UKC

Hello there. I live in Sheffield and travel to the crags by Bus/Train. Recently I've been getting sick of super busy crags all the time.

Are there any crags I can easily get to using 1 bus or train journey that won't be busy? Even Stanage End was fairly busy today. Crow Chin had 4 top ropes on it for ages, but that's for a different thread...

So somewhere that's easy to get to, with very few other people and decent routes? Asking too much?

In reply to Muel:

Gardoms. Also Curbar - I read a thread on here about it being quiet on a sunny bank holiday 'cause everyone's scared of the place.

In reply to Muel:
Are you prepared to take a wander? Dovestones tor (from the ladybower bus) and Kinder (from edale train)are both more of a walk but you'll generally have the crags to yourself. Otherwise, froggatt end of curber can be quiet, chatsworth also. Burbage south generally doesn't have that many ropes on it. There are plenty! But on a sunny weekend, grit is popular. Go find yourself some limestone!

In reply to Muel: Bellhagg is often quiet, the high bouldering low soloing end is near the road, so noisyish, and further along the higher climbing is further away from the road.

Whether it's worth a visit compared to the bigger crags is a different topic, but it's generally quiet.

I like it, worth a visit with a friend to have an explore I think, there are some nice problems and routes there. Not sure i'd want to go by myself due to it's quietness, you could possibly be undiscovered for a while if you fell off and got hurt.

For the climbing i'd say it's definitely worth a visit, but some don't like it's situation within earshot of Manchester Rd, which is more applicable for what's listed in bouldering guides, than for the taller routes further along the hillside, which aren't generally listed. I don't think you'd regret paying a visit.

In reply to Muel:

There was nobody climbing this afternoon between Counts' Buttress and Tower Face - weird!


Chris

In reply to Muel:

Wharncliffe.

In reply to Muel: Apparently a no.57 bus would get you to Deepcar, then a 30 min walk to Wharncliffe, and a 61/62 goes to Bradfield to get to Agden, both tend to pretty quiet and have some decent routes to go at.

In reply to Muel:

I've climbed a lot at Froggatt already this year, and I am one of those who is scared of Curbar because I'm very fat and rubbish, but I already wondered about Gardoms and Dovestone Tor. Especially Dovestone Tor if I'm honest, it does look very interesting in my Eastern Grit book!

I wasn't aware you could walk in to Kinder from the Edale side, I'd love to head up there. How far are we talking?

I don't have a guide that covers Bell Hagg unfortunately, but I guess I could just head down for a play without one.

In reply to Muel:

You guys are too fast... I'm really fancy some more remote crags. I've not heard such good things about Wharncliffe, apparently it's got loads of coal in it that ends up all over your gear?

In reply to Muel:

Then you've heard from people telling you that to keep it their quiet little secret.

Very nice crag.

In reply to Muel:

Bizarre. The grit is jet black in places, but pretty sure it doesn't come off on your gear. The only faff is walking along the bottom, much better to walk along the top to move around.

In reply to Jonny2vests:

Wharncliffe isn't strictly gritstone, it's actually a coal measure sandstone apparently. Maybe that's where the coal thing came from.

Grit or not, it's hard sandstone, and the bits out of the trees are mostly very clean. (In the trees it can be a bit green at times.)

In reply to Muel: Wharnecliffe is a great crag and is always quiet. Chatsworth tends to be pretty quiet too.
Stanage has quiet spots even on the busiest days, as Chris mentioned the Counts Buttress area is rarely busy and Secret Stanage is always a good bet. The cowper Stone will be another good bet too.
That lot should keep you busy for a while.

In reply to Muel: it was very quiet at gardoms today

In reply to Muel:
We were the only team at Chatsworth on a hot bank holiday a couple of weeks back.

Weird, but very nice.

In reply to deepsoup:

Interesting!

In reply to Jonny2vests: Agden Rocher, bus to High Bradfield and a short walk in.

In reply to Al Evans:

Thought someone might have mentioned the home of that fine route 1847

In reply to Muel:

You have to realise that the popular crags are popular for a reason ! there are plenty of non honey pot crags (grit and limestone) about though.

In reply to Muel:


If you are talking about the crags above Grindsbrook, it's about 40 mins from the station. If you take the shortest route over to the other side, that adds about another 30mins. The downfall is maybe 45 mins walk. If you get the train to Heyfield you can reach the downfall more quickly.

It's about 25yrs since I climbed on Kinder. At that time many of the grades were sandbags. I imagine the most recent guide is better.

In reply to Muel: Buy a guidebook for the area and then choose more or less any crag apart from Stanage and Froggat. That said there are huge swaths of Stanage that are often deserted even on the busiest days. 100 yards to the right of Chequers Buttress at Froggat is also very quiet. If you go as far as Edale, any of the crags up there will not see a sole. The same is also true of any of the crags in the Chew, Kinder or Longdale.

In reply to Chris Craggs:
yes plantation was very quiet, hardly anyone around goliaths groove either.

In reply to wilkesley:

We went up to the Downfall area with the Over The Moors guide this weekend. The grades felt solid in a none-of-your-ego-boosting-soft-touches sort of way but we didn't come across any dangerous sandbags. The climbing was pretty great, with some cracking mini-adventures. And it was very very quiet - the only other climbers we saw all day were a couple of guys working an E8, so queuing wasn't an issue!

In reply to GrahamD:

But the opposite isn't always true, there are some unpopular crags that are at least as good as some of the busy ones.

In reply to Tom Valentine:

Can't imagine there being a queue!!

In reply to Toreador:


Well, routes at least. For grit its hard to beat the sheer quantity of *** routes. For "unpopular crags that are at least as good as some of the busy ones" limestone isn't a bad bet

In reply to Muel: upper tor and nether tor

In reply to Muel:

Looking at your profile you seem to be a solid lower grade leader. This site is our personnal notes from the work Moff and I have done for the BMC gritstone guides specifically for people like you:

http://offwidth.uptosummit.com/guides.html

Wharncliffe would be the top recommendation from me (the advice you got about coal was wrong if very funny) but almost any big crag has hidden good bits.

In reply to Stuart (aka brt): +1 for wharncliffe great quite little crag close to sheffield nice flat approach walk plenty of variety of grades.

In reply to getandy: best thing is it gets the sun all day whereas crags like stanage dont really get much morning sun.

In reply to getandy:
Only been to wharncliffe once when i was starting out and the only bad point that i could see is the landings themselves lol

Some great climbing to be had though!

In reply to Taer: yes indeed the landings can be a bit sketchy! get that first bit of gear in nice and quick :P

In reply to Muel: What about Bamford?

How travelled is Bamford these days? It was quiet when I last went (two-three years ago)

In reply to Muel:

Blimey, lots of replies! Cheers everyone, I shall have to get busy. TOo many too reply to everyone though I'm afraid.

I think Dovestone Tor and Wharncliffe are highest on my list, but I'll check out Bamford as well soon. Keen to have a look at Kinder as well.

In reply to Offwidth:

I am a big fat low grade leader, yes. :P I reckon I could scream my way up an HS 4B/4C if I really tried, but I don't like trying hard as it hurts. V.diff is normally my grade of choice, they're usually technically interesting enough but requiring just enough physical effort.

Thanks for the link, lots of top notch info in there!

In reply to Taer:
Bamford was reasonably quiet on saturday just gone.

In reply to Muel:

Cheers, any feedback would be greatfully received.

Dont forget these top ten lists for other useful ideas:

http://offwidth.uptosummit.com/top_tens.html

In reply to Muel:

I'll give another shout for Gardoms.

Also, the far Northern end of Curbar (Beech buttress, Green Acres) is very quiet and has excellent rock. It's actually closer to Froggatt than the rest of Curbar and doesn't have the same intimidation factor as the rest of Curbar.

In reply to Muel:

As others have said, Wharncliffe exactly fits the bill for what you're looking for. A vastly underestimated crag, imho.

In reply to Muel: ok, so the no.65 bus runs Sheffield - Fox House - Eyam - Tideswell - Millers Dale - Buxton. It goes along Eccy Road via Hunters Bar. It's only every 90 minutes or so, but with a bit of planning you can have a cracking day out. If you add bouldering and sport climbing to your portfolio of trad, then the world's your oyster.
How about these?
Burbage South is heaving with boulderers, but quiet for trad on the edge. As someone else mentioned, Curbar is quiet, and has a bad rep which is undeserved. The bus stops at Stoney Middleton, which has a great climbs of all grades and is very quiet, while you're at it, clip some bolts at Horseshoe Quarry. Then there's Rubicon, Raven Tor, Chee Dale, etc. etc.
A grat cragging bus.
Hope you enjoy it
Paul