Review: Southern Sandstone

By John Horscroft
A Climber Magazine Review

Authors: Mike Vetterlein and Rob Mazinke
Publisher: Climbers’ Club Guides

Ah, Southern Sandstone, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways. For the irrational rage that you cause in climbers from other parts of the country, generally through ignorance or blind prejudice, I commend you. For the ridiculously laid back atmosphere, the piss-taking and the craic, I love you. For the brilliant routes, the weird moves and the weird people, I’m in awe. For the fact that Southern Sandstone grades have borne comparison with the rest of the world for almost eighty years, I salute you. But most of all, in spite of the fact that geology, dodgy rope-work and sheer weight of numbers have done their worst, your very survival is a cause for wonderment and celebration. When the rope grooves increased at an exponential rate in the eighties, when all seemed lost, when it looked as though you would crumble to dust in my lifetime, climbers got together and saved you. That takes some beating. Initially ignored as an irrelevance by the BMC, Southern Sandstone found champions amongst its devotees. The crag clean-ups and maintenance that are now common throughout the British Isles owe much to those pioneering crag protectors. For that if nothing else, we should cherish Southern Sandstone.

So, having plighted my troth, is this a guide worthy of you? Well, it is compiled by Mike Vetterlein and Rob Mazinke, both of whom are encyclopaedic about the sandstone outcrops of the Central Weald in a way that is, frankly, cause for concern. It’s therefore no surprise that this is an informative and authoritative guide. Building on the excellent 1989 Dave Turner guide and Vetterlein’s 1995 revision, the seventh edition in the series includes a number of innovations that place it very much in the modern idiom while retaining the eccentricities of previous guides. The photo topos are clear and accurate, but the plan drawings of the rocks, first penned by E R Zenthon for E C Pyatt’s 1947 guide, are retained. While many of the route descriptions are necessarily new, Dave Turner’s awful puns and jokes remain.


What is new, and long overdue, is the first ascents list. Previous guides have relied on the history section to add some context to the route descriptions. Paul Highams is to be congratulated for producing a comprehensive list that constantly informs and surprises. Although first ascent details for some of the earliest climbs are lacking, indicative of a time when climbers were more self effacing, there are many gems squirreled away. The efforts of Nea Morin (née Barnard) and Jean Morin are fully recognised, including their ascent of Unclimbed Wall at Harrisons and Steps Crack at High Rocks in the twenties. Both routes are 5b’s that regularly repel modern climbers. H Courtney Bryson’s description of Isolated Buttress Climb, “...if short, monkey up the arête, if debonair, lay back it, if grammatical, lie back...” is redolent of a different era. Clifford Fenner’s ascent of Slim Finger Crack in 1945, surely one of the earliest 5c’s, is almost overshadowed by the subsequent solo effort by the late lamented Johnnie Lees two years later. Sandstone’s ability to throw up exceptional climbers and cutting edge grades probably reached its zenith in 1959 when Martin Boysen climbed The Thing, one of the first 6b’s in the country. The fact that he also pitched in with Digitalis and Hate, both 6a, and the brilliant Fandango, 5c just burnishes the legend.


The soloing of the Holliwell brothers in the sixties, Mick Fowler’s domination of the new routing scene in the seventies and Boysen’s return in 1981 to confound the locals by climbing Krait Arête all get the recognition they deserve. Sandstone characters aplenty get their moment in the sun. The efforts of Guy McLelland seem all the more amazing given that he would give up on a new route if he didn’t get it by the third attempt. Some of his routes are still unrepeated. The more recent soloing of Tim Skinner, Chris Murray, Rob Mazinke and the fearless John Patterson are also rightly celebrated. For this superb historical document alone, the guide is a must.

Other reasons to be cheerful include the dearth of stars. It’s a bugbear of mine that guides are routinely plastered with stars. Whether or not there has been a conscious decision to ration them on this occasion I don’t know, but it certainly looks like it. Even routes of the quality of Adder only get two stars so strict are the criteria. The history section has been carefully updated and is still an entertaining read. The book also covers sea cliff climbing (I use the term loosely) of the south coast, the history of which is thoroughly entertaining with a fine selection of photos of activists like Fowler and Thornhill liberally smeared with chalk. What can you say about a climbing area that falls down on a regular basis? Great for new routing I guess – a fresh canvas to work with after each winter storm.

In common with the latest Peak District guides, bouldering is covered in some detail. Descriptions of boulder problems are signified by different coloured numbers and there is a short history section. A few interesting loose ends have been tied up. Virtually every piece of sandstone in the area, however esoteric, has been catalogued including some alluded to in previous guides but never found. The elusive Sheffield Forest Rocks, mentioned by Pyatt in 1956 were finally unearthed and I feel compelled to mention the discovery of the delightfully named Shagswell Wood Rocks if only for the cheap laugh.
Photographically, there is a suitably wide spread of grades, a pleasing number of shots of people soloing and a decent smattering of women climbers. The historical shots are a constant delight, those of Martin Boysen on the first ascent of The Thing and that of combined tactics on Half-crown Corner being amongst the best. There are also many references to the Sandstone Code which should be required reading if there’s to be a Southern Sandstone worth climbing in the future. (Click sample page thumbnail for larger view.)

Southern Sandstone may not be to everyone’s taste. It is however one of the most popular, not to say overcrowded, climbing areas in the country. It has a unique atmosphere, climbs that stand comparison with the best and a colourful history to which this guide emphatically does justice. Even if your collection of Southern Sandstone guides stretches back to the day of Sheffield and Bryson, it’s now incomplete. Take a bow you southern softies.

Purchase the Southern Sandstone guide here.