St. Bees North: Central Descent Deterioration

Over the last couple of months there have been a number of minor and one sizeable rockfall/landslips on the cliffs on and around the central descent (above Apiary Wall) at St. Bees Head, North.

Whilst the descent is still usable the base has become quite traitorous and loose, so please be careful when using this access point. The ropes are, at the time of writing, still in place, however at least one anchor bolt has been squashed/damaged and may no longer be safe.

If you are at all unsure please use the easier northern descent.

Kentmere Guide Update

There were some issues with Mac users not being able to open the Kentmere guide without encountering some pretty major errors. I have mucked about with it and and updated the layout somewhat and it now seems ok on both Mac and PC. Unfortunately, thanks to some slight glitch in the original file I can't seem to convert it into a standard PDF without incurring some major degradation in the image and diagram quality. Therefore I have had to convert it into a Hi-Res PDF, thus it is now 25mb, rather than the original 8.5mb. On the upside it does look quite crisp once you have eventually  downloaded it.

http://www.lakesbloc.com/crags/south-east/202-kentmere-boulders.html

Wet Wet Wet

Sadly everything on the South Lakes limestone is pretty awful at present, with all roof orientated venues being almost unclimbable and even ever reliable spots like Trowbarrow are fairly grim thanks to the proliferation of foliage combined with the humidity.

To paraphrase Homer Simpson: Water water everywhere so lets all have a drink... oh, and make it a strong one!

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.