UKH

Hello,

Does anyone know the best way to descend down to Wilderness Rocks from the top? Was trying to scout it out earlier in the week but hit an impasse of steep bilberry bushes.

Thanks,

David

i went a few a weeks ago and ended up decending through the bilberry bushes down an unpleasant gully just to the left of the camel's head but found a slightly better one leaving the crag, expect some vertical bush and rock scrambling. we cleaned up a few routes:

Wildebeest (E3 6a) required a good brush to come into consideration but is a very good route. The crux going over the roof is well protected with small cams though a fair bit harder than the lower wall, which is excellent with enough gear. 

Flake Groove Traverse (VS 4a) lovely, is a little dirty on the start but I pulled out lots of vegitation and dug out the final crack. Felt soft for VS, perhaps didn't require an upgrade from HS in the previous Chew guide, this is based on using 2 obviously wire placements on the traverse one just by the climber in the photo in OTM and one that the climber in the OTM photo seems to have missed!

Camel's Arête (HVS 5a) a good route but don't expect much gear, cleaned alot of vegitation from the top out so is much nicer to top out.

Oasis Crack (VS 4b) - tough jamming, with good gear, gave this a light brush on abseil after leading so although fairly clean it is currently a bit more enjoyable.

I've still not been so thanks for the information. Presumably there are places you can just abseil down, until the end of the day (maybe cleaning the odd route as you decend)?

On the point of the runner on obscure but good Chew climbs there was this guy I met a few times called Kevin who seemed to miss every runner on every route

yes there is a block just above Camel's arete/Oasis Crack which i used for cleaning, which could be used to abseil in. There is also a block above The Graceland (E3 5c) which I cleaned back the mud grass on the top out and brushed some of it but wasn't inspired by the look of the ledge you would probably hit coming off the crux so didn't finish cleaning it or try it at all. It was also possible to scramble up-to the top just right of this route (an therefore down too).

there is a good abseil point above San Pic Arête (VD) though a little back and the one for Wildebeest was quite far back (and a little off to the side) so was glad i brought my mid length 35m ish cleaning rope.  There is a lovely flat area below Oasis Crack which makes a good place to leave bags.

On a related note:
On the nearby Charnel Stones I cleaned out a lot of vegetation from bottom crack of The Witch's Hat (HVS 5a) which is an excellent HVS and now in decent nick. Using my 35m ish rope it was also possible to get back down this line and the other routes to the starting terrace or the bottom of the crag completely which meant we could avoid repetitively doing the unpleasant starting scramble to reach the bottom of the routes in this area. This includes the excellent The Broomstick (HVS 5a) which is currently really clean, i didn't do it on this occasion though have done so in the past. After my friend lead Temptation Crack (VS 4b) I very briefly dug out the crack of mud and vegetation on The Sorcerer's Apprentice (E2 5c) but still expect some dirt mud and perhaps some new sprouting vegetation. As per the OTM guide it is harder and better than appearances suggest, like a particularly hard Vdiff. Anyone interested in The Wasteland (E4 5c) it looks very clean apart from every break will need the grass removed possibly reveal mores holds and or gear, scary but doable looking! The excellent The Sprog (E2 5c) seems to stay very clean so required no cleaning. Lastly the walk in time seems rather harsh (35mins!) and isn't very nice once you leave the Chew road, a more pleasant approach would be to take the small path up to the Duckstone then along the top before dropping into the LHS of the crag above the lovely if a little short The Venessa Hole (VS 4c). The bouldering on the skyline or a few of the routes would make a good warm up or a quick extra hit on the way home, the The Jug (E1 5b) is perhaps the pick of the bunch that I've done so far.

Sorry for the very late response - thanks for the info!

Can you remember where the slightly better route leaving the crag was?

Interested to know if anyone has any experiences of scrambling down the stream between Camel’s Head and Lone Buttress.

Ended up descending by scrambling down the stream between Camel Buttress and Lone Buttress. There seems like feet have been this way before. The traverse into Camel Buttress had no obvious path bar maybe a few sheep trods here and there. Plenty of heather to grab on to though!

I really like Charnel Stones. I ended up headpointing The Wasteland about 10 years ago and it was as scary as you might imagine, and the familiarity of the toprope practice didn't make it much easier. A good clean to get rid of the scrittle is sensible. The climbing is good, extremely spooky and the route is a classic moorland frightener, as a guidebook writer might say.

Great to see people getting out and about in the Chew on some of these neglected classics. I also did The Graceland around the same time as a second to Sam Hamer and was pleased that I had not led it. That being said it was very good just too bold for me.

TTFN

I agree about Charnel Stones and am puzzled why there aren't more photos ( I've done my best)