The Main Event! The premier bouldering venue in the area with quality problems at all grades.
Wimberry boulders are strewn across the hillside below Wimberry crag proper. The hillside faces north, but unlike the crag the boulders do receive a fair amount of sun. The boulders vary from clean to green, that said the green ones still have good friction and do not need heavy (wire) brushing for an ascent. Many of the boulders have suffered from heavy Victorian or Edwardian chipping, perhaps perspiring towards alpine training. More recent chipping has also irrevocably altered some classic problems.
Approach: from Dovestones Reservoir car park (pay and display) follow the track round the right hand side of the reservoir, past the sailing club hut until a gate is reached. Go through the gate, keeping the woods to your right, follow the track until an opening in the wall (before the bridge) on your right reveals a path following the stream up to the first boulder, the sugar loaf. Approx 20 minutes.
Access: See BMC Regional Access Database https://www.thebmc.co.uk/modules/RAD/View.aspx?id=560.
1. Sugarloaf
Not the best bouldering at Wimberry, more akin to crimping in a quarry there is so many chips on it. Nonetheless can be a useful warm up. Watch that green wall if damp.
1. Pockets and chips up the green wall. Watch those feet if damp, 4. *
2. Arete and wall, 4.
3. Local Hero, climb the wall facing the brook direct, 6b. **
4. Baxster's Wall, climb the wall facing the brook direct but escape right at the top, 6a. *
5. Brush Electric, sit start to Baxster's Wall using an undercut on an overlap, 7c.
6. Chipped arete, 5.
7. Chipped rib and hanging slab, easy.
8. Angus, left side of uphill face, using the flake to finish on the arete, 6b. **
Angus sit, starting from the 'large' side pull (photo below) 7b.
9. Descent.
Angus Sit
Angus
2. Sloping Top
One of Wimberry's best, characterised by gnarly top outs requiring an enthusiastic approach to the delicate art of the mantleshelf.
1. Blunt arete, pocket on left side of arete to an awkward top out. Not the best landing, 5.
2. The Slot. Good climbing. Sidepull and undercut the slot to reach the layaway flake and so the top, 5+. **
3. Fat Slapper, the arete. Crimpy difficult start brings a sloper followed by a desperate top out. Fun, 6b+.**. Sit start goes at 7a.
4. Slap Happy. An excellent problem. Reach the flake, match the lip and mantel, 6c. ***. Low start goes at 7b+
5. Slapstick, pinch and slap up the vague arete/rib to the right. Short and slappy, 6b+. The Grey Road, sit start extends the problem and difficulty 7c.
Fat Slapper
Slap Happy
3. Slab boulder
Some easier reasonable problems.
1. Right arete of the slab, 4.
2. Centre of slab, easy.
4. Stream boulder
1. Shallow Water, follow the groove and wall above....nice, 6a. ** (see photo below)
2. Stream Slab, 4.
3. Stream arete, 4.
A little further up from the stream boulder is another boulder with a single problem. Start in the groove and continue up on ancient chips (see photo below)
Stream Boulder - Groove
The Tank
Some good problems from the thuggish Think Tank to the delicate slab left of the Elephants Bum.
1. Project – Dyno…a very very long way!
2. Think Tank. Hard start, traverse the creaking flakes leftwards, pulling over the lip when the flakes run out, 6b+. ***
3. Stateside. Layaway up the rightwards sidepulls, painfully coarse, 7c. **
Squeezed in between Stateside & Elephants Bum is....Bumslide, 6b.
4. Elephants Bum. Thuggish start followed by easier climbing, 5. * Low start does at 6b+
5 Enhancing Hero, Slab between arete and crack. Hard rockover start (sadly chipped) followed by easier delicate (highball) teetering up the slab, 6b+. ** Sit start, 7b.
6. Chipped arete, 4.
7. Chips and flakes on wall, 4+.
8. Crack, 4.
Think Tank
Enhancing Hero
6. Shellshot
The main action takes place on the rightwards face, a large (ish) broken slab.
1. Lower arete, 4.
2. Middle of slab past the 2 holes, 4. *
3. The uphill arete, 6a.
4. Howitzer - The right hand arete, climbed on the downhill face is highball 6c ish. *
5. Take Cover - The centre of the downhill face is climbable via some flakes, crimpy, and is around 7a.***
Howitzer
Take cover
The Groove
1. Sit start the groove, fly for the top then grovel over, fun..........6b. **
Just round the corner to the right is a decent traverse - Handrail, starting low left on slopes and continuing along the handrail (see photo below) 6b.**
Scoop
1. Steve's Wall. Climb the slabby wall on pebbles from right to left. Awkward landing, 7a+ .*
2. Scoop left hand, 5.
3. Scoop central, 5. (see photo below)
4. Scoop right hand, 4.
Handrail
Scoop Central
The Whale
1. Direct up the pockets, 5.
2. Climb the bulging wall, 6b. *
3. Crack, 4.
As an excellent alternative....start on 3 and traverse into and finish up 2 6b+. (see photo below)**
4. Use the side pulls to reach the flake, 4.
The Whale 3 into 4
The Matterhorn
Mostly highball, from the sunny uphill face (chipped) to the gloomy and green downhill face. Bring a pad and a spotter.
1. the arete, taken on the left, 6.
2. Winsome. Climb the pebbles and ripples up the steep slab. Highball. Keep up the middle at the top, no bailing out left or right. 7a ***
3. West's Route. As the name implies more of a micro route than a boulder problem. Nonetheless, very good climbing, with an interesting colony of Trumpet Lichen. Climb direct and through the overlaps, 5. ***
4. The Nipple. Climb up to the arete via the overlap using the curious rugosity, 6a. *
5. Right hand side of the sunny uphill slab, 6.
6. Left hand side of the chipped slab, 4.
Winsome
The Fish
Perhaps the best boulder at Wimberry, some classic harder problems with a smattering of good mid grade problems.
1. Ego. From a sitting start on the hand rail, pull out to the poor slopers, and so to the top, 7b+. **
2. An excellent problem. Sitting start at the small flake/rib. Pull on and up to the 2 sloping dishes/crimps. From here a series of udges up the slopes will deposit you on the top, 6b+. **
3. Crimp/layaway on the face, to slopes on top, easy.
4. Hang the sloping shelf and mantel the lip, 6a.
5. You're joking. Crimps in the break, to the top, 7b.
6. The Groove. Good climbing. A crimp (if you can reach it) at the bottom of the flake allows you to rock on. From here a balancy series of layback moves lead to the top mantel, 6b+ (7b start to the Groove by starting in the horizontal seam).**
7. Fish Arete. Superbly satisfying slappy climbing. Arete for your right, crimps and undercut for your left some times allows you to slap up the arete with your right to arrive at the top hold. Match, shuffle left and mantel. Quick, 6c. ***
8. Fish Arete S/S. An excellent (arguably better) extensions to the above. 7b. ***
9. Descent.
10. Coarse traverse, from sitting follow the arete and traverse the lip to it's before finishing up. Awesome! 7a***
Coarse Traverse
Fish Arete
Scoops
Fish Arete
The Mole
Off the beaten track but well worth seeking out. This slabby boulder lies just above the tree line on the far right side of the woods (facing uphill). Its main attraction being the excellent central line revolving around a jump into a pocket and a mantle in perfect round slopey dish.
1. Slab direct. Superb. Jump into the lower pocket then mantle the dish, to arrive at the top with or without the help of a small cusp. 7b+***
2. Right edge of slab and arete, 6c.
