UKC

Hey everyone,

So thinking of going to Portland tomorrow, weather looks good ! What are the conditions like , is it likely to be dry considering all the storms we have had ?

cheers

Luke

In reply to luke1986:

youtube.com/watch?v=xRnf2qTlInY&

In reply to alexcollins123: So anyone know if Portland is accessible by car presently, or likely to be OK by tomorrow?
Climbing wise I'd guess at least parts of the Cuttings will be climbable tomorrow, less confident about elsewhere and suspect West coast is a non-starter (mud, wind, seepage).

In reply to alexcollins123:

wow - feel sorry for all those people whose homes have been flooded......think i'll head to the peak instead !

In reply to The Ivanator:
I went down there in January, fairly nice sunny day with a few showers, and this was after a long stretch of rain but one day before the new batch of storm weather and floods hit. Even then, the cuttings was "ok", there were a few people climbing and we did a few routes, but the ground was still really claggy and slippery even though the rock was mostly dry, apart from some seepage.

We then went and had a look around the west coast, and the paths round the base of the cliffs were best described as treacherous. It took an hour to walk round what takes about 20 minutes in the dry, and the section under Pregnant Pause over to the quarry descent was grim.

Since then, I really don't expect the conditions to have improved! I won't be going back their until the ground has really had a chance to dry out - the weather has just been too wet for the ground to absorb, no matter what the wind is doing...

In reply to luke1986:

Portland was cut off until about midday today (4 foot of water over the beach road), should be fine for tomorrow and I'm sure the Cuttings will be climbable.

In reply to johnl:

john,

what is the west coast like? I was thinking about going to veranda tomorrow then the back cliff for routes around physic emf. Is it looking ok that side?

In reply to sam.sam.sam.ferguson:

West coast near battleship is in a mess, the normal descent down to battleship has gone and has been replaced by a new cliff , possibly about 80 metrs wide . It now links one end of battleship with blacknor far south.

Lots of other landslides on that side - be careful

In reply to jasper11:

here's a photo showing the damage i took today
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153851647785249&set=a.1015385...

In reply to sam.sam.sam.ferguson:

Yes, looks as bad as I thought, does it affect many lines on battleship or blacknor far south ?

The path under blacknor north all the way to blacknor south is passable but in a poor state with potential to slide

In reply to luke1986:

I had a bad feeling that after this winter Portland was going to be markedly changed forever.

In reply to jasper11:
It looks to have taken out quite a few routes on the RHS of Far South - everything right of Paint a Black Picture at a guess. I assume the usual descent between Far South and Battleship is now ruined and some of the new bouldering spots on the beach below will be gone too. Bummer.

Wonder what else has gone - I can't imagine Wallsend and Coastguard have got away with it, especially the descent to Coastguard.

In reply to luke1986:

http://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php?topic=19848.25

In reply to steve taylor:

From that angle the cliff is quite foreshortened. The arête in profile immediately left of the land slip looks like where Blood and Chocolate used to be (all be it with 10m of new cliff below it). The overhang at the top of the cliff just to the right (in the sun) looks like the rock you used to pass on the walk in to BFS. Perhaps the slip is confined between the old right-hand end of BFS and old left-hand end of Battleship Edge effectively joining the two.

In reply to Ben Stokes:

Hi Ben - it looks like everything right of the second ivy patch (Carlos Fandango Belay) has gone, but you have a point about the foreshortening effect.

I wonder where Sam was when he took the photo?

As Jasper above says, the two cliffs (BFS and Battleship) now seem to be linked by a new cliff, and there's no way down anymore. Hopefully someone will get down there and get some more shots soon. Neal Heanes - are you able to get out and have a look?

Jasper has also told me that the slope beneath Jutland etc. is affected, meaning that it might be tricky/dangerous to get down to the Fallen Slab area.

In reply to steve taylor:

Picture was taken with a zoom lens from the veranda.

The veranda, attic and balcony were all fine. The area around physic emf has dropped about a foot as has a lot more around the back cliff area.

The approach down to veranda back cliff was the same as always but the blacknor South one looked deadly from above.

In reply to sam.sam.sam.ferguson:

Could you put the shots somewhere other than facebook please? It's blocked by work for a a lot of people.

In reply to Bob:

Yeh, it's worth sticking in the crag shots gallery.

In reply to steve taylor:

Hi steve will do when I'm back on porty bumped into fods on sat who said the whole approach to battleship and b nor fs had gone

In reply to steve taylor:

Am off for half-term at the moment, planning to get up and take a look tomorrow morning after the rain eases off.

Will take photos.

Had a look at Blacknor North from below (doing the tourist "let's look at how much of Chesil Cove is missing" - hint: all of it) the other day, looks okay but I'd suggest some of the Chesil Cove bouldering will have taken a beating.