UKC

Morning all,

I know this has been asked in the past but that was a good while ago and I was wondering if anything has changed.

Does anyone know what the access is like at Redmire at the moment? Is it still just a case of "low profile"?

Always been keen to go there but never had the chance, so figured I'd get up there if it's OK.

Thanks

Frank

Maybe email "bloke on a rope" as he and his brother 'climbster" seem to climb there quite often. Or Emilio Bachini as he has recently put up a few new lines.

I have driven past once to have a look and there where plenty of No Climbing signs about and barbed wire plus your car is easily seen and the road. Does look good though and the new sport routes sound worthwhile.

You can drive a bit further up the road and park where the Apedale track is then walk back to the quarry. It's possible to stay out of sight from the road at least until you're on the upper sections of the nearest routes.

Thanks, will do.

Thanks for that, I figured if I did go I would be parking elsewhere and trying to be discrete regardless. Handy to know about the parking by the Apedale Track.

Hello Frankie.

Access as far as I’m aware is still a great deal unknown.

From the main entrance it’s pretty obvious that climbing isn’t allowed but I’ve seen the local gamekeeper numerous times in the last couple of months, both on my own and in a small group and we haven’t had any issues.

I think as long as no one is shooting at the quarry and the party you go with are quiet and considerate then access shouldn’t be an issue.

The whole topic is actively on my mind and something I’d like to discuss further, the quarry is a great place hopefully with a healthy future for local climbing and in the community. 

Thanks, that's good to hear.

I'd like to think that in an ideal world, by being considerate and courteous, climbers could gain a good reputation with land owners of such places and gain access by gaining and maintaining good relations.

Hope access does become official in the future, because this looks like a lovely place and I love the whole area up there, but if visited in the mean time I'd be looking to keep a low profile.

Good evening,

I just popped over to Redmire after work to both retrieve a fixed line I left up over night and put some hangers in an old bolted route.

Unlucky timing on the way out meant  an unhappy police officer was just passing. It seemed like there was nothing he could do from what he said other than report me to Tarmac.

I’m feel it won’t have any negative effect on access but I’d be very keen to talk to someone about how access could become a thing in the future. If anyone has any suggestions or ideas how to do this I’d really appreciate hearing them.

My first point of call to email my local BMC rep and then go from there. 

Thanks for the update, it will be interesting to see how that progresses.

Do you reckon he was actually likely to bother reporting you, i.e. by the time he got in work the next day when Tarmac were available, maybe he'd just decide it wasn't worth the effort.

I guess technically, you were entering land with no access signs but it's not like you were going in there with malicious intent.

I doubt it or that anything serious will come from it.

That part of the quarry is no longer active and won’t be in the future either, as they don’t have a licence and it backs onto MOD land.

I feel like Tarmac are just showing due diligence, so if anyone ever got hurt, it can be said measures we put in place to show it was dangerous and they weren’t meant to be there.

Hopefully they’ve got other things to worry about, plus the active part of the quarry is over a mile away. 

Another interesting experience this morning. Got escorted off the quarry but a nice chap doing the monthly fence checks. 

That's interesting, maybe he's checking the fences after any reports of climbers being in there. Chances are he's not that fussed, just doing his job, but was wondering if he ends up reporting back etc whether Tarmac would start stepping up their patrols etc as they know climbers have been going in there.

I was oddly just looking at maybe heading up there today. I'm now wondering if I'd be better going on a weekend when there's probably more staff about.

Do you reckon access is still feasible or is it worth just not going there for a while, to help keep stay off the radar?

Hello again, sorry for the slow reply. Did you make it down?

I popped over for a couple of hours to retrieve a rope (I didn’t bother telling the chap yesterday about it) and put some bolts in a line. No problems though.

Tarmac or Cemex (I don’t remember which) have a licence to quarry North of the quarry where Cemex are working, North again of Leyburn.

Being in or close to The National Park a friend thinks they might be trying to keep the NYNPA happy but also by what the chap yesterday said they do foot checks once a month and vehicle checks about once a week.

But all was good today. Maybe head over on an evening if you can, when it’s out of normal working hours. Plus you get great light, awesome sunsets and amazing views. How many crabs can you see a castle from? 

Went there yesterday, and bumped into BlokeOnARope (nice chap). Was lovely and peaceful,  even saw a mountain biker in there. Did some of the routes that you bolted and had a good time.

Had no issues with access, barely saw any cars at all even driving past on the road. I figured you must have just been really unlucky to have been spotted.

Nice work with the bolting by the way.

Cheers

Frank

That’s great to hear, what did you climb?

I haven’t finished fixing the ropes up to the scree ledge yet and I’ve got some mallions to put on a bunch of anchors, which was my intention on Wednesday.

I think the weekend is probably a good time to go down, as long as no one is shooting there, which I have encountered before.

I did Winning Streak, yellow hats and also the three off the scree ledge.

Admittedly I'm more of a test man at heart but the bolted lines seemed ok too.

Sorry, that meant to say "trad man".

Hello Karl, I hope all is well.

I always thought what you’ve said might be the case, after piecing together guidebook descriptions, photo captions and comments by people.

It took me well over a year to add Indrec Direct Finish (E2 5c) to the UKC database because of the confusion. I almost feel like it should be renamed now it’s confirmed the lines are completely independent.

Emilio. 

Yes, re-naming would avoid confusion and shouldn't be a problem as a guidebook hasn't been produced there for years. Looking through my notes was interesting as I reminded myself of the last unclimbed line I was working on there over 20 years ago. I got most of the way up, enough to estimate a grade of E3 5c/6a-ish, but it needed a bit more cleaning out of runner placements plus a bit more stamina than I could muster just then. I'll message you directly with some more details as it's unlikely I'll be back and it was a very good line that doesn't seem to be described. Cheers, Karl.

I’ll have a think for a name. If anyone has any suggestions please speak up.

I look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks, Emilio.