UKH

Although from the road it looks as if the fire is under control there are persistent hot spots deep in the peat which will take much longer to eradicate. It is probable that access to The Roaches, Skyline and the Clouds will be restricted over the Bank Holiday weekend. Hen Cloud, Ramshaw and Newstones etc will be open. These are all great venues that usually see much less traffic than the main crag. Parking is restricted at Hen Cloud and Parking Wardens may well be active over the weekend. To avoid frustration and let the Wildlife Trust (and fire fighters) concentrate on dealing with the hot spots, it's probably best to go elsewhere.

The Roaches Wildlife Trust are aware that the Roaches has some of the best gritstone climbing in the country and I’m sure they will open the area as soon as is reasonable.

The Roaches Roaches Lower Tier Roaches Upper Tier Roaches Skyline The Five Clouds

Closed until Monday 3rd September folks.

Lower and Upper Tiers now open. The road is also open. The path along the The Skyline and the Skyline crags are still closed. Not sure about 5 Clouds but as the fire started behind there its probably best to assume they're closed at present.

Roaches Lower Tier Roaches Upper Tier

Roaches Skyline

I had a look today and the only parts of the crag that are actually burnt are the Not So Far and Far Skyline areas (anything left of Omega up to just before the Art Nouveau Area).  The Very Far Skyline bouldering area also looks burnt, at least the right hand end.

There are signs put up by the SWT asking people not to walk on the burnt areas (pretty unpleasant anyway) and not to climb anywhere on the Skyline pending a safety review. I ran into Andi Turner who was looking at this.

There’s an extensive burnt area on the other side of the path, from the Cube and behind the Doxy Pool boulders, although neither were actually affected from what I could see.

Yeah, I can't see that it's affected any climbing really, so I think the skyline restriction should be lifted shortly. I've let them know anyway and they've responded, so it shouldn't be long until it's all opened up again.

BBC local new website:

"Parts of fire-hit moorland 'still unstable'

Rangers in the Staffordshire Moorlands are warning areas devastated by a large fire could still be unstable.

Roads and paths around Upper Hulme near Leek are now open, almost a month on, although Staffordshire Wildlife Trust is urging people not to climb or walk on burnt areas because of loose debris"