My son and I had a great bouldering trip to Almscliff last weekend. He had fun playing among the rocks and skilfully climbing up some relatively challenging lines. I enjoyed trying a few problems that I had found challenging on previous attempts and some problems I had not come across before. Moreover, I loved spending time with him sharing an activity that has been such a large part of my life.

We took our son rock climbing quite a bit when he was younger, but his interest in it waned as he grew older. It’s only recently that he has begun to want to climb again, and we’ve started going to the climbing wall together. I’d promised him a weeks ago that we would go to Almscliff, as this lovely, stone-topped hillock is somewhere he really likes. However, the weather and other commitments delayed my fulfilment of this promise. With the first good weather forecast for a Sunday for some time, we decided last weekend to head there to do some climbing.

After losing a few rounds of hide-and-seek among Almscliff’s boulders, I followed my son as he explored High Man and enjoyed scrambling up some easier angled rock. We then headed down to the Shothole area, where he found an appropriately sized boulder to climb. 

He next intrepidly headed up the face of the Shothole area by a ramp and a couple of diagonal cracks, while I followed as support. When he became unsure of the moves on the upper section and started to get a little nervous, I offered suggestions, and he then worked out the rest for himself. At the top, he beamed and jumped about with delight at his accomplishment. I was interested to see him eagerly and confidently repeat this same line several times afterwards.

As we were there, I tried to climb a couple of problems in the Shothole area that I had failed to complete on a previous visit. I didn’t get any closer to working out how to complete these, but I did feel good for giving them another go. 

While I was doing this, my son enthusiastically turned to taking photos. He got some excellent shots and the photos in this post of me climbing are taken by him.

Next, he found an interesting line comprising a series of steps, a small corner and a short ramp to climb up. Although he found this challenging, he managed to get to the top. I was impressed to see him use a finger pocket to get past the crux.

We then headed to Low Man, where I was pleased to find on the 27Crags app on my phone a small number of easier problems on the gully side of MK Wall. I’d not noticed these problems on previous visits because I’d been using a guidebook that doesn’t include them.

These problems had an interesting mix of pockets and cracks, and I enjoyed trying them out. I wanted to finish climbing them all, but unfortunately, my son and I were both too tired. As the Sunday lunchtime shift of boulderers began to arrive at the crag, we packed up and headed for home. I’d had a fun trip, and I was proud of our son for his climbing achievements.

Further information

There is information on bouldering at Almscliff on the website and app 27Crags, and in the guidebook Yorkshire Gritstone, Volume 1. There is also an article on bouldering at Almscliff on UKClimbing.