Crag features

Chalk sea cliffs with many established climbs up to 25m in height. The chalk is variable in stability and care must be taken. There is in-situ gear consisting of bolts, warthogs, and bull dogs. These are not maintained by the BMC. Bear in mind that the medium in which the gear is fixed is not totally reliable. Many routes have lower-offs which are generally reliable but need inspection given that no organisation is responsible for their maintainance. The crag is also an excellent venue for traversing with possibilities beyond those described in the CC guide. The crag is largely tidal with the exception of the routes to the West of the Pipe area.

The Climbers Club guide to the crags is available online for free here.

Since publication all the 4x4 and Six of the Best Routes have fallen down. The Seaward face routes were still present, except Cold Front.

Please adhere to the following ethics:

* Only use the established holds on the routes. Do not create intermediate holds.

* Axes should be gently placed in the holds in order not to damage them or cause the surrounding chalk to fracture. Do not treat the cliffs as an ice climbing venue as you will damage the holds with heavy swings and contribute to sections of the route fracturing off.

* Mono point crampons should also be used in order to preserve the placements.

There is an agreement with the National Trust that there is no topping-out in order to protect the rare flora along the top of the crag and doing may compromise access. Bird bans have sometimes been applied. Please check the BMC access notes by the following the link below.

Chalk grades are quoted as being one to two grades higher than equivalent mixed grades in the Southern Sandstone guidebook. Given that there are no chalk grades in the logbook, I have uniformly converted to mixed M grades by uniformily lowering by 1 grade. Bear in mind that C grades are difficult to compare to M grades. Whilst the sequence of hooks may be easier, the routes are a lot more commiting due to the instability of chalk and falling on in-situ gear not recommended. Routes may also change with time due to collapses, sometimes stripping bolts locally. Check that there is sufficient in-situ gear before attempting a route.