Tag: Stanage
Between the Rain
I climbed around the rain this weekend. Rain often either forces me to not go climbing at all, or forces me to finish climbing before I’m ready. This weekend looked like it was going to go that way again when it started raining after I had only done two problems at Stanage Far Right. It was particularly annoying as rain (and snow) had stopped me climbing in North Yorkshire a couple of months ago, and for some time I’d been wanting to go back to Stanage Far Right to see if I could finish the green circuit.
The far right hand end of Stanage is a brilliant place for easier bouldering. The problems are varied, interesting and (usually) above good landings. The views are brilliant. It’s also only a ten minute walk from the car parking (which is a definite plus when there’s a chance you might get rained off). Read more
My Climbing 2018 in Pictures
With a knee injury (and resultant surgery) I didn’t get out as much as I would have liked in 2018. But I still had some great days climbing and walking. These photos give a sense of days.
Low Autumn Sun

Sometimes the day works out better than you expect. The forecast last weekend was for low clouds and showers. That’s certainly how the day started out, but by the time I’d walked up to the edges and tors above the Derwent Valley a low autumn sun had broken through to create one of the best days I’ve had in the Peak District. Read more
Working on my Weaknesses
Rock climbers are advised to work on their weaknesses in order to get better. The trouble is, since my injury, I’ve had quite a few weaknesses.

A piece of advice that I’ve read in lots of different places is that you should work at getting better at the things you are weak at if you want to become a better rock climber. The thinking behind this is that people tend to avoid the things they’re not very good at. A lack of practice means that you don’t get better at the thing they’re shunning and so continue to avoid it. In rock climbing, you could be avoiding something because you find it’s too physically hard and/or you cannot master the technique. For the first few years after I started climbing my particular weakness was smearing. It felt insecure, unnatural and unsafe. So, I tried to climb routes using as little smearing as possible. This was a bit of a challenge as I was doing a lot of gritstone climbing at the time. However, somewhere along the way I did enough smearing to get the hang of it. It went from being unnerving, to being another useful way of getting up a climb, to being fun. I now really enjoy smearing up a featureless gritstone slab. Read more
Peak Weekend
What a great weekend of climbing in the Peak District. I did a selection of varied and interesting climbs, the sun shone (mostly), it wasn’t raining (mostly) and there was enough of a breeze to keep the midges at bay.
Spring Climbing
My climbing trips this Spring have had cold winds, some bright sun and (thankfully) no rain. This has given me the chance to really get back into climbing on rock and to do some great climbs. It feels like I’ve warmed up for the rest of my climbing year.
Hopeful Climbing

You need a lot of hope if you want to rock climb in the UK. Hope that it won’t rain on your weekend climbing trip. Hope that the rain will stop by the afternoon so that you can go climbing. Hope that the rock will dry out quickly from the last lot of rain because you’ve been sitting in the café far too long. Hope that the rain will hold off until you have finished your climb. Hope that the water slowly trickling down your sleeves as you climb is just a quick shower. Even hope that the patch of lighter cloud you can see in the distance is the “possibly clearing later” that the weather forecast mentioned. You need that hope, particularly if you are a London-based climber like me and every trip to a climbing venue is an investment of time and effort. It’s that hope that gets you in your car to drive to the Peak District or North Wales and it’s what gets you out of your tent when rain is pattering on it first thing in the morning. Read more