What's It Like Taking The Step Into Extreme Climbing In The Lake District?

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What's It Like Taking The Step Into Extreme Climbing In The Lake District?

[GUEST POST] Taking the step into climbing extremes can seem daunting – at least, it’s felt daunting to me! But if you’re placing good gear, have spent time developing your basic skills and have built up confidence at VS and HVS, you may find that in reality E1 is not only achievable, but already in-line with the difficulty of some of the harder routes you’ve done. Either way, it’s worth stepping out of your comfort zone because getting on E1 routes means accessing more involved and enjoyable climbing on memorable routes.

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Top Tips For Bouldering

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Top Tips For Bouldering

When I was a child I would climb anything: trees, bridges, garden walls, anything, partly because there weren’t any crags near to our home in Surrey and partly because I just loved the challenge, particularly when I was with friends, egging each other on to try harder. I have always loved all different forms of climbing, from bouldering to big mountains, ice climbing, mixed snow and rock, and ski mountaineering. Bouldering is a form of rock climbing on small rock formations or artificial walls without using ropes, harnesses or any of the usual climbing kit. Most bouldering problems (the sequence of moves that a climber performs to complete the climb) are within 6m of the ground.

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The ABC of Trad Climbing

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The ABC of Trad Climbing

Until fairly recently, climbing was just called… climbing. With the rise of sport climbing, a new name was needed for what everyone had been doing previously, and so the name ‘traditional climbing’, or ‘trad climbing’, was born. In sport climbing, the routes have pre-placed bolts, allowing the lead climber to follow the route and quickly clip in to the bolts. In trad climbing, the lead climber carries, places and clips into protection (nuts, cams, etc) whilst finding the route, so as well as the physical challenge there is a significant mental challenge too. The basics of trad climbing can be summed up in three letters: A = anchor; B = belay; C = climber

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My Top 10 Favourite Lakeland Crags #9: Scafell

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My Top 10 Favourite Lakeland Crags #9: Scafell

“Scafell is the spiritual home of traditional climbing in Britain and offers some fo the best, boldest and most beautiful climbing to be found in these islands. Dark, foreboding, complex Scafell Crag holds some fo the most historic routes. In contrast, the magnificent barrel-shaped East Buttress is home to the best mountain rock-climbing above VS in England; and also some of the hardest, with the technically demanding “Welcome to the Cruel World” and the heart-stopping “Talbot Horizon” EP setting the upper limit at present.” From Lake District Rock, Wired Guides, 2015

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How To Stay Mountain-Fit During Lockdown

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How To Stay Mountain-Fit During Lockdown

Mountaineering is the best training for mountaineering, but when you can’t get to the mountains you will lose your mountain fitness pretty quickly if you’re not intentional about working at it. The good news is that there are lots of things you can be doing that will maximise your time when you do get out there - and you’ll benefit mentally from thinking about and planning your next trip away.

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