UKC

I imagine very few people have been in the Cratcliffe area recently, which presumably masked the activities of some maniac... Walking round today, I saw the following: Left Arete at Cratcliffe Top Boulders hacked all the way up its top two thirds, holds under Razor Roof bashed off, Scopp knocked about and at Robin Hood's, assorted chippings on problems which I can't immediately identify from the BMC guide. All in all a lot of irreparable damage, which is tragic.

In reply to Jaipur:
Very bad news.

In reply to Jaipur: who ever has done that should be strung up.

In reply to Jaipur: This must be reported to the BMC asap, We need to make sure its not wayward dry toolers

In reply to DeanD: Thursday's forecast is looking good so I might see if I can get up there to take some photos. Also I noticed my typo in the original post - I meant Scoop.

In reply to Redsetter: No chance, it's bashing and hacking on a blank rib in one case.

In reply to Jaipur: ah ok, well lets get people aware and hopefully find the vandal.

How bigs the damage? are we talking kids lobbing rocks up or more mechanised damage??

In reply to Redsetter:

Deliberate I would say; there's marks round and about the damage, like whatever was used glanced off the rock.

In reply to Jaipur: i went up there on Saturday and saw the damage to razor roof. Thought it could have been the weather at first but on closer inspection you could see the holds had been attacked with a few impact marks close to the main breakages. razor roof looked in a bad way.

Such a shame. It didn't look like the work of kids throwing rocks.......

In reply to Jaipur:

A real shame if this is true. I was planning to head up this week so will take some pics.

In reply to Jaipur:

Are all the chips either reachable from the ground or from a basic scramble? Might be a wayward geology buff, its happened before.

In reply to jonny2vests: remember the thread about the geology students chipping on Dartmoor? http://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/t.php?t=498209

In reply to jonny2vests: The ones on razor roof were all within reach of the ground.

2 jugs on the start of razor roof itself and one of the good crimp on the right hand 7a+

In reply to Jaipur:

I took some photos earlier, posted on my blog here:

http://wiltreasure.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/cratcliffe-and-robin-hoods-stride...

Razor Roof looked like it would climb at the same grade. The damage has left a real mess at both venues and the newly exposed rock is incredibly crumbly.

In reply to Wil Treasure:

Thanks for those photo's Wil. Can we have permission to show them at the next Peak area meeting? Of course someone was bashing Joes Slab at Froggatt not so long back as well.

In reply to Wil Treasure:

That does look like attempted hold improvement in some cases.

In reply to jonny2vests:

Looks to me like an attack on popular boulder problems by someone with a crazy grudge. Certainly on Joe's Slab they seem to have targeted obvious holds; I know these problems and it looks like that here as well and I'll be going for a closer look.

In reply to Jaipur: Maybe a walker of some sort doesn't like the big and obvious chalk marks. Who then decides to chip the holds to stop people leaving chalk 'graffiti' whilst climbing on the boulders. Who knows unless the person responsible explains?

In reply to Offwidth:


Yeah, something like that - a climber or someone with knowledge of climbing. Prob not a demented geologist. I have wild fantasies about catching someone during the act, armed with my light sabre. Grrrr.

In reply to Wil Treasure:
Gutted, it looms quite widespread. Thanks for the photos Wil.

In reply to Wil Treasure: While the chipping is bad from a climbing point of view, the "real mess" from a non climbers point of view would probably be all the chalk smothered over razor roof.

In reply to Chris H:


Yes. At least in theory this could be brushed off. Unfortunately in practice it either isn't, or can't be. I did Razor Roof a few weeks ago and it was smothered then, and it also had huge tickmarks on it. I brushed the tickmarks off, but the rest of the chalk was pretty well bedded in and with the rock being quite soft I didn't make much effort to clean it up.

I wonder with the current popularity of bouldering whether we shouldn't all be making more effort to use less chalk, particularly on something steep where it won't wash off.

In reply to Wil Treasure: Colourless chalk!

In reply to KiwiPrincess:

...is unfortunately rubbish.

In reply to Wil Treasure:

It can be brushed off fine, it just needs to be wet to do a proper job. Hence why it rarely happens. Plus these are popular spots.

In reply to Redsetter:


And what then? pitchforks at the ready?

In reply to Wil Treasure:
I've never been to the area and haven't done much bouldering but have there been any access isssues with the landowner? That looks like it's been done deliberately to make them unclimbable (not like there is such a thing!).

In reply to jonny2vests:


Is that a euphemism?

This is a real shame. I remember a couple of years ago, I was walking through Robin Hood Stride with my pad and some old guy muttered as he passed "I thought you're meant to break your legs when you fall not fall on those mats" His tone of voice wan't friendly. Just highlights there are people who dislike climbing in the area.

In reply to MartinWilliams87: No excuse whatsoever for this vandalism.

However, maybe some 'non climbing' folk are getting hacked off with the ludicrous amounts of chalk plastered all over the place (replace Cratcliffe with any other gritstone crag)

In reply to Goucho:

I'm hacked off with take-away litter but I don't go round smashing shop windows. Bashing rock with a hammer is not a rational response to anything.

In reply to Jaipur: That terrible ! problem 5 also looks in a bad way now and to me its undoubtably the work of a hammer or hammering from something similar and i suspect who ever did this was trying to make these climbs assessable for the lack of bouldering ability they have.

after grit has been damaged this way, is it best to Not boulder on these routes and allow weathering the time to work or just carry on regardless?..

In reply to Tradlad:

This was pretty clearly not done to make the problems easier. It's an attack on (chalked up) problems.

In reply to Jaipur:

Although boulderers are massively chalk trigger happy, the fact someone would take time to carry a hammer up to the crag to smash some problems suggests they arn't exactly of balanced mind.

I've always found it comical watching boulderers madly brushing holds before over and needlessly chalking their hands.

In reply to Offwidth: i hear what your saying - but a few of the routes do look like they have been bashed to try and make a better foot or finger hold.. i go up to the top boulders quite a bit in ok weather and usually do problem 5 as my warm up.. the chip on the slab looks to be like its been done to aid a foot placement. I kind of figure that if someone wanted to attack the chalked up problems they would have smashed the hell out of the grit.. but maybe im wrong .. in any event - its mindless vandalism but something we cant do much about - except try to educate folks- use less chalk etc.. unless you happen to see someone in the act of course.

In reply to Offwidth:


No convinced, there might be an element of that, but they picked odd targets if this was an anti chalk rampage.

In reply to Tradlad:

These chips were definitely not done to make the problems easier, because hardly any of them would!

In reply to Wil Treasure: yeah maybe your right.. going to have a wander up and take a look for myself.. gutted to say the least.. why do people destroy stuff- makes you look at humanity in a different light....

In reply to Wil Treasure:

Thats why I put chalked up in brackets.

In reply to Jaipur: no one has mentioned the top car park yet- disgruntled countyfolk seeing the 'no parking' signs disrgarded and getting medieval on our problems? does get pretty crowded up there these days, verges are pretty chewed up etc.(not as chewed up as they are when a tractor rolls over them mind...)

Big shame that if it is an objection to the visual impact, this is the action taken. I'd happily consider not using chalk or brushing it off after sessions in some areas that are very popular with general public if it kept everyone happy.

It could be kids playing with a lump hammer - I've seen graffitti "tagging" on small boulders and trees at ringinglow before (which I removed with a wire brush (not climbing boulders). In which case it's down to general education about countryside.

In reply to mb35:

Too high for kids and likley too widespread to be a group of older teenagers just messing around.

I would bet a kilo of chalk that this was not done by a climber...seems to me the chalk marks our antics and some prat wandering round the Tor simply wants to say " piss off"....if I ffind anybody knocking chunks out of, or chipping these or anyother frequented natural playgrounds ... I will ensure their hammer is inserted in a suitible crack. I am sure the two knobs who decided to take a chisel to Blackrocks some 25 years ago, remember been confronted by 6 staffordshire lads and a number 4 friend...I still have the chisel.

Karl ( Lichfield)