Introduction Milldown and the southern end of the Rhinns of Kells has a small amount of relatively accessible winter climbing. This page was compiled by John Biggar, a professional Mountaineering Instructor and member of the AMI, who lives locally and was involved in a most of the first ascents on Milldown. Contact me (details above) if you want to know more about climbing in Galloway. 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.
Access The climbs 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 This is a remote mountain cliff, but relatively small and not too serious. 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.
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, and another 200m
north or so is the parallel Better Gully, III **. Both of these can hold
quite large amounts of ice, invisible until you get to the bottom!
Myself leading high up in Better Gully, March 2007....and (below) Ian Brown
following the same pitch. Both these photos courtesy of James Kinnaird of
Dalbeattie.
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Some Photos © James Kinnaird 2007
