UKC

I’m considering cleaning some of the established but less well travelled boulders in my local area. These are woodland gritstone boulders that have seen substantial moss growth that render them unclimbable. 

Does anyone have any resources (articles/old forum threads/people to speak to) on the craft of cleaning these boulders without causing damage or upsetting people?

I am by no means an authority but I've done a bit of development on granite and and on grit and live close by Caley and try to clean stuff up from time to time as it does get dirty over winter.

I have a selection of stiff brushes and as things wear out I replace with plastic free where possibe.

I avoid brushing wet rock.

I get rid of as much moss as I can but I don't aim to get rid of every little bit of moss or you end up scrubbing too hard and there's potential to damage the rock.

I stick to problems I want to climb rather than cleaning things for the sake of it.

Am I doing anything wrong or missing anything? Happy to learn.

Yeah Caley and the Satellite are the crags in question here. Absolute moss magnets. 

Or leave them to nature and their valuable invertebrate habitat? 

Folks take a (rightly) outraged view of hold chipping but are happy to deface the natural condition of boulders.....especially lichen that takes decades to grow. 

just playing Devil's Advocate .....and throwing more ethics into the pot

Just playing devils’s advocate to your devil’s advocate - I think it’s fine to re-clean existing problems.  There’s loads of great climbing at Caley and much of it does suffer from becoming overgrown, due to the tree cover and north facing aspect.

It can be an issue at other venues, where agreements in place not to clean certain areas, or not to expand beyond existing agreed limits.

There’s plenty of overgrown, rocky habitat, all over the Chevin, where nature can live in peace.

Drop me a message and I'll join you for a brushing session!

Ilkley got a recent blasting with a jet wash it would seem...

youtube.com/watch?v=Aw5k3zV7a-0&

The old White Power Wash is it