As of today (16 July 2020) an important decision backed by active members of the climbing community and the BMC has been made to help with the future of access and conservation at Eridge.
There is now a temporary suspension of all forms of climbing at Eridge.
The BMC statement is as follows.
"Unprecedented numbers have been climbing at Eridge during the Covid-19 crisis, resulting in considerable and accelerated wear to the fragile rock on many parts of the crag. As a result, the difficult decision has been taken to temporarily restrict climbing access to the whole crag to allow time for the rock to stabilise.
We hope to be able to speed up this process with hold repair methods used on other sandstone crags, but given the rare botany and SSSI status of the site, this needs approval by the landowner, Sussex Wildlife Trust (SWT), and Natural England. Please bear with us while discussions are ongoing, and help demonstrate to SWT that climbers are responsible users by climbing elsewhere for the time being – continued future access to this crag depends on our individual actions and responsible behaviour now.
The restriction will be constantly reviewed and we hope to lift it as soon as the damaged holds can be stabilised."
Any updates to the restriction will be posted on the BMC’s Regional Access Database and on Southern Sandstone Climbs as soon as the situation changes."