by Steve France

The winter of 1985 86 was The Castle Mountaineering Club’s biggest climbing triumph - yet not many members know the true extent of the Club’s success. More new routes were claimed on one crag than probably all The Castle’s other first ascents put together.

The “secret” Quarry is situated on the right as you travel up the road from Stoney Middleton and is accessed via a gate and track which leads to the quarry base. The main wall, which is almost vertical, extends some hundred feet in height to a huge ledge which effectively splits the face, forming an upper tier of fifty feet.

When Steve France, Chris Wright and Ian French entered Horseshoe Quarry for the first time, the true potential of the place was finally realised. Its loose and dangerous condition was enough to put anyone off, but what was required was a bit of vision and imagination and between the three of them there was certainly that. The Big Question was, would they be wasting their time developing an area which nobody would bother to visit? Only time would tell, but the first thing to do was to clean the place up and to make it worth climbing on. It didn’t take long to realise that any glory to be had would not come cheaply.

At first the usual gardening equipment was used - wire brush, toothbrush, small trowel and broddling stick but it didn’t take long to realise that these tools were totally inadequate. Steve had started to clean a small ledge on his first new route and after shovelling at least half a ton of rubble discovered he no longer had a small ledge but a huge belay stance for about a dozen people. Furthermore, the bigger the ledge got, the shorter the route became, as he slowly filled up the quarry bottom with its debris. Steve later became known as the Mad Axeman due to his mean short pick-axe which he used for levering off small flakes, boulders, in fact anything that moved or didn’t but that is another story .

In the early days of development, huge amounts of rubble and rock were detached in order to clean up the cliff face. This was not just confined to the routes themselves but the rock was generally cleared all over in a desperate attempt to make the place safe and more appealing: apart from that, “spoffing” blocks happens to be bloody good fun. The biggest trundle was a gigantic hanging pinnacle weighing at least five tons, situated half way up the wall on the left hand side and poised ready to fall at any time. The Mad Axeman picked away at its footing like a masochistic dentist but alas failed in the attempt. The next day, not to be outdone, the giant tooth was attacked again but this time with a large pick and a six foot long crowbar. The resulting “bavoooooom” must have been heard for miles. Well worth the effort!

The most controversial decision was the use of bolt protection . Due to an instinctive desire to live, bolts were necessary having regard to the quarry’s lack of natural fault lines, which meant that there were few if any runner placements. Even pegs were bottoming after only an inch of penetration. Sounds painful! By strategic placing, it was in fact possible to use only four bolts to protect a hundred feet of climbing these were pre-placed during the last stage of the cleaning operation.

The actual leading of the routes was in accordance with modern day ethics done without practice or top rope - to make the ascent as pure as possible. Even this was not pure enough for Steve Ralph who at a later stage amazed us all with his “clean lead on sight” policy.

Developing the upper tier also had its problems due to the lack of abseil points at the top. So Chris and Steve had to sledge hammer a series of belay stakes into the ground each day these they buried under piles of stones to prevent others from using them until the routes had been claimed. The top was very reminiscent of Millstone with its loose shale and grovelling finishes and so platforms were dug out of the sloping earth to enable everyone to actually finish the route instead of wondering if the protection was good while free falling! This also had a second advantage in that it prevented a constant dustfall down the rock face, previously inevitable whenever the wind blew.

As with the main face, there was plenty of loose rock to detach on the top tier. Unfortunately it had a tendency to roll over the lip of the main ledge and go crashing down the main wall below. Although this was two for the price of one, everyone had to know where everyone else was and anyone who decided to go walkabout did so at his own risk.

By the time of the New Year, Ian had finished four of the main lines on the lower wall, including Megalithic Man and Ancient Rhythm . Steve had completed his excavation of the ledge and named the ensuing route Nice Face, Shame About the Ledge . Chris, who by now had the misfortune to be working for a living, had half cleaned a route on the lower face but then decided to join Steve with the Upper Tier development with his eyes set on Mr Blue Sky .

However, all good things must come to an end and the word was finally out, bringing visitors to the quarry. The self indulgence of eating the cherry cake might have to be shared!

The fun now began in earnest because many routes had been cleaned but not led - including the one Chris had started cleaning earlier and this was the route which another group was eyeing up first! There was no time to lose but Chris was at work and not available until the weekend, so the honours went to Steve who climbed the route and called it Shot Yer Bolt . Not surprisingly, Chris was displeased, so Steve gave him one of his unclimbed cleaned routes as a peace offering - subsequently named White Dove . During the next few weeks a spate of ascents were made and the pressure to complete new routes was reduced.

Ian Barton and Steve Ralph now entered the quarry with the promise from the trio that there were new routes to be had, especially at the lower end of the gradings. Ian wasn’t impressed but made a token gesture of several rock routes and an ice gully at the back of the quarry. Unfortunately or fortunately! only one of Ian’s routes were attributed to him in the guide book and Steve Ralph received the honours instead. In fact Steve R. was “given” quite a few routes he knew nothing about, due less to the generosity of the new ascentionists but more to their embarrassment in owning up to them! This may be unfair to Steve R., but perhaps due to the loose, dirty, and dangerous routes which he led, he asked for it!

There is a true report of a pair of French girls who recently visited the quarry, and after no success in climbing the higher grades, were kindly directed towards the Bimbo … routes. After struggling and cleaning for an hour and a half they finally screamed “Quelle Masse de Garbage” and walked away feeling totally disillusioned with British Climbing.

After four months of digging, the novelty finally wore off and the very sight of a wire brush or shovel prompted a baulk of revulsion. Altogether, thirty five routes were climbed by The Castle with sixteen of them being attributed to Steve Ralph. As for the original trio, they all succeeded in their secret desire to bag their first 6b virgin ascent. With all the best lines gone, The Castle left the quarry to the droves of scavengers that poured into it. The potential for new routes was still as strong as ever, although much of the remaining surface contained loose rubbish. It was nice to see the interest that the quarry provoked but in the long term it will probably suffer from enthusiastic young leaders willing to climb anything, however loose, for the sake of immortality.

On visiting the quarry today you will usually find several parties climbing there. The original vision of Ian, Steve and Chris has finally reaped its reward. The rock dries exceptionally quickly and, coupled with the bolt protection, makes it an ideal crag for the winter or wet. Unfortunately the routes at the lower end of the scale tend to reflect the nick name Horseshit Quarry but if you do routes of 5b or harder you may well be very pleasantly surprised, although probably knackered as well.