kirklees climbing
DOVESTONES EDGE
Bancroft on Strappado
Dovestones is possibly the first 'foreign' crags encountered as one leaves Kirklees.
Travelling from Holmfirth to Greenfield, and descending towards Dovestone Reservoir, it's the
obvious skyline crag above and to the left of the great, tumbling quarries. A great place for
summer evenings, the delights include long but relatively easy ridges in a wild setting.
Look out for Nasal
Buttress (HS) or Central Tower (VDiff), as well as wonderful lines such as Answer Crack
which
is obviously begging to be laybacked. The main attraction however is The Hanging Crack,
which crosses three archetypal gritsone roofs; no pushover for its grade of E2 5b. And
there are
many other gems to be found here.
One such route heads of the 'out-there' flake on the small buttress to the right of
Hanging Crack. Strappado, at E4 6b, is meaner than its cousin at Froggatt; similar
name, similar positions, but well harder! First climbed free by Nick Colton in 1981, the
route hangs tenuous moves along the lower left edge of the prow, before a cruel pull
to get established on the hanging flake. In the photo above, Steve Bancroft, one of the 'gritstone
gods' of yester-year, returns to his home patch for an ascent. Despite the antiquity of the
footwear (you can just about recognise the EBs), there's still something recognisably modern about the way that Steve is hanging
those slopers out horizontally into the abyss!
Photo: Thanks to Brian Cropper for a superbly atmospheric shot.
If you have any photo of historic or illustrative interest, www.kirkleesclimbing would be
pleased to display them.
Return to top of page
Please add to this site: community-based information relies on its contributors.
