Introduction. Milldown and the southern end of the Rhinns of Kells has a small amount of relatively friendly and accessible winter climbing.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. For info on skiing the Rhinns of Kells see our Skiing in Galloway page.
Three areas are described on this page:-
Access The majority of the climbs (Milldown and Boxing Day Buttress) are on the east side of Milldown. Access is pretty long, but worthwhile. Quickest access is from the car-park at Forest Lodge, then various forestry roads as marked on the map to Loch Dungeon. It's best to come round the north side of Loch Dungeon then make your way up to the crag. See the current SMC guidebook for full details.
Dangers These are remote mountain cliffs. Winter climbing is however inherently dangerous. The rock protection on Boxing Day Buttress is not all that good, you may have to rely on a few warthogs or other turf protection.
Descents The easiest descent from all the routes is down the broad (snowy) gully just to the north of Boxing Day Buttress.
Galloway Hills Webcam
Rhinns of Kells Link to a webcam on the MWIS website looking at the southern end of the Rhinns of Kells.
Boxing Day Buttress
This area on Milldown is a small north facing buttress at an altitude of c.650m (GR. 514842). It lies on the south flank of the wide gully which runs down NE from the summit of Milldown. The climbing on this buttress is mostly on nice turfy rock, and the best conditions are a good freeze after a dusting of snow. There isn't always lots of protection but there is usually enough. Bring rock gear, wires and nuts are best. Due to its distance from the sea Milldown is probably more reliable as a climbing venue than any other crag in Galloway, with the possible exception of the Howe of the Cauldron on the Merrick.
The most obvious feature of this buttress is a very straight gully towards the right hand side, this is the line of Baby Gully I/II, 120m **, which gives a really nice climb at the grade after a good freeze, when it is full of ice and frozen moss. First recorded ascent J. Biggar, L. Biggar, 6th March 2005. The buttress left of this is climbed by Boxing Day Buttress III 4 *, 120m. Avoid the steepest section of the lower buttress by turfy grooves on the left (crux) then move slightly back R to climb the obvious vertical groove in the headwall on good turf. First ascent J. Biggar, L. Biggar, 6th March 2005 . Boxing Shorts II 3 *, 100m takes a ramp line on the left of this buttress to a huge perched boulder. The ramp goes leftwards here (easy finish) but a better finish goes directly up a wide turfy groove and the short headwall and narrow slot above. First recorded ascent 26th December 2004, J. Biggar and I. Livingston
Milldown Gullies
About 200m north of Boxing Day Buttress are two more worthwhile climbs. The gully running up from the wall is Biggar Gully III, with left and right hand finishes. Another 200m north or so is the parallel Better Gully, III **. Both of these can hold quite large amounts of ice, almost entirely invisible until you get to the bottom!
Full winter conditions on Milldown, February 2009 - photo courtesy of Ian Brown.
Jonathan Grubb Climbing Biggar Gully, February 2009.
Myself leading high up in Better Gully, March 2007....courtesy of James Kinnaird of Kinnaird's Supermarket in Dalbeattie.
Polmaddy Crag
Some new lines at grade II and III were put up in the excellent winter of 2010
by Cam Wheeler. here is a photo he took of the conditions. Thanks Cam.
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Some Photos © James Kinnaird 2007
