[Dicker]

Anyone know where at Churnet this is???

[rainbow]

Indeed I/we do. For the last 18 months been working on a guide for the entire area which documents everything Not in the Vertebrate guide. The said problem while been amazing, is currently wet and slimy. I've never come across anything which is so hard to get in condition, irrespective of how much cleaning you do. Last two years it dried out for 1 month in the year. This year 1 week!!  The next time I think I will be climbable will be May next year. I kid you not.
As for the guide, I'm staying tight lipped as still got quite a lot of work to do. When I've finished the first full draft I'll post on here, with a few sample pages. Advice and feedback then would be much appreciated.
Lets hope the weather plays ball throughout Sept and Oct.

[Dicker]

Anyone know where and what condition this is please?

Going on sat and be good to know whether to hunt down or not

[mini]

Given the dry couple of months we've had I would have said it would be in nick. However, the last two days or so will now doubt leave it seeping and slimey as Rainbow suggests above.

[r-man]

Where is it?

[Bonjoy]

It was dry last weekend but I can imagine today's rain will have scuppered things for a while now.
If the locals are keen to keep schtum for now then I'd best not tell either. Sorry.

[rainbow]

It has been dry and very clean for three weeks now, todays heavy rain and next weeks showers will put it back a bit but the dampness will be on the surface rather than deep within the rock. I'd say it will dry out within the next three weeks.
Cofe is banging away on his keyboard as we speak piecing together what I've come up with. If it looks like this will dry out again before the guidebook comes out, what I might do is to produce a tiny pdf of whats there etc and if anyone wants to give things a go email me. Would be a shame for others to miss ou,t as getting it in condition late June onwards is tricky, due to humidity. When its dry its amazing, when its damp it doesn't look that impressive.
How did you get on with it Mr Bonjoy? try anything else around there?

[Bonjoy]

I didn't try Witness. Had a brief play on Mirf's Roof which seemed great, am very keen to get back on that. Did Cold N Delicious which was brilliant. Felt quite hard but it was very warm on those slopers. Also tried Tarzan, Unicorn, Spellbound, Shark's Head, Frankenchurnet, did some nice easier things and then went down to Gentleman's. All class problems, will certainly be back to finish some of them off and try some of the other new areas.

[dave k]

When I was last in Dimmings Dale (during Easter) there were signs up about some disease (possibly in the heather if i remember rightly). There has clearly been some quite extensive clearing. The signs said to try to avoid walking off the main paths. Not easy when hunting for boulders.

I also noticed that the original path up to the Witness boulder had been hidden- a rope removed and the path blocked with tree cuttings. Was this linked to this disease issue?






 

[rainbow]

We stopped going the old way in to witness due to it being a pain in the arse and more importantly to prevent more soil erosion.
I bumped into the head of the Forestry Commission (Top bloke) up there about 3 weeks ago. The tree cuttings you mention are from what they have already cleared. Over the next 18 months or so the whole of that area will be cleared of the rhrododenrens. Access is fine, if you see anyone just let them know where you intend to go as its a working forest. Not sure which areas are being thinned out due to disease, but he did say some area's were being cleared to encourage moss growth on damp bits of rock. Before the guide goes to print I have said I want them to give us the green light as I don't want any problems arising after. Interestingly the clearing that got done over cottage, grasshopper was done by English Heritage and cost £28k!! I do intend to ask them about grasshopper area regarding the remaining trees which haven't been removed yet. Long term all this clearance will benefit us loads.

[measles23]

Stuart are you happy that the hold stabilisation work on Witness is good for increased traffic yet? I'm guessing it's your work - respect to whoever has done it, as it's very subtle..

C'n'D gets my vote too as a cool problem with brilliant name 

[Bonjoy]

Talking of quality names in the area Overbite Sensation is genius!

[rainbow]

Stuart are you happy that the hold stabilisation work on Witness is good for increased traffic yet? I'm guessing it's your work - respect to whoever has done it, as it's very subtle.

Yes, when this rain disappears its game on again. Wasn't sure if to stabilise the rock, but think it will work. Such an brilliant sequence of moves across that roof, would be a shame to lose that.

Talking of quality names in the area Overbite Sensation is genius!

Problem has been dubbed that, all we need is a FA So looking forward to all the repeats and the projects being knocked out.