UKC

Any advice, please? Stiff-soled rock boots, approach shoes for rock climbing, mountain boots etc? I've been climbing a long time but have no experience of chalk apart from at the very bottom of sea cliffs.
I'd heard wart hogs could be used for belays if necessary but found they were impossible to drive in with a peg hammer, although there is obviously a big variation in consistency of chalk from place to place.

In reply to oldie:

Give us a clue of where...

In reply to jezb1:

Skeleton Ridge, IOW, also Handfast Point

In reply to oldie:

Pretty sure Skeleton Ridge is harder than the stuff at Dover and climbed with rock shoes and regular gear, maybe pegs too, rather than in crampons and placing warthogs.

In reply to Tom Last:

Thanks. I'm actually only interested in the chalk climbing that doesn't involve axes and crampons, and just wondered if stiff soled footwear, not necessarily rock shoes might be appropriate.

In reply to oldie:

Having done a fair amount of this sort of thing, including Skeleton Ridge, Monster crack and other esoteric adventures, I will try and offer some advice!

Rock shoes: any old pair with a good amount of rubber on the sole will do, as flints in the chalk can be razor sharp and make a mess of them, and chances are you're be so scared it really won't matter what's on your feet anyway!

Peg hammer: leave it at home, as you found out you need something with a bit more clout, enter the lump hammer, heavy but gets the job done. An ice axe or two can come in handy to deal with top outs that often involve mud and grass and if your really lucky a mud cornice!

Protection: An illusion at best, nuts above size 10, old school hexs to 11, snargs, warthogs, wooden wedges, long pegs etc might hold a fall. I favour snargs over warthogs on blank sections (after lobbing off the crux on monster crack due to snapping flint's pulling out two warthogs to be caught by a snarg!) And for cracks I go for homemade wooden wedges or hexes hammered home.

Any question's feel free to ask.
Good luck, you will be needing a fair amount of it!

Dave

In reply to pigbag:

Christ! Reading that has made me very happy that I shall never, ever go near a chalk cliff with any intention of climbing it.