A significant rockfall has occurred at Blacknor Central in Portland, likely affecting routes in the Pregnant Pause (6a+) Area.
Leanne Coomber witnessed the rockfall. She told UKC:
'As far as I am aware no one was injured and the people climbing below at the Diamond Slabs appeared to be OK as we could see that they continued climbing. However, I do believe it is likely to have taken out some routes on Blacknor Central. I was climbing on the Battleship Cliffs at the time and the noise was incredibly loud. Quite scary watching it fall - I'm just so pleased no one got hurt.'
This post will be updated once full details are established.
UPDATE: Mick Ward kindly ventured down to the site to report back -
'There has certainly been a rockfall, seemingly quite localised and, from what I can see, no routes were affected. Specifically, some blocks about twenty feet to the right of the start of Valerian have collapsed. There was the usual mess on the path. I've cleared up the worst of this and heaved some blocks into the vegetation below. They should be (relatively!) OK here. The path is perfectly passable. I've been all the way round to Monsoon Malabar to check there aren't any other rockfalls. There are none.'
Comments
Anyone know if this makes the path even sketchier? Can you approach from the north?
Damn! Was planning a trip down to Portland in a couple of weeks and was intending to visit Blacknor.
Is there a definitive list somewhere of all of the areas of Portland that have been affected by rockfall in recent years? (i.e. since the last guidebook was published) I know quite a lot was lost in the storms a few years back.
I know on some of the UKC crag pages there is info on rockfall, but you have to check every crag individually which is a bit of a pain. A definitive list of crags, routes and access would be really helpful.
Cheers
Lee
This will be localized. Even the the last very major event during the storms that moved many many tonnes of earth and rock only affected a very small fraction of the routes on Portland. You can see which routes were affected by that event here Blacknor Far South and Battleship Edge
Portland is inherently quite unstable as the limestone is not sitting on a firm foundation, also the rock quality can vary a lot and being UK limestone can shed small to medium blocks when climbing. Most the larger scale erosion occurs during storms / very wet periods.
It sounds like the rockfall was at almost exactly the midpoint between the North and South access paths, certainly everyone has a different opinion on whether it is quicker to get to Pregnant Pause by the North or South route, so while the path may be blocked/destroyed at some point, access to all remaining routes should still be possible from one end or the other.
I've been down to have a thorough look - and a much longer think!
There has certainly been a rockfall, seemingly quite localised and, from what I can see, no routes were affected. Specifically, some blocks about twenty feet to the right of the start of Valerian have collapsed. There was the usual mess on the path. I've cleared up the worst of this and heaved some blocks into the vegetation below. They should be (relatively!) OK here. The path is perfectly passable. I've been all the way round to Monsoon Malabar to check there aren't any other rockfalls. There aren't.
So - not as bad as feared. However, as Curly Stevo rightly notes above, the rock on Portland is prone to varying degrees of instability. In my view, Blacknor is one of the most affected crags. (The bottom of Fond Farewell collapsed some time back.) Crudely speaking, the farther left you go from Return to Roissey area to Pregnant Pause, the more on your guard you need to be re the initial bands of rock. (Though last time I did PP, about a year ago, it was OK.) Wearing a helmet is strongly advised. This morning, I noticed a big block by the first staple on Valerian which doesn't appear to be held up by anything. Nearby, the rope to access The Viper's Tale/Narural Born Drillers is looking a bit dodgy. There's a massive perched block to the left of the finish of One Fine Day, which again doesn't seem to be held up by anything. Must have been there for centuries but... On the other side of the island, the bands of rock above the Neddyfields bouldering wall are in a horrifying state. Why they haven't collapsed, years ago, is beyond me.
I know none of this is selling Portland! Thousands of people have good times here with no problems. But you need to be on your guard - particularly on the west side, particularly on this part of Blacknor.
Re the initial report, I know what velocity falling rocks have when they reach the Diamond slab etc, below Blacknor. To the people who witnessed the blocks coming off, it must have been absolutely terrifying. And always better to report stuff than not.
Ironically, on the way out, an empty cider can bounced down, as though to remind us of the other danger - the local scrotes slinging stuff off.
As the great John Lennon wisely wrote:
'You know it ain't easy you know how hard it can be...
Mick