UKC

Someone's been dry-tooling/winter climbing at Garfit Quarry on Hasty Bank. The scratches are all low down and very deep. There's also a fair few scratches up the scrambly section of the Cleveland Way going past the Wainstones.

Winter climbing has its place on the North York Moors, but as it damages the sandstone a lot quicker than rock climbing people generally climb on the outcrops where limited rock climbing occurs.

Cringle Moor offers very good mixed and ice routes and Landslip has been climbed on for a long time in summer and winter. The Latter is less than a quarter of a mile away from Garfit Quarry and offers better mixed stuff.

We all have a right to use the hills, but Crampons and good soft sedimentary routes aren't a sustainable mix. Thanks.

In reply to Franco Cookson:

Nice composition. +1

In reply to Franco Cookson:

Walkers presumably? Many people think that crampons are compulsory for hill walking as soon as the first snowflake settles.

In reply to Toreador: Yes, the Wainstone scratches are purely aesthetic, but that section of path is already very eroded. It might be best if people just walked around the buttress with Psycho syndicate on, up the grass, rather than grappling with very vulnerable sandstone. There seems to be a lot of crampon marks turning up at crags in general now and it's just a little worrying with the rock being so soft in the face of hard metal.

In reply to Franco Cookson: Don't know the area but is the scrambly section used by lots of walkers? If so their trekking poles cause lots of scratching.

In reply to jezb1: You could be correct there, they seemed fairly deep though. The wainstones aren't as scratched as Garfit, but it seemed like a coincidence.