Robbie Phillips adds Away with the Faeries (E9 6c) on Skye
- Wednesday 16th April 2025
After a winter imbibed with injuries and frustrations Robbie Phillips has bust out with a new E9 on Skye.
Keen to find out more about his early season success, Climber have been in touch with Robbie for the low-down…
When did you first “discover” Away with the Faeries?
I first came across it whilst on a walk along the ridge. I had been told to check out Carn Liath by Doug Sutton, a local who suspected I’d find something interesting. He wasn’t wrong! The first day there was wet, so I just looked at the crag and hopped about the massive boulder field with Bonnie (my dog), looking for potential boulders. I walked down to the crag via the west ridge and could see the line on the crag straight away! I was sure that if something went up the big turtle-shell feature, it would be wild!
I returned some months later and abseiled in, cleaned the line and found that the movement went naturally up the prow of the turtle-shell… absolutely perfect!
What was it that appealed to you about Away with the Faeries, and was it immediately obvious how hard it was likely to be and the quality?
When looking for new routes, I think I’m a bit of a snob. I look for the best lines in beautiful locations! The line on Carn Liath went straight up a feature that I wanted to climb – a huge turtleshell-like prow. It’s not obvious from beneath the crag, but when you get side on to it up the ridge on the western side of the crag, you see it! It’s steep too! The rock seems to form with these scales that make great side pulls and slopers, with generally pretty poor feet in the more sustained sections of the climb. The views are also just stunning! To the east you overlook Rassay and Rona, whilst to the North is the famous Quiraing – in the evening as the sun begins to set, the landscape becomes more lucid and dream-like, colours more vibrant, and the North Western aspect of the crag which the climb goes up becomes basked in golden hour sunlight.
As for the climbing, I was really chuffed when the movement turned out to be really interesting too. It’s basically a 25m E1 to get to a cluster of gear, then a 20m runout to the next gear! Luckily, it’s only 10m of hard climbing – a powerful and quite reachy V7 (Font 7A+) with a jug rest in the steepness and then a sustained 8m section of technical French 7c/+? The climbing was very complex, it took me a session to figure out how to do the bit after the boulder. This isn’t usually the case for me on something of this level, but kinda like grit or granite, when you know how to move on it, it feels easy, but when you climb it wrong, it's desperate!
You’ve been wrestling with an elbow, a wrist and an ankle injury over the winter, so recent rehab must have finally turned the corner to allow you to get stuck into Away with the Faeries?
Yeah, last November I thought I had really done myself in. I had ongoing golfer's elbow, a TFCC injury that was horrendous (I was reading horror stories from climbers who’ve dealt with it for years!) I switched to slabs and had a great run of doing some hard, bold stuff in Northumberland, then I fell off a slab boulder and did my ankle in, haha!
But I must say I had some great advice from physios, and I think I cracked (no pun intended) the whole injury thing. My approach was simple… I kept climbing at a level that didn’t aggravate the injury much, I was able to train around it, and whilst doing this, I diligently did my rehab. I found that it was important to have exercises that hurt the affected area so I could keep tabs on the pain level. By doing this daily and continuing to challenge the weak area with the rehab, I could visibly track my progress, and with the support of physios, continued to adapt the rehab training until the injury got better. There was a point when I really needed to challenge the injury, and I think this might be where a lot of folk go wrong, i.e. not pushing it hard enough when they reach that stage. There was literally a period of a week where I went from having pretty sharp pain in an undercut position to barely any at all!
It seems common sense to write it down like this, but something that was important to me wasn’t just getting better so I could climb again, but coming back stronger than before! I have spoken to so many climbers this winter who’ve been injured with TFCC, ankle sprains, elbows, fingers, etc… and when I ask them about how their dealing with it, it’s quite shocking that many just accept continued pain as the norm and essentially just get to a point where they can climb to a level they are happy with, and then tape up or avoid the climbs that cause any pain. Of course, it’s a sliding scale of injury severity, but I would implore all climbers to really do their due diligence when dealing with injuries and rehabbing. I’d always consult a physio and don’t stop working on it until the thing is 100% gone! With a good physio, they’ll be able to help you decide when to increase intensity, which was key for me.
As for the climb, I was concerned that the golfer's elbow would stop me in the crux lock off (as it had been an issue when I started working it), the TFCC as well and the ankle for the rock over in the crux… but they were all perfectly fine and I never noticed any pain at all!
How many days has it taken you, and how important has the recent good weather been to getting on Away with the Faeries, what must be so early in the season?
In total, I think I had maybe five days up there in 2024. My first day finding the crag, then a day cleaning and working out the line, then two or three days working it before I called it quits for the year. I had been struggling with the lower crux (V7) – although it doesn’t sound crazy hard, it’s quite serious with a high risk of landing on a ledge, and with a long reach that I was doing maybe one out of every five attempts… I just wasn’t ready to lead it.
This year my plan had been to have a trip to Skye early in the season to get re-acquainted with the route, then to come back, train a bit, then go back and hopefully have a go at doing it. With the incredible weather, that was my window to get acquainted… but after my first day, I realised I was in great shape for it. I didn’t fall off the crux once and I linked the whole thing three times. I had a second day on it, and after that I called my buddy Ryan Balharry (photographer) to see if he could make it over the next day – nothing like getting the cameraman booked to seal the deal, you gotta lead it now!
I left it fairly late in the day to allow Ryan to get set up, and I inadvertently added an element of difficulty. When I started climbing, the sun was already creeping onto the crux, something which I thought would be OK, but as there was less wind the previous days, it felt warmer.
I stood on the ledge, ready to commit to the crux and pull on some small crimps. A little voice in my head started to ask, “Is this right? Are you ready?” The answer was unequivocally “Yes”, and I knew then, there was nothing left to do but climb it. I knew the risk was mainly in the lower crux… we’d done a bag drop from the top of the F7c+ section and it missed the ledge easily and came nowhere near the ground, but it was a monster 20m fall! So I started to climb…
As with a lot of headpoints on bold climbs, you just kinda go into a trance… It’s probably best to do so, otherwise, you’ll think too much and probably mess it up. I got through the first crux – the crimps felt a bit greasy, but I’d made it! The rest was nice and cool, then I committed to the final 8m of sustained climbing… It went by like a dream. Just one move after another, then at the top of the runout, a lunge for a positive crimp that’s a little goey! Only a few more moves… swap feet, step up, heel, left hand sloper, high right foot, sidepull, reach, JUG!
I pulled up onto the ledge and stood there with 10m of rope dangling between me and the gear. Looking up, the sun was blasting across the face, and I knew this was my victory lap! Glorious 6a face climbing up the exposed wall and an extra 10m of runout to get to the next bit of gear… this was free soloing, but I made the most of it and enjoyed myself.
Where do you think Away with the Faeries stands amongst the hard climbing in Scotland, both in terms of difficulty and quality?
In terms of difficulty, I’d say it’s a bold E9. I compared it a bit to Dave’s Mnemosyne on Titan’s Wall on Ben Nevis. I pretty much flashed Mnemosyne on a top rope (my fingers numbed at the top), and I remember Dave saying at the time he thought it might be F7c+/8a. Away with the Faeries is definitely harder climbing, but Mnemosyne has trickier gear placements. I’d say mine is bold, but thankfully not a death route.
In terms of quality, well, getting to climb those moves up such a wild and exposed feature on such a magnificent crag as Carn Liath feels pretty special! I’m also really glad it went down as one monster 55m pitch – so I’d say it's quality for sure!
Are there other routes to develop nearby, and if so, are you interested in getting them done as well?
On Carn Liath there is a lot to be done! It’ll take a certain kind of climber to take on the task as the wall is big and complex and requires a bit of ropework and swinging around to find your way on it, but for sure, there is more to do, and it’ll probably all be very bold! Going ground up on the harder stuff would be pretty insane… it also needs a wee clean.
The boulder field beneath has sweeps of potential for the adventurous boulderer. Most of the development has come from the Sutton brothers as well as a few non-locals showing up and adding a few lines, but whilst we were there we put up a selection of new problems on completely new boulders (from Font 6C-7C) and in my opinion they might be the best of the bunch, which just goes to show there is loads to be done!
Looking up at the crag and down into the boulder field, the thing I keep thinking is: “If this was in the Peak/Lakes/north Wales, how many lines would have been done?” Carn Liath would probably be highly regarded and packed with classics. But being up here, the existing routes see next to no traffic and eventually fall into relative obscurity. Maybe this will change in future… but probably not!