UKH

How do you decide if a sea-cliff location will be viable, based on the forecast? Coming from a landlocked country, I have a decent intuition for what e.g. 10m/s wind will feel like, or how warm a sunny 10 degree day will feel. 

But judging by my record of trips to Swanage, only to find massive waves and go home, a terrible record of judging if sea-cliff climbing will be viable on a e.g. a 2m swell forecast or with 15m/s wind. 

What "heuristics" do you use to decide if it's worth it?


To make this very specific, forecast for Swanage for this weekend is:

• Westerly 10m/s wind
• 1.5-2m westerly swell

Would you drive up to climb at Boulder ruckle on this forecast?

Tide times and height is important. There are loads of sites which are much of a muchness and give up to 30 days forecast for free. Whether it is Spring or Neap is also important (the pull is greater in Spring tides, so low will be lower and high will be higher).

Swell is the other thing to bear in mind. There will be some good resources on Magic Seaweed but I also like to have a look at the Windy weather forecast, as it gives you a nice visual.

Then you have wind direction/speed and general humidity. This will play a part in how miserable it is but also whether it's smeggy/greasy.  

That stuff is very basic though and I'm sure a seaman will be along soon to go into a lot more detail and probably say I'm full 'o shite. 

I climb at swanage, firstly where are you intending to climb? quarries  Hedbury Winspit and  Dancing Ledge are the usual go to if conditions aren't right.  Guillemot Ledge and  Subluminal and Lighthouse Cliff also have a fair amount of non tidal climbing across the grades.

Everywhere else however needs more care. 

first I'd look at the tides and decide if its a neep or spring. During neeps there is virtually no significant tide at swanage due to the double high so you can likely ignore tide. At springs the tidal range is important so when is low tide?

Swell at swanage is very dependant on wind direction. If there is no swell then then areas of  Boulder Ruckle around marmolata buttress and  Cattle Troughs can be climbed at any state of tide. 

Swell is best when there is a northerly or a southerly wind just because the cliffs. Winds from the South West are the worst and at wind strengths > 15 knots I'd worry about constructive interferance of the waves. I've seen the waves top the cliffs at  Cattle Troughs and you definately wouldn't want to climb at  Boulder Ruckle in a brisk south westerly. 

Fortunately we don't get any swell from the Atlantic because the fetch isn't long enough.

In all cases make sure you look at the sea state before you abseil into any of the cliffs and always leave a static line in place so that if you've got it wrong you can get out quickly.  And its a long rope climb so make sure you have protected the static rope from abrasion, it could easily wear through on even a rounded edge - I have seen that happen!

I wouldn't, unless you want to do sport in the quarries.  The best trad will be wave or spray affected and general temps with the wind look a bit grim. 

Thanks everyone, lots of useful pointers. I didn't specify tides, as my experience at Swanage specifically was that there didn't seem to be a huge impact for many of the popular areas like  Boulder Ruckle. 

Useful pointer at saying any wind beyond about 15 knots could result in strong waves, that's lower than I'd have imagined. 

And yeah, obviously don't come down and pull the rope when it looks grim. That part I have covered, but at that point, have already done a 3h drive from London, so ideally would have gone elsewhere if I knew before looking over the cliff edge.

Cheers, that's the sort of assessment I was tentatively arriving at, but didn't want to forgo hope. I guess Portland it is

I live within 200m of the sea.  I'd add that it almost always colder and windier on the coast.  Especially if the wind is coming in from the sea.

anything east of Ximenes (E2 5c) is very much dependant on tide.

Winds from the north can mean you climb in warmth while belayers at the top freeze. Sea conditions are dependent on earlier as well as current wind strength and direction.

Parts of Boulder Ruckle get a fair bit of protection from rough seas due to the huge boulders. You can get an idea of conditions at the base from the top of Marmolada Buttress, or perhaps by abbing down the Ramp at the western end as far the large ledge and reascending protected by the rope if seas are too rough (haven't done this myself).

As mentioned earlier a surfers forecast may be useful (IIRC Magicseaweed has been taken over by Surfline?. Tides4fishing also useful. I prefer to use the forecast for Kimmeridge rather than Swanage itself as it faces the same way as the Swanage cliffs (though actual tide times are very different).

If you want trad climbing in very rough weather there is always St Aldhelms Head though the routes and rock aren't so good.

You make UKC good x

Swanage, with the sun out, in the depths of winter, with a light northerly wind is the absolute dream

After lots of prolonged rain, just take 2x nut keys for the muddy top outs!