UKC

This week I paid a visit to one of my old favourites, Dovestones Edge (Greenfield). After a very sweaty flog up there I was glad to find a nice cool breeze. Being alone and climbing solo I restricted myself to the easier routes, June Climb, Answer Crack, Question Mark (superb fist jamming), and the top pitch of Tower Ridge. It is maybe 25 years since I was last here and I had forgotten just how good these climbs are. However I was a little unnerved my the amount of lichen on the rock. I had to do a lot of dusting off to feel safe. These crags could do with a lot more traffic. Why do so few folk come here? Yes it is a bit of a walk but in my opinion that only adds to the pleasure. Especially in this hot weather the moorland crags can be refreshingly cool. Come on people get out there!

On a sad note I was shocked at the fire damage on my back over Ashway Gap. Over quite a large area everything has gone. Just dust and rocks left. 

I was up on Rolling Gate last weekend, nicely shaded and breezy on a grimly warm day, perfect for cruising up the many pleasant routes up to VS, and we didn't see anyone all day! Dovestones has been on the list for a while, looks great!

A great place to climb. Interesting climbs on excellent rock. I have not been for a while as I cannot walk very far at the moment.

A factor against going there may be the lack of parking facilities? Car park has always been busy with walkers, families and this may have been exacerbated due to Covid.

Lucky enough to live 3 miles from Dovestones and it's one of my favourite 'get away and have a nice lonely walk' places (so I'm happy not to advertise it to other people too much, hahahaha)

I don't know the names if the bits too well...Is Ashway Gap the bit where the reservoir meets the other reservoir (Is it Yeomans Hey?) and you can cross between the two?  The bit where the spillway tunnel is? I took a walk up there last week and it's a bit of a mess alright.

Might head over there this afternoon and scrabble my way up Indians Head and across to chew reservoir.  My legs need a bit of a stretch.

Have a like for giving that crag its "native" name 

If you want to park at the reservoir arrive early. If you can't do that walk in from Greenfield. The crag is worth it.  For those looking for lower grades it's one of the best crags in the peak.

This is our look at the crag including a fair few lines not in the definitive guide.

http://offwidth.uptosummit.com/ravenstones&dovestones.html

Ashway Gap is to the left of Dovestone's Edge and Quarry, where the water chute comes out of the hillside. Was a shame to witness the fire, but pretty inevitable given the amount of people turning up after the lockdown was lifted. Thankfully there has been far less fires this year in the area.

Here's a photo of the fire showing it's location with Dovestone's Edge and Quarry in it.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/21913923@N03/49968136402/in/dateposted/

Just thought I should highlight that this doesn’t display while using Safari on an IPad.  I just get a grey background.  Nothing else unfortunately.

Yeah, the waterchute section was where I thought it was, cheers. Good to be able to put names to it!  I like dragging my backside up that bit of hill. Nice and relatively devoid of people when you get up there.

You need a Flash enabled browser (I use Puffin). We set it up like that to stop it being misused as it's it's effectively a guide to nearly all the most popular lower grade routes and bouldering on Peak grit.

What constitutes "misuse"? using it?

Not buying the guidebooks (definitives or selectives) we volunteered for and that the pages link to. It's a supplement used by bumblies, soloists, obscurists, grade obsessives and lower grade bouldering specialists. It also compares grades across most guidebooks and back through history (useful if you have just the one modern or older guide).

Tom is it not one of the prows that in profile looks as if a North America head dress? Ie one rock . 

On names, why is it Dovestone(S) as to the best of my knowledge Chew only has one rock called Dovestone  a bit like saying The Peaks !! Whoop I said the P’s word 

No, from the right angle looking up at the crag  the entire formation resembles a supine Indian chief's head with a substantial head -dress.

If I remember rightly Freddies F is the chin and the block above Wristcutters L is a fairly aquiline nose,

Most locals wouldn;t be familaier with the details of a single prow but picnicking or similar near the Sugarloaf would give a good view of the Indian's profiled Head.

I thought Dovestones was a wonderful place. It took me several attempts and 30 years climbing to get there.

One hot summer a couple of years back, made an early morning start from Scotland and arrived to find the crag deserted. Had a great time on Tower Ridge, Answer Crack and Nasal Buttress (hard crux!). Didn't fancy straying away from the classics as the whole place felt a bit underused. Amazing routes and setting though!

I carried on over to Raven stones for the Monolith and finished up at Hobson Moor inn the sunset. Tighes Arete was easier than those tough moorland Severes. 

Next day I was back out with the curlews and scaring myself silly on the perfect Upper Tor Wall before heading over to Langdale for a couple of routes on Scout Crag. My arms were wrecked at this point and I struggled to let off the handbrake for the drive home.

Chew Valley is a magical place. I look forward to getting back again.

I took a walk up the service road from Dovestones to Chew Reservoir just after the "beast from the East". and it was great.  Absolutely deserted as it was terrifically windy and some of the snowdrifts were so deep I had to pretty much crawl on my stomach to get across them but when I get to the wall of the reservoir the sight was amazing.  Reservoir completely frozen, howling wind, and the most forbidding grey sky I'd ever seen.  I can't remember a single bit of actual colour in entire scene.

When it's been unbearably hot and sticky like over the past week or two, I try and imagine myself there again.  I took a couple of quick videos of it as a reminder.  

I'm guessing you weren't around when the house was there? 

Nah, only been in the area for about four years. Lot of old photographs on the local Facebook group. Didn't know there was a house up there though. 

It was still standing (but unoccupied) when I started climbing.

You can read more about it ( and all sorts of other stuff) on the excellent website created by the late Geoff Frost. 

It's called "Dovestone Heritage"

Are there any browsers which aren't removing Flash support in December? Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari will all have it removed entirely. The Puffin website says support will be dropped at the same time as the others do.

Well, I did not know that,  I have spent not hours,  but some time looking for the Indian, funny how you can make the rocks fit what your looking for, I do it all the time with a guide book! 

I have and I'm sure I've  seen one in one of the prows, a head maybe it was a drug fueled ..

on names Sugarloaf   [I am a pedant] is this the rock between Brordstone trig point and Alderman  close to the gas main ? Ps  do you think its time to tip big sugarloaf  for some new problems ?

good link Dovestone Heritage you sight

Sugarloaf is the large cube shaped boulder at the side of Chew Brook at the point.where you strike up wards towards Wimberry.

Yes know the one , the one that looks as if a good push and it would roll over 

The OS map 1 2500 marks a auger loaf  on the  alderman to Broad stone trig point  

 I did say I was a pendant ,,,,,,,,,

I think if you're a swinger there are other adult websites that might be more suitable for you.

Never noticed the other one on the map till you pointed it out!

You need to look at it from across the valley, then it becomes a little more obvious. Probably still easier if you have some one with you who knows what to look for, then you get that "aha" moment when you see it. Basically, said Native American is lying on his back looking up at sky.

American is lying on his back looking up at sky.

Oh Ek  I hope he hasn’t been shot by a white imperialist   Settlers   Somebody will partition to have the crag removed

Tom do I swing Only if I drop  on an overhang

Pleased to hear it.

Glad you liked the Heritage site. He was a nice bloke, worked with my brother a lot of years.

The Main Outcrop (continued):
[29 Ravenstones Stomach Traverse -*** [-; ; S] 
[30 Pulpit Ridge E1 5a*** [HVS 4c**; VS; =; =] (HVS 4c**; HVS 4c***) 
33 The Drainpipe HS 4a*** [S***; S; =; =] (HS 4b**; S 4a***) possible S 4a** 
The classic offwidth corner crack goes more easily than you might expect thanks to help from useful holds inside and outside. Can be a bit dirty but climbers are good pipe cleaners! 
[34 Unfinished Arete VS 4c* [VS 4c; VS; =; =] (VS 4c*; = 
[37 Undun Crack VS 4c* [VS 4c; VS; =] (VS 4c; =) 
38 Slime Crack M [=; =; =; =] (D; =) 
39 Little Kern Knotts S 4a* [S; =; =; =] (S 4a; =)

Pulpit Ridge is one of those tough ones to grade, right on the cusp between HVS 4c and E1 5a, a bit like Bengal Buttress at the Roaches. I think E1 4c is about right

 I think the crux move might be 5a but when you're engaged in it , what the papers say becomes an irrelevance. 

What a man he was.

We climbed those many thousands of routes and problems and made notes and produced a website for free as a public service (as well as contributing directly to many guidebooks). I'm pretty confident that old Flash sites like ours will be viewable by some software for at least a decade more. It's a lot of work to keep producing new versions of sites compatible with latest software. How would you suggest we best do that?

In reply to gravy

I don't get why you cut and pasted from our site... is it to show you can (if so we know that, our security was more the slog of doing that)? It illustrates my point on utility.. the grades in square brackets are all the definitive guidebook grades (the round brackets give the Rockfax grades). The rare lack of comments means we didn't climb so many routes on that area during that period of guidebook work (unlucky with conditions).

Please don't take this personally, it is directed at ukc as a whole. 

Countless threads bemoaning the increase in users of the outdoors juxtaposed against complaints like this. 

Make your mind up. 

It's pretty easy to explain. For gritstone, most climbers want the crags enjoyed responsibly (which includes avoiding honeypotting) and on gritstone most routes need more traffic (especially in the high moors). A greedy few still would prefer no else one knows.

On the more general subject, covid has brought a lot of new people to the UK outdoors. The most troublesome litterers will probably return to their usual haunts but I hope some more respectful newbies stay. I was at Hadrian's wall two days back and the ranger at the carpark said the parking demographic had completely transformed with a lot of associated problems but some positives. Parks and monuments are not just for the middle class.

I was just warning that nobody will be able to access it as of December in case you weren't aware - it's your site, if you're happy to see it fade away that's entirely your business.

However to answer your question, the best way is to follow open web standards.

I'm assuming you're meaning Pulpit Ridge and Arthur Birtwistle. Here are pictures I took of both for my Peak book in 1997 (using Provia film on a Fuji 645 and a Hasselblad):

https://www.gordonstainforthbelper.co.uk/images/ABirtwistle1997x.jpg
https://www.gordonstainforthbelper.co.uk/images/SteveonPulpitRidge.jpg

It's just fruitless to try for "publish but make it difficult to copy". Go closed or go open but don't fool yourself that the middle ground is possible. It took me longer to turn flash on than it would have taken me to scrape the entire content. Making a pain in the arse of yourself is not a noble cause.

I have the book, Gordon, and enjoyed your interview with  one of my heroes.

(I also liked the inclusion of Ebenezer Elliot in your book since he is another local hero, buried in our churchyard)

Yes, I feel very honoured to have been able to meet him. And some of the other great pioneers: Elliott, Harding and Joe. All gone now.

Got it now. I'd missed some of those key changes. 2020 has been a bit distracting. I will need to look afterall. Quite a few of the climbers it's aimed at find the content useful ... I find it utterly bizzarre that leaving an old Flash resource to run for free could lead to accusations of being a pain in the arse

Well, you choose it to be this format to be a pain in the first place*!

* I know you'll say it was to defend the rights of guidebook publishers or some such...

I see you have The Changeling at VS 4b.

It completely terrified me when I did it 30 years ago when I'd just started climbing again. Maybe HVS 😃

Needs another attempt.

That's the latest BMC grade. We didn't climb it at the time (we always include comments if we have). It's at least VS... the Rockfax HS grade is nonsense.