Carrock Fell: New Problems & Guide

Written by Greg Chapman Monday, 23 April 2012 11:50

It's roughly 8 years since the first Carrock Fell guide appeared on LakesBloc, and despite it now looking quite old hat when compared to some of the more recent topos, this was the forerunner to the higher quality "mini-guide" style topos subsequently produced. After a number of requests to update the old topo, combined with the fact that it is still one of the most frequently downloaded guides, I decided it was about time I pulled my finger out and got stuck into producing a new upto date guide to showcase this great crag.

Over the last month or so I've spent quite a bit of time at the crag checking, photographing and climbing problems. As I've worked my way across the hillside I found/rediscovered various decent projects. Most of these have now been climbed and added to the new guide, and whilst some of these problems may have been done before, the following is a run down of the best of the harder 'new' lines I've climbed (working south to north):

Monkey Trunk (7b+/V8): A cool sit down start to a burly prow situated just up and left (as faced) from Kit's Boulder.

Algorhythm (7b/V8): Located on a fabulous little column/wall (reclaimed from under a massive wild rose), also directly above Kit's Boulder, this nice sitter heads straight up the middle of the face. The arete to the right (Rose to the Top) is also a really good 6b+/V3.

Mr. Multiverse (7c/V9): The prow to the right of Hockstack & Two Broken Toothbrushes (climbed from a low start) turned out to be a brilliant problem and is well worth seeking out.

Stratosfear (6c+/V5): This brilliant new highball arete is located on the hill directly above the previous problem and can be seen from the road. Whilst it took a bit of gardening to sort the top out, the effort was well rewarded with this cracking new problem, which can be just as easily reached from the Mile High Wall as from the problems below.

The Vex Factor (7b+/V8): Located near the road to the rear of the popular Undercut Boulder, this block offered a technical and very burly problem up the blunt undercut arete on the front of the block. I had to move a big block to open up the start but again it was well worthwhile.

Magic Eye (7a/V6): Amazingly this block is situated about 80m left (as faced) of the Big Three at the Northern Group, and after some moss removal and block shifting the north face gave up this quality little 7a/V6.

All these problems are featured, along with plenty of other previously unrecorded lines, in the new guide to the crag which can be downloaded via the link below. Finally, thanks to Trev Suddaby, Tim Carruthers and Dan Varian for their feedback and general input.

Carrock Fell - April 2012: Bouldering Guide (14.94mb)

In return for using this guide, all I ask is that you abide by all the access and parking protocols and leave the crag in a better state than that in which you found it. Also, treat the PDF guide itself with the respect it deserves and construct it, via the simple origami procedure, into a true Mini Guide – it will serve you well for many a visit.

Enjoy.