Category: Birchens Edge

Quiet gems on Birchens Edge Derbyshire

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The quiet end of Birchens Edge: Kismet Buttress

Its always surprising to find hidden gems, especially on edges as popular as Birchens.

This was the crag where I first started climbing about 30 years ago, and I must have walked underneath this buttress more than a hundred times without checking it out.

Kismet buttress is the first part of the crag which you walk under on the way up from parking at the Robin Hood Inn. There is a lot of quality easy trad climbing in this area of the crag, but the main action is on the pictured buttress.

L-R

  1. Implosion V2 (HVS 5c) Sent
  2. Explosion V1 (HS 5b) Sent (central groove – quite a hard start at the grade)
  3. Blast Hole Wall VO (5b) Sent (through the rh overhang. better with a sit start)

Well worth a visit in passing.

Commitment to climbing

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Unknown climber clearing the cornice!!??!! before topping out on a classic Severe on Birchens Edge

Just how far do you go to get out cragging in the winter? I popped out on a November day in 2010 to have a look if anything was climbable on Birchens Edge. Nothing was (IMHO).

However, these guys weren’t gong to let a couple of feet of snow stop them. When I arrived, they were attacking a classic Severe in fine style. The top picture shows the leader breaking through the cornice to a challenging and very slippy top-out.

I made my excuses and headed off for an afternoon session in the ClimbingWorks. Well done chaps!

Ideal rock climbing conditions on Birchens Edge, Derbyshire. Apparently.

Noodle looking singularly unimpressed by the day's bouldering potential