UKC

Climbs 75
Rocktype Limestone
Altitude 181m a.s.l
Faces S

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Paul Cox working his way up the long corner of the Wye Valley classic Questor (VS) on the right-hand section of Wynd Cliff © Mark Glaister

Crag features

Limestone. Long (up to 40m), single pitch routes, many of quality. Double ropes useful, and essential if abseiling (usually the most convenient descent, although walking off and back down is also an option).There is some loose rock and vegetation on the less-travelled routes, but many routes are very clean. 

UPDATE (18.6.22) : the in situ ropes on several previously suspect top belays have now been replaced. This includes Sinew and Fibre. Many thanks to Julio and Ben for the work.

No Access Issues

Whitebeams (a rare species of tree) grow on the crag and are an important feature of the SSSI. Please do not cut any trees on or around the crag without gaining permision first as this could result in access issues in future. If you want to carry out cleaning which involves trees, please contact the BMC access team first through access@thebmc.co.uk.

The belay tree at the top of 'Sinew' is uprooted and looks like it will evetually fall off the cliff. A few parties climbed the route yesterday, including ourselves, and you can climb over the tree and find a belay 10m back, before walking down.
Michael Bortoluzzi - 07/Apr/19
Approach to the Left Crag is very tricky even in dry weather due to massive fallen tree. You can tell that the crag does not get much traffic as many of the routes are getting overgrown
robertcollier - 13/Sep/15
A large tree has fallen into the footpath heading towards the left-hand wall. You can pass it between the roots and a wall but it's a bit slippy/muddy. I tried to clear the footpath, but only had small shears which were not enough to move the larger branches - it needs a bow-saw or chain saw.
springfall2008 - 28/Aug/15
I managed to dislodge a fairly large block near the top of Fibre, take care
springfall2008 - 28/Aug/15
Flake (see below) on The Firebird: I've removed several loose upper parts. The more massive lower part of the flake is resisting efforts to prise it off, so I've left it for the time being. I'd suggest it's ok used (carefully) as a foothold, but probably best not to put gear behind it.
bpmclimb - 11/Aug/15
Another Wynd Cliff health warning: The Firebird has an area of very loose rock low down; at first it seems to be just one small piece, but the whole large flake/block is flexing and needs removing. It can just be reached from the belay tree/platform, so I'll sling myself to the tree and try to prise it off this week. It will probably mean even less protection than formerly, and probably make the moves up from that point harder, as a crucial foothold will be lost. Perhaps think E2 5b for the time being.
bpmclimb - 03/Aug/15
Just to confirm the dangerous state of the large block at the top of Vanguard. It was firmly embedded in earth for years but is now rapidly loosening. It isn't easy to avoid because it forms a sort of step that you naturally use to exit then stand on to belay. Worse still, the abseil ropes unavoidably run across it! I will remove it if I can get there on a suitably quiet day (and get someone to marshal the area below), but in the meantime take care.
bpmclimb - 11/May/15
I've had a couple of reports of a dangerously loose block at the finish of Vsnguard (which I've always thought was solid HVS 5a btw!) - take care. Oh, and Alan Rosier - your "link-up" sounds a lot like Elan to me!
Rick Sewards - 10/May/15
poor consultation made with guidebook is my excuse. started suncrush and then trended right up the obviously well chalked cracks beneath the route to finish up cadillac. What has this link up been named?
Esoterical - 11/May/14
A fairly large bit of rock came off Fibre this Saturday (11/01/14). Near the top of the Climb - just above where you traverse right to finish. It seemed to all be a bit loose in this area so be careful!
Jen Booys - 14/Jan/14
WARNING about the route Shaft E2 5c on the left-hand crag: the small yew right on the edge at the top of Shaft could be used for a hanging belay and abseil, but it's not particularly comfy or convenient, and the more natural choice is the larger yew a few metres upslope. Unfortunately, abseil ropes from the latter run over or past a huge, loosely embedded rock. Our solution was to run the abseil ropes around the left side (facing in) of the clifftop yew, although this did entail starting the abseil through foliage. Another option is to belay from the upper yew; then traverse (carefully) to a large tree on the right to abseil.
bpmclimb - 14/Aug/13
The yew at the top of Fibre is coming away from the cliff. It may not survive too many more climbers pulling on it to assist the exit moves. It is not a reliable abseil anchor. It is backed up from above, but the rope runs up steep vegetated ground to a distant tree: in order to check this attachment is ok you would have to escape the system. Recommended: abseil from large tree a short and easy traverse away to the right (facing in).
bpmclimb - 03/Feb/12
Like the below comment says there has been some rock fall and the second yew tree that's refereed to in the guide book has now fallen over as a result. Doesn't hinder any of the climbing as far I can tell but makes it harder working out where you are if you don't know about it. Also I think the VDiff climb called "The Gully," has become vastly over grown.
ElBarto - 21/Aug/11
As of the cold winter of early 2010 there appear to have been a few rockfalls, I'm not a regular to this crag so not entirely sure, but they look fresh and there are plenty of loose holds here and there. There is a very large scar on the RH crag near Cadillac, and the resulting block destroyed one of the yew trees; also some looseness occasionally noticeable even on well-trodden classics like Questor. It seems fine (even to me who can be quite paranoid about such things)... but exercise caution!
Stone Muppet - 02/Mar/10
Climbed here yesterday and had a great day, doing great routes, Fibre is fantastic even if it gets a little scrappy at the top. A word of warning for all routes here...they are long and eat up a lot of runners (due to lots of placements), so add extenders to your rack and then a few more then some more...
stevethomas - 01/Aug/09
Paid a visit here last night (first time for nearly 20 years) and was pleasantly surprised at how clean the lines are now - years ago even Questor was a bit loose dirty and overgrown. Lots to go for on both sides of the crag, but watch the rock - theres a lot of accident potential here from hollow/loose holds and gear placements. Regarding getting down, we decided to just walk off down the "ladders" - actually a nice new set of steps. Much quicker, easier and safer for those below than trying to abseil here. Saw a lot of rock getting knocked down by peeps abseiling or just moving around at the top of some of the most popular pitches, and the ropes can get stuck pretty easily on some of the abseils. Also many of the traditional abseil trees (which are also the best belays) are now dead. All that said, a very worthwhile crag with its own style - we'll be back soon!
richtea21 - 25/Jun/09
Pleasantly surprised by Wyndcliffe. Did Sinew and The Don, and crag is well worth the visit for these two routes. Both v well protected and on mostly good rock.
Owen W-G - 18/Mar/09
Middle flake under the over hang has fallen off Strike .. probably best to take the direct approach (4c in the guide) as the original traverse left now looks a tad technical for an HS route.
Dax - 25/Jun/08
There has been a large rockfall on Cadillac, just above where you step back right to enter the final groove. It doesn't affect the route at all, but it has taken out the yew tree at the bottom!
dave657 - 09/Jun/08
Chris is not wrong. As a first-year leader and new to Wyndcliffe, I climbed Papillon, (40m HS 4b) on Saturday; took plenty of nuts and hexes but only 10 extenders. I found the route to be long, steep and sustained, much more so than anything encountered before, and requiring a lot of protection. Most of my extenders had gone before half way and I was using anchor slings, prusik cord, dyneema hex-loops, chalk-bag cord with screw-gate, HMS and nut-key crabs to eke out my gear. (Near the top I found myself at one point committed to a move on a tenuous-looking spike, close to my limit on tiring arms, observing the nut by my ankles jump out, leaving me approx 6 metres above the last piece of protection - a definite Brown Trousers Moment). The grade and guide did not prepare me for this. A summer of climbing at Stanage, Froggatt, Holyhead Mountain, Llanberis, Avon Gorge and Wye Valley had led me to expect 30 metres of mainly easy climbing with a few testing sections rather than steep, hard moves all the way . I am learning about the differences in grades and guide book descriptions between crags and this route was a real jump up the learning curve. It is a great crag though, and I'll be back on Papillon this weekend (with several suitcases full of extenders) to properly appreciate the experience and without having to change my underwear quite so often.
Humpty Dangler - 11/Sep/07
It is worth taking a few more nuts and quickdraws than usual since the routes are quite long for single pitch routes. The two routes we did were quite hard for the grade, but very good quality. I'll be back to find out whether all of the routes are like that!
Chris Sansum - 29/Aug/07
It's quite clear from the routes I've done (all on the left hand crag), bit loose in places though.
thomasadixon - 01/Aug/07
Many routes on Wyndcliffe have been lost to vegetation in recent years, especially on the Left hand crag. Some of these are good routes, having climbed many of them in earlier years. The crag was originally dug out of the vegetation in the 1970's so could we form a group of climbers to clean up the crag - we are talking of brambles and ivy here not rare plants.
colin Beechey - 31/May/05
I climed here (April 2005) on Left hand crag which is the less visited, worth it for the routes that are available (not overgrown) Mostly S - VS. Only managed Monsoon (S), before being rained off! some lose rock to watch out for as some of the climbs are little used. This would also be no use for bigger groups as there is not enough climbing, but makes a nice day out for a small group.
frostyone - 14/Apr/05
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