Avon Gorge

Top: Low Profile (E5 6a), Upper Wall. Toby Dunn climbing. Bottom: Pink Ginsane (E6 6b), Main Wall. Ollie Benzie climbing. Pics: Martin Crocker

There’s a whole lot to Avon, but most of it has been said before, including in my Avon Gorge guidebook, 2017 (published by The Climbers’ Club). Meantime you can stopover in the ClimbBristol website or even check out how Avon swept me off and onto my feet: Bristol Fashion, published in Climb in 2011. I also wrote a ‘top tips’ piece for ClimbBristol in 2015.

Avon Gorge Crag Tour

A trip along the cliffs from north to south, checking out what some climbers are up to on the way. All pics © Martin Crocker.

The Unknown Area

The lofty brown cliffs of the Unknown Area are the first encountered on the approach along the A4 Portway from the M5 and Avonmouth heading towards Bristol. From left to right, they comprise Unknown Wall, the Exploding Galaxy Wall, and, next to the road, Unknown Buttress. Upper Wall is the 20-metre wall set back over the huge ramp (The Ramp) above Unknown Buttress. (Following a large rockfall in 2013, serious access difficulties arose in relation to Unknown Buttress, Exploding Galaxy Wall, and Unknown Wall. You should refer to the BMC’s Regional Access database for the latest position.)

The Blik (E3 5b). Henry Castle climbing.

Unknown Slab (E2 5c). Henry Castle climbing.

Yellow Edge (E3 5b). Mike Coles climbing.

Exploding Galaxy Wall

Emerging from the Old Red Sandstone buried beneath is the huge limestone face of Exploding Galaxy Wall. Sheer for 240 feet, its rugged and pocketed mix of lime, sand and ochre mudstone fuelled the early pioneers’ analogies with ‘cheese’. Their gallant attempts to climb it were rife with tongue-in-cheek tales of hammering aid pegs through soft rock into its surreal labyrinthine bowels. ‘Pretentious’ names from the 50s and 60s like The Unclimbable Wall or The Psychopath Way maintained the unrequited relationship before Tony Wilmott in 1969 erected his symphonic solo-aid masterpiece The Exploding Galaxy, a name enshrined as that of the Wall after its rebranding the next decade.

Mirage (E3 6a/b). Hazel Findlay climbing.

Solar Power (E5 6b). Alexis Perry climbing.

Upper Wall

Once buried behind the bulk of a far mightier Unknown Buttress, the Upper Wall saw the light of day when the local authority blasted away its restraints in 1976, unleashing it upon the feeble slab-climbing saps of Bristol. Some locals soon adapted, grew a few muscles, and – within a few years of the dust settling – created a mecca of powerful face and crack climbs.

Sea Walls

Sea Walls offers the best and most popular selection of classic V Diff to Very Severe multi-pitch routes in the gorge. By way of contrast the right-hand wing hosts a group of very bold or ‘headpoint-style’ routes on compact rock routes that suggest to some an affinity with the ‘hard grit’ experience. A car park with about 20 spaces and a well-maintained lawn currently make it the most attractive place in the gorge to pull in and meet up with friends. On busy days the car park can quickly fill meaning the New Quarry layby has to be used as an overspill. During weekdays outdoor activity providers make frequent use of the cliff (though at the expense of the quality of a few climbs in the Idleburger Buttress area which are sometimes afflicted by muddy abseil streaks).

Jumping Carrots (VS 5a). Simon Fletcher climbing.

Ffoeg's Folly (E2 5c). Ross Davidson climbing.

Sleepwalk (S). Steve Findlay and Magda Cepkova climbing.

Morpheus (VD). Thomas Pickersgill climbing.

One Scream's Enough (F7c). Gaz Hughes climbing.

Operational Reasons (E2 5b). Martin Crocker climbing. Pic: Jonathan Crocker

The New Quarry

Right of the wooded valley of Wimberry Slade (The Gully) south of the Sea Walls nestles the New Quarry, its amorphous white walls cut short by a layers of shale and mudstone. Deeply schizophrenic, the crag offers some of Avon’s safest and most adventurous routes all under one umbrella. The former can be recognised by the lines of sport bolts and lots of frolicking clippers; the latter by the ‘XS’ tag and no one. In earlier years thick ivy curtains and rubble were sufficient to deter all save a few who had the vision to turn tosh into art. (The ivy was so dense and sturdy you could climb it to a height of 15 metres.) When the bolts arrived in the late 80s, the cliff enjoyed a flourish of interest, filling a gap exposed by the conservative climbing styles at Avon. Some rebolting took place in the early 90s, but only on the left wing. Nothing much came of hopes for the wider populous continuing the work in 2002; it went abroad instead – and the gear completed its in situ oxidation. Chin up though: almost all of the fixed gear was renewed with stainless steel through-bolts and glue-ins by a few volunteers in 2012-2014. Consequently the sport routes have become very popular. On virtually every visit I made during lockdown 2021someone was climbing the perma-dry Bushmen Don’t Surf – possibly now the gorge’s most popular route (well done Gord’).

In 2014 I built a New Quarry topo, to save people having to wait for publication of the Avon Gorge guidebook in 2017. The topo contains most, if not quite all, the routes, and can be downloaded here: download New Quarry (2014).

No Crag for Old Men (F6b). Trisha Murphy climbing.

Private and Confidential (E2 5b). Dave Talbot climbing.

Main Wall

In the centre of the gorge, rising above and to the left of the closed main car-park, is the impressive grey façade of Main Wall, the showcase for Avon Gorge climbing. It looks intimidating but unexpectedly the cliff mostly lies well back from the vertical and is covered liberally with holds, making it climbable virtually anywhere. Time spent on Main Wall is still about thinking between footholds, and taking time to do so methodically pays dividends. A flair for route-finding is a prerequisite, since it can be impossible to judge from below which sloping hold is better than another or even, indeed, the likely route that should be taken. It is this charmingly instinctive style where, in order to get to the top, the climber must often meander in every conceivable direction, that epitomizes the essence of Main Wall.

The Lich (HVS 5a). Dave Talbot climbing.

Pink Wall Traverse (HVS 5a). Andy Holden and Tom Rogers climbing.

Pink Wall Traverse (HVS 5a). Tom Rogers climbing.

Main Area

The Main Area is where Avon climbing began. Its slabs and low-angle walls furnish the majority of the gorge’s middle-grade climbs, some classic. Although rarely desperate, many of the routes are sparsely protected, and there is a lot of balancing around on sloping or polished holds without anything to curl your fingers around. The best policy is to ease yourself into the style slowly and take your time.

The Main Area lies to the right of Main Wall, behind the closed car park. The huge monolithic slab is Morning Slab, which is overshadowed by a massive overhang on the left. At the top of the slab is the large, afforested ledge known as Lunchtime Ledge, and rising above this is Evening Wall. Routes on the slab and wall can be judiciously combined to provide some long and fulfilling outings, ideally choreographed with mealtimes.

A forcing ground for ‘balance and don’t fall’ climbing in the 50s, Central Buttress became interlaced with variations and link-ups long before climbers knew what a ‘link-up’ was. All the climbing is good, especially away from the polished and most popular routes, though protection is often spaced throughout. Bits and pieces of routes can be exchanged at will for devotees wanting to hang out for as long as possible on this fine buttress.

If it’s peace, if not absolute quiet, you’re after, try Fairlylands – the hodgepodge of slabs and short walls on the far right, beyond a memorial to Avon visionary Tony Willmott. Worked out by limestone masters of the 50s sometimes climbing in socks in the rain, Fir Tree Slab in particular stays relevant to this very day. Much of it is soloing hereabouts and cautionary tales of over-familiarity apply.

The Arête (S). Charlotte Leslie climbing. Pic: Simon Fletcher/ClimbBristol.

Central Buttress (E1 5a). Paul Davis climbing.

Piton Route (VS 4c). Paul Ross climbing.

Inferior Rubbers (HVS 4c). Dan Donovan climbing.

The Amphitheatre

Dadaistic rock-shapes and colours, scarcely obeying the laws of physics, intertwine to give Avon its weirdest area and – like its metaphor – it’s not to everyone’s taste. Enduringly The Amphitheatre has remained underused in spite of sporadic flurries of activity. Complex and geologically alien, its cliffs offer the Avon curious a soupcon of exploration, as well as a few hits for any discerning visitor. Apart from thoroughfare Giant’s Cave Buttress, not to be missed are visits to the overhanging red wall of Spinor and the superb Passchendaele wall.

At the foot of Bridge Valley Road, and rising directly from the Portway, is the imposing bulk of Battleship Buttress, enmeshed in protective netting. All of the climbs on its roadside face are inaccessible, including the wonderful Porthole up the right-hand arête. To the right of the buttress a short gated track leads to a bricked-up railway tunnel, the right wall of the cutting forming the short and steep Harvey’s Wall. To the right again, and set back from the road behind trees, is the Lower Amphitheatre Wall, which is capped by an overhanging red wall and an immense glacis. Above the glacis looms the Upper Amphitheatre Wall, punctured in its right-hand side by the Giant’s Cave, complete with viewing gallery and gawking tourists. To the right again is Giant’s Cave Buttress the stepped ‘mountain ridge’ that rises the full height of the cliff.

Herbsman Shotgun (E3 5c). Dean Russell climbing.

Spiny Proboscis Nematodes (E1 5c). Sam Wheadon climbing.

Giant's Cave Buttress (VS 4c). Ben Richards climbing.

Hodge's Pin (VS 4c). Simon Fletcher climbing.

Suspension Bridge Buttress

‘Until recently it was unclimbed, but its left arête is now the only extreme in the gorge. With shattered rock, minute and sparse holds and strenuous and exposed wall climbing, it fully deserves this standard.’ (M W Harvey; 1956)

This fine buttress, which shoulders the Clifton Suspension Bridge, stands in proud contrast to the other cliffs in the gorge. Here, those climbers accustomed to the steep, strenuous, and protectable styles of unquarried limestone will feel most at home. Indeed, the cliff boasts an unrivalled selection of star-rated climbs in the HVS to low-Extreme categories; some are long-established classics. All of the routes on the Main Face are spectacularly exposed, the sense of 3D being accentuated by the distant span of the bridge and sightseers somewhere out in space above and behind the climber. Long gone are the days, however, when as a customary finale one could finish via the Pandemonium Wall and pull onto the bridge parapet; the Bridge Trustees prohibit escape onto any part of the bridge structure. Instead, descent must be made by abseil for all but a few of the right-most routes on the Main Face.

Suspension Bridge Arête (HVS 5a). Donna Kwok climbing.

The Snobbler (E3 5c), Dan Donovan climbing.

Baby Duck (E1 5b). Francis Haden climbing.

Leigh Woods (West) Side

Leigh Woods: a sensitive site for conservation. The quarried and unquarried cliffs of the west side of Avon Gorge are highly sensitive sites for conservation reasons. Nationally rare or scarce plants and trees grow on, under, and above the cliffs; peregrines and ravens nest on the cliffs, bats occupy the caves; and rare invertebrates breed on the managed calcareous grassland. The site forms part of the Avon Gorge SSSI and SCA), and it is a National Nature Reserve. A climbing access agreement has been made between The National Trust and the BMC, in consultation with Natural England. The access agreement has full regard to cliff-specific sensitivities in order to prevent any adverse impact on conservation or public safety. Before climbing here please refer to pages 304 onwards in the Avon Gorge guidebook and for any updates in the BMC’s RAD.

Leigh Woods: a site for recreation. Leigh Woods is managed by owners the National Trust and Forest Enterprise for conservation and recreation. Leigh Woods is enjoyed by vast numbers of the public in a range of activities: mountain biking, walking, running, nature and orienteering trails, and kiddies’ picnics. The towpath is a thoroughfare for Bristol’s ‘keep fit’ brigade – bikes, joggers, and buggies – and is especially busy at weekends and on fine weekday evenings. Several cliffs adjoin the towpath, and the need for keeping an eye on the safety and welfare of fellow visitors goes without saying. The carrying of civil liability insurance is strongly advised.

Those accustomed to the high, clean, popular and sunny walls of Avon East are in for something different. ‘Shorter, looser, dirtier, and gloomier’ might sum up the Leigh Woods experience, glass half-empty. But ‘unspoilt, unpolished, tranquil, and sheltered’ might sum it up, glass half full. All the climbing on the ‘Dark Side’, including the bolt routes, is adventurous and much is of a serious nature, but often only in the same way that Avon East can be serious. Leigh Woods’ values are those of escape from the summer heat or winter winds, freedom from the Portway rat race (if not the noise, entirely), the pleasure of a walk through the woods in autumn, and the delight of new hassle-free landscapes so close to Bristol. But keep a very careful look out for ticks, of which there are no shortage on the west side.

Demogod (E1 5a). Dan Donovan climbing.

Above: Crumble (HS 4b). Annabelle Richards climbing. Below: Evil Edna (E4 5c). Philip Wilson climbing.

Big Girl's Blouse (F6b+). Gordon Jenkin climbing.

Evil Edna (E4 5c). Holly Heath climbing.

Set Your Controls (E1 5b/HVS 5a). Matt Goater climbing.

Thirty-nine Year War (F6c). Martin Crocker climbing. Pic: Simon Fletcher

The Avon Gorge Bolt (Drilled Gear) Policy

From time to time someone may suggest that a bolt policy should be reviewed. To my knowledge there are no agreed guidelines or criteria that determine how long a bolt policy should last or when it should be reviewed or who has the authority to instigate a review. I’ve set out some thoughts here. Meantime, reproduced below is the current bolt policy for Avon Gorge (also as reproduced in the Avon Gorge guidebook; Appendix 3, page 389). The BMC should have it on file(s) too.

The ‘policy’ below is a complicated mix of (Avon & Cheddar area) policy and (Avon Gorge) timeline, currently with no satisfactory distinction between the two. It can therefore prove difficult to assimilate. The substantive policy is the 1994 agreement (which applies to the whole Avon & Cheddar guidebook area*) and is the framework for all other agreed content which occurred later including the ClimbBristol project. The project was just that: a time-limited project that was granted delegated powers to make decisions about the application of the 1994 agreement (as revised) for the purposes of its work programme. The project came to an end in 2015. There is a case for the whole to be presented in a clearer way. And – in order to address post-2015 fixed gear issues that were once delegated to ClimbBristol – a feature that will need addressing is the development of a new scheme of delegation (presumably with the redundant powers bottoming with BMCSW). Or, if it’s not causing any problems, the whole thing could be left undisturbed.

*For the purposes of the Avon Gorge guidebook, the policy sections relating to the remainder of the crags in the area was extracted.

Please note the above preamble is not made on behalf of any other party.

The Area Bolt (Drilled Gear) Policy

The current local policy on bolts was agreed in 1994, through the BMC Area Committee, as amended substantially and incrementally by the BMCSW Area.

Aim: To preserve and maintain the integrity, spirit and ethos of climbing in the Avon and Cheddar locality.

Objective 1: To safeguard the original character of established climbs and therefore to preserve the local climbing history.

Action 1: No retrobolting (i.e. the placing of bolts on climbs in locations where they did not exist previously).

Objective 2: To acknowledge and maintain the historically accepted mix of climbing styles in the locality (the preservation of the status quo of ethics).

Action 2: To ratify the cliffs, crags and quarries or crag sector where:

a) bolts have been used and accepted in their densities.

b) bolts are unacceptable.

Objective 3: Not to hinder the development and progress of the sport locally, and thereby recognise and accommodate the need for new routes in the mould of sports climbs, projects, or bold/adventure climbs at appropriate venues.

Action 3: Monitor and review development and effect control by consensus if necessary in cases which blatantly stray outside the operating area ethic.

Objective 4: To maintain (or improve if practical) the safety standard of individual pieces of accepted fixed gear on established climbs (within the constraint of Action 1).

Action 4: To support the funding of local re-equipping campaigns (like- for-like gear replacement).

Objective 5: To sanction fixed gear placement to help alleviate local access problems or to make a genuine contribution to the environmental integrity of a cliff, crag, or quarry.

Action 5: To identify the venues where abseil stations, in particular, should be provided and as funding permits carry out a programme of installation using trained volunteers.

Acceptability of bolts in Avon Gorge

Existing (minimal) bolts accepted, although:

New Quarry: high density bolting accepted;

Suspension Bridge Buttress: bolts unacceptable.

In an area with contrasting operating styles and degrees of bolting, terminology is crucially important to prevent inadvertent transgression. For example, one could not prescribe ‘bolts acceptable’ at Avon for inappropriate bolt ladders materialising amidst traditional routes. ‘Bolts accepted’ simply reflects established consensus opinion, those bolts which have proved unacceptable having been removed.

In relation to Avon Gorge, the policy was supplemented in 1996 by a resolution that ‘the BMC has no fixed gear replacement policy for Avon Gorge’, but this was replaced by two resolutions in 2002 which are reproduced below.

2002 BMCSW Area Resolutions

For belay placements where the belay is reliant on fixed protection, it is acceptable to replace current gear with bolts if the fixed protection is rotten. Bolts should not be placed unless the fixed gear is seriously defective and cannot be replaced with new pegs and there are no adequate natural gear placements at or near the stance.

For runner placements if there is no natural protection available and the current fixed gear is rotten, like-for-like replacement of fixed gear is acceptable. No replacement should take place if it is not possible to replace like for like.

2011 BMCSW Area Resolution

The 2002 resolution was augmented at BMCSW January 2011 in relation to belays on Main Wall with existing bolts (authorizing their renewal in the specified cases) and the North Wall of Suspension Bridge Buttress (authorizing various first-time bolted belays to compensate for the loss of tree belays in conservation work)

2012 BMCSW Area Resolutions

Remit of ClimbBristol Project Steering Group (PSG) in connection with drilled gear approved at BMCSW 25.1.2012

· To make decisions about drilled and other fixed gear in line with the like-for-like bolt policy for Avon Gorge, as amended at BMCSW meeting January 2011.

· To make decisions about drilled and other fixed gear where the effects of those decisions lie outside what is permitted under the Avon Gorge bolt policy but where there is a tangible benefit to conservation or public safety and therefore to the sustainability of Avon Gorge climbing; e.g. provision of bolt belays in place of: (a) vulnerable trees (b) trees lost through conservation or rock safety work and (c) exits or belay methodologies that cause a threat to public safety (i.e. to that of users of Portway). It is not envisaged that any such decision would sanction retro-bolting (protection bolts) but – if circumstances were so limited that such action was considered necessary – the consent of the first ascensionist to be sought before any action is taken.

· In order to implement a successful fixed gear renewal programme for the New Quarry, which was subject to a resolution at BMCSW January 2011, to authorize the placing of what is expected to be no more than a small number of additional protection bolts, provided (a) the character of any so-affected climb is maintained and (b) the first ascensionist has consented. (This, in effect, to be a crag-specific dispensation to the Avon Gorge bolt policy.)’

Drilled Gear Policy Principles (Decision Rules) Agreed

The following seven policy principles were agreed by ClimbBristol Project Steering Group (PSG) 6.11.2012 after debate. A number of them had already been approved by BMCSW as a guideline framework within which the PSG could exercise its delegated authority to make decisions on appropriate bolting issues for the purposes of the ClimbBristol Project.

· Where a crucial tree belay has been lost or is ailing and unsafe the CBPSG will approve a first-time 2BB if there is no equivalent or sustainable alternative e.g. above Thanatos, above the Stranded slab, above Troillus, on Breakfast Ledge.

· Where there is a fixed belay which serves as an abseil point for multiple single pitch routes the CBPSG will approve a new or first-time 2BB if there is no sustainable alternative or if the fixed belay already contains a legitimate bolt e.g. above Kranz & Magic Theatre, the Krapp’s Last Tape/Think Pink belay.

· Where a significant improvement to public safety will arise the CBPSG will approve a first-time 2BB e.g. atop the left-hand end of Upper Wall to serve the routes left of New Horizons.

· Where vegetation or dangerous rock has completely closed down the exit of a route, and it is highly unlikely that these conditions will be adequately managed, the CBPSG will approve a first-time 2BB if there is no alternative reasonable means of descent.

· Where a peg on a pitch containing multiple protection bolts cannot be replaced the CBPSG will approve a first-time protection bolt in place of the peg e.g. Tremors, Defining Limits. (It is implied by the area policy that retrobolting is not permitted without the first ascensionist’s consent but – in this scenario where a pitch already contains multiple bolt protection that was present on the first ascent or first free ascent – the CBPSG does not consider the view of the first ascensionist to be paramount.)

· The CBPSG considers drilled pegs to be a form of bolted protection. Therefore in relation to pegs inserted in holes drilled by a climber the CBPSG will approve the replacement of the drilled peg with a suitable bolt. In relation to pegs inserted in existing holes (e.g. engineer-driven) the CBPSG will approve replacement of the drilled peg with a bolt only if the original peg cannot be extracted and replaced with a suitable peg.

· The CBPSG considers there is a case to plan for dealing with the quarrying industry’s iron spikes that are degrading and which will become progressively unsafe. For those spikes that perform the function of protection or an abseil anchor the CBPSG will approve the addition of a suitable bolt or bolts e.g. the Depravity-Steppenwolf belay. However the CBPSG also recognises that iron spikes represent part of the industrial heritage of the Avon Gorge and while there will be cases where they are complemented with bolts to ensure their safe use the CBPSG does not approve their removal.

· (h) The CBPSG does not approve the renewal of bolts that are relics of original aided ascents and which have not become of critical use as protection bolts since alternative protection is available e.g. M1, Pigeon's Nest (bolt 2).