UKH

At the upper-tier area yesterday around the Crack and Corner section I saw a group of about 3 or 4 lads launch a briefcase-sized boulder off the top of the crag and run off laughing (we shouted but they were miles away and ran off in haste). Me and my pals couldn't quite believe it, especially given that it was packed (climbers and non-climbers alike) out enjoying the sun. 

Be wary below the tops of crags on such days and call this behaviour out if you see it. 

I had a bloke do this to me at high tor once, it was a busy day and it was a miracle he didn't kill anyone, I was only a few feet from the top, went nuts and shouted causing him to beat a hasty retreat, I rapidly topped out hoping to give him an earful and was shocked to see the culprit, a grown man, with 2 kids and a wife leg it looking rather shocked up the path. 

My conclusion is that some people really are feking idiots with no concept of the impacts of there actions.

Worth calling people out and educating whenever you see this behaviour 

Just remembered a slightly funnier story, some kids chucked a disposable bbq of the top of curbar near us once, I was climbing with a rather fierce outdoor instructor who caught them and gave them the full works, the looks on there faces were priceless.

over the past few years I’ve seen this happening at Stanage. same thing on top of South Stack at Gogarth.  I challenge someone about it once and all I got was “we didn’t know”
Hard to believe. 

Ah you lucky lot. The neds in Scotland launch rocks _at_ climbers from an oblique angle where they can see to aim properly.

Climbers are considered a legitimate target at Auchinstarry. I have had rocks and dead pigeons come my way. When climbing around the "Walk.." area I have been shot at with an air rifle from the far side of the loch. And then there is Rosyth.....

Come to portland. The locals throw sofas and driers off the cliffs here.

I do think people are often unaware of climbers, I popped over the edge at Stanage yesterday and took a bloke unawares, its a playful (and dangerous) thing to do, to lob a rock over a cliff. Depends on your perspective. I walked for years in the lakes and was never aware of Rock Climbers, hard to believe now, but I know where to look.

Yeah, my experience was at Rosyth. I've always been lucky at Auchinstary. Now that I live in the North I can say that one thing I absolutely do not miss at all about the central belt is the quality of the climbing and/or other crag attendees!

Exactly the reason we have such an inept/corrupt Government AND Brexit.

The Sunday morning alkies at Auchinstarry fuelled by Special Brew.....

Neds launching themselves from the water wall......

What's not to like!!

I love some of the routes like Walk on the wild side, SpriaGyra and Fusion(RIP). The objective dangers I can live without and would prefer to head to Aberdour or Limekilns. There does look to be a great range of venues up north many more than I have already explored in the Aberdeen area.

A good few years ago I was on Stob Ghabhar on a fine spring day with a party which included a senior SMC member (now deceased) who proceeded to launch a couple of large rocks down one of the snow-filled gullies near the summit. There was general shockedness at this and a couple of people in the party had strong words with him.

I've also been on Dumyat on a summer's evening when the summit had a large American youth group complete with leaders. Several of the teenagers were skimming stones down the Menstrie side of the hill - where there is a path which had people on it (including at least one child) - while the leaders stood around chatting and looking at the view. I lost my temper at them and might even have sworn, but they were left in no doubt as to how stupid/dangerous this was. The leaders did the classic US thing of being ultra-polite - they repeatedly called me "sir" - which was nice of them but they all appeared to be thick as mince.

I was soloing in the Lakes once when a half-brick sized piece of rock just missed me. I turned the air blue.

Topped out to find a 10yr old kid looking a bit shamefaced and a dad with can of lager.

"Shouldn't you be wearing a helmet.....!"

Sometimes you just gotta walk away.....

Many years ago we had groups of year 9 pupils doing fieldwork at Loggerheads in North Wales.

One of the pupils decided it would be fun to lob rocks from a bridge at people climbing in Devil’s Gorge below.

Unfortunately the rock lobber didn’t realise that there was a direct footpath from the gorge to the bridge which one of the climbers used to quickly gain access to the bridge.

Me and my group appeared to see the pupil being throttled by the climber who was being encouraged by his mates below to hurl said pupil from the bridge.

As a teacher I had the unenviable task of trying to defuse the situation which wasn’t helped by the pupil being less than apologetic as he couldn’t see what he’d done wrong other than getting caught.

Not to mention that white van that was upside down at the base of the Cuttings many years ago...  

Not just climbers, either.

I've had stones thrown from the towpath when instructing a group of Scouts on a kayaking session. They managed to hit one of my group in the head - fortunately small and not hard, as I'd moved them to the other side of the river to try and get out of range.

No chance at that location of getting out to have a "word" and it was clear that any attempt to get closer was just going to open myself up for target practice. Bastards!

Not quite the same level of malice but one should expect better from climbers.

What is it with the habit of coiling a rope and then launching it off the top of the crag to save carrying it down as a backpack? I'm not convinced the shout of 'rope' only heard once the bundle has reached terminal velocity does much to ameliorate the danger.

Gripped a bloke at stanage for this and he couldn't understand that shouting rope after he had already 'yeeted' (technical term) his 60mish single (don't start) off was poor excuse.

I'm with the SMC bloke, there is a peculiar satisfaction (after taking all precautions) from rolling a big stone down a cliff or banking, the noise the smell.

Chucked a dangerous block off White ghyll yesterday, explodes after arcing for 60meters into the gully bottom

Pulled on a few candidates this morning on Stepped ridge, brown cove, bloody horrible but couldn't clearly see the landing zone, they will be there for torquing on this winter, careful.

Was at a rammed Stanage a few weeks back and a little scrote threw a massive log off the top. His mum scolded him "there are people down there!" to which he replied "I know, I looked first!" and got an "oh alright". 

Chucking stuff off the top of crags is reckless endangerment and you'll be getting a mouthful if not a pasting. 

That's how Arc of a Fridge (7b) got its name.

And bagged dog turns in my experience.

I once had to stop a member of our student walking club throwing a paving slab sized lump of rock off the top of Malham Cove. On a positive note, this person was German, so it's not just Brits that do stupid stuff like this, it's international.

Not sure how it can be positive to point out that the problem is likely to be many times bigger than otherwise it might have been!

I think there's a two fold ignorance: in some cases a lack of thought that there could be someone below; in others a lack of imagination as to how dangerous even quite small stones can be... I was quite shocked to see a scene in Home Alone where the kid throws a brick off the top of a multi-story building to hit the thief square on the forehead. The victim stands up and says 'ow'...

On the day in question the chap appeared to take zero precautions - he strolled across to the edge of the gully, found a couple of rocks big enough to put on a bit of a show, and lobbed them down the gully one after another - no warning shout or anything. As it turned out, there wasn't anyone in the gully, but there could well have been - it was the kind of route that someone sufficiently competent might well have opted to solo in the conditions. Goodness knows quite what was in the person's mind, but in terms of discussion among the rest of us afterwards I seem to recall the consensus was that he was basically showing off.

I can vouch for that from the 1970s and 80s at Auchinstarry! And didn't Haston complain of 'em at The Curry Wa's way back when?

Home Alone is hardly a documentary is it? Would you've preferred Marvs (yes, I know the names. I'm that guy.) face to explode and Harry to stand over him as a pool of blood grows larger and larger around his feet whilst waiting for the ambulance?

This is nothing to do with depictions of yeeting things in films, or any tv, and a lack of understanding and education of consequences on the yeetee, or the yeetees parents/ guardian. 

Didn't Avon trump everything with a removal lorry in the 80's?  

Never heard of that. Wasn't it a car?

Isn’t the ultimate breakaway on Henna where not only is the only cliff liable to fall down but it’s also a known suicide spot for cars driving off the cliff .. or am I getting confused with another north Devon cliff?

And this

Car Parts, Bottles and Cutlery (6b+)

Not Henna, or as far as I know any North Devon cliff, you may be getting it confused with  Hell's Mouth, North Cornwall.

Shouted at a bunch of youths chucking stones off the top of Wilton the other week, they didn't seem bothered what with us being at the bottom and them the top. Absolute cretins. 

Once nearly got hit by a corn on the cob lobbed over the edge whilst climbing in the Downfall area on Kinder. I wasn't even angry about that, it was more over the fact that supposedly outdoor folk have a thrown and forget mantra.

Did the conversation go “stop being a brat and apologise or I will have to fill in a LOT of paperwork when he kills you”?

Climbing at a crag / rubbish tip once in Malta and a fridge was chucked down narrowly missing a group of us

I remember local hooligans trying to roll a vehicle off the top of Main Wall in Bristol, about 20 years ago.  Fortunately the exploit failed but the tank split, so it resulted in a diesel slick which went half way down the crag. It took several years before it faded away.

Yes, you’re right, think it’s just associating suicide and Breakaway that’s confusing me!

From reading all these posts, I suspect Auchinstarry (and maybe the world) has changed. I've climbed there many times over the last decade - never had rocks chucked at me, shot at, stuff stolen or been threatened at all. Its always busy, sometimes around the back above the crags, but folk are usually fishing, out with the family, having a bevvy or a smoke.

Maybe everyone at that mental age has stayed inside. Maybe more accountable than before? Or Kilsyth ain't what it was. Or I'm just lucky. 

😀

Sounds like you’ve been in a similar situation.  

Anyone else got shot at with an air rifle when halfway up a route at Markfield Quarry?

My uncle told me how he was climbing around Wye Valley years ago when his mate who was leading the pitch got a face full of powder mid climb. They couldn't work out what it was until they topped out and found out someone had thrown their parents ashes over the edge. They didn't have the balls to tell them they'd just inhaled most of the deceased parent.

I've regularly mantled through remains at Hen Cloud.

It's so common to do that on some routes that you see it mentioned in the guidebook.  Or have I misinterpreted the phrase 'scrambling remains'?

T.

Climbing at the (now defunct) Barrow Hill Quarry (Leics) in the ‘70s I nearly got taken out by what turned out to be the dead remains of the back half of a Morris Marina. On a positive note, it did have a vinyl roof...

Barrow Hill Quarry, now that was an interesting location. Definitely an "adventure" crag.

Actually maybe it's crag that should be in inverted commas rather than adventure 😁

In Leics I nearly got taken out by a four foot stake at Forest Rock slid down by some schoolgirls who were unaware of people below. They became aware shortly afterwards.

Nursery Slab at Froggatt, descent route (to Hades 😁).

It's possible that cremated remains are from a loved canine, doesn't make them any better to climb past.

I was shot at climbing in Portishead Quarry in the early 90s by a group of youngsters in camo. Focused the mind.

No, but I was heckled mid-route by a group of teenagers. To add to the fun I ended up belaying sat on an ants nest, whilst said teenagers were debating whether to run off with my rucksack.

I vowed to never return and have not done so.

We dug out a big flake from ground below Anglers crag to roll down into Ennerdale Water, Once we got it moving it startled 2 sheep who ran towards our trundle. After there tradjectories met there was 1 whole and 2 x half sheep. Oops we ran away.

Long history - "Whymper and Croz yelled and poured stones down the cliffs to attract their attention"

definitely not a problem unique to the northern hemisphere.  Here in Oz, even in the arse end of nowhere, a big cliff you can get a car to the top of, will probably have a wrecked one at the bottom. 

The name of this route says it all (not a bad route, incidentally).

https://www.thecrag.com/climbing/australia/granite-highlands/warragul-rocks...

This happened to Ron Fawcett once while he was soloing at Ilkley Cow and Calf. Apparently Ron gave them a right mouthful (no pun intended) until he realised they were just spreading someone's ashes.     I've always believed that Gardyloo Gully on the Ben gets its name from the stuff they discarded from the summit Observatory toilets. So just think what your axe might embedding into next time you blast up there. 

i'm sure there was a car pushed of the top back in day!