Venue
Trad climbing on granite. Massive Tors on moorland and climbing through and above woodland canopies are the order of the weekend. Within the National Park are the well known climbing areas such as The Dewerstone and Haytor, plus loads more trad and bouldering in the area.
Approaches to all the climbing venues are generally short, easy walks, so there are few constraints. We’ll be staying a short walk from the magical Dewerstone valley, but you’ll likely need car transport to get to other crags in the area.
Suitability
Summary: Open to all
Dartmoor has a wide array of trad routes and bouldering catering to all abilities. Some experience of trad climbing will help you get the most out of the area, but if you’re relatively new to outdoor climbing or trad, then Dartmoor’s a good venue to get some more under your belt.
Most of the climbing on the Tors tends to be single pitch, but there are some lovely multi-pitch routes available in The Dewerstone.
If you’re not yet self-sufficient then that’s fine, as always the committee are here to help so please just drop us a message so we can manage numbers and make sure there’s someone for you to team up with.
Meet info
Accomodation
We’ll be staying at
Dewerstone Cottage bunkhouse in the South West corner of the Dartmoor National Park. This big bunkhouse has space for loads of us, split across 6 rooms and includes a drying room, kitchen, showers and even a log burning stove.
Mattresses, sheets & pillows are provided, so you just need to bring a sleeping bag or other bedding.
There is limited parking and 34 spaces, so for both space and environmental impact we’d like to encourage you to car share as efficiently as possible. Please message on the Facebook event page to arrange lifts.
Food
We will provide breakfast (toast, jam, porridge oats etc) and tea/coffee/milk.
For Saturday & Sunday evening meals we’ll be looking to recruit a few volunteers for cooking on site. As there’s likely to be a large group of us and it’s a BH weekend we’re unlikely to be able to get space at pubs etc.
Cooking facilities include a 6 burner stove, oven, fridge and freezer.
Gear
Wear suitable clothing for the British summer. Although some destinations in Dartmoor like The Dewerstone have some tree cover, the majority of the climbing tends to be on Tors which can be quite exposed and hot in the sun, or chilly in the wind so have a few layers available. In the case of foul weather the bunkhouse has a drying room for wet gear.
Most walk ins are relatively short but can be a little steep, so trainers are probably fine but approach shoes will probably be more comfortable in some cases.
A standard trad rack will see you up most stuff in Dartmoor. Being granite some larger protection like hexes and cams will often be helpful.
