UKC

To the group or club who were climbing at Deep Rake tonight, for future reference, have some awareness for other parties at the crag and act with a modicum of respect and decorum. Don’t totally swamp the crag, dominating literally every route with top ropes and gear. Or if you do, be considerate to other people, allowing fair and even use of the crag. 
 

Did you say anything to them at the time?

Newsflash: crag busy, person annoyed.

For what it's worth, I was there. 3 separate parties as far as I could tell. We were the larger group but no one asked us if they could climb one of the routes we were on but we would have been more than happy to let you have a go on your project if you'd have asked. 

Sorry if we were a bit loud but a lot of us hadn't seen each other in ages and it's a pretty small crag. Just ask to have go on your project next time it's busy?

I was debating it but felt unable to approach the group, as feeling insecure about how to express my thoughts properly without sounding judgemental or confrontational. To be honest, it was so irritating seeing no routes without gear or ropes on them, it was time to leave. 

Luckily you really managed to deliver on being neither judgemental or confrontational with your beautifully finessed opening post.  

Good point. 

I can see how approaching a big group could feel intimidating, I just don't think posting on a public forum is a great way to address the issue. 

We're (hopefully) on our way out of lockdown so I'm not sure you can blame people for meeting up and having fun outdoors. Deep Rake is the closest lime crag to Sheffield so it's probably reasonable to expect it to be busy on a sunny evening, especially since it's only small and full of mid-grade routes. Perhaps try a less known or larger crag if you'd prefer somewhere quieter. Or, as meteale says, ask to have a go on something and I'm sure any reasonable person would oblige!

I was also there this evening and would like to apologise if you felt that you couldn't approach any of the people from my group or the other group at the crag.

However I would add the following:

-Leaving quickdraws in routes is fairly standard practice and it is normal to ask other people for use of their quickdraws.

-There were very few ropes left up, in fact I only remember this being the case on the 7a+, however this route was also free for most of the evening.

-Approaching people and asking if you can have a go on a route can be done in a non-judgemental and confrontational way, in fact, this is the normal way that people do this.

-I believe that it was your dog that was permentally barking and being aggressive to the other dogs at the crag, which was as distressing as a group of people if not more. I don't know if this was unusual for him, but it would be worth considering when attending crags in the future.

Again, apologies if your evening was less enjoyable than you had expected, but I believe there were straight forward and easy ways for everyone to enjoy the crag more and I hope these help you going forward.

Is the issue just that other people had got to the crag first?

I'm guessing your local then, so if its that busy and you don't like to ask to use other people's gear etc, why not just go somewhere else instead for the evening,  there are plenty of other options in the area?

That’s a fair point, as are some of the responses above. On reflection my post was ill considered and sent in a moment of frustration - most likely because I felt unable to climb due to the crag being busy and was being mardy. 

Big of you to admit that   Evening sessions after work can be a bit stressy sometimes when it doesn't go your way. We've all been there. 

'Hey guys, do you mind if we jump on this route [and use your quickdraws]?'