Peak District Gritstone Book Review

Well, a bout of appendicitis has meant taking up reading for a few weeks and also curtailed the climbing for the same period, so it was great timing that Vertebrate Publishing sent me a copy of their new guide to Peak District Gritstone. Graham Hoey has written a new guidebook that is just as much designed to be read at home (or hospital ward) for inspiration as it is a proper guidebook to use at the crag; full of interesting notes and tales, and photos to make your palms sweat.

It’s selective but comprehensive, in that every gritstone outcrop worth visiting is included, from the obvious Stanage, Roaches, Black Rocks etc. to remote Kinder edges and urban quarries. Past selective guides to the peak have often been sparse on routes per venue, but Peak District Gritstone has over 2200 routes covering, as the name suggests, both East and West regions which are often given separate guides. So as a full coverage guide to the strangeness that is gritstone climbing through all the grades (mod-E10) this is the only book you need.

Inspiring introductions to each venue

Ah grades; we need to mention grading.

Rockfax allow user votes through the UKC logbooks to influence the grading, maybe a good democratic method, although if you look up a contentious route like 3 Pebble Slab you’ll find hundreds of votes; a HS a few routes to the left left only has 8 opinions to take into account.

Graham’s method for checking grades is arguably better for consistent comparisons and an absolute feat in itself. Go and climb them all! In preparing the guidebook over the last 3 years, he’s climbed nearly ⅔ of the routes and in his life 95% of them (99% up to and including E5). If anyone has earnt the right to settle a great grade debate for some of these routes, it’s Graham.

This recent experience on so many routes also comes through in the descriptions. Fresh words, often with an interesting bit of history, not just a rehash of other guides. As with all good guidebooks, the occasional humorous observation of a route, it’s moves or setting make for a good read even away from the crag.

Quality, clear images, original descriptions and the eternal blue-sky of the Peak

Before the infected little gut finger changed my world, I did manage to get out to Stanage with the book thrown fresh from its envelope into the top of the pack to see how it performs out in the wild. A strange idea that, judging a book’s performance, but as nice as it is on a coffee table, was it useful at the crag?

Yes. Guidebook quality these days sets a high bar and Peak District Gritstone reaches that bar. A decent level of information about the crags, good introductions, coordinates for both parking and crags, nearby facilities. Detailed maps and diagrams show the overall layout of each venue clearly and most of all, the photo topos are excellent quality, though how on earth they got so many sunny clear days whilst photographing is a mystery.

Guidebook in it's natural habitat 

A minor gripe on the topos would be that where other guides have used colour coding to highlight different grades, this book has opted for simple white lines for all, corresponding to numbered route descriptions. As an average grade punter I’m used to looking for a buttress with some green ones to warm me up and then some orange ones to challenge me. At first glance here, there’s nothing to distinguish Parthian Shot from Byne’s Flake, but it’s only a few extra seconds reading across the page.

So overall, another excellent guidebook to choose from. For newcomers, it’s a no brainer, one book to educate your entire grit career. For seasoned hands, well there’s 2 camps, those that are going digital and those that will enjoy this excellent addition to the adventure shelf.

https://www.v-publishing.co.uk/.../climbing-peak.../

Thanks to Vertebrate Publishing