Yorkshire Village Focus: Kilnsey - crags, shows and local spirit in a 'place where history feels alive'

AT the foot of Kilnsey Crag, Dave Morris is packing up his climbing gear after a long morning pitting himself against one of Yorkshire’s most iconic natural features.
By Andrew Vine
Published 3rd Sep 2022, 11:45 BST

He started at first light, when there was no traffic on the road below and the only accompaniment to him scaling that imposing 170ft cliff, with its forbidding 40ft overhang, were the cries of Wharfedale’s moorland birds.

Hardly any of the past 20 summers have passed without Dave, 46, from Sheffield, booking somewhere to stay in the Dales, usually a few miles up the road in Grassington, and returning to Kilnsey, where the climbing bug really bit him.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Well, it’s just exhilarating, isn’t it,” said Dave. “I reckon I know it as well as anybody, but there’s always something new, something you didn’t quite expect when you set out. Technically, it’s tough and that’s what really gives you a buzz when you get to the top. It doesn’t matter how often you tackle that overhang, it’s always a challenge.”

KilnseyKilnsey
Kilnsey

There’s always going to be a new challenge on the crag, even for old hands like Dave. The UK Climbing website lists more than 200 routes up it, many with picturesque names, among them Round the Mulberry Bush, Softie’s Adventure, Man With a Gun and Jump Leads to Wise Blood, as well as more straightforward descriptions, including Kilnsey Main Overhang.

Dave has plenty of advice to offer a couple of fellow climbers just arriving for their first ascent and weighing up the sheer cliff face that has defied generations to scale it.

Darren Howe and Paul Chadwick, from Birmingham, are in the Dales to tackle Kilnsey and the two other great limestone crags, Malham Cove and Gordale Scar.

Hide Ad