caller south v 1 4 1

NMC Northumbrian

Mountaineering

Club

Caller Crag South — A Bouldering

Guide

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NMC Northumbrian

Mountaineering

Club

A series of downloadable PDF guides to new bouldering venues , problems, highballs and routes in Northumberland. Including:

The Stell Whiteheugh Raven’s Crag

Caller Crag , Corby’s and Edlingham Greensheen Hill Parkside Wood

The Maiden Chambers Area St Cuthbert’s Cave The Bowden Area

The Wanneys Group Beanly Moor and Hunterheugh Blakey’s Block

Cockenheugh Kyloe Out Rothley

The Ravensheugh Area Banno Crags Titlington and the Turban

South Yardhope Brady’s Crag Coquet View

Shitlington Lookwide Howlerhirst

High Crag Black Crag Hunterheugh

...Northumberland Bouldering

TECHNICAL NOTES

The location of each crag is indicated by its Grid Reference.

Maps

The County is covered by six Ordnance Survey 1:50,000 maps. Sheets 74 (Kelso), 75 (Berwick upon

Tweed), 80 (The Cheviot Hills), 81 (Alnwick and Rothbury), 87 (Hexham and Haltwhistle) and 88

(Tyneside). The majority of the crags lie on sheets 75 and 81.

General

On occasions the problems are referenced to routes that are not described in the climbing guide, or

in the second edition bouldering guide. These are highlighted in blue italics. You may need these

guides or to ask a local climber help you locate the problems.

Sit Starts

Most problems are written up as standing starts off one mat only! Generally sit starts are added at

the end of a description where they add either to the difficulty, or quality . Only rarely will a sit start

be separately named.

Rules

It has long been understood in Northumberland that if a twig is found on a ‘good’ foothold, then the

foothold is out of bounds. The same applies to bedding planes , ledges and footholds in contact with

the ground. Usually these are out of bounds. The previous guide wisely suggested that if you are

wondering if the foothold is in, then it probably is not!

Further Information

The NMC website has a variety of resources relating to climbing in the County. If you have this PDF

you’ve probably found it already. Otherwise go to: www.thenmc.org.uk

1 2

Bob Smith

Greensheen Slopers Traverse

Greensheen Hill

BOULDERING GRADES

It is true to say that there are only two grades, the problems and routes you can do, and those you

can’t. To the keen boulderer however it soon becomes apparent that this can be sub divided into the

problems you can do and your mates can’t, and vice versa! Grading boulder problems (and some

routes) is an almost impossible task. The table below is a rough comparison of the common systems

in use. Visitors to the County will probably find that until they get used to the style of the problems

and the intricacies of climbing on the County’s various Sandstones, the accuracy of the table will be

questionable. Grades are an art rather than a science, and while difficulty is central to bouldering , it is

easily confused with quality. The pursuit of which is an equally

rewarding endeavour.

The various grading systems are well understood, and like grades

are an ongoing source of debate regarding their respective mer-

its. In these PDF guides we have retained the Font grades intro-

duced in the last guidebook and their use is now established and

understood.

Highballs

The height of many crags in the County lends them to a highball

approach. Mats can reduce the consequences when highballing

goes wrong, but there comes a point when they look very small.

Many of these ‘problems’ would have been considered small

routes not long back, (though some in this new series are not so

small) and occasionally are compounded with bad landings. Fall-

ing off them should not be treated casually.

FONT

GRADE

UK TECH

GRADE

V GRADE

3 4c VB

4 5a

V0

4+ 5b

5 V1

5+ 5c

6a V2

6a+ 6a V3

6b

6b+ V4

6c

6c+

6b V5

7a V6

7a+ 6c V7

7b

7b+ V8

7c V9

7c+ V10

8a 7a V11

8a+ V12

8b 7b V13

8b V14

Steve Blake

Shitlington Wall

Shitlington

Photo: Alec Burns

Introduction...

Introduction... ...Northumberland Bouldering

3 4

SUSTAINABILITY

The quality and durability of Sandstone in Northum-

berland varies significantly both on and between

crags. Iron hard rock with a case hardened patina can

coexist with a super soft cheesy substance soft enough

to be shaped by hand. Sadly there is much evidence

that the tough patina when worn away reveals a soft

inner that rapidly erodes. There are many examples,

but Vienna at Bowden Doors is probably the most fa-

mous example, which in its current deplorable state is

a much easier and sad shadow of the original .

Over the last thirty years the popularity of Rock Climb-

ing and Bouldering has accelerated and there is much

similar evidence of our impact on the crags. Routes

and problems on Sandstone, especially on fragile and

well-used Sandstone, are a finite resource and need

careful and sensitive protection if they are to survive.

It is worth repeating that you should not climb on

sandstone when there is any evidence of dampness.

The rock becomes significantly weaker losing its bond-

ing when damp, and is susceptible to accelerated ero-

sion and breakage. Once a break occurs, or the outer

patina is penetrated, then the effects of erosion are

exponential.

Many magnificent routes in Northumberland have escaped significant damage, principally because the habit of

top roping hard routes has not been adopted as readily as elsewhere. Bouldering however, is a particularly inten-

sive game which can see a team cycling through repeated

attempts on a problem, brushing and ragging between each

effort. The impact of this can be seen on relatively recent

problems on which holds are already bleaching out, and this is

on rock thought of as hard.

We are the stewards of these places. There are many things

we can do to minimise our direct impact on them:

1. Everyone should acknowledge and understand the fragility

of the medium, and learn to walk away if there is any sugges-

tion of dampness and the rock is not in condition.

2. Set yourself a realistic number of attempts at a prob-

lem, if you can’t do it, leave it until you can do it without

beating it into submission. We need to have enough hu-

mility to understand that the rock’s needs are more im-

portant than our egos. Learn to walk away and come back when you’re capable.

Vienna

Bowden Doors

David Murray

On Barnaby Rudge

The Good Book Section, The Stell.

Alec Burns collection

3. Be gentle with brushwork, and minimal with your chalk. Climbing indoors, we can brush the holds to our

hearts content; outdoors, the effect can be catastrophic.

4. Poor footwork also impacts, so clean your shoes before you begin an attempt. Modern shoes allow a huge

amount of force to be exerted through the feet, e.g. twisting on smears has a grinding effect that speeds up ero-

sion. Be aware, use good footwork and tread lightly.

5. Don’t use the problems for training. Running laps may look cool, but do it indoors on plastic, not on the

rock.

6. Take your junk home, don’t light fires, don’t leave gates open. If you must, learn how to shit in the woods.

Do not be generally antisocial.

LOCATION AND CHARACTER

Clearly visible from the B6341, the crag is located on Edlingham Moor, between the lower lying

Edlingham and Redheugh crags. The crag is approximately 2O0m long and faces West. It catches the

afternoon and evening sun in the Summer. It is exposed and does carry drainage and is slow to dry

after prolonged rain. Any Westerly wind will be felt, and there is little shelter.

The crag is on Access Land and climbers have a right of access to the crags. There are no indications

that the land is used for anything other than sheep rearing and no closures have ever been noted.

These would have to be agreed by Natural England and posted on the Access Land web site. This

can be found at www.openaccess.naturalengland.org.uk.

The diagrams opposite should be sufficient to get the newcomer to the area to the crag.

5

Caller Crag

Since before the last bouldering guide

was published climbers have been walk-

ing past Caller Crag, dismissing it as a ven-

ue because of the softness of the rock.

However the liberal use of masonry stabi-

liser has transformed the rock and holds

on the established problems, which rank

amongst the best in the county at the

grade.

However the problems will need monitor-

ing, and as the venue gets the attention it

deserves repeated applications of stabi-

liser will probably be required. Only time

will tell.

Approach

There is parking for several cars by the second gate, just before

the start of the Edlingham Plantation. Pleas do not block the gate.

Follow the Bridleway/track to the right of the plantation, This

crests several small escarpments. The crag comes into view about

15 minutes from the car. There are several indistinct tracts to the

crag. The best takes you to the centre of the Southern group.

OS Map Sheets: 81 (1:50,000), 332 (1:25000) GR NU114 068

Altitude: 223m

Aspect: West Facing

Approach: 20 Minutes

Right of Access Under CROW

N

N

Crag Overview

Crag Location

Crag Lat Long: 55.330528 –1.899919

Crag GR: NU 114 068

Crag Detail

Parking Location

Parking Lat Long: 55.36007 –1.827099

Parking GR: NU 1106073

A1

A1

Alnwick

A697 B6341

The Stell

B6341

Beanly Moor

Hunterheugh

Titlington

Corby’s

Edlingham

Redheugh

Oxen Wood

Caller Crag

P

Caller Crag

Redheugh

Edlingham P

B6341

6

Tim Blake

The Unpalatable Cleft

Steve Blake Collection

7 8

Caller Crag ... …...South Caller Crag ... ...The Beautiful South

1

When the escarpment is crested the crag is apparent in front of the viewer. The guide is split into

two parts; Northern and Southern sections. The best of the feint trails lead across the moor to

the Sarsen area and a path leads North under the crag to the Northernmost section of Rictus

1. The Beautiful South . 6b+/7a. SB The most Southerly prob-

lem. A ‘sloper traverse’, the difficulty depending on what you

eliminate for your feet.

3. The Equinox. 5+ (ish) JE? . A rising traverse up the obvious rails on the front of the face. The fea-

tured nature of the wall means eliminates, some harder, some easier, abound.

The Warm Up Bloc

History

Despite occasional visits the crag was not developed in any detail until 2008 when Bob Smith and Steve Blake

established the majority of the existing problems. Their success was in no small part due to the extensive use

of stabliser, the soft rounded features of the crag are suited , and respond well to the use of stabliser.

Notably Karl Telfer explored the crag back in the day and recorded several routes, the most difficult being

Touch and Go. It’s possible some of the new problems/routes were climbed by him but not recorded.

A number of unclimbed lines remain, some are very obvious, some very high, others less so.

3

The Warm Up Bloc

2. The Solstice. 6b (ish) JE? Pull up the Southerly overhanging wall of the bloc to an awkward exit.

2

The Sarsen

The Rune Stone

The Megalith

The Brain

Rictus Smile

Cowboy Up!

The Beautiful South

The Warm Up

Poets Corner

N S The Medici

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Caller Crag ... ...The Slippe ry Pump Caller Crag ... ...The Rune Area

6

1

4 5

4. The Slippery Pump . 7a/ 7a+. BS. Behind and above the warm up block is a low undercut wall with a tenuous

sloper traverse.

Sit start on a prominent sloper on the right hand side of the recess, follow the low holds left to a difficult move up and

an equally difficult exit.

5. The Blood Gutter. 6b. SB. The right hand side of the Sarsen is cut by a wide, twisting slot. This problem climbs

the scoop in the steepening wall.

6. A303. 6b+. SB. A delicate foot traverse of the short wall/slab in front of The Blood Gutter. Keep your feet

as low as possible.

11 12

Caller Crag ... ...The R une Wall Caller Crag ... ...The Megalith - Audrey Hepburn

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7

8

7

8

12

11

10

7. Sarsen Wall. 6b+/6c? SB.

Sit Start at the flake at the base of

the rib. Pull up to the break and use

the rurgosity to stand on it. Traverse

left and finish up the left hand rib.

(The nodule used to achieve a stand-

ing position is extremely unlikely to

take any force applied through a

shoe, (you can pull on them, but

when stood on they fracture —

please resist the temptation to finish

direct………)

8. The Trilithon. 6b. SB.

Sit start, left to right and vice versa.

9. The Rune Rib. 6a. SB.

Straight up the rib finishing via the

blunt flake.

The Audrey Hepburn Wall

10. Audrey Hepburn. 7a/7a+. SB. Very Elegant…. But quite

morpho, the difficulties (though not the excitement) are

short lived .

The blind crack and incipient flake are connected by a long

reach and some tricky footwork. The flake is laybacked to

the security of the cleft and an interesting exit.

11. Touch and Go. 6b+/6c. KT. One of three routes estab-

lished on the crag by Karl Telfer, back in the day. Prior to

stabilisation this would have been a very tricky proposition—

it’s still hard now. E2 6a in old money….

12. The Unpalatable

Cleft. 6c/7a. SB. To

the left of Touch and

Go is a large rounded

flake, just out of

reach. Either sit start

at the base of the

curving under -cut to

reach a standing posi-

tion, or stand and use

poor slopers to reach

the base of the flake.

Swim up this to a junction with Touch and Go.

Audrey Hepburn.

This was one of the (very) obvious lines scoped out by Bob and Steve. Bob staked his claim to it early on and stabilised

the bottom holds, but was unable to connect the flake from the undercut, it was then handed over to Steve to see if he

could get anywhere….

‘Bob had given up, (a rare occurrence) and suggested I have a look, we swapped our mats out and Bob wandered off to

try something else. I had a look at the bottom, which looked pretty hard, and wandered to the top to check the finish

out. I was able to convince myself that once in the flake , the finish wouldn’t be a problem. So I went back to the base

and started trying to link the flake from the undercut hold. I was getting very close, but found my right foot kept skip-

ping off the non existent smear, but I persisted. Eventually the foot stuck and breathing carefully I ‘pianoed’ my finger-

tips onto the flake until I had enough purchase to lever up and get my feet onto proper footholds. The moves up the

flake and into the cleft were easy (It was in the bag). I had however, climbed away from my mat , and was now some

distance above a large, nasty, rock step. This wouldn’t have been a problem, but I couldn’t, (as I’d thought) reach the

finish from my wedged position and was too large to squirm up the cleft and reach the top. Secure where I was I decid-

ed to wait for Bob to return, move the mat and provide a spot. Of course, he didn’t come back and I was eventually

compelled to move by a threatening cramp in my right calf. I sorted my self out, crossed my fingers and shifted out the

cleft . Hugging the rib I found a poor foothold and after a little adjustment was very relieved to pull over.

It may be the slowest onsight FA of a problem in the County, I was up there for at least 45 minutes! That said it’s a fan-

tastic problem. The line is elegant, the climbing difficult and it’s high enough for a good head to count.’

David Murray

Audrey Hepburn

Photo Steve Blake

David Murray

Audrey Hepburn

Photo Steve Blake

13 14

Caller Crag ... The Sarcen ...A Deficit of Funk Caller Crag ... ...A Deficit of Funk

13

David Murray

A Deficit of Funk


To the left of The Unplatable Cleft a gully is formed

between the crag and the blunt pinnacle to the left.

The overhung gully wall of the pinnacle is home to

the magnificent ‘A Deficit of Funk’.

13. A Deficit of Funk. 7a/7a+/7b? SB.

The right hand side of the pinnacle has two thin

bottomless cracks, clamp these and using a smear

pop left to the cleft. Switch sides and move up this to

the ledge and an awkward (and justifiably spooky)

top out.

If the top out is too much, it is possible, and easier, to

shuffle leftwards along the ledge…….

13a. Sit Start . At the depression just left of the arête.

Pull up and diagonally left to reach the thin cracks

A Deficit of Funk

Bob and I had stood looking at this beautiful wall on most of our visits, and we had discounted it as be-

ing just too hard for us, which was very frustrating as it’s such a stunning feature. (Bob later let slip that

he and Peter Kirton had scoped it out ‘way back in the day ‘ with no success).

Anyhow the evening I went up and did the sit start to ‘The Unpalatable Cleft’ , I wandered into the gully

to examine it yet again. Running my right hand high into the thin crack I found a slight edge, then at a

stretch I found a vertical crimp high in the left crack. The angles were just right for me, and suddenly it

was on. Careful examination of the wall revealed a smear . A hop combined with a big compression

got me on the wall and in a position to pop left to the cleft. An elegant crossover followed and I found

myself on the sloping ledge, just short of the finishing holds. I’d only brought one mat and the pro-

spect of fluffing the finish and tumbling into the gully persuaded me to judiciously traverse off to the

left. (Itself quite delicate.)

I returned the next day with two mats and cleaned and scoped out the finish. Exiting from the ledge

was no less scary, and no less elegant than I thought it would be, but at least the back wall of the gully

wasn’t quite as threatening.

The remarkable thing about Caller is that the nature of the rock has created these stunning highballs.

It’s particularly satisfying to do something that you had written off as too hard.

I have to say I was a little disappointed to see David Murray , and my son Tim make short work of the

start, David did a great job in finishing it off. I was able to protect my pride somewhat by putting a pa-

rental veto on Tim topping out. That’s youths for you!

13a

15 16

Caller Crag ... ...The S arcen Area Caller Crag ... … The S arcen Area

17

14 13

15

16

The back of the Sarcen has several worthwhile

and difficult problems.

14. Indian Summer. 7a/7a+. SB

The leaning blunt arête right of Deficit of

Funk. Some small nodules combine with

some cunning heel work to see the successful

reach the slab above.

15. Bob’s Wall. 6b+6c? BS .

The steep slabby wall to the right of the arête

is climbed on slopers and ironstone nodules.

16. The Waterboy. 6b+/6c. SB.

Opposite the arête is an obvious water worn

runnel. Step up and mantle into the wider

part.

17. The Back Wall. 5+ ?

Directly behind the Sarcen is a small scooped

wall…..

Martin Waugh

Indian Summer


13a

17 18

Caller Crag ... ...The S arcen Area Caller Crag ... … The S arcen Area

14 15

17

18 20

21

18. Old Labour. 6b/6b+. BS. It trends to the Left. Work you way diagonally left to almost join Bob’s Wall.

21. The Quarter Crack. 6b+. BS.

Sit Start. After a difficult initial pull, lurch left and finish on the ripples above.

19 . Power Struggle. 6b+. BS.

From a low start in the de-

pression in the left of the

scooped wall, pull out right

then back left.

20. Quick Fix. 6b. BS.

Sit start, up the crack.

18

19

Bob Smith

Bob’s Wall


19 20

Caller Crag ... … The Brain Caller Crag ... ...The Brain

22

22. The Brain. 6c. SB.

Climb the textured slab via some

clever footwork and mantles.

Ian Murray

The Brain


Tim Blake

The Brain


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