The long-awaited guidebook to Southern Sandstone and the Sea Cliffs of South-East England is now out.

Written by Mike Vetterlein and Robin Mazinke it’s a thorough revision and update of Vetterlein’s 1995 guidebook. It is also the third guidebook in the new Climbers’ Club format, following on from Forest of Dean and Lower Wye Valley.

The visual impact is impressive from the start with a new wrap-around cover photo. A large selection of action photographs have been obtained for the guidebook, including a number of historical photographs from the 1930’s to 1970’s. The guidebook is 463 pages and well over half of these have either action photos or photo-diagrams on all or part of the page.

As well as the significant photographic increase upon the previous guidebook, the new one has a major addition in the form of a first ascents list painstakingly compiled by Paul Highams.

Along with many areas, there has been a considerable increase in bouldering activity on Southern Sandstone since the introduction of the bouldering mat. This guidebook has attempted to document all known activity. In common with some other bouldering areas it was decided not to give stars to boulder problems, although routes have been starred.

Again the guide contains the Sea Cliffs of South-East England. A significant change since the 1995 guidebook has been the development of ‘Sport Chalk’ on the crags in the Saltdean and Newhaven areas by a small group of activists.

The Sandstone Code again takes a prominent spot to assist climbers in protecting the rocks from preventable erosion. The five most important points are listed on the back cover, the full code is listed inside and a copy of the code on a postcard will be included with the guidebook. There is the usual graded list to provoke pub discussion over a pint of the local Harveys; and the addition of various ‘text boxes’ offering snippets of information or suggestions of routes such as slabs or cracks to try.

You can download sample pages from the Climbers’ Club website

Visit the BMC online shop to purchase – www.thebmc.co.uk/shop
BMC member price - £18.00
Non-member price - £19.95

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