…and is less green than the other crags hereabouts.
So says Western Grit about Dovestones Edge in the Chew Valley, west of Holmfirth. And thus an intrepid band of 4 (David, Peri, Carmen, and me) set off, after a night of torrential rain, in search of the forecast dry weather near Manchester. Yes, that's right, dry weather near Manchester.
The rain started just as we arrived at the car park, but after sitting in the car for 10 minutes it died down so we started the stroll up to the crag. A relaxing 30 minute yomp straight uphill (or so it seemed) led to the crag, where we headed for our intended first route of the day – Answer Crack, the best VDiff in the Peak. It took a bit of searching, but eventually we found it, hidden under a thick layer of dripping green slime.
Moving swiftly on, we opted instead for a drier-looking area to the left, where I chose Swan Crack (HVD) while David went for Central Tower (VD). Both looked straightforward from the ground, but turned out to involve tenuous smearing and jamming up slippery wet lichen, followed by a descent down a small stream that was nearly as traumatic.
Sensing that the better part of valour was in fact cowardice, we decided to run away in search of drier things – specifically, Rob's Rocks, a couple of miles away across the moors, which had the advantage of being south facing and hence, hopefully, cleaner. After a couple of false turns we found the crag and scrambled to the bottom – I went down the normal descent, while the others found a variety of green dirty alternatives, with Peri winning the gold medal for filthiest pair of trousers.
Once again, the rain arrived shortly after we did, but this time it was light and short-lived, and there was no further excuse not to climb (other than the usual general incompetence of course). Rob's Rocks is the beginners' crag par excellence– hardly anything above VS, with the majority of the 15 or so routes in the Diff-VDiff range.
Highlights of the rest of the day included Dave taking a fall from Nameless One (VS 4b), but struggling manfully on for a while before wimping out pathetically and making way for Peri to wimp out as well. I still remembered the route from my previous visit when I led it, and so bravely didn't even bother trying – once bitten and all that. Carmen hid round the corner.
Peri had an extended faff on Snow Crack (Severe) – only 6 metres, but a bit of a fight, and with a choice of bold laybacking or safer arm-barring. Later on I led the same route, with just as much of a fight, and an even longer faff. The art of the sandbag is not dead! Meanwhile, Carmen led all sorts of things, the best probably being Ylnosd Rib (VDiff), perhaps wisely choosing the cop-out right hand start instead of the normal squirm up a stupidly narrow chimney.
Most amusing route of the day though was Cave Crack (HS 4c), which climbs out of the back of the eponymous cave, and involved various gymnastics to get started, with weird back-and-head moves to gain the upper crack. Great fun, but for some reason Carmen declined to follow…
We eventually left the crag at about 8, a surprisingly long day given that we almost gave in and drove home after a single slimy route. Occasionally blind optimism gives results!
More photos can be found here.