Situated high on the hillside above Skipton in North Yorkshire, Crookrise is set in a fantastic wild location. The quality of the bouldering doesn't quite match up to quality of the routes but there are still some excellent problems scattered along the edge. The Hovis area has the best of the bouldering, The Crease Direct being particularly noteworthy. Elsewhere on the crag there are some good problems - for example Jason's Roof is probably worth seeking out if 8a roof problems are your thing! Being a long and distinctly uphill walk from the nearest road, the crag tends to be fairly quiet, and trad climbers outnumber boulderers by a large margin - a good place to escape from the crowds of Almscliff.
Crag Top Boulders
A series of small boulders runs south from the trig point along the edge of the moor.
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About two hundred metres before Sadcocs Wall and slightly down from the top of the hill is a large boulder with an undercut wall. The wall faces the trig point, and is well-hidden from the path. There is only one problem here but it's a classic.
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The Sadcocs Boulder
Near the start of the main edge is this huge boulder. The big overhanging wall has some excellent, rather intimidating problems. SADCOCS stands for "Skipton And District Climbing Or Caving Society".
Morokolli
Directly beneath Sadcocs Wall at the edge of the trees is a diamond-shaped wall with one fine problem.
The Main Crag
There is some bouldering to be found in a few places on the main edge, and more on the boulders below it.
Ron's Crack
Ron's Crack is the obvious dog-legged, overhanging crack on a huge boulder near the Hovis area. This boulder is a bit too big really, but the smaller boulder in front of it is home to a classic problem.
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Barry Kingsize
A small boulder below the main edge, behind the more obvious Ron's Crack boulder.
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Happy Landings
Beneath the smooth slab towards the left-hand side of the main crag is this undercut boulder. Numerous possibilities exist in the 6b-7a range.
The Ruffian Boulder
This enormous boulder near the tree line has a very steep front face.
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Gentian Boulder
At the edge of the trees is a huge boulder with a big slab on one side, and a big roof.
Central Slab
In the centre of the crag is a big, easy-angled slab with some pleasant easy routes. The left side of the slab is undercut, giving one good boulder problem.
Diet Pepsi
Towards the right (south) end of the crag, near End Slab, is an alcove with a couple of good problems on its left wall.
The Everest Region
In a world of its own at the far right-hand (southern) end of the crag (looking-in), a chaotic jumble of boulders, bracken and dead trees is the estoric area of Crookrise. The huge Everest boulder itself is obvious and well-named, and has some fine climbing, much unfortunately high and scary. On the hillside above and below it there is plenty of rock, much of which is worthless but there are a few gems for the adventurous boulderer to uncover.
The Everest Boulder
All sides of this enormous boulder can be climbed, but most boulderers will restrict themselves to the short, steep face of Ron's Crack. The slab on the front face looks superb, but the problems are way too high. The other two sides of the boulder are less interesting, with poor landings.
