Hind Crag

Jake Surman has developed a smart looking little crag above Ullswater in the northeast Lakes. Hind Crag is located close to the the well known tourist haunt of Aira Force and overlooks the A592. There’s currently around 15 problems, mostly in the lower grades, but amongst these are a couple of standout lines (the prow in particular is apparently a 3 star classic!). The crag is also a fairly short 10-15 minute walk from the parking spot.

To reach the crag, park at Aira Force Park Brow and walk down the path (through the throngs of tourists at weekends) and cross over the bridge at the top of Aira Force, then continue on to join up with the Ullswater way footpath. The crag is situated on a slope above the footpath, from which you can see a boulder with an obvious steep face and LH arête. Walk along the path until beneath the obvious boulder and then head up to it.

The obvious block has 3 easier problems <6a on the (shorter) RH side of the steep face. One of these is okay (climbs a short groove from sitting) the others are okay as warm-ups, but are pretty short. The middle of the steep face is an obvious eliminate (i.e. climb the steep face without the LH arête). Not done, but would go at 7B-7C. The LH arête also hasn’t been done and would be a 1 or 2 star problem.

Up the slope above the obvious block are a series of mini crags, with wall, crack, corner and arête climbs – most seem in the font 5-6 range and look decent ( around 8 problems). Few of these were done by Jake, as he focused on the main event: the steep 7A+ish prow. For this you start on a two low opposing side pulls that are in from the aretes. Pull on and pop out to both aretes and head straight up to a slightly airy finish.