Many of the landscapes we visit and value as climbers and walkers are dominated by ash woodland, but a fungal disease – ash dieback – is expected to decimate the population of these trees across Britain. Not only might the landscape change dramatically, but also the rapid decay in affected trees can make them dangerous to anyone walking underneath, not to mention climbers who might have up until now relied on ash trees for runners or belays. This could be a new type of objective danger to many of us, but what do we need to know and how can you assess the risk?
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BMC volunteer and uber-keen Yorkshire climber Paul Clarke recently raised the issue of trees encroaching on a number of buttresses and boulders at Brimham Rocks with the BMC access team. Thanks to his great local knowledge and enthusiasm, not to mention invaluable help from the National Trust ranger team who manage the site, a climber's work day took place last weekend to open up some of the climbing areas. Paul reports below on what happened on the (very successful!) day...
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On Saturday the 12th March, a number of BMC volunteers put in a days graft thinning-out the woodland below Hen Cloud in Staffordshire.
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