UKC

What a sorry state this fine valley is in. The crags are vegetated and becoming overgrown. Yolande no longer keeps the cafe open late due to lack of demand. 

Please drag yourselves away from the dubious and dangerous delights of Cumbria's most popular crag. Let's return the valley to its former glory before it returns to nature. 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

What a fine state this fine valley is in. The crags are vegetated and the bio diversity is improving. Yolande no longer keeps the cafe open late due to lack of demand. 

Please keep to the dubious and dangerous delights of Cumbria's most popular crag. And leave the other crags for adventourous people to explore in peace and quiet. 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

I have say I was quite surprised to be pulling ferns and sweeping mud off the 2 star VDiff Quayfoot Buttress in the middle of the season. I haven’t climbed it for a few years, but it’s 2min from the car park. If this isn’t getting traffic it’s a worry for more remote crags.

In reply to J1234:

Good point, well made. Shame about the cafe though. 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

What is Cumbria's most popular crag please?

In reply to overdrawnboy:

Shepherds, (I think).

In reply to sbc23:

I thought I got them all last week, must have missed a few...nice route though and a lot cleaner than it used to be, unusually, it never used to have stars, and I never did it before.... 

In reply to Danm79:

If only it was, the cafe would still be open for post work cake! 

Bram Crag Quarry is to blame, there has been quite an impact on Borrowdale since its development. 

In reply to J1234: whipping boy has been going on about this for a couple of years and I have to say I had fallen under the spell of evening bolt clipping at bram  and so was a bit dismissive . 5 minutes from the car , loads of mostly good quality mid grade clip up s , lower offs with crabs , quick drying , evening sun..... However my regular bram partner rather selfishly departed for the sport crag in the sky and this year  I ve had to return to the delights of the valley and dust down the rack .  I've climbed on all the usual suspects this year ....falcon , quayfoot, black  ....and they are all going back to nature .while  I sort of sympathise with the view that quieter crags are a good thing , lots of very good routes really are going back to nature and without a helping hand will become unclimbable . Hopefully all it will take is everybody doing a bit of "gardening " every time they are out . 10 /  20 minutes , occasionally a bit more . Not much to ask is it ? 

 

In reply to mike123:

All of Borrowdale could go to jungle if we could have Alec back, point him at the yummy mummies in down jackets and let him go... 

In reply to Presley Whippet:

agree, as you know a few of us went to Bleak How Thursday night and I was surprised how dirty Front Runner and Brush Off were. We cleaned out the nut placements but must remember to put a brush in next time.

In reply to Presley Whippet:

I hadn't climbed an awful lot in the valley before moving up to the Lakes last year - been to Shepherd's, Black, Reecastle, Lower Falcon. The first 3 excellent crags are never going to really suffer because they're fantastic crags which will always attract climbers.

Since moving up I've been to a couple of the others like Quayfoot, Bowderstone, Bleak How, Goat. Quayfoot was busy and clean, Goat Crag is amazing but is never going to be very popular because their just aren't sufficient numbers of climbers wanting to climb bold multi-pitch E-grade routes. This is a bit of a shame, as I'd love stuff like The Voyage and Bitter Oasis to be clean and chalked, but the easier routes like Praying Mantis and the fantastic Tumbleweed were perfectly clean enough when I did them. Getting lost on Tumbleweed (no chalk of course) was part of the experience! I don't imagine that the Bram crowd are suddenly going to start going to Goat Crag as a nearby alternative...

Bleak How was a right shit-up. Great routes, but what a mess. How we laughed at the guidebook description, "a justifiably popular crag". An unjustifiably neglected crag is what I would call it. Fat Charlie's was perfectly clean though - lovely rock!

I've still got loads of crags to explore, e.g. Steel Knots, Upper Heron, that one with Slab Happy, etc, etc, and I will be prepared for them to be dirty. I also have designs on cleaning up certain neglected classics in the valley when I can organise partners for such an adventure. It's an incredible place to climb with a crag for every mood. Especially if that mood happens to be hacking your way through vertical braken to a crag that hasn't been climbed on in twenty years!

So, I don't think there's a problem at the popular crags, but the less popular ones would benefit from more traffic. Being realistic, they're not going to get it. Trad climbing takes a bit of effort, especially in the Lakes. Many climbers prefer the convenience and pure physical difficulty of sport and bouldering - personally I find it soulless and unfulfilling but that's just my personal taste. What we have is some classic, popular crags with some of the best trad climbing you'll find anywhere, e.g. the "sporty" routes at Reecastle and the beautiful accessible multi-pitch classics of Black Crag. Then there are scores of hidden, neglected crags with a lifetime of climbing to explore for those prepared to put in the effort. Yes, I would love it if everything was clean and chalked up, but the only way to get that to happen would be to stick bolts in them - I would rather keep them as beautiful adventurous places to explore, albeit requiring a little bit of effort and maybe a stiff nylon brush.

In reply to Presley Whippet:

I don't think you can blame BCQ, for less climbers on Trad, (although I don't go there due to the poor bolting), I was climbing in Buttermere today on High Crag and most  routes are very dirty there too, sadly....

In reply to Dave Ferguson:

And that's after us cleaning a lot off both routes a week before!