Tag: ClimbingWorks

Fear and Loathing in Lincoln

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Up until 2 weeks ago, I lived in Sheffield, on the Peak District side. If you on onto UK Climbing www.ukclimbing.com you can search the crags database for a variable search radius from your home. I just did that for my old address, 10 miles from S7 gives you ……… 60 crags! Including…..Rivelin, Stanage, Burbage, Froggatt, Curbar…..I could go on. Some of the most important crags in the world, especially for bouldering.

So, this morning I performed the same test for my new house in Lincoln, 10 miles from LN8 ….. one crag, Limestone, 33 climbs !!! So my faithful bouldering and I headed over there this morning for a recce.

The glory of Greetwell Quarry, Lincoln. Surely a prime contender for landfill?

Deep gloom. We got in the car and drove the 100 mile round trip to the Climbing Works in Sheffield….S7

Greetwell Quarry, Noodle can’t bear to look

Quiet gems on Birchens Edge Derbyshire

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The quiet end of Birchens Edge: Kismet Buttress

Its always surprising to find hidden gems, especially on edges as popular as Birchens.

This was the crag where I first started climbing about 30 years ago, and I must have walked underneath this buttress more than a hundred times without checking it out.

Kismet buttress is the first part of the crag which you walk under on the way up from parking at the Robin Hood Inn. There is a lot of quality easy trad climbing in this area of the crag, but the main action is on the pictured buttress.

L-R

  1. Implosion V2 (HVS 5c) Sent
  2. Explosion V1 (HS 5b) Sent (central groove – quite a hard start at the grade)
  3. Blast Hole Wall VO (5b) Sent (through the rh overhang. better with a sit start)

Well worth a visit in passing.

Commitment to climbing

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Unknown climber clearing the cornice!!??!! before topping out on a classic Severe on Birchens Edge

Just how far do you go to get out cragging in the winter? I popped out on a November day in 2010 to have a look if anything was climbable on Birchens Edge. Nothing was (IMHO).

However, these guys weren’t gong to let a couple of feet of snow stop them. When I arrived, they were attacking a classic Severe in fine style. The top picture shows the leader breaking through the cornice to a challenging and very slippy top-out.

I made my excuses and headed off for an afternoon session in the ClimbingWorks. Well done chaps!

Ideal rock climbing conditions on Birchens Edge, Derbyshire. Apparently.

Noodle looking singularly unimpressed by the day's bouldering potential

My home bouldering wall

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Part of my home bouldering wall

Back when I arrived in Sheffield in 1986, there were no proper indoor climbing training facilities, so everyone built their own. These were generally in cellars, and a whole new generation of Sheffield cellar-dwelling ‘troglodytes’ was born. Even though Sheffield led the way, and now possesses some of the best indoor facilities anywhere (ClimbingWorks, The Foundry, The Edge, The Matrix), it’s still a tradition to have your own at home.

Here’s mine, which is in my garage, and is the first thing I did when we bought the house. It’s set up with relatively large holds at the moment for early season stamina training. It converts with an alternative set of holds into a ‘School Room’ type facility.

For more information on building your own wall, and plans for the ‘School Room’ layout, see Ben Moon’s excellent site:

http://www.moonclimbing.com/