UKC

Off to Woodhouse Scar tonight for the first time. Two questions:

1) Anyone else want to come?

2) Any advice on what's good for a V0 to V3(ish) climber? I've got the Yorkshire Grit guide and some advice from a local Facebook group, but any other tips welcome.

I'll be there from 6pm or so until I run out of light, say hi if you're about.

In reply to Kieran_John:

I'm biased but think it's a brilliant venue at your grades... wish i could join you. There is a circuit at the back of the chapter that Adam did that will give you lots to go at. Any grade complaints pass them to me (I co-wrote the chapter so coordinated the grade views). The other crag I co-wrote, Lindley Moor, is also well worth a vist at your grades if you are local to that Halifax area.

In reply to Offwidth:
I'm Castleford based, so it's a bit of a drive but I prefer to drift around from crag to crag trying to tick as much as I can, rather than keep going back to Almscliff and Caley (arguably the closest to me, especially being I work in Leeds) and hammering away at harder stuff.

Is Lindley Moore in Yorkshire Grit Vol 2? I've just looked on Google Maps and it's really near me (35minutes), closer than Woodhouse Scar and a number of other crags. Probably because it looks like it's directly off the M62.

I might actually call there tonight instead, Hetchell is my current 'quick hours climb' crag and whilst Lindley is 9 miles further, it's about the same when it comes to time to get there.

In reply to Kieran_John:
LME is not huge and the best bouldering is below the approach... park in the cricket club parking (a few mins from the M62) walk along the cricket ground fence to the scarp edge and the bouldering is below and left (facing out). The quarry with more bouldering and a few good climbs is to the right(facing out). The logbook needs an update for the changes and some good new lines we added for routes (get your finger out Alex!) but is OK for the bouldering.

Woodhouse scar is much bigger and conditions are more year round (can be saved).

Buckstones is the other really good venue in the general area... looks further than some but its a fast road from the M62 and the bouldering is seconds from the parking ( https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=9058 ) and I liked Netherton Edge of the smaller kirklees venues (https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crag.php?id=9058).

In reply to Offwidth:

Really enjoyed Woodhouse Scar, didn't tick anything hard but enjoyed what I did. Started to leave a little late though and was pretty dark by the time I was coming out! That said, without traffic it only took me 35mins to get home so I think I'll be back.

I'm going to pay a visit to LME this weekend I reckon, spotted the kirklees website guide for it (well, website, no pdf at the moment) which I'll print out at work tomorrow!

In reply to Kieran_John:

The YMC grades in quite a few cases are not the same as on the Kirklees site, which was based on the local paper guides which in some areas seemed to lose sensitivity when they converted to font (especially around f3).The Lindley Moor Edge topo is OK gradewise but Buckstones has f3 climbs we think vary from f1+ to f4+ (and much better match the first version before conversion to font). LME is in the YMC guide in text form on p.693. Any grade feedback is much appreciated (at some stage we will put the YMC stuff up on our Offwidth site: http://offwidth.uptosummit.com/guides.html ).

In reply to Kieran_John:

just a warning, last time I was at Woodhouse Scar (about a week ago) there was a pair of heavily shitted in boxers at the top of the crag. Your also likely to find lots of other litter too. It's a shame because there is some great climbing there, but the lack of respect by some locals, and sadly some climbers too, spoils the venue somewhat.

In reply to Incident 685:


TBH from your description it's a lot better than it was 10 years ago...

In reply to Offwidth:

Hi Offwidth,

To be honest Font 3 was the lowest I went with any grade conversions for the Kirklees Climbing site.
I'm not sure I could differentiate between a font 3 and a font 2 in the real world

If you want to let me know the grades that are different I'm happy to update the site and the guides, and in turn to get the UKC logbook page sorted as well.

In reply to schloosh:

Buckstones was the worst and pretty much all the most obvious examples were picked up in the new YMC guide. In guidebook work on other volunteers scripts we record our experiences for our own records and report back to the editors if we thiink any problem is at least a grade out (or more). If you want our direct views email me and Ill send you our notes. We don't claim perfection in the highly subjective world of grading but experience shows we are better than most. The difference beteen a 2 and a 4 is roughly the difference between moves on a VDiff and those on a VS 4c so it matters to those operating around 3.

In reply to Kieran_John:
I didn't really consider the topic of this post when I made it, "tonight" is now a little misleading!

Anyway I'll be going over to LME this week (weather dependent) and I'm rubbish, so I'll put all your low grades to the test :p

Regarding Woodhouse Scar -and I should clarify this by saying I've only been the once- I found it to be pretty and peaceful. It was quiet, there was very little litter (no more so than other crags I've been to) and the few people I bumped in to when there were pleasant. My car went unscathed and I didn't see a single needle.

Good landings on the majority of problems, which is a bonus, easy to walk along to get to the next problem. All in all I was impressed.

I did meet some locals though, two lads, probably 12. I topped out on a problem and they spotted me and asked if "I was climbing". I said I was, and did they know the quickest way down because it wasn't immediately obvious. They showed me the way down and I got back to my stuff, then they asked if I wanted to see "the cave". Being new to the crag I didn't see any harm walking further up it so I said I would, they guided me quite a bit further up to this little 'cave' you could squeeze through and get to the top.

I pulled out my guide and looked to see where I was and to see if their "cave" was in the guide. They were "well impressed" that there was a book with pictures of this place nearby to their house, showing all the climbs, and one of them was happy to see his cave was in there when I pointed it out (a moderate, it seemed).

They asked a couple more questions and I said they were lucky living close by to here, it's a good venue. One of the lads said he'd like to get in to climbing and was curious about my mat, so I let him jump up and down on it! The other preferred football Anyway, they then both said they had homework to do and left me to it saying it was nice to have met me.

All in all a pleasant experience. It might have been spoiled somewhat should I have encountered a pair of soiled boxers though.

In reply to Kieran_John:

A lot of people help to keep the place clean but the reputation is the opposite. Its normally like you found it albeit with maybe some naughtier kids in the evening (drinking and occasionally throwing the bottles down the rocks). How are the brambles... I started pulling them out by the roots on the sections with climbs and am interested in how things have developed as it seemed to be working but I haven't been for a few months.

In reply to Offwidth:

No issues with the brambles, had to raise my arms a couple of times when moving from bloc to bloc but all the actual climbs were clean. There was one 4 I backed off (flashed the rest) purely because there was a brambly looking bush behind it and I didn't fancy dropping off on to it. Obviously I can't compare it to what's it's like without lots of generous local help, keeping it tidy, I can only comment on what I saw and that was really really nice.

RE the routes and grades. I flashed most of the routes I tried EXCEPT for "Slanting Crack" on the painted slab (I think). Couldn't get the sit down start right, I'd like to see someone do it properly. I tried with both hands in the crack, one hand in the crack and one on the lower hold (was able to get right foot up here but not rock over) - I just couldn't figure it out. Hopefully next time I go there'll be someone there to get some beta from I'm not saying the grade is wrong on here, far from it, just I couldn't crack it. I didn't dedicate much time to it though, I wanted to sample as much as I could.

Next time I go back I'll be tackling the right hand end, and then it'll be on to some 6as (tried one 6a traverse, fairly low down but light was failing me at that point and I couldn't see where I was putting my feet, seems like I should be able to do it though).