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[ Print larger map ] – Grid Ref SJ 493755 (OS Landranger #117)

Helsby

Cheshire, ENGLAND

Climbs 222 – Rocktype Sandstone (hard) – Altitude 100m a.s.l – Faces NW

Crag features
A fine sandstone cliff overlooking the River Mersey and the motorway. It is often driven past at speed and scorned by uninformed climbers travelling to North Wales. One day they should take the time to have a look at the place since most will be pleasantly surprised by the compact and clean walls offering some superb routes on great rock.

In winter the rock does turn green and slimey but after a spell of dry weather it cleans up nicely.

It should be mentioned that this crag was very 'unfashionable' for many years and the grading system left unchallenged for decades. Many climbs are poorly protected and dubious rock is ubiquitous. Therefore the grades may well be inaccurate. Feedback on grades and qualitative ratings would be welcome.

Weather forecast

Today	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun

Forecast for this crag, or UK Weather forecast

Guidebooks
Cheshire & Merseyside Sandstone (2012), Western Grit (2009),
Out of print: Western Grit (2003), Sandstone Climbing in Cheshire and Merseyside (1998)

Climbs at this crag

	Climb name	Grade	x

	FAR EAST BUTTRESS
	TOP TIER BOULDERING
	HELSBY WOODS BOULDERING
4	Wrinkled Slab	M	2
5	Halfway Ledge	D	1
6	Far Eastern Traverse	VD	2
7	Cobweb Cave Climb	HVS 5b
8	Torsion Crack	VS 5a	1
9	Millwall F.C.	HVS 5b
10	Jericho Wall	HVS 5a, 5b
11	Philistine's Prowl	VS 5a
12	Wall and Slab	VD	2
13	Groove and Slab	D	2
14	2001	none 6c **
15	Space Odyssey	none 6b+ **
16	Quarry Buttress Direct	VS 5a	1
17	Quarry Buttress Superdirect	E2 5c
18	Tyburn Wall	E3 6a
19	Gallows	E3 5c **	2
20	Lynch Mob Mentality	E3 6b
21	Night of The Living Dead	none 5c *
22	Corpse's Walk	S	2
23	Undertaker's Buttress	S 4b **	7
24	Stoic's Corner	VD	1
25	Upper Lip	HVS 5b	1
26	Upper Lip Direct	E3 5c
27	The Nose	VD *	2
28	Nose Gully	VD	1
29	Cinderella	HVS 5b	1
30	Omega	VS 5a *	1
	UPPER CENTRAL BUTTRESS
32	Marshall's Climb	HVS 4c **	2
33	Marshall's Tower Eliminate	E1 5b **	1
34	Slanting Chimney	VD	5
35	Coffin Buttress	VS 5a	1
36	Eliminate II	VS 5a	1
37	Cemetery Wall	HS	3
38	The Coffin	HS 4b	1
39	Tombstone Wall	HVS 5b	1
40	Lookout Climb	HS 4b *	1
41	Zig Zag Climb	VD	6
42	The Thingummy	VS 5a	1
43	Spider Crack	E1 5b *	1
44	Greenshield	XS 5c
45	Green Chimney	S 4a	1
46	The Beetler	E1 5b
47	Strength Through Joy	XS 6b *
48	Sculptor's Climb	HS 4b	4
49	Chimney and Traverse	S *	5
50	Superdirect	HS 4b	2
51	Direct Route	S 4a	4
52	Central Climb	VD *	19
53	Easy Buttress	D	23
54	The Illegitimate	E3 5c ***	8
55	Brown's Bastard	E2 5b	3
56	Carsten's Abortion	E2 5b **	10
57	Downe's Doddle	E2 5b *	8
58	Clockwork Orange	E3 5c *	5
59	Technicolour Yawn	E4 6a **	4
60	The Cornice	VD **	44
61	The Cornice Indirect	S *	15
62	Deception	HVS 5a *	21
63	Mossy Slab	VD *	22
64	Grooved Wall Route 1 Direct Finish	E1 5a
65	Grooved Wall Route 1	VS 4b *	2
66	Grooved Wall Route 2	HS 4b	1
67	Grooved Wall Route 3	E2 5b
68	Fat Man's Crack	VD	1
69	Clashooks Slab	VD	1
70	Limpet Wall	HS 4b	3
71	Mussel Wall	VS 4c	2
72	Gather No Moss	E3 6b	1
	LOWER CENTRAL BUTTRESS
74	Little Light	MS 4a	3
75	Blue Light	E1 5c	7
76	In the Pie	E1 6a	1
77	Pigeonhole Wall	VS 5a *	37
78	Pigeonhole Arete	E1 5c *	13
79	Crack of Doom	VD *	33
80	Whimper	E2 5c	10
81	Wafer Wall	E2 5b **	18
82	Z Route	VD *	19
83	Z Route Direct	S 4a	13
84	Oblique Crack	VD *	34
85	Muffin Crack	HVS 5b *	17
86	Crumpet Crack	E3 6a ***	17
87	Hades Crack	HS 4b *	14
88	Wild Oat Wall	HVS 5b	4
89	Two Step Crack	VD	29
90	Honeycomb Wall	VS 4c *	16
91	Nameless Wall	VS 5a	7
92	Nameless Crack	S 4a	14
	UPPER WEST BUTTRESS
94	Celerity Crack	HS 4b
95	West Wall Climb	D
96	West Wall Mantelshelf	S 4b *	1
97	The West Wall	E1 5c	1
98	Unknown	XS 6b
99	Hemingway's Wall	E3 5c **	3
100	Late-nite Greenhalgh	E3 6a **	1
101	The Missing Font	XS	2
102	Senile Saunter	E1 5b *	4
103	West Wall Chimney	VD *	18
104	Windy Corner	VD *	13
105	Windy Corner Nose Finish	HS 4b *	8
106	Diopera	HVS 5a *	8
107	Eroica	HVS 5a	3
108	Erotica	XS
109	Coward of the County	E4 6a *
110	Spooky	E5 6b *
111	Brandenburg Wall	E4 5c ***	6
112	Brandenburg Wall Direct	E6 6c *
113	Stingray	E4 6a ***
114	The Mangler	E3 6a ***	13
115	Gorilla Wall	E3 5c *	5

	Climb name	Grade	x

116	Gorilla Wall Direct	E4 5c *	2
117	Sandy	none 6b *
118	Evil Uncle Quentin	none 5c
119	Shoie McFee	none 5c
120	Overleaning wall	HVS 5a *	4
121	The Notch	D *	66
122	Tree wall	HVS 5b	3
123	Arcograph	none 5c
124	Arco	VS 4c *	2
125	Terrace Wall	D	7
126	Delilah	HVS 5b *	1
127	Why, Why, Why?	XS 6a
128	Betrayed by a Women	HVS 5c **	2
129	Short Back and Sides	E3	2
130	Samson's Wall	E2 5c *	4
131	Greenteeth Groove	S 4a
132	Black Wall	HS 4b *	7
133	C.B. Crack	VD *	16
134	C.B. Wall	VD *	13
135	The Squirm	VD	8
136	Spare Moment	S	2
137	Double Trouble	E4 5c ***	1
	LOWER WEST BUTTRESS
139	Cloister Traverse	S 4a	13
140	Chromium Crack	E2 5c *	28
141	Golden Pillar	E1 5b **	95
142	The Overhanging Crack	VS 4c *	69
143	Agag	VS 4c **	47
144	Cadaver Eyes	XS 6b *
145	Magical Charm	E5 6a *	4
146	CFK	E4 6a **	7
147	Morgue Slab	E2 5b ***	41
148	Mogadon's Good for You	E3 5c *	2
149	Necrophiliac	E5 6a *	5
150	Dog on a string	E4 6c **	4
151	Time Regained	E7 6c *	3
152	Beatnik	E6 6b ***	18
153	240 Volt Shocker	E6 6c *	9
154	Twin Scoops	E1 5c **	63
155	The Gangway	VS 4b **	45
156	Grooved Slab	VS 4a ***	153
157	The Brush Off Direct	E4 6a *	13
158	The Brush Off	E4 5c ***	33
159	The Brush Off Direct Finish	E6 6b *	7
160	It'd Be Alright If It Was Cold	E6 **
161	Jim's Chimney	E3 6a **	14
162	Little by Little	S 4a *	171
163	Oyster Slab Super Direct	HS 5a *	26
164	Oyster Slab Direct	VS 4b *	34
165	Oyster Slab Route III	VS 5b *	18
166	Trojan Crack	S 4a	19
167	Trojan Nose	S 4a	8
168	Waterloo Wall	E4 5c *	1
169	Fragile Wall Direct	E4 6a	4
170	Fragile Wall	E3 5c **	20
171	Daniel	E2 5c *	21
172	Wood's Climb	HVS 5a ***	123
173	The Unknown Arete	XS *	1
174	Party Blues	E4 6b *	2
175	Unknown	XS *	1
176	My Mum Song/Non-Stop Dancing	E6 6c **	4
177	Greenteeth Gully	M	55
178	Swings	HVS 5a	9
179	Greenteeth Crack	HS 4b	47
180	Dinnerplate Crack	S 4b **	105
181	Ho Ho Ho	E3 6a	5
182	Twin Caves Crack	S 4b **	136
183	Flake Innominate	E2 5c *	10
184	Flake Crack	HVS 5a ***	276
185	Licentious Jug	E5 6a *	9
186	Foolish Finish	E4 5c *	9
187	Flake Wall	E5 6a ***	20
188	Black Hole Arete	E5 6b **	3
189	Calcutta Wall	E4 5c **	2
190	Eliminate 1	E1 5b ***	121
191	Cinemascope	E2 6a/5c+ *	5
192	Easy Chimney	M	45
193	The Wendigo	E3 5c **	10
194	End Crack	S 4b	68
195	The Parasol	VS 5a	7
196	The Umbrella	E2 5c *	11
197	The Parapluie	E1 5b *	7
198	The Wart	E1 5b *	7
199	Angels Face	E1 5b	9
200	Ape's Crack	HVS 5b	4
201	Pathfinder	E3 6a *	8
202	Central Rib	VD *	5
203	Jim's Chimney	E3 6a **	4
204	Jugged Forest	E2 5c **	4
205	Gaz's Gapeing Girdle	V2	1
206	Left Arete	V0 4b	4
207	Thin Crack	V0 4b *	4
208	Diagonal Crack	V0 *	4
209	The Pinch	V0 4c	3
210	The Mantle	VB *	4
211	The Nose (sit start)	V1 5b *	8
212	The Step	V1 5a *	6
213	Green Step	V1 5b	5
214	Green Wall	VB *	4
215	Speckled Hen	V2 5b	2
216	The Groove	VB **	5
217	The Beak	V0+ 5a	4
218	The Niche	V1 5a	4
219	Bitter	V0 4c	4
220	Crank It	V1 5a	5
221	Harold's Wall	V3 6b **	3
222	Liverpool Lady Boys	E6 6c **	1
223	Roll Out the Barrel *	V3	1
224	Oliver *	V3
225	Pocket Wall *	V3	1
226	Three Left Hands *	V2	1
227	The Arch *	V1	1
228	Artful Dodger *	V4
229	The Anvil Intergrale *	E1 5b ***	2

* Climbs listed in red are waiting to be checked by a crag moderator, and may not be accurate.

Joe Brown (Capel Curig)
Betwys y Coed, GWYNEDD
www.joe-brown.com

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Access notes
Lies directly above the town of Helsby: park there and make an "exhausting" scramble up the hillside.
Read more... Regional Access notes are available from the BMC.

Classifieds
Find Classifieds near to this crag (Indoor Walls, Outdoor Shops, Accommodation, etc)

Moderator Updates to this page are checked by UKC volunteer Ian Jones

USER FEEDBACK

such a waisted crag, so much to be done here and no 1 to climb with... loads fo protection up the top for those workin routes or intending top ropes.. i actually like helsby although its quite green
phil_freeman

- 19/Feb/10

flake crack was my second lead getting off the pillar at the bottom is hard but once done the route is fab allan
ashaw - 19/Jun/06

Agree with above comments, but as Alan Rouse said in his 1976 guide, top roping is acceptable here on the longer and harder routes because of 'the general lack of suitable protection and the occasionally unreliable nature of the rock'. However, he also said that when you get to know the place 'you can derive great pleasure from soloing'. So be careful but have fun!
Pekkie - 17/Jul/05

Yes, a really excellent place to climb but be aware that the rock can be quite brittle and at times, holds do break - I know. Good place to learn footwork.
Paul H - 13/Jun/05

The crag boasts some endless classics with all difficulties of climbing. Many people forget that there is a pretty good low level bouldering above the crag. They are no more than 2.5 metres tall but there are some really technical routes, there are enough to make a short film about (which is what we are doing!). Its also a great place to learn the basics of bouldering seeing as you aren't going to get hurt if you fall from any height. check it out.
Michael Gee - 03/Apr/04

Since the last guidebook, with more modern descriptions and E grades, there has been a resurgence of interest in the crag as a whole and in particular in leading. With careful consideration many of the routes can be adequately protected and can be of as good a quality as found on more popular crags
Mark Hounslea - 13/Feb/03

A fine crag to develop finger strength
alan edmonds - 11/Feb/03

What about Colin Kirkus
Andy Clare - 23/Jan/03

An absolutely fantastic place to climb, and really doesn\'t get the attention it deserves. Climbs are of all difficulties Severe-E6/7. I mean, look at the people that climbed there - Alan Rouse, Hugh Banner, Chris Bonington. Timelessly classic. A great place to build up confidence and very easily accessible
Jon Cooke - 17/Jul/02

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