UKC

Hey all, another question to test your superior knowledge!

I'm taking my SPA assessment in a couple of weeks, and have spent the last couple of months getting familiar with good spots for group abseils in the Peak District, hitting the normal SPA requirements of high up anchors, safe approach/descent (for bail outs) and an appropriate route to go down, avoiding popular climbs, cracks, ledges, overhangs etc. It's surprisingly limited (getting high up anchors is most difficult), so wondering if anyone can name any spots that meet those requirements and the name of the area/buttress or routes. We'll mainly be working the main Eastern edges, such as Burbage, Stanage, right side of Millstone, Harborough rocks, roadside bay at Lawrencefield places popular with outdoor pursuit groups. Thanks mighty forum in advance!

In reply to Fraser kid:

Don't assume your assessors will stick to where you think they'll be taking you. My assessment was mostly based in the Western Peak, Windgather and the Roaches... and then we went to Black Rocks for the abseil bit. So if you're going to go scope out the best set-ups, go all over.

And, from personal experience, do learn the set-up for Black Rocks in advance. Spending 20 minutes in a howling rainstorm trying to find decent gear up there was not the most fun part of the weekend.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:


Disagree. Practise setting up an abseil anywhere - improve your skills all over rather than learn to pass the exam (so to speak).

In reply to Fraser kid:

Tegg's Nose has bespoke abseiling facilities but you will need permissions.

In reply to Fraser kid:

We did a group abseil from the top of Carl's Wark area at Stoney Middleton, quite friendly, plenty of places at Harborough where it could work too.
Other possible venues:
Some bits and pieces toward the left hand end of Birchen edge. Halfway along Bamford edge there is an area which would likely work for anchors too, not sure what routes/ ledginess is like. I definitely found it helpful to have been practicing building anchors quickly when I did my assessment last weekend.

In reply to ianstevens:

Well, yes. The OP asked which spots he should go to in order to practise his abseil set-ups, and I told him to get experience at lots of different crags, not just the three or four he imagines he'll be taken to!

Unless you're going to memorise a set-up at every single crag within driving distance of your assessment (and I know people who've tried to do this!), there's a fair chance you'll be asked to demonstrate it at a location you've not done before.

In reply to spenser:

Please do not abseil at Harborough the rock is a bit too delicate. I've watched small lumps knocked off in the past by people clumping down in big boots. It is also rather pointlessly short.

In reply to Offwidth:

Fair enough, I did a couple of practice abseils with some mates when we were caught out by the rain while climbing there a couple of months ago and found it to be a reasonably simple set up which seemed well suited to the purpose hence my recommendation. In reality for the purposes of practice you can send someone down a steepish bank in a forest, knowing how to set it all up quickly once you've selected some bomber anchors will likely be more beneficial (and far less time consuming) than trying to check out every potential location in the peak.

In reply to Fraser kid:

As a provider and assessor of the SPA scheme, I would expect you to be able to find multiple suitable venues for a group abseil at any crag that we visit of the course of an assessment. I certainly wouldn't be going to a specific venue just to find an abseil.

In reply to Jamie Wakeham:

I know the fellow who's taking my assessment and from experience he mainly uses the Eastern edges I mentioned. Not sure he would venture towards Black Rocks, but I know that area pretty well. Thanks

In reply to Offwidth:

You're fighting a losing battle with that one I'm afraid. They might as well set up an insitu abseil for the amount of groups I see abseiling there!

In reply to spenser:

Cheers mate, great response. Yeah, been trying to speed up my abseil rigging, I always take an age getting the gear right and spotting the suitable high up anchors.

In reply to Paul at work:

Thanks Paul, I think that's the problem I'm having. I'm quick enough at setting up the rig, as I'm well practiced, but it's finding high up anchors that I struggle with. Maybe I'm not thinking creatively enough.

In reply to Fraser kid:

Isn't Yarncliffe quite suitable for this, or are tree belays considered too easy for SPA assessment?

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Those ants though!

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Yarncliffe first bay has suffered so much erosion at the top there are special access requirements and it really should be actively avoided.

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/RAD/ViewCrag.aspx?id=251

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

Yes too easy for assessment, candidates on the whole don't struggle with the actual mechanics of rigging. They mainly seem to struggle with choice of anchors and deciding on appropriate places to rig.

Still plenty of other areas of the syllabus that they struggle with as well - group management, teaching etc.

In reply to Paul at work:

Then I suppose Windgather would be a good choice.

In reply to Fraser kid:
My SPA assessor deliberately went to a non-crag with crap rock for the first day of SPA, on the grounds that if you could build anchors there you could probably select good anchors anywhere...

The abseil (different crag, now good solid Bodmin granite) was rigged off two very large but wobbly boulders (first task being stopping them wobbling)... no high anchors available here, just rope straight over the sloping edge!