[David S]

Can I have one of them grafts on the top of my head then Lovejoy  

[grimer]

They've not been at you with he wire brush again, dave?

[Fj]

Although I'm also in favour of the selective ban, won't it just re-direct all the traffic to the next 'best' problems and they'll become trashed.

Also for blocks like remergence and possibly warfare, which wouldnt win any natural beauty awards, couldnt some sort of matting like popular end car park go underneath them?

[dave]

matting would be good at remergance, but then again the occaisional bag of gravel also does the trick. don't think theres anything needed at GW, and theres no erosion at remergence, its just a puddle, but since its naturally surounded by rocks i don't think the soil can be washed away anywhere really.

I wouldn't have thought that banning a couple of faces of a couple of boulders would make any noticable increase in traffic elsewhere.

[john horscroft]

I know these meetings are no doubt on the BMC site for months in advance, but why do they only seem to get brought up on web forums the day before?

Sorry if everyone missed my posts on UKC, but I usually flag it up a month or so before the meeting and then a week before.  In future I'll post here as well (or Grimer will).

[john horscroft]

its always posted on ukc when they're due. they should be posted here too.

grimer - think me and vince noir are coming. we don't have beards and we aren't grey.

I promise beards aren't compulsory.............


just preferred

[john horscroft]

P.S. is the ground erosion at bouldering places really any worse than it is at birchens, popular end, curbar etc. They've been devoid of any greenery and stuff for decades but i don't see anyone banning punters and picnics? :wink:

Good point.  My cunning plan is that we have a look at sorting out some of the worst eroded boulders first and then move on to the main crag.  Either we do this off our own back or someone a lot less sympathetic will tell us to do it..............

[john horscroft]

As Bonjoy says, recreating the verdant pasture that was below deliverance won't be done in a few months. But hopefully it would only need doing once.

I remember how it happened - some fool had a fire beneath the right arete. That left a sunken bare patch, during the next downfall the puddle behind the pebble found a new drain and washed all the soil away.

There are some pretty cunning ploys we can use to speed the regeneration and there must be some experts out there we can nobble for advice.  But it's crucial that the bouldering community is consulted and agrees with whatever we do...............

[john horscroft]

Rather than banning people from the whole crag, wouldn't it be easier just to cordon off areas that are getting a makeover - it would only be the base of certain boulders wouldn't it? I'm sure if there was a little sign up giving the reason why it was being done then most people would respect it wouldn't they?

Spot on.  If we do it on a rotational basis, everyone still gets to climb and we get the job done.  May take a bit longer, but we'll carry people with us.........

[john horscroft]

And I'm a bit pissed off that there's none of the juvenile banter on this forum that you tend to get on UKC.  Bloody hell you boulderers are dead mature...............

[Ru]

I'm still trying to get a lift over to the meeting, but if I fail, can I say that I agree with all points concerning regeneration of eroded areas, rotating restrictions to allow regrowth, consulting on best regrowth startegies, and on judicious use of resin type stuff on eroding patches on boulders a la Bowden.

[john horscroft]

I'm still trying to get a lift over to the meeting, but if I fail, can I say that I agree with all points concerning regeneration of eroded areas, rotating restrictions to allow regrowth, consulting on best regrowth startegies, and on judicious use of resin type stuff on eroding patches on boulders a la Bowden.

Where are you?  I might be able to swing past and pick you up.

JH

[Ru]

Id need a lift back too, but I'm on oxford road at MMU law school

[Ru]

Sorry, that's in Manchester!

[john horscroft]

Oh, now that would be a bit of a run out!!  Sorry!  Hope someone else comes to your rescue.............

[dave]

I'm still trying to get a lift over to the meeting, but if I fail, can I say that I agree with all points concerning regeneration of eroded areas, rotating restrictions to allow regrowth, consulting on best regrowth startegies, and on judicious use of resin type stuff on eroding patches on boulders a la Bowden.

ditto.

[Jim]

not been on interweb for last couple of days (training hard on board - honest). I prob would have gone over for this but I guess its too late now.
Re: re-turfing. I fully support this type of thing. Using trample resistant types of grass would be a plus and also using turf instead of grass seeds should considerably cut down on time certain problems are out of action for, although there is a greater cost. Anyone fancy posting on some gardening forums?
Keen to hear what comes out of thisd meeting

[Ru]

Well? Do we have a 10 year bouldering site regeneration plan as ratified by the BMC ready to submit to the Peak Park people?

Oh well.

Sorry I couldn't make it. I'll keep a look out for the next one in advance and try and get to that.

[john horscroft]

No grand plan as yet, but we should be able to put together a group who can look at the problem and come up with a plan for us.  Important the group includes plenty of active boulderers and some people with relevant expertise.  Any takers??

JH

[Bonjoy]

The bouldering related debate could have been a bit longer and was not helped by ill informed people taking up most of the discussion time with daft comments like:
" Bouldering mats are bad because they encourage people to try things which are too hard for them"
 "Gritstone doesn't erode through climbing, it only polishes, therefore all damage on boulder probs is done by evil boulderers weilding wire brushes and chisels"
 " All chipping is done by climbers"
 Some good points were made though. No decisions were made. I think the general climbing community has some catching up to do on the debate.

[john horscroft]

In reply to Bonjoy:

I'm afraid that tends to be the way with these debates.  Very little actually gats sorted out at the meeting, but it lets people know there's an issue.  If we can all get behind Simon Jaques now and help him to get a team together, then we can really start to achieve something.  Thanks for turning out!

JH

[cofe]

i'd have to echo bonjoy's comments. it was quite frustrating at times. i think most of the people who've posted on here will be willing to contribute in some way, be it only through further discussion, but i think we need to decide what can and should be done.

we have to also understand we aren't dealing with one rock type. again another point for further discussion.

john - would you/simon get a group/meeting together of people who are informed just to look at these issues?

[Johnny Brown]

Interesting meeting generally, missed a bit about the RSPB but I'm sure the minutes will explain. And no discussion about the BMC itself, which is a marked improvement on the last one I attended.

I'd be keen to be involved in any re-turfing / resining projects.
What perhaps most didn't understand last night was just how localised any turf repair would be. We're really talking about a small number of spots that have recently lost vegetation and are deteriorating fast.

I think the chipping was a red herring though. I haven't seen any chipping in the last 5 years which is obviously done by climbers. I have seen a lot of fast erosion of holds which seems to grow exponentially once started.

Oh, and John, if you want to read some drivel, look at Cofe's 'most wildly accurately graded problem' thread. Generally this kind of thing is kept well contained on UKB

[cofe]

i'm sorry. i though you said your name was alotta fagina?

[a dense loner]

it's not funny