UKC

Now then everyone. A lot of people keep knocking Almscliff, so in its defence :

a. Its a great location
b. Its got a supreme collection of classic routes
c. The bouldering is excellent
d. You can progress a whole grade career there
e. It dries increadibly quick
f. Its always in condition
g. Its very accessible
h. Almost all its routes are safe to push your grade on

In short it is the definitive essence of what cragging is all about. Its not even over-run with low grade, polishers who wander about with £70 pink 5.10`s on scared to take the decent routes, like Stanage!

Retorts to predicted offencives :
a. So what if theres cow shite around
b. Who cares if theres not enough easy routes to bumble on

In reply to Salamanda: I love almscliff, in fact I did my first lead there. I've always thought there is plenty of easier stuff on the crag, especially on low man.

OTOH some routes are stiff for their grades, probably due to the steepness, you need to be strong. It's invariably windy up there although this is why it dries so fast. The cow shite is a pain, worse is when the cows have been wandering around in a load of mud that has then dries but that's becasue the farmers a git.

In reply to Salamanda:
You forgot lack of polish and some really grippy rock. Like Swirley I disagree about the lack of easier routes, I think there's enough for most people, (and if you're going there constantly, once youre confident on the S/HS stuff you should think about pushing the grade up to HVS - that's my plan anyway, I'll let you know if I ever get confident).
I also believe the farmer's a git due to some unspecified unpleasantness by the climbing fraternity, but don't know the details.

P.S
I have grubby purple 5.10s that cost me about £40 6 years ago - what does that make me?

In reply to Salamanda:

Almscliff is one of those crags that I dislike because it promises so much more than it delivers. In addition the people who rave about it never seem to go anywhere else.

Bob

In reply to Salamanda:

I think I have a love/hate thing going on with the place in all honesty! In general though, I think its a great crag, like Swirly did my first lead there, and think theres stuff for everyone. Seconded Demon wall for the first time the other week and thought it was a fantastic route, theres some real quality there for such a compact area. No cow doodle either when we went.

Its a little polished in places, but lets face it, thats just character building

In reply to Ridge @ work:
Lack of polish? Can you name any route below VS that isn't polished, as I can't think of any off hand?

I don't particularly like the place because most of the sub-VS routes aren't worth doing, and I'm not strong enough for most of the VSs (ie there's not enough scope for endless faffing).

In reply to Salamanda:

you mean deserted, miles from anywhere, with unpolished routes and an excellent choice of routes at all grades?


Low Man certainly is, but then you never go near it so you wouldn't know. High man, of course, is over-run with mid and high grade polishers.


Everyone who wants to bumble on easy routes, presumably.

You can keep Almscliff (and Brimham and Caley for that matter), and I'll have Crookrise, Rylstone, Simons Seat, Brandrith, Rolling Gate, Widdop, and all the others where you can still find the essence of what climbing is all about

In reply to Salamanda: it's ok!

polished and either dead easy or too hard for me!

it just doesn't strike me as any good really!

I started climbing there about 4 years ago but soon found some better'esoteric' (unpolished) crags.

it's ok, but i wouldn't rave about it!

In reply to Simon Caldwell:


seconded

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
OK, there might be a bit of polish on the starts, but nothing like the extent you get at the cow&calf or stanage. Just got my Rosy Almscliffe tinted specs on.
Birds Nest Crack, (S or HS?) dont recall any polish on that?

In reply to Ridge @ work:
OK, Ilkley's more polished I'll garnt you that. But other than Crack and Corner, Stanage is nowhere near as bad. My memory of Birds Nest Crack is pausing to look at my reflection as I made the move rightwards, but this may be harsh and biased by my general lukewarm feelings about the place

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
anyway it's not the polish I really object to, I'm strangely fond of Ilkley Quarry which is surely the most polished grit in the country

In reply to Salamanda:

went there a few weeks back, and whilst it looked like there was some awesome stuff there I just found it quite uninspiring.

Probably cos I cant climb grit for toffee though.

In reply to Simon Caldwell:
You just like showing off to the hordes of scrofulous, superkings smoking, special-brew guzzling single mums from Bradford who take their kids there on a Saturday, don't you!

In reply to Salamanda: I only have a small corracle and i doubt it could hold Almscliffe, let alone float with it on board. So i'd have to say no.

In reply to Ridge @ work: Bird's Nest Crack is polished beyond belief - certainly to at least the same standard as some of the classic Ilkley VSs.

In reply to Salamanda:

If you can climb HVS at Almscliffe you can climb HVS anywhere.

In reply to SimonW:

climb 'a HVS' => 'a HVS' anywhere, yes
climb 'any HVS @ t' cliff' => 'any HVS' anywhere, fat chance.

In reply to Anonymous:

I apologise. Must have been too busy trying not to fall off to notice

In reply to Ridge:
Yeah, well polished. I couldn't even get up it with a rope in situ. Very unpleased!

Anyway, I remain to be converted to grit.

Sxx

In reply to Salamanda:

Polished bag of ugly, awkward, overrated shite. It should have been relegated to a Minor Crag in the back of the guide instead of having Dave Musgrove giving it a sound rimming.

In reply to Salamanda:
>Oh shit, what grade do I have to climb at to justify the £70?

In reply to Salamanda:

Beats me why anybody should climb at Almscliff. I'm more drawn to Crookrise, which I think, by comparison, is much underrated.

In reply to Sarah G:

Avoid Almslciff then, it could almost have been designed to put off the unconverted!

In reply to Salamanda:
Polish....
One has to assume the rock in its origional form when valuing a crags climbs really.
Most of the best 3 star routes in the country are more polished than the lesser appealing and satisfying lines, Does that mean that they`re the worst routes suddenly???

Theres nothing big or clever in people such as my friends Mr Fiend & Cauldwell delving through some undergrowth in the middle of fu**ing nowhere and stumbling across a second rate crackline up some dirty shitty piece of crumbly cack and then pretending to enjoy themselves climbing it because theres no-one else around and its not polished, all in the name of some Esoteric Championing notion they`ve concocted in their minds for the sake of being weird. 8-)

So having acertained that the presence of polish only serves to prove the argument for quality of the route, and considering most people have complained of the amount of polish at Ilkley and Almscliff, it doesn`t take a genius to reach the conclusion that thats perhaps where some of Yorkshires finest grit climbing is to be found or if you insist, was to be found before everyone found it!

arrrrrrrrrrr, this thread is clear (ala poltergeist scene)

8-)

In reply to Salamanda:



OI! YOU are the pervert who rates Whitestonecliffe, not me.

In reply to Salamanda: didnt like it when i went as only seemed to play on overhanging polished stuff, am planning another trip though to give it a fair chance before i decide if i like it or not.

In reply to Salamanda:
Well yes, a great line can be lessened by its popularity and subsequent polish/queues. Not something you'd even look at in passing, but Stanage's Crack and Corner, formerly a 3 star VDiff, is now (IMHO of course) a truly dreadful route due to the polish.

And aside from the inherent unlikelihood of Fiend walking far enough to reach a crag that's truly in the middle of nowehere - yes, climbing in the wilderness is worth an extra star in my book. So a 2 star line gives a 3 star experience.

So in Almslciff's case, the polish merely serves to show (a) the former quality of some of them, (b) the easy accessibility of the crag, (c) the small numbers of easy routes, and (d) the lack of imagination of most climbers

In reply to Salamandaon't go near Almscliff. It's a terrible place. It's always raining. The routes are horrible and the bouldering the worst anywhere. Take my advice and go to the Peak. The same applies to Caley, Ilkley, Crookrise, Earl, Tiger Stones, Rylstone and in fact anywhere in Yorkshire

In reply to Fiend:

have you been there yet?

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

No, not yet, but combined pressure from you two has started to persuade me to give it a look =).



P.S. Streaky that looks uncannily familiar *cough* copiedfromthelastguide *cough*.

In reply to Simon Caldwell: I have, probably the worst crag in the world, excepting Drumadoon Point on Arran and that sea cliff near craster.

In reply to Anonymous:
Thanks, I'll added those to my "must visit" list

to Fiend:
yes, you must at least try it - then you'll be allowed to hate it

In reply to Simon Caldwell:

Hmmm, first climb at Stanage - "You lead this VDiff, shouldn't be a problem"
If the above route involves the most polished start imaginable up two parallel cracks, followed by much panting and swearing to what appears to be the top, only to be faced with an overhang, then I think a 'friend' intoduced me to that.

In reply to Simon Caldwell (& Fiend):

About Esoterica & walk in solitude.
Of course your criteria and argument for the definition of a quality cragging experience differs vastly to that of Mr Fiend, in so far as he doesn`t like long walk ins which encompass a distance of more than 100m with a greater than 2% incline and is allergic to maps, compasses, cardiovascular fitness and transport of epic proportions.... which leads one to commend him in puzzlement at his recent heroic gargantuan pilgramage to climb one route : whilst you`re not satisfied unless the chances of returning from your chosen crag before nightfall having only managed to find and have an epic on one of the routes you went for, are at least as low as 2% leads one to commend you on managing to magically ammend the Roaches to somehow meet this criteria, despite being based in the Willans hut for the weekend!!

8-)

In reply to Salamanda:

Yes yes, that pilgrimage was supposed to be for a whole lot more than that....for both of us =/.

In reply to Salamanda: played there and agree with all of the above
allan

In reply to Salamanda: Why don't you stop writing such lengthy (or for want of a more esoteric phrase....Gargantuan!) threads and actually get OUT climbing man!!