Alderly Cliff

A quick day in the peak district hunting out some limestone. So armed with my trusty yet old copy of "On Peak Rock" (date: ) Me and Ceara set out to find some limestone close to Stoke-on-Trent. With Ceara having work at 1800 we had an early start and rolled up to Alderly Cliff bathed in weak morning sun. For those who haven't been to Alderly it's a beautifel little cliff, but with a few issues. You park your car at the base of the crag, literally so you have to be quite careful about parking it sensibly.

The rock has historically been quarry for aggregate, and this is evident as it's a little loose in places. The more established and cleaner lines are pretty much free from bad loose rock, albight loose stone at the top, which come down when you pull your ropes down. The further right you go the looser the rock is, to the point that you just don't climb there. I mean there is some seriously big & loose material there. There's a couple of BMC signs warning of all of this but it's definatly a crag to where a helmet at.

I've already mentioned abseiling but there is a walk off. It's treachous in wet conditions so best avoided. There are lowers off at the top of most of the routes, ranging from massive steel cables to hoards of tat and maillions. It says in the guidebook that they are not tested and not put in by the BMC so use your own judgement. We abseiled of 3 different sets of lower off, but each time I backed them up and bounce tested them to beyond all doubt before commiting to them.

All in all I guess that Alderly Cliff is actually a serious little cliff with some very ameanable routes on it. Be sensible and you'll stay safe here. In the end we did 5 routes here, from HS 4b to E1 5a. We started off with a route called Broken Toe (HVS 4c) which I thought was quite fitting as I'd stubbed my toe and had a huge blood blister on the tip. The route was on a slabby section of the cliff but it was still a little run out. I didn't take the correct line nearer to top, but seeing as the route was covered in moss then I probably made the right decision. We abseiled off and Ceara left my back-up sling behind. It was my own fault for not explaining it all properly.

As it was so early, and my car was full of enough gear for the entire week away we sat around and had a nice cup of tea in the morning sun. After a lazy brew and a snooze I lead Surface Plate (HVS 5a). It was a nice little route, just a little bit more technical than the last one, but just as run out in the first section. It was suposed to carry on up the HVD rib to the top, but we decided against it and abseiled off again.

It was straight back onto Ash tree Slab (HS 4b) that would take us back to the first abseil so I could rescue my sling back this time. This route was alright, obviously less technical but it was still a nice route with somegood moves on it. Thankfully it was a little bit more protected than the other too.

A lazy early lunch of before we started on the next route. The next route was bill in the guidebook as a contender for the "best route on the crag?". It was called simply The Arete and went at E1 5a. It really was that good a route and possibly the best route I did the whole day. I wasn't exactly full of gear and the hold where quite polished, but instead of taking away from the route it meant you really had to concentrate on your footwork. I enjoyed it loads and kept using cheeky heel hooks to hold me just off the arete while I placed gear and rested.

Our final route took the zig zag lined crack that ran up the right of the arete. Mitre Crack went at VS 4c and I felt it was more difficult than that. Perphaps I just climbed it like an idiot (which is probably the case) and Ceara didn't seem to have the same touble I did on it. We called it a day after this, because we'd climbed pretty much all the routes i the guidebook, Ceara's back had gone and was hurts and it's nice to leave on a good note with plenty of sunshine to drive home.

I think people should be encouraged from climbing at the same places all the time and should explore more crags. I heard someone complaining they'd done all the routes at thier grade in the guide book. To my astonisment I asked them how and they said it was at the cliff they ususally climbed. Both me and friend told them to explore more and find more crags to climb on! You might strike out sometimes and find a real crap hole, but you might find a real gem hidden away in some back corner of the world. Explore more and climb happy!