Classic Rock - a 30 year adventure

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...

Brilliant article on UKC that sums up all we're doing and why. Clachaig Gully sounds as bad as I'd heard and worse... Can't wait to crack on with the big routes again soon. UKC article - Completing the Classics

“Young people, come to the crags but walk around looking at their phones” “They’re looking up the routes on a guidebook app” Instantly, we feel old for having an actual guidebook in our hands. Those gloves should do Covid restrictions still don’t allow for nights away, but going outside of Leicestershire is back on (Grant Shapps even said we could “start to think about” foreign holidays again soon. Thanks Grant) so a month or so of Peak trips would seem a good plan. John and I had both climbed the Peak eastern grit routes before but not together, so we wanted to revisit these routes that were our separate making many years ago and metaphorically tossed a coin between Stanage and Birchen. Ending up at the latter, having made an early start for a car park space, it was freezing, but we had all day so got a brew on at the car, then went for a bird watching stroll, which seems to be the new big thing. Must be our ages, or maybe a lockdown symptom, but I’ve got a few mates now who have just...

Thanks for your support and the birthday present Vertebrate Publishing . A trio of books published by the same people as Classic Rock arrived today. South West climbs is just what we need for that region’s routes. Lake District Climbs and Scrambles is a bit like a mini regional Classic Rock; concentrating on recommending big mountain days out with some quality routes away from the busy crags. And then Scottish Island Hopping. That sounds like a fun summer or two. Looking forward to exploring more up there. Their new Peak Grit guide is out soon too. That should help us get back out to our nearest decent climbing venues (we’re Leicestershire based). What’s the first venue you’ll be going back to once “stay at home” is eased?

We may have cancelled our Scottish winter trip but the crampons still got a runout.  

  Exciting news! We've not entirely been sponsored or anything, but I think that this counts as an endorsement by Rab. "best of luck ticking off those Classic Rock climbs!" - Stu from Rab This did come after declining our offer to become sponsored "athletes"; explaining that we wouldn't add much value in marketing their products though; never mind. I wonder how our new Montane jackets will perform on our next trip.😁

“The test is negative…”, came the news down the phone. We’d presumed the result of the Covid test wouldn’t come back in time and we’d already cancelled the trip. But here was the all-clear to go for a proper weekend’s climbing for the first time in a year and despite not having packed or sorted gear out, we went from dropping our begrudged DIY and home plans to hitting the road in an hour. Typically polished hold on Milestone Buttress We’d heard the horror stories about parking in Wales but some of the classic Ogwen routes really appealed so we bagged the parking spot on the Friday evening and shared Milestone car park with a mixture of desperate adventurers and a stag-do that probably wasn’t allowed to visit Blackpool due to local restrictions, making do with hired camper vans instead. Enjoying a leisurely breakfast, we observed the busy car parks and laybys filling up with increasingly stressed and rule-stretching enthusiasts. It was easy to agree with some of the news articles about...