Sandstone Post Lock-down

The COVID-19 pandemic has created a set of unusual circumstances that have been the recipe for possibly the busiest summer on record. The rock is uniquely fragile yet climbable and at the mercy of the crowds, so some damage was always inevitable but an unprecedented level of abuse at the crags has been seen this year, bringing with it a dark cloud of access issues looming over the sunny South East of England.

The climbers’ lock-down

Climbing was suspended during the national lock-down between the 23^rd of March and the 13^th of May as the BMC advised us to put climbing on hold across the UK and closed their crags at Stone Farm and Harrison’s Rocks. When the ban was lifted, the country was still officially under a partial lock-down, with many workers still furloughed with more free time on their hands than usual. Everyone was itching to go outdoors after being stuck inside for weeks, climbers second to none.

We ventured out to our nearest real rock while travel restrictions were in place, and indoor climbing walls remained closed. For some it may have been their first experience of outdoor climbing. For many London climbers, Southern Sandstone was their most accessible choice of rock.

Roll on the crowds, and the first weekend the climbing suspension was lifted, Harrison’s Rocks was incredibly busy, though this was to be expected. The car park was overflowing much to the annoyance of local residents, who had enough parking issues over lock-down while it was closed. That aside, it was clear that there were many first time Sandstone climbers around who knew little of good practice and protecting the rock.

On the 12^th of June, Bowles rocks reopened their crag for evening climbing only, to safeguard their activities during the day and with the hope of easing pressure off of other crags. However, the crowds continued and unprecedented numbers have been seen at the ‘honeypot crags’, Stone farm and Eridge rocks (which I’ll get to later on) where parking issues and bad practice were causing problems again. Harrison’s Rocks witnessed possibly it’s busiest day on record on Sunday the 14^th of June.

Weekdays seemed to be as busy as normal summer weekends, and the weekends were twice as busy as usual! Many climbers attempted to escape the crowds to explore some of the minor crags, though reportedly even Under Rocks has seen some of its busiest days. Bassett’s Farm received a temporary access ban on the 25^th of June due to overcrowding and concerns regarding parking issues.

Bouldering erosion

Of course, top-roping isn’t the only type of climbing Sandstone provides. In fact, it appears that bad bouldering etiquette is cause of the most severe damage recently seen. Toad Rock, Happy Valley and Stone farm are all crags that have been affected by bouldering due to simply not following good practice such as cleaning your feet and not climbing on wet rock. Harrison’s Rocks again, though it is a predominantly top roping crag, has also been affected by this at North Boulder and various other problems along the crag.

Eridge Rocks is however possibly the worst affected by bouldering and now access, which has always been extremely sensitive, is severely under threat. Climbing at Eridge has only been officially allowed within the last twenty years or so since Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT) took over ownership of the crag and it became a nature reserve to protect its SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) status.

An access agreement between the BMC and the SWT was made, to protect the unique biological environment and to minimise climbers’ impact on the rock. This asks climbers to avoid the sections where climbing is forbidden due to the abundance of rare plants and that climbers adhere to the good Sandstone climbing practices, especially reduced chalk use.

Unfortunately, this information has not reached the majority of climbers visiting this year. Eridge is usually one of the quieter crags but its popularity for bouldering has brought numbers unseen before and it is clear that many of them are unaware of the crag’s soft nature and sensitive environment. Substantial levels of irreversible damage have been seen all along the crag, which may easily have been avoided by following good practice.

Previously in October 2019, a restriction of climbing on Yew Crack Buttress was agreed between the BMC and SWT, including problems such as ‘The Leaf’ and ‘Jack Strong’, due to an increase of erosion by climbers, as the rock is particularly soft in this area. Surely this should have been a warning that the SWT are prepared to suspend climbing at Eridge, if things were to get too out of control?

The biggest causes of recent damage include climbing on wet rock, climbing with dirty shoes, overuse of chalk, brushing and over climbing or sieging routes. In addition to this, parking has also been a serious and dangerous problem since the car park is small and fills up quickly, causing problems for local residents and preventing access for emergency services.

Ben Read, Director and co-founder of the Volume 1 climbing wall, and an active boulderer on Southern Sandstone, attempted to spread awareness of these issues on social media before the situation got any worse – “In the last few weeks Eridge has seen a large spike in visitors which it isn’t able to handle. Not only this, but many climbers are not being respectful, hopefully just through lack of education, which is causing irreversible damage. This has already led to more areas of the crag being restricted and there is a genuine threat that climbing access could be compromised if things do not change immediately.” Despite some success with raising awareness, the problems did not disappear.

Temporary suspension of climbing at Eridge Rocks

That dreadful day came on the 16^th of July when a temporary suspension of climbing was placed over Eridge Rocks following a statement from the BMC – “Unprecedented numbers have been climbing at Eridge during the COVID-19 crisis, resulting in considerable and accelerated wear to the fragile rock on many parts of the crag. As a result the difficult decision has been made to temporarily restrict climbing access to the whole crag to allow time for the rock to stabilise.” 
(read the full statement at https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/RAD/View.aspx?id=68 )

It’s worth mentioning that there are a dedicated group of volunteers such as the HMRG (Harrison’s Rocks Management Group) and SVG (Sandstone Volunteers Group) that manage the local Sandstone crags, and the surrounding environment. They focus on repairing areas of damaged rock, managing bolts above climbs and discussing sensitive access issues especially at crags which are given SSSI status. Historically, great efforts have been made to preserve this unique climbing area for future generations, without which we wouldn’t be able to enjoy climbing here today.

However, Eridge rocks provides its own problem when repairing holds, due to its sensitive environment, permission has to be granted by the SWT for repair work to be carried out. Patience is needed while discussions are ongoing but in the meantime, we should be having our own conversations amongst ourselves about what this means and how we can prevent something like this happening at other crags.

What does this tell us?

Firstly, this already has happened at other crags. The temporary loss of Eridge is a shame, though necessary to prevent issues continuing, but I don’t think some climbers realise the tragedy of already having lost High Rocks. This is arguably Southern Sandstone’s best crag, with a strong history, featuring high quality routes and hard grades. High Rocks, after already having banned bouldering in 2016, finally closed its gates to all climbers in 2018 due to a lack of respect from a minority and numerous break ins through the fence.

Perhaps the saddest thing of all is that there are new generation of strong, young climbers on Sandstone that are ready for the challenge of High Rocks but are denied this opportunity.

Climbing is continuously evolving, this period during the COVID- 19 pandemic has exposed this, and that indoor climbing walls have bred a new type of climber. Though many of them would usually only climb indoors, they have had no choice but to explore outdoor climbing, with little knowledge of how to do so with the right etiquette.

Some of them might not have access to a guidebook, sometimes using a digital topo instead, and therefore could be completely unaware of the Code of Practice and Southern Sandstone’s unique climbing ethics. The approach to climbing in an indoor climbing wall is not compatible with this rock.

Changing your approach

My advice to climbers visiting Southern Sandstone is – do your research and stay up to date with access issues. There is plenty of information available online through the BMC and southernsandstoneclimbs.co.uk, and you should take the time to read the Code of Practice.

Inevitably, you might make mistakes when bouldering or setting up top ropes so be accepting of any advice from other climbers that might point out if you’re doing something wrong. Bad practice significantly increases your impact on the rock.

Conclusion

Often, I find that the case is that people just don’t know any better. There has been very little awareness of good Sandstone practice spread throughout climbing walls, and this is evident through the damage the crags have seen this year. Now that climbing walls have reopened, and more people are back at their jobs, things seem to have a calmed down a bit.

I see an opportunity to spread awareness online, to set a good example of climbing on Sandstone and further educate climbers about this unique area. It would be fantastic if more individuals were promoting good practice through their social media and perhaps more importantly, climbers from younger generations should get more involved in volunteering.

It’s easy to take climbing for granted, though this isn’t sustainable on a rock so fragile. If there’s one thing this has all taught us, it’s that Sandstone is a victim of its own popularity. Some damage will always be inevitable but we can all make an effort to reduce our impact on the rock. After all, we’re lucky enough to climbing in first place.