York Alpine Club Blog

Given the forecast was for more hot weather and it had been dry for weeks we decided to hit Raven’s Scar for a bit of north facing action. There were four of us: Simon, Paul G, Paul D and Adam, a new member. The weather was perfect, hot but enough breeze to keep the midges at bay, even when they came out at sunset. The evening was a round of the classics, Airlift, Forest Fact, Harlots Grove, Waterslide (not as bad as it looks apparently), Ahab and Grooves-ology. The rock was in good nick, dry and the dirty bits brushed away easily. There was talk of the pub but it being 10:40 when we got back to the car put a stop to that suggestion. Never mind we managed a last route instead.

Herding cats must be easier than sorting out a venue sometimes. Eventually, on the hottest day of the year (31 C in places) we headed for a south facing full in the sun crag with black rocks!

Wharncliffe is a long but easy drive and one we usually visit around this time to get the most of the daylight. No change there, arriving at about 6.30 we climbed until nearly 10.

I climbed with Jamie, Mike with Peri and Dave D and Tall Paul, all getting a few routes in when not being roasted by the radiation.

I did a new to me Putrell route Imaginary Boulder give HS 4c – which i fell off twice with hands sliming off really good holds! Started from the ground and did it but felt so hard. In contrast, Jamie and I did Railway Wall which we both felt to be great fun and soft with loads of cams, forget wires, probably just VS 4b. Jamie then led Great buttress in golden light and slightly cooler condition adding as many traverses as he could manage.

It was popular with Leeds MC there and a few other. Great fun but jeeeze it was hot.

Mike and I headed to Crookrise (via the A59 diversion) on what turned out to be a glorious day, Jamie joined us after a leisurely breakfast or two. Free parking, easy approach and a huge collection of quality routes on a new crag for Mike had made the decision.

We played on the initial slab before meandering along, alternates leads and a few solos and admiring the views. By about 4 or 5 it felt like a solar oven and was quite draining. We left about 6 after a marked slow down.

Mike and I headed back via the northern route (past Brimham) which may be a tad longer but was pretty and we kept moving.

Mike met Jamie and I at Whitestone Cliff after work -and he picked up a speeding ticket 🙁

As usual, we were alone and the nettles had not started in anger nor the midges. The sun was warm but the trees kept it cool at the base.

Mike smashed out Countdown Direct (HVS 5a) a couple of tricky moves with good gear (threads) but steep and pumpy on good rock. That wall does have the best rock at the crag and the routes are all good.

We then had a look at a couple of cracks, not having a guidebook we sent Jamie up the first just to the right of the descent gully (looking at the crag). Turned out to be another good route on good rock (once past the first 6ft) with excellent gear. No sun though and wouldn't want to get midged here. The route was Domino VS 4c, no stars, but I'd suggest * at least.

We sensibly called it a day after that, we could maybe have squeezed another in but the sun was falling and we'd had a great time.

After a quick email exchange with Dave W a plan was hatched to have a look at Eagle Front in the Lakes, a three star VS on Eagle Crag.

After some last minute shenanigans five of us headed of early for the lakes, myself, Dave W, Russ, Danny and Jamie, blue skies and sunshine awaited.

The crag faces North but with the recent good weather we were hoping the route would be dry, it was. Good climbing quite delicate with not to many good hand holds and a few mossy ramps and corners means you wouldn’t want to be on this one if it was wet.
Russ and Danny headed off first as a pair, while myself, Jamie and Dave climbed as a three and tried to keep up.

Jamie led a good second pitch which felt balancy and insecure to me, I did the middle pitches and Dave the final two including the classic corner pitch which looked impressive not much gear, unless you’ve packed a number six cam! Most of the climbing was in the shade unfortunately but we emerged back out into the sunshine as we topped out to amazing views.

We strolled back to the car in the evening sun and enjoyed ice cream by the beck before the drive back to York.

Great day and a good route might try a south facing climb next time though!

Rob and I headed across to the Lakes to stay at grange, the weather forecast was good (for Saturday at least). The plan was to try some of the other crags in Borrowdale (i.e. not Shepards) and tick off some routes on the 25 best VS/HVS in Borrowdale list. We opted for some stared routes on Lower Falcon Crag. The crag is a short walk from the parking (10 minutes to the base of the routes, maximum) but there is a lot of brambles to be aware. The weather was great, it could have been (and probably was) the summer. We started on Spinup (VS 4c) and Jamie joined us as we finished the first pitch. The whole route is excellent but pitch two has a particularly nice traverse with some interesting down climbing to access it. Due to a bird restriction the descent is by abseil form the centre of the crag, its free hanging in places so don’t forget the prussic and passes Illusion and Usurper, so plenty of opportunity to inspect the harder routes.

Is that a new tick? No, I think you have to finish the route first Rob.

Next was Hedera Grooves (VS 4b, although I’m not sure it was easier than Spinup), well worth the two stars with nice two dimensional climbing before the traverse on pitch one and challenging start of pitch two through a holly bush. Last route of the day was Illusion (HVS 5a), the crux of which is accessing the 15(ish)m traverse using a large hanging flake, which some of us foot traversed and others hand traversed (interesting choice when trying to get the gear back). The gear is good but spaced, and the climbing technical in a few places. The guidebook mentions this being a loose crag, there were a few loose holds but given this was early in the year after a cold winter its to be expected. Be aware there were quite a few ticks found after we returned home.

Next day was a bit pish so we headed home via Bramcrag Quarry to check out future options. The place is heaving with bolted routes at all grades. It will be well worth a visit on a nicer day.

Having given it a sufficiently long time for the memories of previous visits to Crookrise to fade a few of us headed there (Russ, Carmen, Simon, Peri, Jamie and Paul) to try out luck with an average weather forecast. As it turned out the weather was glorious, warm with lovely blue skies. The routes turned out to be tougher and bolder than remembered, with plenty of them offering little gear until half-height.

But undeterred we had a go on end slab. the sole, walkers wall, slab and nose, arsenic slab (most of the routes including some top roping on a blank HVS Old Lace) and cats whiskers (to name a few). A great mix of routes from steep lay backing to easy angled slabs punctuated by cries of “there’s no way this is 4c”, which to be fair was probably true. Another great day out on grit. Simon has posted some pictures on facebook.