Eastern Edges Today

[Johnny Brown]

Great, if a touch too warm still. Surprisingly dry underfoot.

 

[Dolly]

Great ta. Where were you ?

 

[stone]

Really nice at Apparent North today. The grass was so well grown that there wasn't mud and holds were cleaner than I've ever seen. Didn't seem to be any run off issues. I guess the sun and breeze must have sorted things out.

 

[Johnny Brown]

Burbage N and West. Also echo what Stone said, WSS cleanest I’ve seen it in decades and grass underneath making a stab at a return.

 

[Dolly]

Thanks both

 

[GazM]

Peak punter question: me and a pal are coming down to the Peak this weekend for some routes and bouldering. Forecast is looking showery, so which are the quickest drying crags?

And don't worry, we have no interest on climbing on wet rock!

 

[Wellsy]

Curbar, Burbage, Froggatt, Stanage all dry nice and quickly

Birchen too I hear

 

[Droyd]

Curbar, Burbage, Froggatt, Stanage all dry nice and quickly

Birchen too I hear

Not to have a go at you, Wellsy, as I imagine you're well up on your grit ethics, but this always irks me: these are all crags that people describe as 'quick-drying' but that in reality have some problems that dry quickly and some problems that dry slowly. I know that's stupidly obvious, but I reckon if people stopped thinking of entire crags as 'quick drying' and started thinking about whether the problems they plan on climbing are, we'd have fewer issues with people climbing on damp rock as a whole. For example lots of the quality lower-grade stuff at Stanage Plantation gets the sun and wind and so dries pretty quick, while a lot of the harder stuff is the opposite and so dries slowly. Conversely at Robin Hood's Stride (another supposedly quick-drying crag) the lower-grade stuff dries slowly and is made of quite soft rock so is mostly totally knackered, while there are plenty of problems in the sixes and sevens that do dry quick (and things like The Kid that are sort of rainproof).

The key thing if you're looking at climbing on grit on a showery day is surely picking crag/boulders based on wind direction, which is currently looking like you might get some guilt-free climbing in at the classic grit crags based on the Met. But if you take Curbar as an example, most of the stuff up on the edge will probably be in good nick and Trackside will be fine except for the puddle under it, while Gorilla Warfare and Ultimate Gritstone Experience will almost certainly be damp. Those three named problems will probably all have people climbing them this weekend regardless, of course, but that's a separate rant.

Gaz, how much have you and your mate done before in the Peak and what grades are you looking at?

 

[GazM]

Done bits and bobs but not been down for a long time. We're both time-poor dads with a rare weekend pass. I've barely trad climbed in recent years so hoping to just tick through a few classics that I've not done on previous trips. Things like The File, Flying Buttress Direct, Goliath's, Suicide Wall, Chequers Buttress would be on my list, but happy to go where the weather's gonna be best.
My main query is about which crags have the most quick drying routes really.

 

[cheque]

The only one of those routes that’s not so quick-drying in the forecast south-west winds is Suicide Wall because the bottom of Cratcliffe’s sheltered by the trees and it’s taller so there’s more of it to dry . Could still be OK but the Stanage/ Burbage area is the best bet. Tuesday night’s a bit early to judge which direction a showery weekend forecast will go in at this time of year of course. Hopefully it’ll be alright.

 

[slab_happy]

Also, sounds obvious, but go prepared to pat the rock and walk away from a particular route/problem if it's still damp to the touch. In particular, cracks may still be holding water while face surfaces are dry.

 

[Droyd]

Sorry, missed the bit about routes. If you're thinking about walking in with a pad and a rack Froggatt might well be a good bet - quick-drying routes and some bouldering that either dries quick (the top boulders) or doesn't get very wet (Tody's Playground). Once you're at the main bit of Froggatt the 'far' end of Curbar is only a five-minute walk too.

Wharncliffe and Rivelin might be worth thinking about too - both have fewer classic routes than the obvious Eastern Edges crags but get less of the crap weather and are generally a bit warmer, which is handy if you don't fancy freezing your arse off belaying, which is a likelihood at the quick-drying crags at this point in the year. Wharncliffe dries exceptionally quickly and has some brilliant S-VS, E1, and E3 and up routes (but annoyingly little at HVS and E2) and some decent bouldering on the main crag (Pointy Block, Lonely Boulder, Tensile Test if you're on for E1 5c-type highballing). Some bits of Rivelin dry slowly and if it's properly pissing it down it's crap, but on an on-off showery day the stuff around the Needle dries quickly, and Croton Oil and Blizzard Ridge at HVS and Acid Reign at 6C are some of the best of their grade in the Peak.

When it's totally crap in the Peak you can often boulder at places to the east of Sheffield like Anston and Roche Abbey as they get much less rain, so might be an option for Sunday if it continues looking like a washout. Arguably a totally shite option for most people who are travelling to the Peak for a weekend of trad, but there's an argument that mag lime bouldering is better than indoors, and it's convenient if you're heading home via the M1.

Feel free to shoot me a message if you're missing guides for any of these places, and hope you get something done!

 

[slab_happy]

Sorry, missed the bit about routes. If you're thinking about walking in with a pad and a rack Froggatt might well be a good bet - quick-drying routes and some bouldering that either dries quick (the top boulders) or doesn't get very wet (Tody's Playground). Once you're at the main bit of Froggatt the 'far' end of Curbar is only a five-minute walk too.

Also the Cave Crack cave is handy for sitting in if you're waiting out a brief shower in the hope things will dry out afterwards.

 

[Wellsy]

Curbar, Burbage, Froggatt, Stanage all dry nice and quickly

Birchen too I hear

Not to have a go at you, Wellsy, as I imagine you're well up on your grit ethics, but this always irks me: these are all crags that people describe as 'quick-drying' but that in reality have some problems that dry quickly and some problems that dry slowly. I know that's stupidly obvious, but I reckon if people stopped thinking of entire crags as 'quick drying' and started thinking about whether the problems they plan on climbing are, we'd have fewer issues with people climbing on damp rock as a whole. For example lots of the quality lower-grade stuff at Stanage Plantation gets the sun and wind and so dries pretty quick, while a lot of the harder stuff is the opposite and so dries slowly. Conversely at Robin Hood's Stride (another supposedly quick-drying crag) the lower-grade stuff dries slowly and is made of quite soft rock so is mostly totally knackered, while there are plenty of problems in the sixes and sevens that do dry quick (and things like The Kid that are sort of rainproof).

The key thing if you're looking at climbing on grit on a showery day is surely picking crag/boulders based on wind direction, which is currently looking like you might get some guilt-free climbing in at the classic grit crags based on the Met. But if you take Curbar as an example, most of the stuff up on the edge will probably be in good nick and Trackside will be fine except for the puddle under it, while Gorilla Warfare and Ultimate Gritstone Experience will almost certainly be damp. Those three named problems will probably all have people climbing them this weekend regardless, of course, but that's a separate rant.

Gaz, how much have you and your mate done before in the Peak and what grades are you looking at?

Of course while certain crags may dry quicker than others overall, one should inspect the problem first and if it is not nice and dry, not get on it. I would never say hey Burbage dries quick so it's fine to get on anything there after 12 hours wind and sun; if it's wet it's wet.

 

[Duncan campbell]

I think that’s what Droyd is saying wellsy, he’s sure you know your shit but you have just said “Burbage, Curbar, etc all dry quickly” without the caveat.

Obviously most people including GazM as I know of him through a mutual friend will exercise that level of caution and assess on a problem by problem level.

But giving those blanket statements maybe shuts off that assessment in some less experienced people? Though if they are unaware enough to climb wet rock then they wouldn’t even worry about which crags dry fast.

I guess the more important thing is educating people why climbing on wet/damp grit isn’t cricket. This discussion is all valuable stuff though I reckon!

 

[Droyd]

Spot on Duncan - thanks for expressing things more clearly than I did!

We talk a lot about this issue of people cracking on and climbing on damp grit because it happens loads, whether through ignorance or selfishness. In most cases it’s probably that classic thought process of ‘well I’ve walked all the way in and it’s not that wet, and if I pack up and walk out and drive to another crag and walk into there I might just find more wet rock, so I might as well do it’. And I think that communicating to people that they should make that right choice and pack up and go elsewhere is really valuable, but I also think that avoiding people being in that situation entirely has a lot of value, and that a big cause of it is blanket statements like ‘x crag is quick drying’. Because for every person who has the experience to know that that’s a generalisation and that on marginal days dryness needs to be assessed on a problem-by-problem basis, there are multiple who don’t, and who take that statement at face value because they don’t know any better.

However, sorry if that my post came across as you not knowing your onions or encouraging poor behaviour Wellsy - we've not met as far as I'm aware, but from what I can tell you're as good as anyone for not climbing on wet rock and encouraging others to do the same.

Anyway, the sun is shining after a couple of days of crap weather, so I’m off to plaster some damp slopers in chalk and see how many pebbles I can snap off.

 

[Wellsy]

I totally agree with all that I'm sure GazM will make good ethical choices!

 

[erm sam]

so the castleton and outside webcam have been showing murk and low cloud mostly for days. I have not headed out yesterday and today as it just looks damp, but tomorrow morning forecast is pretty similar and I'm getting desperate so thought I'd check: anybody got any idea if the murk is translating to damp boulders in general, or are bits dry? eg burbage w?

 

[erm sam]

I have belatedly realised the Outside webcam has been showing the same clagged in image for 3 days.

 

[mrjonathanr]

Rest assured that Curbar and Baslow were misty and claggy yesterday, whereas minus ten was mint.