Back in 2000 Alan Cameron-Duff comprehensively documented the bouldering at Brimham and the surrounding crags as a section of his Rockfax Yorkshire Gritstone Bouldering (published 2001 – currently out of print) – a stalwart effort. Since then there have been a number of great guides to the area though all have tended to be selective.
Last year, Pete Jackson, one of the Unknown Stones team, hit upon the idea of producing a free update that attempts to include all that has been done and to introduce a different way of describing them. Thus began a rather mammoth task of producing a range of area by area circuits including all that is good, bad and ugly. In an attempt to save the concentration on a relatively small number of problems we’ve used a star rating in order to point out some of those hidden gems that have become ‘lost’ over the years.
A big problem at Brimham is the discrepancies found in the grades – the rock is soft and holds change with use plus the nature of the rock is such that newer contortions often result in different ways of doing the problems are found. We’ve attempted to go with current thinking but acknowledge that more input is needed and there is much more to be done on this front.
The old Rockfax listed many problems as (for instance) Northern Edges Boulder 21 Problem 8. All of those problems have been given names and it looks as if these are now being used. If they are incorrect then let us know but remember, many problems, even some classics, had been done many times before they were recorded.....
The topos can be found at https://unknownstones.com/. Covered are the main areas at Brimham Rocks, Keeper Crack Area, Hare Heads, Little Brimham, Bat Buttress, Crow Crag and Plantation Crack Area. Please note the access arrangements before visiting. We hope you find them useful. They are PDFs and won’t cost you anything. Each one has been kept simple so that they are cheaply printed and/or can be easily read on a phone (and anyway we don’t own expensive software).
If you spot any glaring errors just let us know.
