Climber September/October 2017

DEStination
Sniffer Clark and the legendary Big Chiv,
‘A particularly impressive lead by Proctor
with a 40-foot overhanging chimney that
makes Elder Crack look pathetic. The
route has only minimal protection’.
These were on the tier below Berserker
Joe but have now been buried by
landscaping of the quarry. The first sport
climbs were put up by Paul Freeman and
Mark Pretty, with further development by
John Allen, Gary Gibson and Nick Taylor.
When you enter the quarry via a
vague path (details on Gibson’s website),
Sit Down Buttress is obvious over to the
left and is a beautiful sunny spot offering
year-round quick drying climbing, but it
can be breezy on a windy day. The front
face offers several worthwhile routes on
good rock. Stand Out Arête (F6b) is the
obvious and well-named photogenic
arête and is tough for a short section.
The wall just left offers up a nicely
balanced route Sit Down Wall (F6a) to
give another super climb and a good
first route. Sit Up and Beg (F6b) to the
left of a trad crack is reachy and fingery,
and the four routes left again are all
around F6a and give a good afternoon’s
climbing.
Routes on the steep right side of the
Stand out Arête have an entirely different
character, with an intimidating feel.
The first two on the left are harder
offerings, Christmas Crackers (F6c+)
and Where’s Wall-E, the hardest at F7a.
a beautiful sunny spot
offering year-round
quick drying climbing
The obvious crack gives solid jamming,
Berserker Joe (easy F6a except for the
wall-trained), Footprints in The Snow
(F6a+) has an excellent out-there
finish up the hanging corner, Trouser-
Ripper (F6b+) boasts an exacting start
which can be avoided starting up the
previous route at F6a+ but spoils the
fun. Finally, another good tick is Drill
Bit Taylor (F6b) with a demanding
overlap to overcome. Approximately
50m around to the left from Sit Down
Buttress are four short routes ranging
from F6a+ to F6c on a rib and compact
wall that stays shaded.
There are other areas of development
situated to the right as you enter the quarry
on tiered walls. The first buttress encountered
immediately on the right has a dusty
left wall with a couple of climbs at F6c
and F6b+ followed by several lines
around F6b with a mixture of pockets,
crimps and tricky finger locks. The steep
blocky tower is Chunky and good value
at F6b. The arête is Bride of Chunky
(F6b+) with a definite crux sequence.
To the right, Lurid Persona (F6b+) and
Cous Cous (F6b+) share a start, then
Downstream Takeaway (F6b+) and Odd
Bod Junior (F6a) share a common finish.
Two other areas have been developed
on the tier below but are not described
here. Continue walking along the ledge
to the impressive Main Wall at the far
left-hand side. The right-hand route is
a shorter warm-up, Stoked for the Send
(F6b) with another slightly harder route
just left. Three routes on the Main Wall
are amongst the best in the quarry, on
the left is Super Leggera (F6c+) providing
excellent climbing, Spirit of Ecstasy (F6b)
is the original route of the wall which
has a hard start, particularly for those
of less stature, followed by a delightful 6
Above L–R: John Davidson
pulling hard on Perilscope
(F7a) at Stoney West.
Stephen Coughlan climbing
Stand Out Arête (F6b) on
Sit Down Buttress, arguably
the best route in this part of
Hidden Quarry.
www.climber.co.uk Sep–Oct 2017 59