This weekend 3 records were broken: the biggest meet (28 victims), the hottest weekend of the year (21 degrees) and the grottiest selection of climbs as chosen and performed by Dave Linnett and a few other undiscriminating types. There was concern that a mass stampede to the Dewerstone on Saturday would result in a rock […]
Take a walk on the wild side
As I drove down the A9 towards Perth on a lovely sunny autumn evening I felt rather pleased about the trip that was now drawing to a close. I had been in Scotland for nearly two weeks and my time had been spent getting to know some of its more remote mountains. Several years ago […]
A beginners guide to the art of seconding
You’ve completed a top-roping course and the climbing bug has bitten. You’re dedicated and spend many evenings at the local indoor wall, tentatively starting to lead, and then you start to fantasise about the big wide world outside – particularly its lumps of rock: the arching overhangs, the bulging buttresses and the angular arètes. In […]
Wild Camping
When asked to write a piece about wild camping I was unsure whether to take it as a compliment or a slur. To many, it is a dirty word; something practised in the dark ages and akin to sleeping rough on the streets in our modern parlance. Personally, I think such folk need enlightenment and […]
Rob’s five favourite Avon Gorge climbs
I lived in London because I was born there. I started climbing in 1992 and after few years I realised that I never belonged in London. So a plan was hatched to escape as climbing became move and more important to me and as I was spending more and more time away from London. I […]
Snowdon, the hard way
This article is more about Michaela Bray’s first time up a mountain of any distinction, and for this momentous occasion she chooses non other than Snowdon. Well, actually, I chose it. As it was me that convinced Allan, Sarah C and Michaela that Clogwyn Y Person Arète would be ‘a great day out’ and we […]
New kid on the rock
A breezy day in May that carries with it ozone from a restrained sea. I sit on a beach of pebbles feeling their shape and texture with my fingers while I look at the horizon. Distant walls of grey cliffs, dwarfed boats on a wide steel-blue sea, and the sweep of a million billion smooth […]
Between a rock and a Hard Severe place
Well I guess it all started on July 24th 1999 with the splendidly named Mr Bender and I swear to God that is his surname. Anyway I was a member of Another Outdoor Activities Club on a trip to Snowdonia when I got paired up with this fine gentleman. He suggested a 3* Hard Severe […]
Pass the yak dung, it’s cold!
‘Good morning! Tea, coffee?’ I wrestle with the draw strings to get out of my sleeping bag. ‘What do you want?’ I enquire to the cocoon beside me the only response is a grunt which I decide must mean hot chocolate. Our Sherpa dishes out our beverage and I lay back down and try and […]