Difference between revisions of "Jesmond Dene"

Jesmond Dene
Jesmond Dene
Nearest city	Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear
Climbing type	Bouldering
Rock type	Sandstone
Quantity of rock	over 50 problems
Development	well developed
Cliff aspect	west
Classic climbs	County Ethics E7 7a;

VisualWikitext

Revision as of 04:15, 30 August 2020

Grid Ref: NZ254672 Aspect: S&W

Altitude: 35 mtrs Walk in: 10 mins Bouldering quality: *

General

Jesmond Dene is a steep wooded vally less than a mile from the centre of Newcastle. The climbing is almost all bouldering and consists of some fairly easy stuff on small quite pleasant natural boulders and some hard traversing in a gloomy quarry. There is also some all weather crimping on the viaduct walls at the south end of the dene, where Jesmond Road crosses the Ouseburn.

Approach

Rock

Coal Measures Sandstone Carboniferous Westphalian

Good solid sandstone, tends to get greasy in the quarry.

Routes/Bouldering

Routes:

The high wall in the quarry, underneath the ivy above the easy traverse, has been soloed by Bob Smith at E something, after chucking out time. The sober grade is equally unknown. Not recommended.

Problems:

The quarry walls have good traversing, the left hand wall being the hardest (up to 6c); the polished end wall is, well, polished and the right hand wall is easier (5a).

History

The dene has been used as a training venue for at least 30 years, and the problems were documented for the Northumberland Bouldering Guide. The majority of the harder problems are the work of locals Bob and Tommy Smith. Tommy holds the record for the full quarry traverse at around a minute and a half.

@@ Line 21: / Line 21: @@
 Altitude: 35 mtrs   Walk in: 10 mins   Bouldering quality: *
-From Jesmond Road, follow signs into the dene and follow the riverside road keeping to the same side of the burn. Go past the old mill and the quarry is just beyond the park keepers cottage on the right. The boulders are a couple of hundred metres further up the dene near Castlefarm Bridge. From South Gosforth, go down Castlefarm road to the bridge where a path on the south east side drops down past the boulders and leads to the quarry and beyond.
 === General ===