[r-man]

In celebration of "Lancashire Day"I have just purchased the Lancashire bouldering guide!

Cheers! Enjoy!

Ridiculous comparisons...

Oi, turncoat! What's going on? Surely the benefit of relocating to a different county is that you can assert your superiority and take the mick out of all the locals. You've got your head on wrong!

Why have you posted Lancashire lowballs up against Yorkshire highballs? What a load of nonsense. 

[comPiler]

Crag Stones
21 October 2015, 4:13 pm

They say all living things have their purpose. Midges are food for larger creatures. Mould helps recycle dead trees. But what about ramblers?

It turns out that even the red-socked roamers have a useful role. Sometimes they take photos of large rocks which boulderers haven’t yet discovered. Crag Stones was such a place.*

Photo by Alan Friswell – click image to go to the geograph website. The crag is a hilltop holdfast for a clutch of stray gritstone soldiers. These four stout sentries have held their positions for many a century, guarding the Bowland realm against southern invaders. Judging by their haphazard positions, the years of solitude have driven them to strong drink and a shirking of duty. They have long since ceased to defend the land, which explains why Bowland is now riddled with ramblers.

But I call upon you, oh thou boulderers of England. Let us bring purpose to these forlorn gritlumps. Let us harness the might of the sitstart and raise high our glowing toothbrushes.  To arms! To arms!

Black Whirlwind, 7A What can you expect? First of all (and this will deter the unworthy) you can expect to walk. Recent changes have been made to the footpath, but the boulders can still be accessed via any of these three routes. After wet weather, bring wellies – it can get boggier than a Yorkshireman’s cuppa.

1. Take the footpath near where the style used to be. This leads through nearby trees. Split off from this path to regain the old permissive path. It is possible to stay on access land all the way to the crag.

2. Park to the north and take the public footpath to the building marked Stone Fold on the OS map. You can then go across access land over Crag Hill to access Crag Stones from the the back.

3. Park in the north and walk down the access road. This is likely to be a longer walk, but could be a good option in wet weather when the footpath is boggy. Once at the rocks, expect sitstarts, fine-grained grit and some amount of burl. It’s a beautiful spot with big views. You are likely to have the place to yourself, though if you want to be sure you can ring this number to check:

0800-I-HATE-PEOPLE

Here’s a video which shows most of the problems, including the standout 7A Black Whirlwind with what has been described as “one of the best moves in Lancashire”.

And if you are cranking at around 7B, this traverse is a splendid target to aim your guns at.

Finally, the last great project was gobbled up by a psyched Mike Adams. Perfect Storm 7C+/8A. The low start to Black Whirlwind, done from a specified starting position of RH undercut and LH in the small crack on the face. This one looks fierce!

So go forth, boulderers! Go forth and conquer. Just don’t forget your wellies.

 

 

*It had actually been climbed on before. By Karl who mentioned it on UKC. Which lead to the discovery of the photo. But I still hold to my claim that in theory at least, ramblers have a reason for being on this earth.

Source: THE LANCASHIRE BOULDERING GUIDEBOOK

[comPiler]

Lower Montcliffe
10 April 2016, 8:20 pm

_­­­­Here’s another one. Another hole in the earth. Another rock-sided gape in the smooth face of Lancashire.

Or perhaps… Here’s another one. Another land-eye opened. Another portal to kinaesthetic transcendence.

The crag is Lower Montcliffe. The perspective is up to you. Unless of course, you think it’s a chosstacious grimstickle,  rimmed with gloom, seeped in frown and an insult to the majesty of King Caley, Prince Stanage and all the Nobles of Llanberis Pass. Then you’d be wrong. And silly. And also, you’d be using words which aren’t real words. THEY AREN’T REAL WORDS.

Monty is great. Sure, it’s only ickle. But so are smarties. That doesn’t stop them being tasty. It just so happens Monty has two top notch lines, as well as a good smuffle of other enjoyable wotnots. And yes, I do mean TOP NOTCH. I do mean the very bestest notch, higher up than all the other notches.

Mmmhmm, I hear you say. But I’ve seen Careless Torque. I’ve seen Heaven In Your Hands. I’ve seen bla bla bla…

Well that’s just splendid. Splendid, I say. You are a most learned boulderer and you know the company top notch keeps. So here’s a Gaskins special…

Information Highway Revisited 7C+ Super tasty line. Super crimpy. It’s called Information Highway Revisited and it’s 7C+. It seeps after wet weather, so if you fancy your chances, you’ll need to pounce when planets and weather systems align.

But that one’s hard. What about something more people can climb? I give you Bad Mama Jama, 7A+. I’m well chuffed with this. I spotted it years ago, but only recently (thanks to the gift of a stake from Rick Ginns*) I managed to excavate the topout, sort the landing and get it done. The climbing was worth the effort. Highball clamp-slapping between a sharp arete and large sidepulls, with feet pasted on perfect quarried steepness. There’s a video at the end of this post if you want to see more. This one dries after a day in the sun, and would be a classic in any county. Go get some!

Bad Mama Jama, 7A+ *Yes, this means you can work it on toprope. I did. It has also been done groundup.

Those are the highlights, but there’s more fun to be had. On the adjacent wall, Indian Face 7A and Battlestar 7B/+/C (grade depends on which start you pick) are both good problems. Dinosaur Adventure 3D 6C+ is another, though you might need to debramble. Flow Chart is probably undergraded at 4+, but a classy highball for anyone comfortable ticking 5’s.

Flow Chart, 4+

Indian Face, 7A And there’s the rest, which includes a great fast-drying slab for lower grade fun (4 up to 6C), a steep traverse for woody-warriors (Ringdance 7A+) and a funky undercut battle (Maid In Stone 7A).

Oh yes, and two of the best trad lines in Lancashire at E1 and E4. But let us not think of vulgar things.

Let us think of portals to kinaesthetic joy; of sculptured rock; of sunny bays and quarry psyche.

And when those thoughts are done, let us talk to all who will listen. Let us speak loudly of a hole in the earth; of misery in quarried form; of chosstaciousness and grimstickledom. Let us use every made-up word in the made-up book to persuade all those who might be even slightly curious; all those hopeful climbing souls who might dimly suspect that there are forms of beauty outwith the ken of the narrow-minded masses. And then, when our speech is done and our audience reeling, let us whisper truthfully:

You know, there’s also some graffiti.

And more here from 3.10.



Source: THE LANCASHIRE BOULDERING GUIDEBOOK

[Will Hunt]

Love the crag nobility angst, Robin

[Duma]

Great stuff

[fatneck]

Lovely stuff Robin!