You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
Anyone been up to Lee quarry in the last few days or live in the vicinity?
I seem to recall a minor stream/seep on the far wall of the quarry that looked like it would make an amazing ice climb in the right conditions.
It's warmed up a bit in South Manc so I'm not so sure it'll still be in tomorrow.
Any views on temp/ Snow depth/ ice thickness/ previous ascents....
Cheers
You really want to climb an unstable quarry wall after frost heave?
Yes. Indeed.
Surprising to say, but ice climbing is generally done in sub zero conditions.
The hope is that the ice tends to bind it all together a bit.
The falling down generally happens as it all melts again.
Generally
It’s absolutely ****ing Baltic up here at the moment. I’ve just got back from south Manc and it’s like Barbados in comparison.
Everything is frozen solid up here. If it was frozen yesterday then it’ll still be frozen today because it’s not made it above freezing. All the waterfalls in Redisher Woods are frozen solid, and Lee is a lot higher, so colder
You do know the pubs are open, right? And they have heating n stuff?
Snow-wise ... we had some big drifts last night closing a lot of roads. Met office is saying snow all night tonight, so I don’t know what it’ll be like by the morning. I’d check the roads are passable before you try and get there
You really want to climb an unstable quarry wall after frost heave?
It sharpens the mind, climbing on chossy ice in cold weather. (I have been known to do this without rope when younger and more foolish).
I'll.ask the brother in law.
Cliviger might be a goer?
He's not heard of it, but thanks you for the tip.
🙂
****.
There goes my FWA.🤣
Actually. To be fair if the bit I'm thinking of is frozen the it'll be solid WI 5 and hence way beyond me.
Does your BIL need someone to hold his ropes?
climbing on chossy ice in cold weather
its not like you can wait for the warm weather to go ice climbing in east lancs
Warm weather? In east Lancs? You’d be waiting a while! 😉
Coldest March day since God knows when. And you're considering Lee Quarry. <Shakes head>
Think bigger, man!
FWIW In the winter of 1985-86 blummin everything froze and even I got a couple of FWAs!
Well that was rather fun. Just enough adventure but not too much 🙂 Both partners bailed on me so I bimbled up myself with an enormous rucksak of crap and a vague plan to solo something short or Shunt something long. Lots of snowdrifts on the walk in and soft snow in the quarry except where the puddles had been. Very very dry and consequently not much ice really
[img] 
[/img]
Went up the snowslope at the back of the picture above, lots of good frozen turf, but loose snow. Soloed one of the short lines on the mini cliff in the back right. There were two other lines there that looked fat but not for me.
I spent ages looking for belays to set up a top rope but there was sod all. I had planned on using the little mini fences alongside the mtb track above the mini cliff but they didn’t look substantial enough. So I went over to the top of this cliff:
There was a handy MTB signpost to belay off, so I spent ages setting up an abseil above the righthand icefall. Then realised that the signpost was on the far side of the mtb track. Fair enough the rope would be pretty much on the ground; it was highly visible and there were almost no bikers about…. But I didn’t fancy having my rope hurled over the cliff at me in a rage whilst I was half way up. So I ignored the signpost and abseiled off my backup anchors only. Big knot in the end of the rope just in case it didn’t reach the bottom. It did
I was surprised how good the route was, really solid ice, frozen turf and a very weird umbrella roof thing at the top where the wind was playing havoc with the water drops. I was a bit worried that I wouldn’t get over the roof, but had some prussiks with me. I was also worried the Shunt might not grip on the icy rope so I stopped every now and again to tie a knot in the rope below me ( Shunt: autobelay thing that slides up a rope but not down)
Really nice climbing, amazing plasticky ice. Strenuous at the top. Some rambler took a few photos:
Not very clear but gives a reasonable idea.
Anyway, I couldn’t find any info ont’ web about Ice climbing in Lee Quarry, so I’ll leave this here in the hope that someone with more balls than me (and at least one more mate) can go up and lead them J
cheers for the encouraging weather report binners et al
Looks fairly thin at the bottom but nice and fat higher up. The bit of ice to the right of the umbrella looks like it's been a set of icicles that have snapped off. The only time I've come across the wind umbrellas was on Fairy Falls on Craig y Dulyn in the Carneddau when there were loads of them including one big enough to take a safe belay in.
UKClimbing don't list any winter climbs in the quarry.
The wooden fence posts are just in the piled soil, they are not drilled into the rock, you can literally lift them out. They are more for show than effect, technically fences can't be erected there as it is an urban common
That corner has some big cracks behind it, one day it will go, remember the quarry had continuous use of explosives for well over a hundred years. But you know that.
I've heard of people climbing up there before but done quietly, some of RPMRT might know
You should be looking at how the moor drains at that point I am sure you can get more water over that part for the next big freeze, it often blows "up" at that point due to the way the wind swirls in the quarry
Judging by the pics of Ice climbs on the beach in Cornwall in my FaceBook feed today most places will have had a FWA today. I am, of course, crocked and out of training. That looked fun OP.