[Bonjoy]

It's happened again. For reasons beyond the undarstanding of a sane mind, some fuckwit has ruined yet more beautiful gritstone.  Was very saddened to see four very recent areas of heavy chipping at Robin Hood's Stride today. Several small chips on the slab traverse of the lone boulder, most of the flake on the right hand side of Jerry's Arete smashed off, a large foothold on the slab to the left of JA hammered and worst of all the crimp on Sweet Thing hacked off! If the culprit is a boulderer and happens to read this, please do us all a favour - fuck off and die!

[dave]

words fail me.

[Ru]

I don't know which I'm saddest about: the destruction of these rocks or that someone presumably feels justified in doing this.

[r-man]

Sickening stuff.

I'd hate to think a boulderer was responsible, it just doesn't make sense to ruin the rock... unless they're the most unbelievably selfish bad-tempered twat.

Could it have been kids messing around? There's a quarry near me where we found some kids had thrown bricks at the rock. I can kind of see how they might have not even realised anyone would care, it was only a tiny quarry...and perhaps that same ignorance extends to people wrecking boulders?

I don't know...even if that was the case what would you do? Stick signs telling people not to damage the rock? But then I'm sure there would be people out there who would start getting ideas. It's all fucked up.

 :x

[Pantontino]

That is so fucked up.

Reminds me of that spate of chipping in Font.

Any ideas when it occurred?

[fatboySlimfast]

i was at stride last weekend and didnt notice the stuff round jerrys when I did the easy slab straight up from the pictured flake, so my guess is the week just gone.

[tommytwotone]

It's just so sad - actively destroying problems with mindless vandalism.

Just my initial gut reaction, but the chipping looks to me a bit too 'problem specific' to be kids randomly messing about - any thoughts?

[Bubba]

Could it have been kids messing around?

Unlikely. Sweet Thing is pretty tucked away and the other side of the crag from Jerry's Arete - hardly an obvious target for kids. And some serious effort must have been put in to smash that flake in - more like a hammer job than something like throwing stones.

RHS and Cratcliffe are often getting chipped, so it's probably some fucked up local or regular visitor imho.

The only satisfaction is that eventually somebody will see / photograph them in action and the appropriate punishment can then be dealt out.

[tommytwotone]

Could it have been kids messing around?

Unlikely. Sweet Thing is pretty tucked away and the other side of the crag from Jerry's Arete - hardly an obvious target for kids. And some serious effort must have been put in to smash that flake in - more like a hammer job than something like throwing stones.

RHS and Cratcliffe are often getting chipped, so it's probably some fucked up local or regular visitor imho.

word. Seems like the most plausable options IMHO.

could it be someone disgruntled with amount of traffic the venue is seeing?

Anyone know/heard about any local access type issues?

Wasn't the Font chipper a local climber who went Radio Rentals and started wrecking stuff?

[dave]

that damage looks totally deliberate to me - for a start in the top picture you can see where whatever instument they used hit the rock just abouve the hold on the swing. I think we can rule out kids throwing rocks, unless they've got an arm like steve backley and the aim of andy fordham. and a grude against boulderers.

Now i can sort of understand why someone might think that creating holds is acceptable (like the john bradbury chips etc) but i fail to see why any climber in thier right mind could possibly convince themselves that destroving holds is the way forward, unless they are just out to piss people off, like the font chipper.

but i mean whats the crack with the chips on the big easy flake thing - its not even removed a hold or improved anything, just made a total mess of it.

It also strikes me that anyone unhinged enough to bear a grudge against other climbers enough to chip holds off is the type of person who might find it very difficult to keep quiet about it. So its likely that someone somewhere knows who did it. So fess up muthafuckers.

[cofe]

defo deliberate, hammer (or similar) impact marks can be seen clearly on the flake and the sweet thing hold. there is no possible justification for this. twats.

[Johnny Brown]

From what I saw, the damage is definitely targeted at holds, but not in a way that makes sense as a climber. The Jerry's arete flake is the worst - a big nice grit flake just trashed.
The only hypopthesis I could come up with is a non-climbing local who is fed up with the chalky mess everywhere, and the hordes of beanie-hatted swearing yoofs. Most of the holds have obvious impact marks from a tool. I don't think it's likely any came off naturally, despte the dampness of the rock.

[Bonjoy]

It's not the first time that flake has been vandalised either. The bottom bit used to be a big round elephants ear of a thing.

[JR]

fuckers....

definitely deliberate

[al]

shit, they look shocking - beyond repair aswell, by the looks of things.
wonder why RHS always gets it?

[Andy Harris]

Tis indeed a sad day. As if the grit hasn't worn away at such a scary rate over the past 5 years anyway. Pretty tragic to lose the Sweet Thing, this was 1 of the best moves in the Peak, no the UK, no the world. This crimp would have come off eventually (excess brushing was making it slightly more incut than previous) and had it not been for the other attrocities I'd have bought that theory. I was out Friday 21st Jan and certainly no sign of this.

[Craig M]

Un-fuckin-believable.

[c.j.d.]

Madness - you could maybe forgive some daft kids chucking rocks at the boulders, thus chipping, but for a hold as specific as the Sweet Thing crimp to have gone, it seems pretty obvious that this was a boulderers/climbers doing.  Unforgivable.

[andy bowie]

Andy - was this the problem you were trying a couple of weeks ago? tricky? nightmare man.

[DrWong]

:evil:

One word: DISGUSTED!

If it is climbers then I vote for amputation at the wrists.

[tonyt10]

Shit man this is worst I seen.

Was there sat just gone climbed J's arete and others had a look at sweet thing but slightly damp so did not try but there was no damage at all.

Must have been done sunday or monday?

This is a very sad day for Peak climbing.

And what must the guys think that climbed these first i.e Ben. It must be very sadening.

Is there anything that can be done? Police English nature Nat trust anything any body knows of to stop this sort of thing happening again. or at least to punish the people if they are ever found out.

[dave]

don't know if theres owt they could do even if they were found out (have we ever found out the people behind any chipping in the peak?, i.e. the sitter arete at cratcliffe etc).

when all that chipping in font happened it was commented that since its a kinda national park forest then if the guy had vandalised any trees he could have been charged and jailed, but cos it was rocks they couldn't do jack. I imagine that in the UK we don't even have that degree of protection in national parks.

[Bubba]

All I can say is that if anyone ever sees any shit like this going down then please try to take photos of the culprits which will then be published online. If not then get their car registration or something.

Chances are that somebody somewhere who isn't a chipping fuck will know who they are.

And we all know what will happen once they've been found out.

[Andy Harris]

Just a  thought, I'm not too tall but was thinking would anyone be able to smash the holds on Jerrys arete from the floor? They are a move or 2 up. Therefore if someone had to climb up or down then surely they must be a climber (unless they have a long hammer).

Maybe someone shoud post on UKclimbing to try and get a  more accurate picture of when the deed was done.  ie. the last chap said must have happened Sunday or Monday (hard to believe someone wasn't bouldering at RHS on Sunday).

Yes, Andy this was the one I was trying. Will indoor style on grit ever be so perfectly discovered again?

cheers Andy

[Bonjoy]

The flakes on JA are at easy hammer reach from the ground. Tonyt10 was there Saturday and saw no damage, we were there from about 12 on Sunday, so it must have been done late Saturday or early Sunday.

[Craig M]

I've already posted the link to this thread on UKC.  So far it's yeilded nothing other than a fairly irrelevant debate.

[dave k]

Just heared on Radio 4 that one of Bakewells prize toilet facilities was destroyed on Sunday night. Not vandalized, literally ripped to pieces- the perpetrators are suspected of having "crow bars", "hammers".

I take it the police have been informed about the damage at RHS. Maybe there is no connection, but in this wierd world maybe there are troubled people out there who have something against chalk and urinals.

[dave]

I take it the police have been informed about the damage at RHS.

you're kidding right?

[a dense loner]

but in this wierd world maybe there are troubled people out there who have something against chalk and urinals.

you're takin the piss right?

sorry

[dave k]

Although it sounds unlikely and I thought people might take it as humour in poor taste, I was not joking.

The news report siad that their had been a number of different incidents in the Peak recently (no other details were given) and that it might be someone who has some grudge against the National Park. They are as confused as we all are on here.

It took place on the road between Bakewell and Buxton (10 mins drive from RHS) possibly/probably on the same night (Sunday). They have ruled out normal vandals and are convinced that this was planned (although they have no idea why).

Would a normal toilet trashing make it onto Radio 4 national news in the morning?

There is possibly no link at all. But fuck it, if there is and it helps catch/stop any further destruction (of problems) then I for one will be happy.

[dave]

It took place on the road between Bakewell and Buxton (10 mins drive from RHS) possibly/probably on the same night (Sunday). They have ruled out normal vandals and are convinced that this was planned (although they have no idea why).

Would a normal toilet trashing make it onto Radio 4 national news in the morning?

There is possibly no link at all. But fuck it, if there is and it helps catch/stop any further destruction (of problems) then I for one will be happy.

wasn't the chipping on satdy night/sunday morning?

To be honnst i don't think anyone wanting to piss of the peak national park people would go and knock a few holds off a the stride. for a start the national park officials would probably never know about it, and secondly they probably wouldn't give a toss (its not like the list the number of 8a+s the peak has as a reason fro people to visit). Also if these were people capable of destroying a whole toilet block then don't you think they'd be doing a lot more damage to the crag, carving "the peak park are dickhead" into the rock, rather then carefully knocking off a crimp. I see no evidence to link the two whatsoever.

And even if the police new about the chipping, and even thought it was the same people, and thought it might happen again they're not going to do anything since the chipping is not costing anyone any money. I can't see them giving 24hour surveilance at the stride.

Lets get with the real waltz here. Unless the chipper fesses up or one of their friends sings, or someone saw it, then chances are we ain't gonna know who done it, ever. Its not as if we know who done the chips on that sitter arete at cratcliffe, and the been going on for years. Or the person who chipped t-crack, or jerry's traverse, or did the chips on the slabs there, or who did the chips at the stride,...etc

[Johnny Brown]

i'm totally unconvinced this was the work of a climber. OK, one chip was a crucial hold on a hard problem. The other four were in totally random places with regard to climbing, except that they had chalk on them. The other probs are unaffected climbing wise, they just look a mess.

[Bubba]

I'm sorry but I just can't see any connection either - the sort of people who are going to destroy a toilet block are unlikely to be the sort of people who specifically trash holds on boulder problems.

The last time I heard of a toilet block getting destroyed in such a way it was by irate villagers who were fed up as it being used as a cottaging venue.

The police aren't going to do fuck all - if they can't do anything about the hundreds of car breakins around the peak (bar putting up some signs) then what the fuck are they going to care about some boulder problems? The Derbyshire police are more interested in setting up speed traps than much else, or so it would seem.

The person who did this is obviously a climber, or ex-climber. Really, they need to be caught in the act and the only people who are going to be arsed to do that are other climbers.

[Johnny Brown]

The last time I heard of a toilet block getting destroyed in such a way it was by irate villagers who were fed up as it being used as a cottaging venue.

 
Great how rumours become fact, eh??

Still don't think this was done by a climber.

[Bubba]

Didn't that happen in Ilkley, and also some place in Northumberland?

Why don't you think it's a climber?

[cofe]

i have to agree with vince, i don't think it's a climber either. sure, holds have been damaged but the alternative view is that large areas of white around 'holds', evidently used by rock climbers and within easy reach from the floor, have been indiscriminantly hit with a hammer.

[Bubba]

Who else would want to piss climbers off so specifically?

[cofe]

who knows? landowner, farmer, chav, rambler, a joe blogg member of the general public whot took offence to loads of shouting and swearing one afternoon.

it is all speculation. that it is a climber seems no more likely than it being A N Other.

[Johnny Brown]

Doesn't strike me as damage done by a climber. It's just a mess. And the ones on the little slab (that them frenchies run up in htttttp://bloc) are even more pointless. looks like someone went around twatting chalk marks. Just so happened one was important.

There are also those spraypainted dates in that little slab area. What the fuck was all that about?

[dave k]

Ok you have convinced me. No connection exists. I heared the words chissel, crow bar, hammer, Sunday and Bakewell and crazy unexplained destruction and jumped to conclusions. Had myself convinced for a while though.

I am still getting over one of my projects in Bleau getting destroyed at Roche aux Martin- it was a lovely 7B arete, now minimum 8a+ since the bottom holds were smashed off at the same time as Karma and others took a battering.

[Bonjoy]

There are also those spraypainted dates in that little slab area. What the fuck was all that about?

 Don't know about you, but I was locked in the cellar on the 23.06.03 with a pile of tinned food waiting for the apocalypse. Bloody pranksters, had me fooled.

[Sloper]

unreal, but unfortunately all too predictable.