5-meter high soft sandstone buttress with several straight up problems and a traverse which can be done in either direction. The rock is very soft and potential holds can come off in your hands - though the central holds of the defined problems are all fairly robust. Some harder problems were chipped into the quarry by climbing-starved children during the first Coronavirus lockdown.
Option 1 (shorter, slightly dodgey parking):
Park on the verge on Woodloes Lane shortly before the road splits into two private access roads (GPS Coordinates). From here follow the public footpath signs up the left of the two roads. Centenary Way crosses this road. Take a right onto the path and follow it until you see the crag which is very clearly visible to the right of the footpath (GPS Coordinates).
Option 2 (longer, proper parking):
Park in the layby on Rouncil Lane (GPS Coordinates). Follow the Centenary Way footpath southwards along the edge of the golf course to reach the quarry.
Developed by Michaël Bortoluzzi, Alan Segar & Steve Delaney in 2015.
Numbers correspond to route numbers on the topo below.
1. Left to Right Traverse (Project/f6C)
2. Finger Pockets or Dyno (f4)
3. Crack Basher (f4)
4a. Wall Right of Crack (Project/f6C)
4b. Projecting (Project/f?)
5. Disappearing Holds (Project/f6C)
6. Left Hand Pinch (f4)
7. Two Hand Undercut (f3)
8. Right Arete (f2)
9. Traverse Right to Left (Project/f6C)
10. Centenary Traverse (f4+)
Option 1 (shorter, slightly dodgey parking):
Park on the verge on Woodloes Lane shortly before the road splits into two private access roads (GPS Coordinates). From here follow the public footpath signs up the left of the two roads. Centenary Way crosses this road. Take a right onto the path and follow it until you see the crag which is very clearly visible to the right of the footpath (GPS Coordinates).
Option 2 (longer, proper parking):
Park in the layby on Rouncil Lane (GPS Coordinates). Follow the Centenary Way footpath southwards along the edge of the golf course to reach the quarry.
Developed by Michaël Bortoluzzi, Alan Segar & Steve Delaney in 2015.
Numbers correspond to route numbers on the topo below.
1. Left to Right Traverse (Project/f6C)
2. Finger Pockets or Dyno (f4)
3. Crack Basher (f4)
4a. Wall Right of Crack (Project/f6C)
4b. Projecting (Project/f?)
5. Disappearing Holds (Project/f6C)
6. Left Hand Pinch (f4)
7. Two Hand Undercut (f3)
8. Right Arete (f2)
9. Traverse Right to Left (Project/f6C)
10. Centenary Traverse (f4+)
North Woodloes Quarry Topo
I met a climber from Gritstone East land
Who said: Two vast and holdless prows of stone
Stand on the moors. Near them, lies a hand,
Beside a shattered body, whose bones,
And wrinkled lips, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its owner met a harsh, violent end,
At the hands of a mob who didn't agree
With one who sought to add hold and nature bend,
With hammer and chisel and brush of wire -
And chiselled on the rocks these words you'll see:
'My name is Ossie Mandias, the Bolt-gun Messiah:
Look upon my climbs, ye Mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of those brute-scarred prows, boundless and bare
The lone and level moors stretch far away.
- The Owl and the Cragrat, M. Chrysanthou (2004)
