Stoney Middleton Pruned – Prayer Wheel WallUKC Articles, 29 Jun 2009© Mick RyanBMC organised crag clean up brings a sparkle to Peak limestoneLast Saturday a team of crag activists headed down to Stoney Middleton and set to work, carefully thinning vegetation and clearing access to several climbing areas.The day was a huge success and the benefits were felt by local climbers that very weekend.Adam Long climbed at Stoney Middleton on Sunday:”I went down on Sunday having forgotten all about the clean-up (shame on me…), and was very pleasantly surprised. The previously shady base of the crag has really been opened up, however it's been sympathetically done so that the woodland atmosphere is maintained and the crag remains screened from the road.Now you can actually see the rock it's clearer why this used to be such a popular crag, as Neil Foster said to me, 'The problem is people forget what it used to be like', well for me I wasn't around back then so it's great to see a bit of a buzz around the place.”The Stoney clean up is a result of the BMC Peak Area meeting, during which the topic of how to re-invigorate Peak limestone was high up the agenda.Thanks go to all involved in this valuable clean-up operation. Here's to Stoney Middleton!
You can see a photo gallery of the cleared areas below courtesy of Mick Ryan: