Page 32 - 2020 AMA Winter

MISCARTICLE
OFF PISTE
IN NORTH
YORKSHIRE
Glenn Bloomer
THE APOLOGY
Firstly, an admission .... this article has nothing to do with skiing, off or on piste, in North Yorkshire...sorry!!! It is, however, about the huge amount of bouldering available in North Yorkshire and away from the famous gritstone hotspots of Almscliff, Caley, and Brimham. A lot of this ‘wild bouldering’ has been hidden in plain view and is not in traditional style guidebooks. A combination of reading ‘between the lines’ in the guidebooks, internet searches, checking maps and aimless wandering around the Moors and forests is required sometimes! However one of the best things though for all the effort it takes to find these obscure venues, is there is still a huge amount of development left, not just in new problems but in whole new crags and blocs...more of which later. With such a huge volume of climbing on offer however this article is intended to merely whet the appetite and give a few suggestions as to venues and problems.
THE LANDSCAPE
North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial county in England and has two National Parks within its environs (Pop Quiz Question: only one other county in the UK has two National Parks in its borders, which county is it?). The Yorkshire Dales NP to the West and the North Yorkshire Moors NP to the east separated by the Vale of Mowbary (sometimes mistaken as the Vale of York). Both Parks have distinct geological features and of note, for this article, is the Millstone Grits of the Dales and the Sandstones of the North Yorkshire Moors. Generally, and it is very general, the Vales of Mowbary and York create weather ‘gaps’ and as such if one side of the county is wet the other can be bathing in glorious sunshine, however this assertion is based on no facts whatsoever
but more on observation and the key ingredient, luck!
THE BACKGROUND
Before bouldering became as popular as it is now (coinciding with the development of bouldering pads?) Yorkshire had a rich tradition of bouldering before it was called bouldering. Indeed ‘The Crucifix’ (f5) at Almscliff is thought to be have been first climbed in about 1900!!! Illustrious names all left their mark on local boulder problems through the years including Arthur Dolphin, Allan Austin, Don Whillans, Ron Fawcett and Ben Moon. However, one name rings out loud in relation to this article and he is an unsung local hero called Tony Barley. Tony and his brother, Robin, started climbing in the early 1960s on the local crags to their home in Nidderdale and quickly made their mark by repeating a lot of the hardest routes at the time and pushing standards of the day, possibly the zenith being Tony’s onsight solo of ‘Barley Mow’ in 1966 at Almscliff. Getting a current trad grade of E4 6b or f7a for those who like their bouldering exciting, it is thought to be the UKs first Font 7a... heart stopping stuff now and even more so before the invention of bouldering pads!!!! The Barleys, and in particular Tony, were always keen to explore and the list of new crags developed by them is long. At the time a lot of these crags were dismissed as to short for ‘real climbing’ but it is been during the bouldering explosion that these crags true worth is now seen. As an example the superb venue Ash Head only sported 21 routes
Bouldering at Lords Seat, Barden Fell
in the 1998 Yorkshire Gritstone guide, by the 2012 guide it had risen to 43 routes and problems and ‘currently’ (as it is still being developed) it is up to 194 routes and problems! In 1998 Tony decided to document his explorations in a new local guidebook ‘Wild Bouldering in Yorkshire’, this publication quickly sold out (currently exchanging hands for upwards of £60) but it planted the seed for what else was potentially out there. This coincided with the introduction of the CROW Act in 2000 and the rise of digital logging of routes. Yorkshire Bouldering was one of the first dedicated online guidebooks and proved hugely popular, until the site owner gave it up as too much hassle, it was a labour of love after all and not a commercial venture. However, a new website grew from the multiple, but limited, resources,
32 / ARMY MOUNTAINEER
Onsight First Ascent of ‘In Plain Sight’ at Crag X