Head shaped rock on Froggatt Edge - geograph

A climber on Tody's Wall Froggatt Edge - geograph

Froggatt Edge is a

gritstone Gritstone or grit is a hard, coarse-grained, siliceous sandstone. This term is especially applied to such sandstones that are quarried for building material. British gritstone was used for millstones to mill flour, to grind wood into pulp for ...

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. The terms ''scarp'' and ''scarp face'' are often used interchangeably with ''esca ...

in the Dark Peak area of the

Peak District The Peak District is an upland area in England at the southern end of the Pennines. Mostly in Derbyshire, it extends into Cheshire, Greater Manchester, Staffordshire, West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire. It includes the Dark Peak, where moorl ...

National Park A national park is a natural park in use for conservation purposes, created and protected by national governments. Often it is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individua ...

, in

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the no ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

, close to the villages of Froggatt,

Calver Calver ( Old English ''Calf Slope'') is a village and civil parish in Derbyshire, England. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 census was 710. Overview Calver is a small village situated in the Derwent Valley, Derbyshire. The village ...

, Curbar, Baslow and Grindleford. The name Froggatt Edge applies only to the northernmost section of the escarpment; the middle and southernmost sections are called Curbar Edge and Baslow Edge respectively. The escarpment, like many in this area, is easily accessible from

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

Characteristics

The escarpment forms the eastern rim of the valley of the River Derwent in this part of its course and, when viewed from the valley below, can be seen as rocky crags against the skyline. At the top of the escarpment is a managed heather moor, which is purple with bloom in late summer. Part of the moor management involves periodically burning sections to discourage reforestation and promote fresh heather shoots. Below the escarpment, on the valley slopes heading down towards the Derwent, is a forest of

birch A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech- oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 3 ...

trees. The escarpment offers views across both moorland and valley. On the paths that run along both the top and bottom of the escarpment, the underlying gritstone is often exposed and subsequently worn by the passage of many feet, creating a warm-coloured sand that is characteristic of this part of the

. As with many of the gritstone edges in the Peak District, Froggatt was used as a source of millstones; a number of half-completed millstones can still be found at the bottom of this and other edges in Derbyshire.

Walking and climbing

Froggatt Edge is frequented by rock climbers and hillwalkers throughout the year. Joe Brown popularised two well-known classic routes in the late 1940s, Sunset Slab (HVS 4b) and Three Pebble Slab (HVS 5a). Whilst the

climbing Climbing is the activity of using one's hands, feet, or any other part of the body to ascend a steep topographical object that can range from the world's tallest mountains (e.g. the eight thousanders), to small boulders. Climbing is done ...

is not difficult, a fall from either climb (particularly Sunset Slab) would result in injuries. One of the best-known climbs at Froggatt Edge is "Downhill Racer", a smooth and near-vertical 17 m (50 ft) slab of gritstone. It was first climbed in 1977 by Pete Livesey and represented a breakthrough in that it combined difficulty with real danger: there is no suitable crack in the rock in which to place protection (to anchor a rope), so a climber who slips from the small finger holds will hit the ground. It is now graded E4 6a.

Climbing approaches

Froggatt Edge is considered the second most popular between the Eastern Edges. Due to its position the edge avoids the worst of the weather. Froggatt is famous for its slabs, but it also has a good amount of climbs including cracks.There are two usual approaches for climbing: the first one is from the parking on the B6045 located close to the Grouse Inn. 328 ft (100m) before the Froggatt Pinnacle is located the first section of the edge. There are a total of 472 climbs, the type of rock is

, the edge is facing West and the altitude is 862 ft (263m). The beginning of the most common approach is located 1640,42 ft (500m) South of the Grouse Inn at White Gate. The second approach is from a small lay-by below the Chequers Inn.

References

External links

BMC Guidebooks
{{coord, 53.2845, N, 1.6319, W, scale:1000_type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Climbing areas of England Mountains and hills of the Peak District