UKC

Hi, the tides look good this Wednesday, but the swell is predicted by magic seaweed to be 4.5m from the west, with a northern wind. For those with the knowledge, does this mean the waves will be running up between the fins? Or the routes fail to dry as they will be soaked from earlier in the day when the tide was high? Go, or best avoid?

Thanks.

The wind is cross/ offshore so there shouldn't be too much spray on the crag.

With just that forecast, it might have been  ok, but I would suspect it will be in poor condition from the enormous storm the day before. 

The tide usually goes out far , so even with a slight storm surge and 3m waves .most of the routes should be approachable . Those waves will go far up past all the routes at high tide however 

As for dry , I wouldn't know for most routes but imagine you'd be fine for the less tidal routes . Certainly lunakhod , clawtrack and the smile have straightforward starts that are climbable if wet and will be dry after first 5m. 

Hi Dan, it doesn't look too wet and/or windy on Tuesday on the met office forecast? 

Ollie

I was thinking about sea conditions - Tuesday has even bigger waves and a strong onshore wind - the bottom half of the crag will be drenched at high tide. 

Things can dry out well with a bit of wind, but I suspect conditions will not be optimal. I don't claim to be a local expert on this, but I have been there about ten times. 

There's very little in the way of seepage on the fins usually and the first 2-3 m of each route which gets a soaking every high tide tends to dry out quickly, so I think it ought to be OK.

Thanks for your help people. 

Coronary Country here we come! 

As Mark says, the bottom 2-3m of the fins always get soaked by the high tide. But once the tide has ebbed sufficiently the rock dries very quickly. I've been there a number of times just after high tide when the bases of the routes have been like verglas but 30-45 minutes of sun later the bases of the southern facing routes have been dry enough to climb. If the swell is really big it might cause sea spray in the air and could also reduce the climbing window when the tide's racing in (and it races in there because the shore is so flat and the tidal range is high). Have fun.

How did you get on?

Thanks for asking. We ended up with 8 climbers at the crag, which for such a crag mid week was great to see. There was some success and much failure and running away