Description by Stuart King.
High Crags must be the most obvious undescribed crags in the Shipley area. They rise above the busy Valley Road/Canal Road between Bradford and Shipley, facing south.
The crags are in three sections. House Buttress partially supports the shop overlooking the road, but the climbs described are to the left of this, above a slabby rock beside Brigate Bridge. They are high enough not to want to fall off of, six metres plus. Apart from underlying litter and brambles, the routes are quite good, being on vertical sandy walls reminiscent of Spofforth. They dry quickly, catch a lot of sun and usually feature good holds and protection. Some are technical and serious. The outlook over to Manningham Mills is a truly Bradfordian landscape, and in its way much more eventful and interesting than the brown acid moors to the north.
Contamination Buttress is obvious from the road, being the square block above the "Danger Contaminated Water" sign over Bradford Beck. It contains very solid climbs and problems just below six metres high, comparable in quality to those at Shipley Glen. It is strange that there is only one such buttress on the hillside.
Fraggle Rock is a seven-metre high slabby boulder in the woods to the left. It is green but solid, and worth a look.
The routes were climbed and named in April 1999 by Stuart King, Simon Reed and Darren Ongley.It's hard to believe that no-one has been on them before, but judging by the depths of the cobwebs, these were very neglected outcrops. They don't appear in either of the most recent guides. I drove past them twice a day for seven years before I bothered to have a look. And guess what? There's good climbing on some of them.
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