Back

Bearacleave Wood

Dartmoor

Bearacleave Wood is one part of the overall area known to climbers as 'Bovey Woods' which contains a huge number of granite boulders and short tors within a beautifiul, wild feeling woodland. The popularity of the area has significantly incresed in recent years and it is more important than ever to take every step to minimise your impact - make sure you follow the access agreement below and help us to maintain access here.

Crag information
Climbing Area: South West & Southern Rock Type: Granite
Importance: Local CRoW Land: No
Ownership: National Trust No. of Routes: 245
Within National Park: Yes Year Developed: 2005
Grid Reference: SX815796
Bearacleave Wood is owned by the National Trust and contains some fantastic quality bouldering with something for everyone. Access problems have arisen recently at this and other bouldering areas on Dartmoor due mainly to excessive cleaning of boulders, but also some other issues. Please follow the Respect the Rock code as well as the following site specific access code of conduct:  
  • No new development - there are in excess of 700 exisiting lines across Bovey Woods as a whole and further development would mean more cleaning and removal of important mosses and lichens. This is a real concern to the landowners and continued development and new cleaning could result in loss of access.
  • Keep cleaning to a minimum. A completely clean boulder might look good to a climber, but to the landowner it looks a lot like environmental damage. Keep individual holds clean, don't strip entire faces of vegetation.
  • Chalk really stands out in the environment, so remove as much as possible from the rock before leaving a problem.
  • Please don't use this area for lantern sessions (night bouldering) - this has been a contributing factor in the developing access concerns of the landowner.
  • Take your litter home with you as well as any other litter in the area. This includes things like pieces of finger tape which can be easily forgotten.

Parking and Approach

Parking is limited here and can be a real issue if cars block roads or gates. This is almost guarenteed to get climbers a bad name with local farmers and landowners, so make sure you park considerately and think about car sharing to the crag to avoid too many vehicles trying to squeeze in.

Bovey Tracey makes a good meeting point for groups of climbers to combine into a single car if travelling separately.

Group Advice

Unsuitable for large groups - keep group sizes small (4 or less) and low impact.
Area information

Part of the Dartmoor National Park is used by the MoD for training and live-firing exercises. It also offers a wealth of excellent hillwalking and numerous Tors, some of which still have the potential for new climbing development – especially wild bouldering. The Defence Estates endeavour to support public access (without compromising public safety and military training) and have produced a website with the important safety info and firing times. Follow this link http://www.dartmoor-ranges.co.uk/ for the Dartmoor training area homepage and links to detailed info.

Weather Information

There are no guidebooks assigned to this crag

There are no files associated with this crag

Report a page issue Print this article

Crag Update Feed

Use this feed to update other users about crag conditions or similar current information. Suggested updates to page information should be made using the ‘report a page issue’ button above.

Posting as Anonymous Community Standards
3000 characters remaining
Submit
Your comment has been posted below, click here to view it
Comments are currently on | Turn off comments
0

There are currently no comments, why not add your own?

Report a page issue

Please use this feedback form to raise any incorrect information on the page, advise any additonal information that should be included, or any page functionality issues.
Immediate crag updates should be submitted via the comments section at the bottom of the crag page. Any comments made through the page issue form will need to be moderated and will not be dealt with immediately.

    Bearacleave Wood

    Dartmoor