Climber Injured At New Yorkshire Sport Crag

13th July, 2009

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Ben Hirst on Practically Everything, F7a, Castlebergh Crag © Dave Musgrove — Ben Hirst on Practically Everything, F7a, Castlebergh Crag
© Dave Musgrove, Aug 2009

Woman Stretchered From Castlebergh Crag 1 Day After Opening:

Castlebergh Crag was officially opened on Saturday the 11th of July. On Sunday the 12th a 40 year old woman was hit by a falling rock, and was stretchered from the crag by the local Cave Rescue Organisation.

The rock was dislodged by a climber on the crag and the woman suffered back injuries and was taken to hospital by ambulance.

The venue is small and, like many Yorkshire limestone cliffs, still has some unstable rock.

"Our initial assessment from the ground was that with just a few days work we could remove the more obviously perched loose blocks and create probably about a dozen reasonable climbs. That was before we checked out the crag by abseil and found just how loose it really was!" commented crag equipper Dave Musgrove in an earlier news report on UKClimbing.

Note: The crag is small and cannot support many teams climbing there at the same time. For this reason it has been asked that climbers try to refrain from all rushing there at once.

UKC News Report on the opening of Castlebergh Crag
UKC Destination Article to Castlebergh Crag

Source: grough.co.uk

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Comments

idiotproof (Buxton MC)

13 Jul, 2009

ooops, any idea which shop/business was responsible for the falling rock!

3leggeddog

13 Jul, 2009

Hold the front page "Overated Manky Limestone Crag in Loose Rock Shocker" I seem to recall posting similar comments not too long ago. My sympathy goes to the lady involved, perhaps those resonsible (here and elsewhere) for overhyping the crag may be a little chastened by this. To the gullible out there in ukc land: Quality mid grade sport climbing in the uk is a myth, newly developed crags will all hold suspect rock and dubious quality climbing. This is partly down to our traditional ethics and partly down to all but the worst venues being worked out. Think before you fall for the media spin.

redsulike

13 Jul, 2009

'Castlebergh Crag above the North Yorkshire town of Settle has been made safe and to be opened as a climbing venue in a unique collaboration between climbers, the council and local businesses.' Made safe? I wouldn't be surprised if you or someone has made themselves liable by saying that. Here I go again, taking a pop at sport climbing; but transfering the approach to indoor wall climbing to the outdoors is fraught with misconception. Climbing is not safe and if you start bolting routes and sponsoring them you are trading a fine line when you encourage others to follow you. Best wishes for a speedy and full recovery to the climber injured.

Bulls Crack

13 Jul, 2009

Hope she's ok. I didn't expect my prediction to occur so soon but not surprising given the nature of the rock.

leathers

14 Jul, 2009

Likewise - hope she was not too badly hurt. Having been there on Sunday, I felt that it was the left hand side that was the loosest, particularly in the lower part. I managed to pull a block about the size of a coffe table book off Town Hall Corner (above the second bolt for the cleaners!). Fortunately it didn't hit anyone and my fall wasn't too bad. I aso did the Anchorman which sported loads of hollow sounding flakes and blocks (none of which I pulled off!) - it badly needs looking at. By comnparison, the right hand side looked more solid.

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