Aldery Cliff

Search across the entire UKC database for Routes or Crags.
Your query will be matched against the following:

Name of Route/Crags
Name of Crags (for routes)
Name of Buttress (for routes)
Country
Rock Type eg. granite, gritstorne, sandstone etc
Route Type eg. trad, sport, winter etc
Description
Grade i.e. HVS, V3, IV etc
Tech Grade
First Ascent

E.g. Froggatt HVS-E1 ** Grit

Exact Phrases

Surround multiple words with double quotes to require a match on that phrase, eg "bat route" malham

Route-star ranges

Asterisks get special treatment in search queries. A sequence of them is considered to be a star rating for a route, so * is treated as 1-star, ** treated as 2-stars and *** treated as 3-stars. Typing just one sequence creates a search where the route is required to have at least that many stars, eg bat route ** will only return routes with 2 or more stars that also match the other search criteria bat and route.
Adding a dash and a second star sequence will create a range, eg *-** means "match routes with at least one and at most two stars".

Grade ranges

As above with stars, but with grades. Eg vs-e1 will match routes with a grade of either VS, HVS or E1.

Date ranges (only years)

Date ranges will check against the first-ascent date field and require the route to have been put up between the start date and the end date (inclusive). Eg 1970-1974 will match routes put up between 01-01-1970 and 31-12-1974. You should note that not all routes have had the first ascent date filled in, and these routes will be excluded from any search that includes date ranges, so you might not get the results you expect.

Difficulty for grade

We've calculated a value based on the grade voting system that assigns a route a value from one of:

soft
benchmark
hard

You can search for routes with these characteristics by using the special pipe-syntax, eg |soft|. If you don't wrap the text in pipes, you'll just be searching the other text fields, so soft, with no pipes, would get you a match if the text appeared in the description for example and |soft| will only match against routes that have been marked as soft, and not check the other fields for the text. A continuation of this system which uses the same syntax allows you to search for routes that are voted to be a completely different grade using the following criteria: eg |overgraded|. Note that this is based on votes, so if there are no votes for a route and you include one of these criteria it won't appear, regardless of whether it is in reality over or undergraded. Note also that whilst you can combine these with soft/benchmark/hard, some combinations make no sense.

Regular expressions

Regular expressions, for those that don't know, are a way of describing patterns in strings. They are a very powerful tool for searching and manipulating text, and completely unnecessary in this route search bar. However, if you do want to use them, they are possible by surrounding the expression with forward slashes, eg /chris (?!craggs)/ will match any routes that mention 'chris' but not those that mention 'chris craggs'. Or e2-e3 /crap|damp|horrible/ will return you a list of probably not classic routes. Note that pure-regex queries are not allowed due to the cost of the queries against the database. You should always add any of the other query types mentioned above if you're using a regex.

Negation

Finally, if you precede any text with a minus character you will negate it and require that it is not matched, eg -"mark leach" bat malham.

Advanced Crag Search

Climbs 64
Rocktype Limestone
Altitude 315m a.s.l
Faces E

View Stats

Samuel James-Louwerse at the top of Mitre Crack (VS) at Aldery Cliff. © Alan James

Crag features

Aldery Cliff is a secluded crag that offers a decent set of trad routes at some reasonable grades. The crag faces east and gets the morning sun. It is well sheltered from westerly winds. In hot weather, it is a good late afternoon venue. Generally, the quarry is quick-drying and doesn't suffer from seepage.

In 2017 some misguided climbers chopped and poisoned the trees on the crag. This caused some unpleasant erosion on the upper sections where the trees used to provide useful belays, abseil points and hold the ledges together. In August 2020 fixed belays were arranged at critical points above the routes but usually below the upper sections of the original climbs. Virtually all routes now finish at a fixed belay. In keeping with the traditional ethic at this crag it is hoped that these will be used for belaying on and abseil descents and not for top-roping. Some can be used for lower-off but please avoid repeated top-roping.

Approach notes

Aldery Cliff is situated just to the southeast of the tiny village of Earl Sterndale - the crag is sometimes referred to as 'Earl Sterndale'. From the A515 south of Buxton, follow signs for Longnor. Earl Sterndale is signed off these roads. The crag is about 500m south of the village, right next to the road, and you can park in the area in front of the crag. Please make sure you close the gate at all times.

Update this Crag

Last updated on 27/Jun/2022

No Access Issues

New bolted anchors were installed in August 2020 (following discussion and agreement at Peak Area meetings,) to replace tree lower offs which had been removed during unsanctioned work in 2017. These anchors are setup to use for belay, abseil or lower off; with two stainless steel resin bolts, connected with stainless chain to a ring. As with all fixed anchors, if multiple people are going to climb a route and lower off or top rope, climbers should use their own carabiners to attach the rope to the anchor, with only the last climber re-threading and using the ring to prevent wear to the in situ equipment.

A list of the anchors and the routes they serve (in Peak Limestone North) is below, with the numbers relating to the marked up crag image in photos:

1: Best Forgotten Groove to Therianthropic (routes 4-6) 2: Jackorner to November Wall (routes 7-10) 3: Carmal to Rentaghost (routes 11-13) 4: The Arete to The Cardinal (routes 14-17) 5: Carmen to Carmen Mirander (routes 22-23) 6: Carmen Mirander to Lizzie (routes 24-26) 7: Ash Tree Arete to Ash Tree Slab (routes 27-28) 8: The first pitches of Central Arete to Clothesline (routes 22-36) 9: The Fly to Burst (routes 37-39) 10: The Bender to Terrace Wall Direct (routes 40-41) 11: Right Arete to A Pig in the Middle (routes 43-45)

Other considerations:

As with many limestone trad crags, loose and friable rock can feature on the crag – be alert to this and consider wearing a helmet.
Significant rock instability has been identified at the left side of the crag around the cave entrance (Sword and Stone to Hidden Corner), and right of A Pig in the Middle. These parts of the crag have significant areas of potentially unstable rock which could fall at any time and should be avoided.
There is a cable handrail at the top of the crag to aid climbers passing a ‘bad step’ – do not belay from this cable as it is not sufficiently strong to use as an anchor.
Fly tipping has been an issue at the crag in the past - please report any dumped material to the BMC Access Team and note down any vehicle number plates if you see the perpetrators in action.

Seasonal Restrictions

Reason: Other

Bats have been known to use Mitre Crack as a roost in late spring/early summer. It is very obvious when they are present due to the noisy chattering coming from the depths of the crack - please avoid this route when the bats are present.

Last update: 28/09/2020

Get the BMC RAD app

Seems to have been extensive forestry work carried presumably by the BMC and a lot of trees have been cleared at the top and bottom of the crag. This gives amore open aspect and hopefully has stabilised the top. Craig Samuels - 12/Apr/22
Bolted Belays/Lower Offs now seem to be in place for most routes. It looks like there is no need for a frightening top out any more! roger whetton - 23/Jun/21
Some of the rock underneath the chains above Right Arete/Hard Labour are a bit loose, so take care towards that right hand side. rtdennison - 17/Sep/20
Now the tree has gone from the top of Surface plate how the **** are you ment to get down? I saw one person down climb and wondered what he was doing, so I climbed up but there is no way down. Fortunately I am a fairly competent climber and quested my way to the top on very dirty and loos ground. GouldHarry - 24/Apr/18
A lot of work has been done by a local hero who has opened up a lot of the crag and removed the mass of nettles so the faces further round can be accessed, work is still on-going but is still 1000x better than before rtdennison - 09/Apr/17
There has been a cleanup (maybe a still continuing cleanup?) with loose rock and trees removed from several areas - thanks whoever did it. Some rock is still a bit dirty and some of the ground around the routes is a bit unstable but I'm sure all will settle down roger whetton - 16/May/16
there has been a recent large rockfall in the corner to the right of Carmen/Carmen jones PeteWilson - 05/Sep/13
The recently cleaned slabs on the right hand side contain 3 routes, all done by Dave Williams. Unfortunately the large block above and to the right of them is reported to be dangerously loose. Therefor DO NOT CLIMB THESE ROUTES, at least for the time being Chris the Tall - 01/Dec/06

Add missing Climb
Upload a file of missing climbs

Please select one climbing type above before filtering on grade

Only show routes with a text description (i.e. climbs with a black )

Only show routes in your wishlist

Only show routes in your ticklists

Only show routes in Rockfax

Only show climbs done by selected partners

My Logs

Grade

Stars

Type

Number of Logs