UKC

for those interested and thinking of heading to high force it is nowhere near being in condition ! ice forming on skirts but nothing i was prepared to climb. so went and done gibsons cave icefall (northern echo front page) which was still running but mainly first time placements and nice to be out :O) beatiful day and if some of the daggers touch down you could have a ball there !
if anyone would like pics or directions i can put them up

In reply to jas wood: Is this what you were on about? Bloody heck you where feeling lucky weren't ya?!

If i had a car and a bit more time i'd be checking out Fryup head and then i believe there is a waterfall near Grosmont and also one just off the A171 to Whitby... Never seen them in the summer like so i duuno how big they are!

In reply to Dave Warburton: you mean the waterfall at Fryup that never freezes Dave,beengoing up there for years,never seen it frozen yet.maybe this time.last time I climbed there got the icefall done on the left as you go down .stake belay on top then ..

In reply to victorclimber: Nah, that waterfall never freezes your right. I havent been up fryup for ages, all i remember is it was seeping like mad on the buttresses to the left and right so i reckon there must be some good ice / mixed. It's nearby more than anything!

http://www.picturesofengland.com/img/M/1044365.jpg I was wondering if that little beaut would freeze... but i reckon it's wishful thinking...

In reply to Dave Warburton: falling foss appears to have something like the correct flow needed :O) but not been up to see.

you find that fall on cringle yet ?(about 8mtr solo) on lowest teir.

In reply to jas wood: If you could put up some directions to Gibsons cavethat would be good, might head up there at the weekend.

Andy

In reply to jas wood: Havent got a car, but i did a nice 8ish metre solo on ice up there so im happy enough, plus the Ridge on the left hand side which was a really nice turfy II/III. Good stuff.

Falling Foss is the one i was thinking about, again if i had a car and wasnt off back to uni i'd probably check all of these places out. Oh well

That said i might postpone my return to leeds til friday and have a wander to Hob hole as i seem to remember a small watercourse falling down the steephill there... one can only go and see!

In reply to ablackett:

It's about four or five miles west of Middleton past the village of Newbiggin. There's a car park on the right marked as Bowlees picnic spot. Park there then head upstream past a bigger fall then to Gibson's Cave, which is actually quite small. Don't know if the actual climbing is on the bigger fall, that would make more sense to me.

In reply to Martin76: if you mean the bigger fall being a 10m-ish fall at the middle of a semi circular overhanging rock cliff? It froze in 95 or 96, not sure about anything beyond it. It was much colder though. Seem to recall the flanks of high force were getting there too that year.

In reply to summo:

From my days of handholding toddlers around there on a weekly basis(!), I remember two vertical bits - a more conventional fall of about 6m or so, a couple of hundred yards at most from the car park. Then, if you follow the path up its right hand side, you come round right to the cave itself, where the path ends - the fall there is wider, but shorter. When we were discussing the Mail picture a couple of days ago, and where it might be, this was the one I had in mind.

In reply to Martin76: http://www.freefoto.com/preview/1008-19-5?ffid=1008-19-5&k=Waterfall%2C... this is my thought of lower falls,

upper falls - http://www.photoradar.com/photos/49169/wolfy1129/bowlees-waterfall

is there more beyond this?

In reply to summo:

The path ends at the upper falls in your picture. There are some waterfalls marked on the OS higher up, but I'd don't recall any of them being particularly interesting.

When I lived in Middleton, the winters were phenomenally mild, so I didn't look at any of them with a view to climbing potential. The one that is often mentioned as being a possible in a cold winter is White Force, but there are no conditions reports for that.

High Force may be a forlorn hope these days. I suspect the way that the flow is controlled from Cow Green may make a difference. Does anyone know if it has frozen since the reservoir was built? And does Cauldron Snout ever show any potential? It's quite a bit higher.

In reply to Martin76: I think if it did it would be more of an ice ramp, never heard of it, nor seen any pictures of it frozen.

In reply to jas wood:

Are the waterfalls that we are talking about (Gibsons cave) on the tees around Low force, or are they on the tributary marked as Flushimere beck in this link...

http://tinyurl.com/yz5qj9c


Also, has Low force got much ice on it?

In reply to ablackett:
Andy, not a chance with anywhere on the Tees (flow needs to drop massively first), though I got excited yesterday when somebody claimed HF was frozen. Turns out they don't know the difference between "frozen" and "long exposure photograph".

Gibson's cave is on OS maps...
http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map.srf?x=390500&y=528500&z=120&sv=g...

Did you leave any ice for us yesterday? Should be able to get off my drive now, having shoveled several m3 of snow off it.

In reply to Martin76: high force almost touched in the middle (freezes side inwards) around 8 yrs ago after a relatively short but really cold snap which i missed by a day :O( lady at the kiosk said they were climbing on it yesterday !
think you are right about water flow as it was heshing down yesterday !

In reply to jonny taylor: tis my photo and i haven't claimed it was frozen in fact quite the opposite !
gibsons fall was still running but offered fun on its edges and all still intact :O) if the fringe ever got close to touching down you could have a ball up there.

In reply to jas wood:

This from the Northern Echo suggests that the flow is well down - still too much though.

http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/4833501.No_let_up_in_sight_as_cold_sn...

A quick petition to the owners of Cow Green dam to turn off the taps is in order.