Traprian Law is located 7km to the East of Haddington in East Lothian. The main climbing area is found on the south east side of the law and comprises 3 main walls; Overhang Wall, Lammer Wall and Hexagon Wall. The rock type is trachyte. The routes tend to be slabby and are concentrated in the lower grades (D-VS). These factors combined with a pleasant outlook and easy access from Edinburgh have made Traprain Law a popular climbing destination, which has consequently meant polish on many of the starred routes. Some routes have also been recorded in the disused road metal quarry on the north east side of the law.

Guidebooks & Topos

Traprain Law is documented in the SMC guide 'Lowland Outcrops'.

You can download some photo topos for Traprain Law from the Edinburgh JMCS Website

Overhang Wall

Overhang Wall is the lefthand wall. The most prominent feature is the Great Corner which runs up the center of the crag.

Flake 1 6m S

Flake 2 6m Diff

The Right Edge 6m VS 4c

Steptoe 15m S

Moss Grove 15m VDiff'

The Shield 15m HVS 4c *

Down My Street 15m E1 5b

Flake Wall 15m Diff

Flake 3 6m Diff

Flake 4 5m S

Torque 15m HVS 5a *

Swingin' 15m VS 5a

Left Edge 20m S **

Via MacNiven 20m VS 5a *

Wobble 20m VS 5a *
J Marshall

Piglet 20m HVS 5b **
J Marshall

Burp 20m HVS 5a *
R Smith

The Chute 20m E1 5b *
R Smith
Start up the corner left of Great Corner and follow it up to the overhang. At this point step left onto a very polished block and pull over the lip onto the slab above.

Great Corner 20m S **
Direct start HS.

Sabre Cut 20m VS 5a *

Staircase 20m VDiff
Start up thin but obvious crack, follow until you reach ledge, traverse left and with an airy step round finish up the Great Corner.

Slab and Tickle 20m S *

Fake Route 15m S *

Cat's Paw 15m HVS 5b

Falseface 15m S

Deception 15m VDiff *

Wheech's Overhang 5m VS 5a

The Western Girdle 60m VS *

Ripple Rib 15m S

Via Dolorosa 15m HS

Lammer Wall

It's usual to make the descent by abseil from a block on the left of the wall - there is sometimes abseil tat insitue.

Retard Arete 12m VS 5a

The Direttissima 12m VS 4c

Tiger Wall 12m HVS 5b *

The Vertical Ladder 15m VDiff *
The wide gully up the left of the wall. Big moves between big stances. Seems to be a popular climb to send novices up, not sure why cos its nasty. You can take the finish direct, or traverse left just before the top.

Double Stretch 15m S *

The M. S. Route 15m HS **

Pinch 15m HS *

Brute 15m S

Pedestrian 15m HS

Spider Route 1 15m S

Spider Route 2 12m S

Shuffle 12m VDiff

Floggle-Toggle 7m VDiff
Short route that goes straight up the right hand side of the wall to a large box. (the SMC guide says to a gorse bush, but it's dead now).

Parabola 35m S

Queue Corner 12m S *

Turf Trundle 25m VS 4b

Hexagon Wall

Insitu Tat on Hexagon Wall There should be a maillion and some slings here. The mallion was placed here in Summer 2005. This was placed as the descents to the right and left of hexagon wall were becoming dangerous due to the damage and subsequent erosion that was caused by an extensive peat fire here [1]. Please don't pinch it!

Hexagon Wall 25m VDiff *

Dangle 20m HVS 5a

Sod Dangling 20m HS *
Fraser Hughes - May 2006
Start up Dangle, but trend right following the slab to it top, where it becomes simple to pass the overlap. Trend leftwards towards a tread belay (insitu tat). Abseil descent.

Tipp 10m E2 6a
J Andrew

Beatle Crack 10m E1 5c *
M Hamilton

Hanging Crack 10m HVS 5a

Utang 8m VDiff

Pip's Pillar VS 4b

Traprain Law Quarry

On the North side on Traprain Law is a north-facing dis-used quarry with some routes in the new Lowland Outcrops guidebook. This quarry is very loose and unstable, and quoting Fran Sheridan who climbed the second ascent of the routes: "It's a bag of sh**e - I'd never climb there again and the routes deserve minus three stars."

It's loose, horrible and the whole thing looks like it's going to fall on your head.