In reply to scott titt:
> Nearly all of Lundy is a SSSI, the climbing areas are designated for supralittoral rock habitat; wire brushing this habitat without a Natural England license is illegal, and risks severely impairing our good relationships on Lundy.
Does this need a broader discussion? As others have said, many routes on Lundy are, as I understand it, only possible because they were cleaned before the first ascent. Even good quality routes get relatively infrequent subsequent ascents, compared to mainland venues, and are likely to deteriorate again unless occasionally cleaned.
I spend a week on Lundy every 2 or 3 years. I climbed The Ocean in the 90's and it was pleasant - I've heard it's barely worth doing now. I climbed Performance, next to Magic Flute, a similar time ago and it was already well coated in "brillo" (I've not actually heard that term used before). Three years ago I walked away from starred routes on the Fortress upper tier which looked decidedly unpleasant (though Carol Ann Butler corner on the lower tier proved excellent). And this year I climbed Shark for the first time and was very grateful to whoever had brushed it, I understand quite recently.
I see guidebook author Paul Harrison (I presume it's he) has praised the OP's cleaning efforts on Magic Flute (see the picture link in Lusk's post). And I thought his relationship with the Lundy management was pretty good.
So should we accept a blanket ban on all cleaning, or should we be approaching the relevant bodies to discuss a more nuanced approach, permitting the keeping clean of established routes?
Martin