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Cheddar Gorge climbing: at risk from thoughtless climbers?

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 Rob Dyer, BMC 15 May 2014
Hi

It's bad news from Cheddar Gorge.

A number of climbers have recently been caught climbing in areas outside of the access agreement, or climbing without third-party liability insurance. Consequently, Cheddar’s future as a climbing destination could be in doubt.

Please read the latest access advice to prevent any more problems:

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/cheddar-gorge-access-climbing-at-risk-from-thought...

Rob Dyer
BMC Access & Conservation Officer (Regions)
 ericinbristol 15 May 2014
In reply to Rob Dyer, BMC:

Aargh! Selfish, short-sighted idiots!
signed
A Cheddar Devotee
 ericinbristol 15 May 2014
In reply to Rob Dyer, BMC:

I hope that the signage is really prominent. It would be a great pity if some of it was caused by lack of prominent information. (I'm only just starting climbing again after a long spell off due to a shoulder op, so I don't know the state of play with signage)
In reply to ericinbristol:
> I hope that the signage is really prominent.

AFAIK there isn't any signage and there never has been any.
In reply to Rob Dyer, BMC: This is sadly an on-going issue (after all, you posted about exactly the same thing in April 2012 - https://www.thebmc.co.uk/problems-in-cheddar ) and unfortunately it comes as no surprise to me.

I will yet again make the same suggestion that I have made several times going back to January 2008. Namely that there should be some obvious, clear and 'unmissable' signage at multiple points up and down the gorge detailing the current access status of each major crag(s).

There are several reasons for this approach:
1) It will provide the lazy and indifferent with the information they need to avoid from infringing the agreements.
2) It will make it far easier for both other climbers and passing locals to challenge any climbers they see infringing the agreements.
3) It may help reduce the incidents of climbers reacting unreasonably when correctly challenged by CG&C staff.
but above all
4) It will hopefully make the 'cowboys' and the 'chancers' think twice about infringing the agreement as it completely removes the flimsy excuses they normally give of not being aware of the restrictions.

Having gone back and checked, the reason recorded in the minutes of the Jan 2008 BMC SW Area Meeting for not pursuing this option was a previous statement from the BMC warden Martin Crocker that "notices on the crag would not be acceptable to Cheddar, Caves and Gorge Company".

I don't know whether that is still the case but I remain firmly of the opinion that clear and unambiguous signage, whilst no panacea, would be a sensible and pro-active move.
 Kevster 15 May 2014
In reply to The Ex-Engineer:

I'm sure a small sign at the bottom of Coronation St for example would be in-obtrusive. Others could be placed I guess. However, I suspect the increased participation and gradual change in attitude within the climbing demographic (symptomatic of society) may simply mean that some folk just don't care enough to pay attention.
What might be nice to know is how participation at Cheddar has changed, has it increased? How many climb at the gorge? As I bet there are thousands of individuals a year and the vast majority are sympathetic with the needs of others and are sensitive to the access agreement.
Hopefully the positive actions of the majority are not tarred by those obvious few who don't have the social concience.
 BarrySW19 15 May 2014
In reply to Rob Dyer, BMC: "Please read the latest access advice to prevent any more problems"

The problem is that the climbers causing the problems are not going to be reading these forums or anything written by the BMC. They are also not going to be stopped if Cheddar bans climbing. Such restrictions would only hurt those climbers who are not causing problems in the first place.

You have to wonder why Cheddar can't stick a few clear signs up which would at least reach the right people, even if they might not take any notice.

 andrewmc 15 May 2014
In reply to Kevster:

> I'm sure a small sign at the bottom of Coronation St for example would be in-obtrusive.

I cannot see a way in which you could find out about Coronation Street without also learning about the restriction - if you have the Cheddar guide the whole thing is based around the restrictions, and restrictions are clearly listed on UKC and BMC RAD.

(except only possessing the old Climbers Club guide possibly - what was the access conditions listed in that? But surely if you have that you have probably been climbing long enough to check access...)
 3 Names 16 May 2014
In reply to andrewmcleod:

I think the point is that people breaking the agreement are well aware of the fact. they are currently however able to pretend they are not.
 deepstar 17 May 2014
OP Rob Dyer, BMC 21 May 2014
In reply to all: Sorry for not responding earlier to this thread - I've been away at meetings and site visits around the country for the last week or so and just getting round to catching up now.

In response to the idea of signage, we have mentioned this again to CC&G recently and offered to fund any signs they would be happy to be put up. At the moment, they don't want to go down that road, but the offer is there from the BMC if they ever change their minds. Regardless, lack of signage isn't an excuse for climbing on restricted areas during closed season.

After a few comments I've received about the Cheddar RAD pages being confusing (mostly due to a weird formatting issue that clumped all the text together making it hard to read I think), I've gone through both entries and hopefully made them easier to read and understand. I'm happy to have any feedback though (preferably by email as that get's checked more often than UKC) if anything doesn't make sense:

South Side: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/RAD/ViewCrag.aspx?id=930
North Side: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/RAD/viewcrag.aspx?id=929


The take home message though is that the Cheddar access calendar is the definitive source of information of which crags can be accessed and when. I'd recommend any Cheddar climber to print off a copy each year and keep it in the front of your guidebook. You can download it here: https://www.thebmc.co.uk/Download.aspx?id=807

Cheers,
Rob
BMC Access & Conservation Officer (England)

 Cheese Monkey 21 May 2014
In reply to Rob Dyer, BMC:

Links to calendar on RAD pages dont work
OP Rob Dyer, BMC 21 May 2014
In reply to Cheese Monkey:

You're right they don't - it turns out hyperlinks aren't working on RAD for some reason at the moment. Out IT guys are on the case but for the meantime I've changed it to display the actual link. Thanks for the heads up!

Cheers,
Rob

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