South Lakes Conditions

Despite the wet weather, early last week, the last few dry days have meant that many of the South Lakes limestone crags are in reasonable nick.

Fairy Steps - pretty dry with odd seepage line.

Trowbarrow - mostly fine, with the odd seepage line but nothing to affect any climbs majorly.

Warton - almost entirely dry, with the exception of some crack lines.

Woodwell - the worst crag in terms of seepage, some of the Central Sector is ok.

The weather for this week looks poor so get out while you can...

New Woodwell Guide

As promised I have completed the first of this years planned new guides - Woodwell. I'm pretty pleased with how it has turned out, and I hope you find it useful. There are plenty of 'new' additions when compared with the old guide, and there should be enough to keep all but mutants and hardcore regulars going for a few years.

If you notice any glaring cock ups or suspected accidental omissions then let me know here, or via the email address on the home page of the site.

It's quite a large file (13.92mb), but I decided I'd put too much effort in to it, to then offer a poorer print quality, lower resolution version. So here is the undiluted original in all its glory...

http://lakesbloc.com/crags/south-lakes-limestone/233-woodwell.html
(via the 'PDF Guide' link at the base of this page)

Prime Lime

Had a nice walk round a few South Lakes limestone crags over the weekend, and pretty much everything is now in prime conditions, especially thanks to the still very fresh air temps - out of the sun at least.

Kentmere in good nick 8/3/10

Kentmere was pretty much completely dry. Other than being a little hot, conditions were great.
There were a couple of points of seepage on the Garburn pass bounder from the cracks, but generally pretty good.

Newbiggin Crag Dry

I was up at Newbiggin yesterday. There is very little seepage at present, and most things are pretty dry- including The Fridge and Ingleborough Wall. There's still some snow on the ground and it's cold with any wind, so pack a jumper and a flask of coffee.

New Bowderstone Video

Just found a neat video on Vimeo, from 'Half Arsed Productions'. This features many of the classic mid-grade lines on the Bowderstone. I have embeded it onto the LakesBloc Bowderstone Video's page...

http://www.lakesbloc.com/videos/83-bowderstone-videos.html

Warton - also getting better

Plumb Buttress report.
The slot on E-Fix is still wet, as is the streak left of the Hoodoo traverse. The first footholds on Plumbline Traverse were also wet. Poison was dry, if a little glassy. Incidentally, Nik Jennings didn't feel the hold alteration makes a huge difference to grade.

If it stays dry (which it is supposed to) Warton will be in good nick in the next few days.

Woodwell: Wet, but getting there

Just popped into Woodwell (all sectors), to check on conditions and to take a few crag shots. Most lines are currently effected by some level of seepage, however if this dry weather holds until the weekend a good percentage (maybe 40%) of lines should be climbable. For anyone seeking some climbing before the weekend, the central sector (Not Bad Dave SDS etc.) is, at present, the driest section of rock.

Our man on the ground (AJ Hebson) also informs me that most of Warton Pinnacle Crag was "ok" at the weekend, and as such the various Warton crags should also be in reasonable nick by the weekend, barring a break in the weather.