UKH

This Saturday is the only day I'll have for weeks to get on rock, and I'm pretty desperate to climb. But the forecast shows showers coming in from the south west most of the day.

Can anyone suggest a suitable crag in the East Peak District to climb in this weather? I'm looking for orange spot routes, preferably trad but I would consider sport.

I guess it would want to face North East, probably be limestone unless there's completely sheltered grit, and have not too much seepage.

When the weather is showery it is best to check nearer the time as you may find it clears quicker on one side or another. 

Not sure why you think it has to be limestone as it is not cold and a bit of wind should dry the rock off more quickly in the event of a shower. I'd be tempted to go for Stanage, Curbar or Froggatt subject to last minute forecast checks.

Wharncliffe. Super fast drying and you can sit in the caves when it showers. Loads of good 'orange spot' routes.

Rivelin Edge could well be dry, the hills to the south will 'catch' most of the showers. Depends how much rain we have on Friday though, which looks to be the most problematic.

Forecast looks shocking, I'd second Wharncliffe. Traffic in Sheffield could be bad around the Hillsborough area due to the Tramlines festival so watch out.

More benefits of Wharncliffe: in SW or W winds it sits in the rain shadow of the highest Peak District hills so its often the driest Peak crag on a showery day; part of the reason it dries faster than almost anywhere else on grit, is in sunshine and showers the black rock means fast evaporation and so a cooler rock surface as soon as its dry  (it heats quickly in the sun making it a bad choice on a continuously sunny day). Plus the rocky ground means you don't get wet shoes.

It's low altitude, SW rain shadow effect and sunny aspect make it a great 'winter sun' venue, up with the best like Rivelin.

I drive past Sheffield on the M1 to the A629/A616 and come in to Deepcar from the north... its normally quicker to get to the Deepcar parking from Nottingham than the Stanage parking.

Great thanks everyone. I had thought limestone because the advice is not to climb wet grit to avoid damaging it, but if the grit is likely to be dry in a rainshadow that's even better.

I've been meaning to visit Wharncliffe for a while, but maybe I'll wait until we're driving to decide. Today's weather forecast is already better than yesterday's.

'Orange dot' limestone is often a nightmare on showery days. The only times I've decked from about 6m when lead climbing was twice on Limestone, completely unexpectedly, due to hitting a damp polished patch. Most SW facing grit is OK in a few hours and some face routes in minutes  (with the obvious exception of softer rock that holds damp like starting footholds at Newstones). You just might need to be careful with cams in worn soft sandy breaks (eg Birchen).

Had a great day at Wharncliffe, thanks for the suggestion. Wasted a lot of time walking past hell gate, then wondering where all the climbs were, but we found them eventually!

What did you do?

(See also the thread about my UKC logbook not getting updated )

Warmed up on Hell Gate Crack, which is a nice route but felt a bit unsure as I haven't done any trad for a couple of months.

Then tried Primal Void, I slumped on the cam in the pocket above the first traverse a few times until I realised I'd completely missed a foothold, after which it was fairly straightforward. So that was my first HVS ground up, which is a small improvement on my previous high of HVS redpoint.

Then tried Ce Ne Fait Rien, on which I got past what I assume is the crux onsight before taking a big pendulum fall round the arete having pumped out, and then abbed for the gear. I will come back to retry that one. Too much faff on the previous route.

Finished with Tower Face and Himmelswillen, which were excellent, and all to ourselves.

My partner led a couple of VDiffs.

Not an efficient day, but definitely a good one.

Good on you... some interesting climbs there.

Just remember for ground up you are supposed to lower to the ground and start again (otherwise it's dogged).

I should gave said our website gives instructions that help avoid getting lost on a first visit. offwidth.uptosummit.com/wharncliffe.html (needs a Flash browser). We also list loads of climbs there that are not in the guidebooks.

When I say ground up, I mean lower and then climb it in one go, but I didn't pull the ropes from the first piece of gear, since I had previously managed to place it and then downclimb.

I have seen your website before, and it's very helpful, though I didn't think  to look at it for Wharncliffe. I use the Rockfax app on my phone now, and of course phone   browsers dont support flash. It would be really useful if you could change it to html, though I realise that's a huge undertaking!

I'm looking to change the site over to html when I have time. Not this year but maybe next year. We've updated most guide pages quite a lot from the current versions but I've not uploaded them to the old Flash site. Some browers do support Flash. I use Photon when on my tablet (free with ads).