UKC

I've never climbed at Eavestone on a summer evening. If I do so, am I likely to be eaten alive (given that it gets hardly any wind and is by a big lake)? Or do they not live round there?

In reply to Toreador:
Plenty of midges if the air is still, warm and humid. Take some spray.

Paul

In reply to Paul Clarke:
Ta. Think we'll probably give it a miss until the autumn!

In reply to Toreador:
Good venue for those windy days!

In reply to Toreador:

Didn't seem too bad to me on my last visit about a month back. On a major midgy crag on an overcast humid day I'd expect to be eaten alive. They were there but I even managed to do some climbing comfortably when I expected to be walking round briskly taking notes)

In reply to Offwidth:
... and about a month ago we were chased off after just one route .. go figure!

In reply to Paul Clarke:

I think it depends on your sensitivity and what you do for counter-measures. I'm certainly midge sensitive but maybe not as much as some and that might be partly as I cover up and uses anti-midge juice when they are a pain. When I went recently it was OK for me to solo covered up... didnt even need the juice. However, on a similar day on Stanage I'd be running away screaming (or more pertinently when we went to Guiseciffe about a week later, on a partly cloudy day, the buggers made us give up sense checking for a while)

If I had to list in order the midge affected nature of grit crags on still muggy days it would be bottom quartile. If nothing else what do the midges there live on??

In reply to Offwidth:

In the early 1990s I went to Eavestone around 60 times over 3 years. Often in an evening (had to work for a living in those days!). I don't remember the midges ever being a problem there then. I do remember one night there were swarms of strange and very large black flies the like of which I've never seen before or since!

Its good to see the crag is still getting some attention.

Dave

In reply to Dave Musgrove:
We're risking a trip this evening so will report back. I suspect it will be dripping wet given last night's weather!

In reply to Toreador:
Virtually no midges at all, even after the wind dropped. Seems like an ideal evening venue (though probably more ideal in a drier summer than this!)

In reply to Toreador:

Come on ...what did you do?

In reply to Offwidth:
Not a lot, by the time the others had found a way out of York through the race traffic! We did Spinnaker, Yardarm, and Portcullis; the others did some things on Sunnyside Buttress.

The crag was positively crowded - another group of three there (belated "hi" to Dave M, sorry didn't recognise you!)

In reply to Toreador:

Is Spinnaker in good nick despite this rain?

In reply to Toreador:

You did well to get round and do Portcullis that late on. It was virtually dark when we left The Fort. Thanks for the inspiration to get me out there again. I just went for a look around after reading your post and bumped into Mike Hammill and Simon Lambert by pure chance just before your team arrived. I repeated 2 of my own routes that I hadn't done for 20 years - and, as you say - no midges and pretty clean dry rock.

Dave

In reply to Dave Musgrove:

I climbed at Eavestone yesterday, my first visit to a crag I had fancied for years. Rock was mostly clean, some topouts required a little care. A really enchanting venue. Given its location, just over the road from Brimham, I am suprised it sees so little traffic. We visited both crags in a day trip from the lakes.

What is the best time of year to see the rhodedhendrons in flower?

In reply to 3leggeddog: no midges either

In reply to Offwidth:

Up to the crux it's fine. After that, a bit gritty, but not too bad considering.

In reply to Dave Musgrove:
We only had 2 torches between us - Will used one for the lead, I was 3rd and had the other (pitch dark by then), Carmen somehow got up by feel alone!

In reply to Toreador:

Pretty impressive climbing that initial traverse above the lake in the dark!

In reply to 3leggeddog:

Late May, early June is best for the Rhoddies. They do look good at that time of year but are a pain because they grow so fast. Adding pruning shears to your rack is always useful here!

In reply to Offwidth: That traverse is fun!!!! Don't fall into the black stench water....

In reply to mikekeswick:

The guide book mentions shooting and fishing, trout leaping out of the water. Neither of the lakes looked as though they would support fish. A bit of eutrophication perhaps?

In reply to 3leggeddog:

You do occasionaly see fishermen there. I understand they pay quite a lot to be part of a hunting and shooting syndicate in the area. I believe the shooting takes place on the farm land above but the woods are managed for rearing pheasants and on shoot days in Nov/Dec the beaters work their way through the woods clearing them out. Fortunately Nov/Dec are not usually good for climbing there so little chance of conflict. Back in the early 1990s I disturbed a poacher in the Rhoddies below the Castle walls. He was baiting hooks hanging from overhanging branches. Showing these hooks to fishermen later got us into their good-books and they saw us as allies rather than intruders after that.