Over the past 3 days, the BMC and the MOD have been replacing the old and often dangerous belay stakes along Range East, from St. Govans Head to Stack Rocks.

Dan Middleton, BMC Technical Officer was at St. Govans head on Monday to deliver 34 be-spoke belay stakes to a group of local climbers who have carried out the project. Alongside the local climbers was a Military UXO Clearance team, on site to ensure that areas were clear of ordnance before stakes were driven in.

Following several meeting with the Ministry of Defence (the landowner), the National Park and the BMC, it was felt that the belay stakes along Range East were in need of replacing and presented a health and safety risk to visitors to the coast. Several walkers for example, have recently reported tripping over old and redundant stakes that are not clearly visible and many have been identified (by local climbers) as being redundant or in need of replacement.

The BMC and the MOD have agreed a programme of climbing improvements along Range East and Range West (the latter is a live firing range), which has involved local climbers identifying redundant stakes along Range East (phase 1), followed by the removal and replacement of these (phase 2). Whilst this is a local project, the BMC have sourced the appropriate stakes in agreement with the MOD. Phase 3 will be to discuss the possibility of providing new belay stakes along Range West.

Many thanks to all of those involved, in particular Dan, Lynne, Pat, Steve and Tom. Many thanks also to the MOD for their continued support.

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