Lad Stones Guide Released

Finally, one of the last best bouldering areas to get documented properly is complete.

The Lad Stones offer a brilliant hard circuit, situated on the southern flanks of Wetherlam, east of Levers Water and the Coppermines Valley. Two vast 2000 ton blocks and a few smaller satellites provide a circuit of some 50 odd problems, nothing too unusual about that. However, where the Lad Stones stand apart from other areas with a similar quota of climbs is their grade spread ratio – 60% of the problems are in the 7’s and 8’s spectrum!

I have thoroughly enjoyed putting this guide together and climbing most of the problems in the process (all but 3 at the time of writing). Big thanks to the numerous individuals who have also been up there enjoying the venue and giving valuable feedback.

I've also updated the Lad Stones Gallery, which is also well worth checking out to get a better idea of the problems on offer.

Image goes directly to guide (PDF - 3.75mb):

Anyway without further ado here she blows, I hope you enjoy the area as much as I do:

http://www.lakesbloc.com/guides/ladstones-guide.pdf

Improved Videos Section

I have completely overhauled the videos section of the site, so it is a proper database of clips. Now if you click on the 'Videos' link in the LH menu column, you will be greeted by a list of crags/venues, after selecting your desired venue you will see a list of the current additions by problem name and grade. Each of these has its own page and is embedded to a large scale where possible (i.e. when the clip quality allows) and the ability for the user to comment on any particular video.

Please feel free to submit additions via email, Facebook or commenting below this post.

New videos section: http://www.lakesbloc.com/videos.html

Traci Lords Landing Improved

Over the weekend, myself and George North did a proper job of platforming out the landing below the excellent Traci Lords (8A) face at the Lad Stones.

It was previously a bit of stretch to pull on even with a very thick/folded pad, and the hole to the right made the landing a bit iffy. With the new groundwork complete it's now really easy to pull on and work the problem, plus the landing is much safer - i.e. it's good. You now only really need a single large pad to climb the problem if you have a spotter or two pads if you're on your own. I also added a couple of new problems hereabouts, which I'll write up on the site soon.

Carrock Fell Fell Gallery Updated

Added quite a few new images to the Carrock Fell gallery, hope they help you get psyched for autumn/winter...

http://www.lakesbloc.com/galleries/315-carrock-fell-gallery.html

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!