Asking for a friend.  Is the the ladder still in place in Moorfurlong.  I remember some sort of maintenance on it, and I recall it was removed. Just wondering if it got re-instated.

It was there and fine last time I was there a year ago, and I know there has been a more recent visit, so I would assume yes, unless anyone's got different info from the last few weeks.

I was there a month or 2 ago its in good nick the bolts on the surface looks fine as well if you wanted to lifeline, we didn't bother.

Please, do use lifelines.

Just let my friend know and he's just texted to say he went down on Saturday so it is definitely there!!

Alex said:

Please, do use lifelines.

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I'm not really interested in arguing it. It's a personal choice made on the day taking into account conditions, gear, experience etc.

When your someone that is happy soloing Winter III a solid ladder bolted to the wall doesn't pose any issue, you're not going to fall off.

You do need to know the context of any gear or insitu items your using, there are some ladders around which I wouldn't trust like ones where all the rungs are at the bottom.

It should always be a consideration before a trip whether you should take a rope for a lifeline, getting there and deciding to just "do it" without one because you have not brought it with you is not great.

Having said that i'm sure Alex would consider the risk on say the stake pot ladder in a different way when he were considering his own trip there.

The book we all know and love says "ancient ladder" and recommends a 17m rope. I've been there on a mass group outing, so in that instance knowing the members who were turning up we decided to rope it.

Wouldn't want to be killing any treasures of Castleton? (Sat4217)

The Moorfurlong ladder is, IIRC, ex-GPO telephone exchange racking which I'm told Ron Amner used to scrounge from work back in the 1970s, so they're probably at least 60 years old - factor that in when deciding whether to line or not! A lot of other steel ladders in the Peak were "acquired" from the Matlock-Buxton railway after it closed, the late Dave Williams told me tales of a certain local caving club going out on raiding for them....

As regards fixed ladders, I'll go up one without a line if I think it's solid but that's because I can see what condition it's in. Going down, where I can't easily see if there are dodgy bits I'll usually get the shunt out.

I was thinking it was an electron ladder, rather than a fixed "solid" ladder. But it does sound like this one is rather dodgey.

I don't remember it being dodgy as such, and have been up and down it many times without concern. It doesn't quite reach the bottom of the shaft though as I remember, which can be a bit of a pain for short-legged people. I guess the only certain solution would be to remove it completely and either replace it with a new one or install anchors to make it suitable for SRT or electron ladder, but that may be controversial, as the fixed ladder does make it more accessible to the less athletic who may benefit from the visit, writing from personal experience.

There are some fixed ladders around on pitches that would be far more serious than this if an accident occurred, as it is in a fairly narrow shaft. Egnaro Aven for example - that's about a 20m unprotected drop into empty space if you screw up, but I've never seen anyone lifelined up or down that.