A couple of weeks ago my brother David and I found ourselves heading toward the Peaks with ominous clouds looming above us and a forecast of showers and a bitterly cold wind. While David drove, I scoured our well thumbed copy of Eastern Grit for a suitably sheltered venue. My first thought was to head for Lawrencefield, but right next to it in the guidebook “Eastern Grit” is Yarncliffe Quarry. I read the guidebook description to David and we mused “Why on earth have we not climbed here before?”

I suppose on reflection we probably dismissed it on earlier occasions because it’s quite a small venue, and when we were complete newbies the lack of routes under the severe grade might have been off-putting.

As always, we took turns to lead:

• David: Outdoor Centre Route HVD 20m – a nice easy warmup
• Me: Ant’s Crack S 16m – very pleasant little jamming route. Made light work of it.
• David: Latecomer HS 16m – Another nice crack. We both took the optional 5a boulder problem start.

Neither of us had lunch so after that we drove to Hathersage for a toastie at the Outside Cafe, then shot over to Lawrencefield, Roadside Bay area. I finished off by climbing: the last Wet Wednesday VS 10m – Easy start and finish with a couple of trickier moves in the middle.

So back to Yarncliffe. A really nice little venue; sheltered and quiet. Great crack routes, small but positive holds – brilliant. We had a really enjoyable couple of hours there. I spoke to a guy who had just come from Stanage, he said the cold wind was unbearable up there – so we made a good choice.

Give Yarncliffe a try, but be gentle with it and don’t tell anyone you like it – shhhhh!!!!

Crags: Yarncliffe Quarry – A small but surprisingly good climbing venue is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Lawrencefield – The Peak District
2. Climbing book review: Eastern Grit (ROCKFAX)
3. Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District

With the advent of the lighter, summer evenings I suggested that rather than climb indoors at Rock City in Hull, we try to get to a crag and climb outdoors. The only problem being is that it takes around an hour and a half to get to Hathersage from my place, which means we need to be away early to get a decent climb.

Last Friday I suggested we head of early and have a go up at Lawrencefield or Millstone. Unfortunately David couldn’t get away early. The earliest he could make it would have got us there for around 7:30pm – not worth it! As David is only about 3 miles from Filey, I suggested that we climb at Filey Brigg.

View over Empress Pool area

We have climbed at Filey before so it wasn’t a first for us. If you haven’t climbed there before and you’re thinking of trying it, I’ll warn you now – be prepared to bleed!

The rock at Filey is very, very sharp. This makes for nice positive holds (definitely no slopers), but if you slip, brush a bare arm or leg against the rock, you will spill some claret! I felt that I climbed OK, but when I got home and looked in the mirror, the man staring back at me looked like he had been mauled by a cougar. The other thing to note about the rock is that it can be quite brittle in places, think twice before swinging on that fossilised tree root!

There’s a reasonable selection of routes, mainly sport graded though there are trad routes too. They’re all very old, so be careful they may have changed since they were written into a guidebook. Some of the sport routes are bolted, but most of the ones we looked at looked really dangerous (significant chance of hitting the ground, even after the second clip).

None of the climbs are that tall. Most of the ones we have climbed have an easy start, a challenging sequence of 2 -3 moves in the middle then an easy finish.

Is it worth the trip?

Well it certainly makes a nice change from climbing indoors. Climbing on sharp rock where falls might yield catastrophic consequences (or at least a heavy dose of pain) adds an air of excitement. I have climbed there 3 times now, so I suppose that has to say something, though it is my nearest crag.

I always enjoy climbing at Filey, just because it’s quite different. I always end up climbing well within my limits (no harder than severe), but it’s nice to move around on a different type of rock (a mixture of limestone to sandstone), and the waves crashing below add a real ambiance.

If you do go, download a guidebook and be very careful.

Crags: Filey Brigg – Scary but a nice change is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Ilkley – A challenging Yorkshire crag and quarry
2. Peak District climbing – Birchen Edge
3. Peak District climbing – Wharncliffe

With it’s lowly aspect overlooking the steel rolling mills of Stocksbridge, and the fact that most of its routes are only between 8 and 14 metres you might be forgiven for overlooking it as a decent rock climbing venue. I urge you to take another look, I climbed there last Sunday and I have to say I thought it was actually really rather good.

The crag features a wealth of routes across a very wide range of grades and the rock is excellent quality. Unlike many of the Peak’s gritstone crags which have large but rounded holds, Wharncliffe features much smaller, sharper holds (which suits me just fine). There was literally no polish on any of the routes that we climbed, which, I suspect, is due to the fact that it was really quiet. In the whole time we were there we only saw 2 other climbing parties on the entire crag! Compared to the “take a ticket and queue” scenarios we have experienced at many other crags in the Peaks it was a welcome change.

David getting to grips with Slab and Corner (HS)

You can park closer, but we elected to park on Station Road outside the pub and walk up. If you decide to do the same; just head up the hill, take the first little path on your left, walk through a small tunnel then look out for an unofficial but well trodden path on the right, follow that path, passing a huge electricity pylon, through a gate and eventually you reach the foot of the crag at the Prow Rock end.

We didn’t have a huge amount of time as David had to get back to Scarborough, but here’s what we climbed (As usual, taking it turns to lead):

• Me: Hamlet’s Climb HVD what a bloody lash up! If you decide to do this climb, please don’t do what I did and climb into the horizontal chimney, keep your hands in it and traverse across on the outside. Once you’re in, it’s a bugger to get back out
• David: Slab and corner HS Not much in the way of protection until you reach the corner on this one. It’s pretty easy climbing though
• Me: Cheese block HS I really enjoyed this one. It looks like it’s going to be really fluttery but it isn’t. Just really nice climbing on small but edgy holds
• David: Puttrell’s progress S This one was a really interesting climb. We picked it because the guide book showed a great full-page image of someone in a cool position on it. It was hilarious to watch David on the first part of the climb, he got stuck in the crack on his belly, baby seal style

Me on Cheese Block (HS)

The climbers we did meet on the crag were really friendly and we enjoyed chatting with them after our last climb.

Would I visit Wharncliffe again? Hell Yeah! Only next time I would like to stay a bit longer.

If you require a guide book for this crag (and pretty much any other gritstone crag in the Peak District), I would strongly recommend Eastern Grit by ROCKFAX. Available at Amazon at a discounted £15.99, usually £20.95 (bargain).

As always I would love to hear your experience. Please feel free to comment.

Peak District climbing – Wharncliffe is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Lawrencefield – The Peak District
2. Peak District climbing – Birchen Edge
3. Climbing book review: Eastern Grit (ROCKFAX)

We decided to call off at Hathersage and visit the Outside climbing shop as we needed some new kit, so we looked in our climbing book for routes nearby. We had already climbed at Millstone and Lawrencefield, so we elected to give the fairly nearby Birchen Edge a try.

The walk-in to the crag is about 10 minutes up a clear, sandy path which brings you out around The Promenade area.

It’s a fairly busy crag, which is probably due to the wealth of climbing routes available in the lower grades (up to severe). The rock is quality gritstone which offers a good deal of friction (apart from the initial moves on some of the climbs, which were very polished).

You won’t find any multi-pitch routes here, most of the routes are only between 10 and 16 metres. This actually makes me nervous, I prefer to be a LOT further away from the ground.

We took it in turns to lead:

• Me: Promenade Direct HVD 10m. Easy but very exposed route (first piece of gear around 6 metres)
• David: The Bow S 14m. Thrutchy start with an exposed move from first ledge, then easy climbing on an arete
• Me: Tried to lead Roger the Cabin Boy VS 14m, but couldn’t get make the super exposed move over the bulge 2/3rds of the way up – disasterous!
• David: Sail Buttress 14m HS – same start as Roger the Cabin boy, but an altogether friendlier traverse move 2/3rds up
• David: Nelson’s Slab HS 14m. Very tricky 5a move to get started (would be easy if not for polished foot holds). I tried to redeem myself by seconding the adjacent VS – Almost the same, but smaller, more delicate holds

Overall I think Birchen Edge is a nice little climbing venue with some interesting routes on good quality rock. It’s not my usual sort of venue as I prefer my crags taller with less people. Having said that, they were a friendly crowd, and I would definitely go back for another go.

I would love to hear your peak district climbing stories and views.

The picture, top-right is by Mikey Bean – Check out his FlickR photo stream.

Peak District climbing – Birchen Edge is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Lawrencefield – The Peak District
2. Climbing book review: Peak District Climbing (Vertebrate Publishing)
3. Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District

We sat down and looked for a crag that we could climb in Yorkshire which has routes 20m and over. David has a book by ROCKFAX called Northern England, in which we found the perfect candidate, Ilkley.

Ilkley quarry is  opposite a pub called the Cow and Calf in Ilkley, Yorkshire. There’s a big car park and the crag is clearly visible from the road. The routes are steep and vary from V Diff right up to E8. We only climbed the quarry area, opposite the car park because we wanted to do 2 Yorkshire crags in one day.

My first impression as I walked up to the crag was that it looked tall, steep (good so far) and green (not so good).

We pulled out the guide book and elected to start with a route called Fairy Steps, HD, which I lead. We then went on to climb a fluttery VS called Napoleon, lead by my intrepid younger sibling. My route went pretty much without incident. David’s was an altogether different tale including swearing, about an hour of our lives disappearing and then a pretty respectable fall from the top section!

David climbing Napoleon VS

I’ll go into more detail about the actual climbs later.

I don’t feel like I can give you a full review of Ilkley because we only managed 2 climbs. However, I will say this: if you like crags that are busy, full of spectators, green, and have polished rock then you’ll enjoy Ikley. If these kind of things affect your performance then get ready for an ego battering.

Apologies to all of you that love this crag, I do intend to return and try again.

The picture, top-right is by Alh1, check out his FlickR stream

Ilkley – A challenging Yorkshire crag and quarry is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Lawrencefield – The Peak District
2. Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District
3. Climbing book review: Eastern Grit (ROCKFAX)

• It’s quiet
• It’s tall (for the Peak District) – some of the climbs are almost 30m
• There’s some really fantastic climbs, whether you’re a V Diff or E1 leader

If you can lead up to HS standard, you will absolutely love this venue as there are some really pleasurable and rewarding climbs in the lower grades.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re looking for a massive venue with a lot of climbs you may be disappointed, but if you like smaller venues without the crowds and some first rate rock then Lawrencefield is definitely for you. Millstone is also just a short walk away if you need to make a long day of it.

Fantastic VS corner crack

To get to Lawrencefield crag, you should park at the Surprise View car park at the Sheffield side of Hathersage. From the car park, cross the road and walk about a hundred metres up the path to the corner. You’ll spot a little path leading off to the left, follow that through a gate then over a stile to your right and bingo, you’re stood at the top of the crag. Follow the rocky path in front of you which veers around to the left to get to the climbs.

You’ll be greeted by a sheltered area with the rock face curving around a central pool.

To the left of the pool there is a nice V Diff for beginners to experience a nice big climb, called Pulpit Groove. For those with a bit more experience there is a wonderful HS called Three Tree Climb, with a delightfully exposed move around a flake in the middle. VS leaders will love the crack in the corner, called Great Harry.

I haven’t yet climbed anything behind the pool, but they look pretty interesting. Once I have done them I’ll let you know.

The climbs to the right of the pool are steep slabs and most have some nice hand and finger jamming. Every climb has obvious belay points at the top. There’s everything from V Diff right up to E2 along this wall.

I have reviewed a couple of books that feature Lawrencefield (so you can identify the routes):
Eastern Grit and Peak District Climbing

How to get there:

Lawrencefield – The Peak District is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District
2. Climbing book review: Peak District Climbing (Vertebrate Publishing)
3. Gareth Hanson – Editor