Reviews of West Midlands Rock (1995)
From the Planet Fear website:
"The West Midlands is not the first place you would normally think of when on the subject of top class venues for climbing in Britain. Nor would it in fact come in most people’s list of top ten. Unless you live in or near the area that is, in which case then this guide is surely a must.
As the only definitive guide to climbing in the area, any keen climbers wanting to climb there should get their pennies out and buy this West Midlands Rock Bible. With only a dozen or so crags mentioned in the guide it may come as a surprise that there are several hundred routes, a surprisingly high number of which are a high quality and well worth seeking out. The photographs are surprisingly good, leaving you with a feeling of “I wonder why more people don’t climb here, or even know about it?!”
One down side to the guide is that the majority of the crags in the guide are actually in the surrounding area of Shrewsbury, and not particularly close to the heart of the West Midlands. Those who do buy the guide will not be disappointed with the clear and concise access maps, descriptions and topo’s. The individual route descriptions are also easy to follow, and are accompanied by first ascent details as well as graded lists, helping you choose the right climb. And whatever level you climb at there’s plenty to keep you occupied from Diff’s to high ‘E’ numbers. Get climbing!"
Ben Heason, February 2002
Taken from the Climbers Club Journal 1995:
"......................Apart from Llanymynech and Pontesford, the book includes four other crags of some importance. Two are sandstone, a rock of character, like it or loath it. Nesscliff has 48 routes, mostly in the higher grades (up to E8), and up to 160ft long. 13 of these have appeared since the last edition. Access to Nesscliff has recently become much easier. The other major sandstone crag is Grinshill. This is shorter, maximum route length 55ft, but has no fewer than 72 routes described, in all grades from 2b (sic) to 6b. This is more than double the number in the previous edition, the increase being a mixture of some new routes and a fuller inclusion of old ones.
Carreg y Byg has 38 routes up to 60ft in height, graded from Diff to E4, on quarried limestone. Ippikins Rock has 25 routes up to 60ft in height in all grades from Diff to E3, on natural limestone. Also included are many lesser crags of a varied nature.
The guidebook covers a wide variety of rock types, including limestone and sandstone already mentioned, volcanic rock on Pontesford and even some quartzite on Stiperstones. As a result, various grading systems are used. The inconsistency has some merit in such a varied context. Many of these crags have access restrictions for environmental and other reasons. These are fully covered in the book, but of course could change over the years. The book has plenty of good action pictures, but these are a little monotonous as they mostly seem to be of (or by) the authors.
This is a little-known area which deserves to be more popular. That has been said before, but remains true. Doug Kerr and Cicerone have produced a flawed but useful guide. The climbing is within easy day and summer-evening reach of Birmingham and Wolverhampton etc., and can be visited by those from further afield on the way to or from North Wales; the main crags are close to the A5.
In spite of my criticisms, I look forward to using this guide next summer to explore those crags I do not know. I'll just have to remember to take my old guide when I go to Llanymynech."
Dave Wilkinson