Helsby Climbing/Walking Meet Dave Atkinson
This will be a one-day meet, although of course there is no reason why people should not make a weekend of it by staying locally.
For now, I just need to know whether you will be climbing or walking, because there may be different meeting points for each. Thank you.
Climbing will be at Helsby unless conditions make Frodsham the better bet. The climbing at Frodsham is either solo or top-rope. At Helsby, many of the climbs are ‘leadable’ with traditional protection (notably the classic Flake Crack HVS) but on quite a lot of the best routes, protection is very sparse – as for another classic, Grooved Slab VS, first ascent by Rucksacker Harry Kelly I believe, where there is none. Most of my experience has been of a few hours in the evening when, apart from the considerations above, top-rope and solo were the best way to get a lot of rock mileage in a short time. Hopefully we will have some locals to show you round. Standards range from ‘not too hard’ to ‘ridiculous.’ Some of the climbing is top-class, some of it absolutely awful,
The walk will be short-ish one (6-8 miles?) with options for making it even short-er for the weak, lame and lazy, in whose illustrious number I now have to count myself. An option that may appeal is doing a south-north (A to B) walk on the Sandstone Trail. With there being friends at the north end (Frodsham) you should be able to arrange for someone to take you back to your starting point.
I will let you know timings and details of any post-match gathering points. If you want to book food for afterwards, there are plenty of options locally, though I am not planning to book something food-wise for everyone.