UKC

My partner and I love climbing at Portland but haven't been down there for a while. At the best of times a lot of the rock there is pretty loose and large parts of the cliff-face often seem to have just crumbled. We're keen to get back down there as soon as the weather dries up a bit but just wondering if anyone's been climbing down there lately and what the situation is like with the rock/rockfall after all this rain. Has it suffered badly and are any areas particularly affected? Or is it all still intact and ok? I just want to check before we plan a trip and my parents who live in Dorset (but don't rock climb) have heard on the news about big rock destruction down there but I'm not sure if it's been on the climbing areas or not? Any info much appreciated!

In reply to EmSB:

I live on Portland. Your questions are wide-ranging and I'm afraid I don't know the answers to most of them. It might help if you gave an indication of how many days you were coming down for and what grade range you're looking at.

What I do know is that, irrespective of grade, at this time of the year, weather dictates that usually it's The Cuttings. If it's sunny and not windy, you can have 'summer days' on Blacknor Central and South. I wouldn't be rushing to Wallsend yet though.

If you've got the latest Rockfax, there are lots of little 'bijou' crags, The Bower, The Veranda, The Nook, etc. The glory of Portland is the big stuff on the West. But the little stuff means that, unless it's pouring down, you can usually get something done.

Look at the windsock at Ferrybridge and climb on the non-windy side of the island.

Mick

In reply to EmSB:

The destruction of Dog Rock (a small sea stack near the Lighthouse) was widely reported and may be what your parents heard about.
I imagine anything on the West needs to be undertaken with caution, the potential for loose rocks and mudslides is wide. A couple of areas I climbed at last year were badly effected by mudslides from the 12/13 winter (Battleship Edge around Kane Mutiny and Xavier's Wall at Coastguard South).
As Mick says the Cuttings is the reliable winter option.

In reply to EmSB:

I went to Cheyne Wears and the Cuttings last weekend. I don't know if it's typical for Cheyne Wears, which I guess is less frequented than other places due to the bird ban, or if the rock has been affected by the storms, but we found it rather less stable than what we're used to on the west coast. We ended up at the Cuttings after one too many exploding footholds, which was very much 'as normal'...