Broken Holds: Tourniquet & Kaizen

There have been a couple more hold breakages on well travelled crags in the South Lakes:

At Woodwell, a large hold has come off the base of Whats This For...! which whilst not really effecting the aformention problem may have some significance on Kaizen and Kaizen Lite.

At Kentmere, a sizeable chunk has come off the superb Tourniquet, dropping the grade from 8a/+ to around 7c+.

Both holds are intact and in safe hands. Hopefully they will be reattached at some point over the next month or so.

NEW CARROCK GUIDE: The new Carrock Fell guide will be out by the end of the month - 24 pages of gabbro magic. Some sample pages here: Carrock Fell 2012 - Sample Pages

NO Dogs, Walls, Restoration & Dry

NO DOGS: First up, remember the access to Woodwell O'ert Road is delicate, so please stick to the access rules:

1. Bouldering is only permitted on the 3 designated areas (signed).

2. Dogs are NOT allowed.

3. Climbers must not enter the field directly below the rock.

I am reenforcing this with everyone as I encountered some people with a loose dog there only last week.

DRYSTONE WALLS: With regards to the recent damage to the drystone wall surrounding Badger Rock; please could everyone make sure they use gates and stiles wherever possible, even if this does mean a slightly longer approach time. The repairs to the wall around Badger Rock are likely to cost in excess of £400, which will have to be paid for by the BMC. This is money that could have gone towards more worthwhile projects!

RESTORATION: I have improved a few landings at Carrock Fell and in particular the area around Beebop & Rocksteady (7C/V9), the superb high prow just up from Kits Boulder. I have removed three large branches from the adjacent sycamore, which should help keep the face clean and means the top out is no longer a bush whack. It has also opened a sit start (not done) to the high mossy prow to the right of B&R. I've also patioed out the landing to make it almost decent, bar the large block to the rear which still needs covering with a pad.

DRY: For all those keen on the South Lakes limestone pretty much everything is dry. The following crags are confirmed seep free: Woodwell, Trowbarrow, Fairy Steps and Farleton.

Carrock - Another 8A, Cleaned Lines & Broken Holds

Just a link to the latest news report, which describes some landing improvements (resulting in a new 8A), grade readjustments due to broken holds and cleaned up lines.

http://www.lakesbloc.com/news/340-metronome.html

Badger Rock Access

There has been an incident at Badger Rock (Kentmere) whereby a group of individuals were witnessed endeavouring to climb over the dry stone wall which surrounds the field in which the block sits.

Apparently one of the individuals was climbing over the wall when it completely gave way and badly damaged the boundary between the Garburn Pass and the farmer’s field. One can only surmise they were coming from Little Font and trying to avoid the massive (irony intended) 100m walk to the gate which accesses the field. Access to the boulder has always been a bit delicate and this could cause a problem with the landowner.

I have emailed the BMC access rep for Kentmere asking if he could pre-empt the situation and try to diffuse any possible problems. In the meantime I think it would be wise to stay clear of the boulder, at least until the BMC have had a chance to contact the landowner.

RIP Hold X

The infamous X-hold on the Bowderstone's Ladder Face has finally gone to a better place, after the years of strain finally caught up with it and it exploded whilst in foothold mode recently. This grip is best known as the 'off limits' handhold on the original eliminate sequence to Power Pinch, however it is also used on the popular Impropa RH and many of the links that cross this section of wall.

Local ‘Styan’ regular, Dan Turner, has been to the block since the demise of the hold and reports the following:

I repeated Impropa RH (via Power Pinch,) probably goes at hard V9/7c now. I also did all the moves to get you into the link ups (Lateral into Impropa, Lateral into Grand and TheLlink). Doubt it will change the grade but it will probably make them all fairly hard for the grade.

So in real terms, it sounds like Impropa RH is now defunct but other than that no major disruptions to other problems/links.

X-Hold Scar (Photo courtesy of Pete Wilkinson):

Seathwaite Guide Updated

I have updated the popular Seathwaite Circuit guide to include some of the more recent additions, most notably the Fox Force Five (7c) and Screwball Scramble (7a+) blocks. I have also tweaked the accuracy of the map to help with locating boulders/problems.

The updated guide is available to download via the Crag Page here:
http://lakesbloc.com/crags/south-west/227-seathwaite-circuit-duddon.html

New Guide, New Classic

Further to the recent report of the superb 'new' granite Tear Drop Boulder, in Eskdale, there have been further developments on the boulder. These have resulted in some new problems (including an amazing new 7m arete), a new topo-guide and 'crag page' for the block.

Find out more about this great new addition (offering a 15 problem circuit) to the Lakes District venue list via the following links:

Diamond Reign - News Report
Tear Drop Boulder - Crag Page