UKC

Over the last month or two, new graffiti has appeared carved into various rock faces at Bowden Doors. I can tell they're new as I'm a frequent climber there and the pale graffiti has not been weathered. 'Joe' has left his mark by carving his name in a large manner under Flake Crack probably in the last month. Two new smaller carvings are in the vicinity of Long John with initials of 'H' and 'TG'. As well as ruining a fragile environment it is this kind of thing that will get climbing banned from this classic venue and it spoils this beautiful place for everyone, not just climbers. I hope it wasn't climbers and it would be nice to think the culprits would confess and we can educate them - in a similar way to the dry toolers last year. Yes, I know there is old graffiti at Bowden but I would have said the same to them.

In reply to Klingon:

More likely to be local muppets than climbers I would have thought. Climbers tend to be worse for over-brushing and chalk marks. But not nice either way.

In reply to Klingon:

Probably not climbers now is it.

In reply to Klingon:
Have you been to Kyloe in recently and seen the visual chalky mess, now that is vandalism.

Also the old debate about big chipped holds on classic routes at Bowden.....errr no, big sandy footholds from overuse and climbing on damp rock.

Yeah a tourist carves his initials into the rock and it is a crime, climbers taking the high moral ground, should maybe look at there own actions first, just driving hundreds of miles to scale a lump of rock for instance, is hardly good for the environment is it.

In reply to Klingon:

I suspect the perpetrators of the scratchings under Transformer/Long John were poorly supervised, bored kids. The owner of the 'Joe' scribbling was undoubtedly older and taller, but no less bored....

Where we can we should call out this kind of damage, and take those doing it to task. But Fergal makes a very pertinent point. When I first started climbing at Bowden, it was pristine, very different to it's current state. Lots of of broken rock, irreparable damage to classics, eroded footholds and scarring. All the result of our use/misuse of a very fragile resource.

But no matter how much we post up on here, people still climb on Northumberland's sandstone crags when they are damp, or wet. In my most recent experience it was a group of visitors to the area, who either didn't fully understand the wet /damp sandstone issue, or did and didn't care. (Locals do it as well) Either way this group had traveled some distance and probably felt compelled to climb....... You can lead a horse to water, but...

Bouldering, with repeated cleaning, and groups banging away at problems is particularly destructive. It's not the end of the world if a climb or problem is too hard for you. You can walk away, and do something that doesn't involve hammering the rock, if you have the humility to do so.

But all of this has been said before, and sadly I suspect I'll be saying it again next year. Meanwhile the crag is rapidly heading towards the North Sea. It is in our power to slow that process down by improving our practice.

Steve