UKC

Ive cycled past this on a few occassions, but wondered what the climbing is like. I heard somewhere that there were easy sports routes on slabs (4s, 5s and 6s), but can't find any topos on the web and both the FRCC and Rockfax guide are quite out of date.

Anyone climbed here recently ?

Is it safe ?

Does it dry quickly ?

Cheers

In reply to Chris the Tall:

The Rockfax and FRCC guides both have said climbs in them.

You may have a problem climbing these now, as someone has nicked the hangers from the last 2 bolts placements. Still, you could always DWS them

In reply to Adam Lincoln:

With the weather forecast for the weekend, that could be a distinct possibility

In reply to Chris the Tall:

The other 2 routes though, Northumbrian VS and Cellar Dwellers are fine, bolts of those last time i looked.

In reply to Chris the Tall:
As Adam said the easy sports routes at the indoor gym (HC) are missing their top hangers, and so are a bit necky at the top (i.e. you'll hit the ground if you fall off) the routes are quite nice though. The routes with the hangers still in place are all 7s. There are a few easy bolted routes in Parrock Quarry on the slabs. They are all in the frcc guide though. I don't know whether anybodys done any more bolting since, but I doubt it.
The inddor gym is almost always dry, the slabs in PQ have always looked a bit green when I've been there though.
Lumps of rock keep falling from the roof of the inddor gym, but you'd be unlucky if they came down whilst you're there. Hope this is of some use,
George.

In reply to Chris the Tall: Yes very annoying when you get there and the bolt hangers are gone (plus you can't see this from the start). Some of the climbs in tilberthwaite Quarry might suit you thou'. Nearly as easy to get to and in the same guide book.

In reply to es:
Can these routes be protected normally?

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Not really

In reply to Adam Lincoln:
So much for the hope that would be a good place to go if showers were expected. I don't mind bold slabs in the dry, but not in the wet and particulary not on slate!

Kendal Wall beckons...

In reply to Chris the Tall:

try dalt quarry as well, if you've not been,

low grade sport routes, short etc. you can pretty much bag the whole crag in a visit,

laterzz

m@

In reply to Chris the Tall:
>the FRCC guide... quite out of date.

Not so really, except about the hangers missing - thanks for the information. Basically Hodge Development peaked just before the guide was published. Since when there have been less than 20 new routes (mainly quite short ones) done and none in recent years. Some of these are in the grade range you mention though, and all the descriptions are available free of charge on the FRCC site at http://www.frcc.co.uk/rock/newroutes/index.htm
as indeed are new route descriptions for all Lake District routes done since the last published guide.

If you have any comments about Lake District climbs (such as missing hangers, wrong grades, stars, descriptions etc) then we really would appreciate it if you could take the time to post a message on the FRCC site notice board at http://www.frcc.co.uk/rock/newroutes/wwwboard.html as it will all go towards making the next guidebook more accurate.

In reply to Stephen Reid -FRCC Guides Editor:
OK, not out of date perhaps, but 9 or 10 yrs old!
I just assumed that bolting low grade routes was a recent thing.

Very useful web site you have there, but might be easier to use if all the new routes for a crag were in one place, rather than seperated by years.

It's a pity the bolts have gone from the easy routes at Hodge - might have been a useful wet weather venue and an alternative for beginers to the likes of Scout crag, Copt Howe etc.

As for Dalt - I notice it doesn't appear to be in either the DDS guide or Borrowdale guide. Then again if I'm going to drive round to Borrowdale I'd probably want to do something in a decent setting anyway.

In reply to Chris the Tall: it's in the borrowdal;e guide, p327 or with better topo's is in mockfax.

In reply to hindu:

In the Rockfax guide for Dalt in mentions that some stepping stones were thinking of being put in the river. This would enable you to park at the bowderstone car park and go over the river. Does anyone know if this has been done? Cheers.

In reply to Chris the Tall:
Went to Hodge on Monday evening, so I can now answer my own question!

The hangers on the final bolts on Old Gym (5) and Sport for all (4+) are indeed missing, but the lower-off is still intact. Not such a problem on Old Gym as it's the third bolt and you're on easy ground. Also, I pulled back the nut on a wire and looped that over the screw-head - might have held a fall!
On Sport for all the missing hanger is more serious - it's the second bolt, you're still on steep ground and I don't think the wire trick would work.
The routes were pleasant enough and dry, but looking upwards you can see a lot of unstable-looking rock to the right.
Some people were on the upper slabs in Parrock(but not the unstable area) and said that despite appearences, they were dry.

In reply to Chris the Tall: Dalt Quarry is on page 327 of the current Borrowdale Guide.

The reason that the Recent Developments are done in 2 year chunks is that this is how the Recent Development Pamphlets are done. As the pamphlet is prepared from the website info it would be a nightmare having to separate it all into two year chunks.

Thanks for the information about the bolts being missing - I'll add it in.

In reply to Stephen Reid -FRCC Guides Editor:

Unless of course you put everything on a database, you could then pull the information off in 2-year chunks for the pamphlets, or everything together for the website. I'm sure Alan would be happy to host such a database for you