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St bees approach (Read 6542 times)

climbingjoe1984

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St bees approach
March 14, 2009, 04:41:28 pm
Can anyone give me any infomation regarding the approach st bees which does not go over the fence and down the steep path. I am refering to what is described as the alt. Descent path on the map on p305 of the frcc selected routes guide. I have gone down the regular descent but my girlfriend doesn't like the look of it. How obvious is the other route and is it significantly easyer? Joe

hairich

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#1 Re: St bees approach
March 14, 2009, 08:52:46 pm
hi. the alt descent/ascent is called the fishermans steps by us locals. it is a steep slab of sandstone with footholds carved out of it with a chain to hold onto. i just asked my mrs and she said that way was much quicker but still scary. if i remember its hard to tell where to head down to this. it is about 500 yards before the steep path

GCW

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#2 Re: St bees approach
March 14, 2009, 08:54:16 pm
Are you referring to the alternative descent farther North than the foghorn?  I've not used it but I've read about it.
Fisherman's descent is subject to Bird Bans I think, which will now be in place.

climbingjoe1984

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#3 Re: St bees approach
March 14, 2009, 11:00:11 pm
the apt descent iwas asking about was the more northerly on. Is this the fishermans steps? How much of the bouldering is affected by the bird ban? Cheers. Joe

GCW

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#4 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 07:26:45 am
Fisherman's steps is South of the foghorn, drops to the Fisherman's Steps Area.  The boulders there are not affected by the ban, but anything farther south is.
From looking at the Lakes guide, it looks like is the alternative descent.  Can't tell you more than that.
Any locals used the alternative?

Mike Tyson

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#5 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 08:02:14 am
I've never tried any other route than the one right of the foghorn, over the fence and then down. It is a little bit spicy but managable I reckon. The other route you talk about takes quite a bit longer I seem to recall someone saying once and basically traverses the bottom of the cliffs.

Realisitically the best way to go is down by leaping over the fence by the foghorn. If you take your time your other half will be fine.

When you thinking of visiting mate?

GCW

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#6 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 08:05:33 am
What I will say is don't carry a massive rucksack full of cameras plus a big mat slung over one shoulder.  That makes the descent more entertaining  :-[

Mike Tyson

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#7 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 08:17:27 am
 :lol:

Yeah that isn't much fun really! A little Coastal breeze can make things a bit spicy shall we say!

As long as you take your time and just use caution things will be peachy.

Watch out for slippery death gullies though, sure GCW will agree.......... :whistle:

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#8 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 08:31:37 am
Yeah, beware the green slime of ultimate pain:lol:

Bubba

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#9 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 12:13:30 pm

I think if the OPs girlfriend doesn't like the normal approach, then the Fisherman's Steps will be her idea of hell.

Plattsy

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#10 Re: St bees approach
March 15, 2009, 01:12:59 pm
Can anyone give me any infomation regarding the approach st bees which does not go over the fence and down the steep path. I am refering to what is described as the alt. Descent path on the map on p305 of the frcc selected routes guide. I have gone down the regular descent but my girlfriend doesn't like the look of it. How obvious is the other route and is it significantly easyer? Joe

Hi Joe, The alternative descent gully mentioned in the LakesBloc.co.uk topo was severely overgrown when I first visited a couple of years ago. Don't know what it'll be like now but it appeared pretty much unpassable. There was no obvious path (we didn't take the normal route because we mistook the style for a piece of fence and didn't realise that was the way for the normal route). We ended up going further north and dropping down a less overgrown area. The route under the cliff from there to the Apiary wall area took about 1hr 30mins such is the jumble of fallen boulders. There is no path beneath this bit of cliff that we found.

If your gf is unsure about the normal route decent then the traverse beneath the cliff maybe just as daunting. The boulders are large with significant gaps inbetween. Sure footedness and balance are probably just as important along here as it is for descending the normal route.

Since we found the normal route out the first time we visited my gf and I have always used the normal route when we've returned.

Might be an idea to recce the alternative for yourself and see if the condition has improved and whether your gf may prefer it. Hope this helps.

Jacqusie

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#11 Re: St bees approach
March 17, 2009, 08:43:31 pm
We tried to find the Northern approach a few years ago - and it all got very messy, scary & dangerous as the cliff is eroding at that part - not recommended at all.

Go down the fog horn Path - use a rope if necessary I would advise - the Northern approach doesn't really exist anymore.

Si

climbingjoe1984

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#12 Re: St bees approach
March 20, 2009, 11:04:14 pm
cheers for all the repleys. In the end used the good weather to go into the hills. Went out to the boulders with my girlfriends mam, so proberly a good thing we didn't go to st bees. Had an explore up towards styhead tarn, with little sucsess (some high, hard looking lines with bad landings, more like grit headpoints) but the next day went up langstrath to have a look. Did an unrecorded 6a+ ish bulge left of end of empire. Good problem, if a little snatchy. As I did it yesterday, and it goes up a bulge that leans onto the back of the Austria boulder I thought some sort of lock up frtizal name would be appropriate. But to be fair nameing 6's that have proberly been done befor is pretty poor, but it is topical and the problem has the best landing of any of the problems. Anyhow, cheers for the info, had a great trip. Joe

robertostallioni

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#13 Re: St bees approach
March 20, 2009, 11:17:03 pm
I was just pissing.

Hammy

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#14 Re: St bees approach
April 09, 2009, 11:22:43 am
Hi There

I was at St Bees bouldering last Sunday 5th April. I hadn't been to St Bees for about 10 years and couldnt remember it exactly so went further north for I guess about 200m beyond the foghorn to a stile from which an easy and obvious path led down to the bottom of the cliffs - not at all overgrown and much less steep than the other path. Once at the bottom a few minutes of boulder hopping led to the Apiary Walls bouldering areas - not far in distance but a bit time consuming.

I came back up the normal descent route to the foghorn with the eco bolts and fraying ropes which is indeed a bit hairy with a bouldering mat in one hand and a rucsac on my back! Next time I'll pack everything in the mat and have it on my back. I wouldn't like to come down the steep path unless I had both hands free!

I reckon your girlfriend will be quite happy with the northern path - I don't blame her for getting the heebeegeebees about the steep one!

 

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