Around Bishop – ORG and the Buttermilks (and some Festival Schmoozing)
Owens River Gorge is just a few miles outside of Bishop and at a much lower elevation than the last few crags we posted about. Depending on your point of […]
Author Archives: Dominic
Two Big Rocks and a Big Lake
We were (over) due a rest day, and Mono Lake was the perfect spot to spend it. This iconic geological oddity combines volcanic origins with extreme mineral abundance (due to […]
Climbing Above Bishop – Pine Creek Canyon and Gong Show Wall
There’s an absolute tonne of climbing around Bishop, the outdoor capital of the Eastern Sierra. It probably has a similar claim to “epicentre” status as say Moab or Boulder, and […]
Alabama Hills, in the shadow of Mt Whitney
After the sandbag trad and hot, grueling walk-ins of Tahquitz and Suicide, we were open to some lazy roadside sport – ideally at altitude and/or in the shade. Mountain Project […]
Tahquitz and Suicide Rocks (Not Painless!)
Idyllwild is a pleasant if touristy town in the San Jacinto Mountains, a couple of hours east of Los Angeles. It sits nestled between two giant granite bastions: Tahquitz and […]
Sin City – Too Hot to Handle
Las Vegas is a pretty logical start/end point for our West Coast road trip – not least because there’s a direct flight (outbound at least) from Manchester. Red Rocks is […]
The Scoop, Sròn Uladail or (Strone Ulladale)
The Scoop is by far the most difficult “tick” of the 61 routes featured in the iconic book Hard Rock, rumoured to have been included by the mischievous Ken Wilson […]
Hard Rock tick (but not the big one!) and more purile ticking
Weather and other commitments have frustrated my plans for a final push to complete the two remaining gaps in my Hard Rock ticklist. The cruddy weather has allowed a bit […]
A Long Way from Strone Ulldale
Anyone tuning in for news of Bill and Dom’s Excellent Adventures Episode 14 – The Scoop on Strone Ulldale – are in for a disappointment. Storm Lillian had other ideas […]
The Path to Rome
Apart from one tentative foray many years ago, I’d never climbed on the Llyn Peninsula. Nor had Andy. To have lived within three hours drive of such an iconic and […]
Splendid (Self) Isolation on Range West
We’ve posted a few Pembroke reports over the last year or two, often featuring the juggling and compromise required to balance all the permutations of seacliff climbing on a military […]
Doing the Rounds
You might have spotted a recent slow down in posts, and a corresponding brevity. That’s probably a relief to many of you, but for anyone missing the more regular outpouring […]
South West Seacliffs – #3 Pembroke
… and all of a sudden, it was summer! After the washout-that-wasn’t on Gower we headed further west to Pembroke to meet up with Jake and Leah for the weekend. […]
South West Seacliffs – #2 Gower
A grim day in prospect and angry swirls on the rain radar coming up from the Bay of Biscay prompted a relocation to South Wales, more in hope than expectation. […]
South West Seacliffs – #1 Devon
With the continued unpredictability of this “summer” we packed the van and deferred a decision on actual destination until the morning of departure. Spinning the “wheel of fortune” we almost […]
Gogarth and an Everest ascent
Brilliant to see so many people at Gogarth last weekend. Around 80 Rucksackers, Pinnies and various friends and family made the journey (pilgrimage?) onto Holy Island, despite the cruddy forecast, […]
Pottering around Purbeck
Helen has been out of action with a back strain for a few weeks, and was ready to start on a very gentle rehab into walking and climbing. Any plans […]
Dragon and Gob – Carnmore
The first chapter in Hard Rock features these two iconic routes, which are the most remote in the book. Accessed via an 11 miles approach from Poolewe in the far […]
Spummin Marvelous at Sgaps & Mid Clyth
The biggest frustration from my Caithness Convalescence trip last year was having to watch a succession of the Sheffield crew climbing the immaculate Spummin Marvelous, E3 5c at Sgaps (a.k.a. […]
Sarclet – a Special Place
More mixed weather and more fretting over weather apps – this time with Paul as partner in crime. The final coin toss came down to Caithness vs Pembroke, and we […]
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