UKH

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youtube.com/watch?v=o4n9jKUohMc&

Cripes I'm not sure which is the most God awful scratching, on the rock or on the soundtrack?

Come to the dark side, free your soul brother and find the path to true enlightenment 

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2010/12/millstone_winter_climbing_-_fools_w...

I guess you haven't been to the back wall at Masson then ...

I'm confused.  It says "No tools? No problem!"

But they're all tools?

Interesting reading the above thread and watching this clip. How on Earth would we climbers explain this to the people responsible for the ‘developments’ at Willersley?

I think a short vist to Mason Lees would quickly educate you to why this is a daft statement. 

Drytooling venues are basically landfill sites (in some cases actively so!) And general settings of heavy industy desolation. Comparing them to natural cliffs is a bit silly

Nice effort but you're not fooling anyone. 

Seriously, have you been to Mason Lees or any other dry tooling venue? If you haven't you really should before getting sniffy about them. I regard myself as a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to this sort of thing and got quite righteously indignant when Newtyle got developed but then I went there and realised how ridiculous I was being. subsequent visits to the delights of Wales's premier drytooling venue "white goods" and Masson (where I have never donned a pair of axes) has only confirmed this. 

Dont get me wrong, I think drytooling is really weird (and I have done it). But I politely say if you haven't experienced the delights of the sort of locations where its tolerated you dont really know what you're talking about.

I don't really know why I'm defending dry tooling I think it's a bizarre pastime, but desecration of climbing locations it really ain't.

I'm  a climber so I understand and agree with all you say but let's not pretend it's anything other than hair splitting, made up bollocks as far as actual environmental impacts and the views of the vast majority of the public are concerned.

Actually I have paid a short visit to ML and have seen people dry tooling there. I think you are missing my point. You and I my understand it as we are versed in the ethics of our sport but would that wash with others? They could quite understandably wonder what the difference between bolt and bolt on is and why does location make a difference. 

I actually disagree with you there, it's a big man made hole full of industrial waste that was only created a few decades ago. Whats acceptable at what's basically landfill is clearly very different to what's acceptable in a natural environment that's a SSI etc... i think that's a view that non climbers could easily share without getting into some philosophical debate over is a bolt on hold different to a bolt, which I appreciate allthough is bloody obvious to me and you isn't to non climbers.

But anyway I've defended drytooling enough, it's a weird pastime for weird people so I'm out, i suggest those who really object pick there way over the mountain of decaying tyres and quarry detritus and take it up with Neil

You are all more than welcome to come along and have a go. I agree , it is weird , but it's weirdly wonderful,  I absolutely love it and it's definitely getting more and more popular. That's not to say its everyone's cup of tea but for me, the diversity and wide scope of "climbing " in general just adds to the appeal of our sport. There's a time and a place for everything so why not keep an open mind, see what it's all about and you never know, you might just like it. Then again you might not, but there is only one way to find out !

Climbing disciplines in a nutshell, surely?

Yes, although it was actually climbing ethics I was thinking about when I wrote it.

I live in hope that Milestone will be developed for dry tooling soon.  Those piton scared  cracks are just begging for it . I might be able to wobble up London Wall on tools.

Bindun.

https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2010/12/millstone_winter_climbing_-_fools_w...

No way, it's not steep enough,  far too easy !

The most bizarre thing I’ve seen at any tooling crag was at Masson. Someone added some small holds at the bottom of a couple of the tooling routes, fixed with screws and resin. They served no purpose whatsoever. 

I couldn't help noticing what appeared to be crampon scratches all over the start of Manchester Buttress at Stanage Popular (pretty sure it was MB) the other day. I don't remember seeing them when I did it last year, but may just have not been paying attention.

Not for my skinny arms!

I think we've moved on in the last 12 years, there's a time and a place tooling. As said above, on a wet and cold December day you should us down there, busiest crag in the UK, it does a good service to the climbing community and undoubtedly it's made who attend more confident in the winter climbing skills

Tooling is the fastest way to improve winter grades in my view, but yes it's not for everyone

Easy with the Pile on - I just put the link there because as soon as anyone says dry tooling, it reminds me of that incident. 

This just makes me think of that film "The Descent".

wow, I remember that happening, those guys were visionaries. Just a shame the rest of the "community" wasn't ready to accept them.