 Yorkshire Scene -
Apring 2008
The new routing year got off to a slow start thanks to fairly miserable
winter weather nevertheless developments got underway fairly quickly at
the more sheltered venues of Panorama crag, Giggleswick North and
Troller's Gill. Things were a bit slower to develop on the grit but when
things did start to happen it was, perhaps quite surprisingly, on an
outlying buttress at Guisecliffe and the esoteric and north facing Air
Scar near Burnsall.
John Hunt and Tim Fryer got things started at Air Scar with an E2 and
E3 which they claim now make the trek through the bracken worth the
effort. They then turned their attention to Crocodile Crag, discovered in
1999 by Tony Barley but only recently 'released' to a wider audience.
John, Tim and I under the watchful eye and direction of Mr B himself added
3 routes including an excellent E3 rib and over the next few weeks the Tim
and John added several more boulder problems and micro-routes. Our visit
was quite timely as Nigel Poustie and Paul Clough had also been sniffing
around on a raid from the nearby Nought Bank Boulders which are proving
ever more popular thanks to wider coverage on www.yorkshiregrit.com
Other grit tit-bits were added at Ilkley where Jonny Briggs added 2
more variants to the Sylveste wall of No 5 buttress and a variation finish
to Kestrel which looks quite interesting for its grade at E2. Pride of
place here however goes to Sean Jacobs for his 2nd E5, Turboprop which
climbs boldly up the wall left of Old Crack. Finally, the first new routes
since the guide came out have been added to Darby Delph by David Boekstyns
and Gordon Mason but the quarry is now bird-banned until mid July so
you'll just have to be patient before rushing over to try these little
gems!
On the Limestone Panorama crag has quite amazingly spawned 27 routes so
far with suggestions that the total may well top 30 once Bob Larkin has
finished cleaning the one remaining big gap which is still rather loose.
This is now a great little venue if bolted routes of 6 to 10 metres are
your thing. The grade range is well spread between F5+ and F7a with
several of the harder routes providing butch starts ideal for power
training but not so good for improving your stamina. A new topo is
available on the downloads page. Paul Clarke, Nigel Baker and Keith Morgan
are the main culprits here.
The same team have been busy at Troller's Gill where Nigel has squeezed
2 excellent F6c's on to the bookends wall and Paul Clarke has created a
30m traversing extravaganza across the left side of the main wall which is
actually rather good at F7a+. Also excellent is a more direct bolted
version of Angelic Upstart which now goes at F7a and makes excellent use
of the upper left arete. I squeezed another line of bolts in to the
compact upper wall on the right of Brute Direct to provide a good easier
line but one with several possible micro variants for the true
connoisseur.
Over at Giggleswick North Mick Johnson, Dick Tong and Bob Larkin have
rejuvenated the long neglected Woodcutter's buttress with 9 sport routes
in the F5 to F6b+ range. Names have been slow in coming but they should be
added to the database fairly soon. On the same crag Neil McCallum has
re-equipped Mainlining which now gives a worthwhile F7b+.
Development at Foredale started late because of the weather but then
stalled for a while because the farmer got upset about a group of campers
in the quarry. The situation has now been resolved but relationships are
still delicate here. Please follow any on site signage being prepared and
placed by the BMC and remember - No Dogs, No Fires, No parking other than
the big area on the bend between the working quarry and the farm, and
above all No camping! Two quality easy routes have since been added by Bob
Larkin and a 30m 3 star 6c+ on the main wall by Gil Peel. Paul Clarke has
also contrived a 7a left to right traverse across the Hidden Walls which
has proved to be a bit of a test to the few have tried subsequent repeats.
On the trad limestone front Will Kelsall and Ali Kennedy have added a
rare E4 to the left wing at Malham Cove and Karl Lunt and Tom Phillips
have climbed 6 lines on a totally new venue near Tow Scar north of
Ingleton. One of the lines, the hardest of the bunch sports two bolts for
protection at 6c+/7a though a trad belay is still required on top. Is Karl
Lunt being converted to the dark-side at last?
Bird restrictions are still in place at Langcliffe, Blue Scar; on the
Caveat Wall at Malham and certain areas of Gordale due to nesting
Peregrines but the restriction due to Ravens at High Stony Bank has now
been lifted as the young birds have now fledged.
Dave Musgrove May 2008.
STOP PRESS - Brunthwaite Crag
This crag is on private land (not subject to CRoW). The owner of the
land has requested that people do not climb there. The BMC Area Access
Officer is aware of the situation and is negotiating with the owner to try
and restore access. For now we have removed the topo from our downloads
section at the request of the author. Please check back for more news.
To see previous editions of routes news click here
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