With the Olympics imminent it seems timely to give some information on whether they will have any influence on the access to Portland and any of the climbing sites.
The Portland BMC rep Neal Heanes lives on Portland and has kept an eye on the goings on. He reports that he foresees few problems for climbing access except for an increase in traffic levels and subsequent jams. However anyone familiar with getting on to Portland during the summer months will know that this is not an unusual problem on a sunny day! The best advice is to arrive early in the day.
Other snippets of interest are the re-bolting of a number of the big lines at Wallsend Central – Saskatchewan Uranium Miner being one by Rob Kennard, and some new lines to the west of the popular Bower at The Cuttings – see topo – by Adam Perrett and co.
Neal also said that after the record rainfall of late the slope below Wallsend North that is used to access the boulder beach may need extra care (a spare rope – might be a good idea). However everything else seems to be in place although there have been a couple of minor rock falls noted. Neal also won the race to put the latest Rockfax guidebook out of date with his new line at Blacknor Central
