This page was compiled by John Biggar, a professional Mountaineering Instructor and member of the AMI, who lives in SW Scotland. Contact me if you want to know more about climbing in Galloway or want to learn how to climb or abseil. This page was compiled with care, but it is not guaranteed error free.
Access To get here follow the A712 east from Newton Stewart for about 10km to a signpost on the right for "Corwar and Dallash". Turn off right here onto a forestry road, then left at the bottom of the hill, then left again at a fork just before a bridge. The crag is just a few minutes along this road on the left and very obvious. It will take about 20 minutes to walk the forestry roads if you follow this description. You can also cut more directly though the trees from the A712 to the top of the crag in just 5 minutes, but the crag will be hard to find this way - it isn't marked on the map.
Descent From all routes descend steeply to the right (facing out from the crag) or abseil off the trees.
Guidebook Included on this page are a few of the best routes at the crag. I have climbed everything at Corwar except the E4, indeed I was involved in the first ascent of all the routes described here. For a definitive list of all the climbs in this part of Scotland see the SMC published Lowland Outcrops guidebook.
Dangers This is a friendly wee crag with impeccable solid rock. On one or two of the routes protection can be a little bit hard to find, plenty of small to medium cams are recommended. The routes were all first climbed in about 1999 when the crag was discovered. Despite the superb rock quality Corwar is still a quiet venue and routes may need brushed clear of pine needles and moss before climbing them. The midges can be a killer in summer, especially after 4-5pm when the crag loses the sun!
Pictured above, myself on the crux moves of The Peach HVS/E1 5a, an excellent direct line, only HVS if you have the reach to clip the in-situ peg from the last "big" ledge (like me!). Pictured below is the other main developer and cleaner at Corwar, Stephen Reid under the overlap on the excellent Corwar Wall.
