[mark20]

This is about 10mins past Rubicon, as the path bends round to the right. There is a small path up the hillside just before the turning circle used by the fishermen in their 4x4s. The left hand side of this neglected buttress is a decent 'wave' shaped limestone bouldering venue that has been described as "better than Cucklett Delph".

Access is not agreed, and if the angling club warden happens to see you he will ask you to leave, despite the angling club not owning the land. Best to just avoid being seen. Don't go on busy weekends (the warden parks up directly below), keep a low profile, no night sessions, no ivy removal, etc. I've not had a problem midweek evenings.

From Left to Right
Finders Keepers 7A From a sit start climb the bulge, finishing left of the hanging groove. Board style moves on great rock. Trickier for the short.
Keep Away 7C Start as for Finders Keepers. Traverse right to finish up Keepie Uppie. (FA Haydn)
Un-named Up Problem 6C Sit start on the vague pillar in the middle of the buttress, use slots, undercuts, and pinches to finish at the good sidepull pocket in the groove above.
Keepie Uppie 7B From sitting climb past the glued undercut/pinch to finish on a jug in the break above
Monumental Fingerblaster 7B The high traverse. Sit start at the block, move up and traverse the huge undercut line to finish at the hanging crack on the left. Requires a few pads and a spot. Climbing as far as the first jug is "Mini Fingerblaster", slightly easier but does the hardest moves and is worthwhile if you don't have enough pads/spotter for the full line. (FA Haydn)
Keep Off The Grass 7C The low traverse. From the block on the right, traverse leftwards with particularly hard and crimpy moves to gain the good hold on Finders Keepers, and finish up this.


Finders Keepers 7A

[r-man]

Good to see someone else enjoying this buttress. I added it to peakbouldering.info years ago, after two or three sessions cleaning and climbing everything straightforward with Dawid. Though clearly I forgot all about it and forgot to even name the problems. We didn't do anything as hard as 7C (kept meaning to go back, but never did).

http://peakbouldering.info/areas/5-central-limestone/crags/77-rubicon/boulders/669-church-buttress#.W4hN1NHTWhC

I think I've got a video somewhere. I'll have a look. Feel free to put your names on the ones we did, I'm not precious about it. Cool to see these problems getting done!

[mark20]

Nice one, Robin. Haydn has a video too, would be good to compare and sort out what’s what. I did actually see that crag on peakbouldering and thought it may be Keep but struggled to match anything up

[haydn jones]

[tomtom]

Nice one Mark and RMan (retrospectively:) )

What’s the access/warden issues like for midweek daytimes? (Appreciate it may be a tricky Q)

[mark20]

I went on a midweek day once and didn’t have a problem.

[haydn jones]

[haydn jones]

[r-man]

Haha, news travels fast. I was going to make that public after swapping notes with Mark. It needs updating with a better vid that doesn't have a silent section at the beginning (youtube deleted the sound there due to copyright issues). But nevermind, it shows the lines.

Anyway, looks like the Fingerblaster variations and the low traverses are new ones. Good effort. Hopefully this will inspire a bit of interest in the place.

[kc]

Tread carefully. The wildlife trust have specifically asked climbers to avoid this area. Just saying, so don't spray too much about it cos they could make things very difficult for climbers at more significant areas. For you boldering types they own badgers cave. Please keep this info underground and amongst yourselves!

[Ru]

Delete thread to minimise visitors and preserve access?

[mark20]

 I didn’t know that. Best delete this thread Ru, thanks

[Johnny Brown]

The DWT are aware we (the BMC representing you) don't agree with a climbing ban in this area. They are generally anti access, but  Badgers cove is on CRoW land, so it would be difficult for them to do much. 

[Bonjoy]

What JB said.
The BMC RAD has very detailled access notes on WCJ South bank, please read. The key passage I think is:Considering the long history of climbing here, with routes originally established in the 1930s and climbing having continued throughout the decades since, the BMC does not support a ban here

[Ru]

Not suggesting a ban, just suggesting limiting publicity to avoid escalating problems with the south bank crags.

[Bonjoy]

Arguably the access issue here arises from historical underuse by climbers. The tail end of the 'use it or lose' it curve.

[shark]

Quite. From the access description in the OP it sounds like there is an established path and my understanding that the primary DWT objections are to new paths (or re-established old ones) to crags and even worse off the top of crags (which won’t apply here as a bouldering venue).

[Ru]

Arguably the access issue here arises from historical underuse by climbers. The tail end of the 'use it or lose' it curve.

Yes that's a possibility I hadn't considered.

[Andy B]

I’m not sure how old they are, but there are now DWT “No Climbing” signs at the bottom of the Keep/ Psyche Buttress approach tracks, and also at the entrance to Strawberry Quarry.

[mark20]

I clocked them a few weeks ago - new this year I think. The crag was actually all dry (probably some seepage again now though)

I climbed at strawberry quarry summer 2019 and didn’t see the signs, though my mate went last summer and said there were signs but he didn’t have any problems. There are owls that nest in the chossy cliff up and right of the bouldering, so probably best avoid the place in the early morning or evening when the bird watchers come to see them.