UKC

An eagle eyed friend spotted this intriguing photo in an online property sale listing. The house for sale is in a village in the White Peak.

Does anyone know, or would like to speculate, where the notice above the fireplace comes from?

Neil

In case the photo resolution is inadequate, the wording reads:-

'Notice to climbers

Belays

Natural block belays and good nut belays can be found above all the main buttresses.  Please do not damage the crag and create further scars by using pegs.'

A fine addition to any sitting room.

Make a low offer Neil. 

I don't think the crag comes with the house, Pedro

Guessing this must be from the 60s-early 70s, if pegs were still in use but nuts were also already on the scene? Must also have been sited at a biggish crag (“all the main buttresses”) and a popular one, a smaller one probably wouldn’t have warranted such a splendid notice?

PS wild guess, but maybe from the then main access point for Wildcat? Near the White Peak, well frequented and has plenty of “main buttresses”. I can’t remember what the belay possibilities at the top were, but probably more likely to have the “block belays” and nut placements than the steep grassy stuff at the top of a lot of Dovedale crags for instance.

You could make an offer for the notice Neil.... must only be a tiny chance the new buyer would want it.

Rubicon seems the obvious choice, given the history.

Wildcat is mostly tree belays these days, I can't remember any obvious block belays from my visits.

I'm going to suggest it could have been at a grit crag, where peg scars would have been more unsightly. 

Was there a custom of placing peg belays at the top of Millstone when it was an aid venue?

A custom continued into the early days of the free era?

Windgather I think

Excellent. Thought about Windgather but Millstone seems a good shout.

I can't remember any 'block' belays at the top of Millstone.

Harborough/Rainster?

It's likely to be a crag where non-climbers etc walk along the top of the crag, which rules out a number of suggestions above.

Was it at Ravensdale?

If anyone does manage to buy the sign, I feel it would be only appropriate to peg it into your living room wall.

Wouldn't it be better to use four neat bolts rather than some mangled pegs . . . ?

Sorry, I'll get me coat.

Yes, I think Ravensdale is quite a likely candidate as it’s in the White Peak and one or two of the routes did have block belays at the top, IIRC.

It may be that we’re closing in on the answer.

A couple of hours after posting this, I showed the photo to my partner and she suggested a crag without hesitation.  She’s been ‘climbing’ (or do I mean belaying?) there for over 30 years, and the sign, or at least the message, seemed familiar to her….

And this morning, totally independently, a friend sent me a PM suggesting the very same venue.

One poster earlier in the thread has suggested the same venue so, though you can’t see it, I now have 3 independent suggestions of the same venue.

And that venue is……?

Surely the current owner will take it with them, just as they would the rest of their furniture and decorations?

Depends... I've seen quite a few possessions sold alongside house sales for a variety of reasons, from the very sad to space issues in downsizing. Having been house hunting for the last few years, I've pointed out a few art works that neither the seller or their agent realised would be an attractive purchase to some of the mountaineering public: they were considering throwing them away.

Windgather was my first thought .. or perhaps even Stanage with the notice at the start of the main  path .. could be any grit crag .. I would'nt have thought Millstone

Yep, Windgather is the suggestion from the 3 people referred to in my post above.

At one time, say 40 years ago there were a lot of peg scars at the top of the crag.  And even bolts, you can just about make out some of the sleeves even now.

Why? I don't follow the logic.

Because it's unsightly.

The pegs, not the notice.