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Dartmoor next weekend?

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 Fantastical 09 Feb 2014
Thinking of heading down to Dartmoor next weekend for some bouldering. Is anywhere likely to be dry and good for climbing? I'm looking for pretty low grade stuff, with maybe some low grade trad but mainly bouldering.
 EdGS 12 Feb 2014
In reply to Fantastical:

Sorry for the late reply, hope it's still useful!

Weather hasn't been great recently, so naturally there will be wet rock everywhere, though Dartmoor granite does seem to dry quickly. A few hours of wind and sun can be enough to dry some stuff, and a day of good weather should be enough to dry most things.

As for where to go, it depends on how low grade and if you're willing to make a bit of a trek!

My favourite area on Dartmoor for a chilled-out day is Cuckoo Rock / Down Tor. These two can easily be combined in a long day out, with the latter offering lots and lots of VB - V2s, and the former offering a good circuit of sub V5 problems. Cuckoo rock is about 20 mins walk but is in a beautiful location, whereas the closest problems at Down Tor are around 5 mins from the car park, but the views aren't as nice :P Not much trad here though unfortunately.

If you're not up for going there, then the other obvious choice would be Hound Tor. Lots of classy easier problems, mainly up to V5, along with lots of easy trad. 5 mins walk from the car park. Smallacombe, on the other side of Hound Tor, has a nicer, more remote feel, and also offers a good circuit of easier bouldering. No trad though and is a 20 min walk-in.

Hope that helps
OP Fantastical 12 Feb 2014
In reply to EdGS:

That's very helpful! Thabk you =) Smallacombe was on my list of potential places and will definitely look into Cuckoo Rock, Down Tor and Hound Tor.

Just hoping the weather cooperates... Not looking too bad at the moment so fingers crossed.
 Tom Last 12 Feb 2014
In reply to Fantastical:
Hmm, sorry to put a dampener on things and I could well be wrong but, personally I wouldn't bother driving the 40 or so miles there myself (let alone from Surrey) at the moment without a strong breeze and bright sunshine to dry things out & it doesn't look like you'll be getting that this weekend, just wan sunshine through a load of cloud I'd have thought. I hope I'm wrong though. In case you make the trip, the west of the moor i.e. Cuckoo Rock etc tends to hold the crappy weather longer than the SE of the moor (Bonehill etc). If I was gong for it, I'd go to Bonehill.
Post edited at 00:06
 Tom Last 13 Feb 2014
In reply to EdGS:


> Smallacombe, on the other side of Hound Tor, has a nicer, more remote feel, and also offers a good circuit of easier bouldering. No trad though and is a 20 min walk-in.

Agree with this, it is a nice spot. There is trad, but even the easiest stuff ~HVS is pretty nails.


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