Guy Anne, Chamonix
amonixOur main objective for the week was the route Guy Anne, a 12 pitch TD+ with almost every pitch 6a or 6a+. It takes the skyline of the most prominent […]
Bramcrag Quarry
Up to the Lakes and an overnight stop under Skidaw, in a car park used by BG support teams. I hadn’t been anywhere near the BG route in the two […]
Erboristeria
This is the dark, gloomy north facing crag that dominates the entrance to the valley – very reminiscent of a shady Malham. We’d avoided it on our previous two visits, […]
The Ruins
Things brightened up and we had a couple of great days at The Ruins. For a change we had company at the crag – Jeanne chaperoned us one day (plus […]
Tashy’s first BigWall
Topped out in fine style yesterday and were back in Camp 4 for 6 pm and in the shower soon after. Monster pizza and even bigger Margarita followed before a […]
Salathe Wall on El Cap
Jake and I topped out on “The Captain” at noon on Monday having hauled to Heart Ledge on Friday. Three memorable days on the Big Stone. Day 1 – easy […]
Deep Throat and a Monster Whipper
That got your attention! But rest assured that RockAroundTheWorld hasn’t morphed into a sleaze site; the title accurately reflects the highlights of the first couple of days of another visit […]
Blue Scar and Kilnsey – Two greats of Yorkshire Limestone
With Jake taking up residence in the White Rose county, we decided to meet up for a Yorkshire Limestone mini-break before he started his first foundation placement. We planned for […]
Electric Quarry, Stoney
If you’ve driven through Stoney any time since lockdown you can’t fail to have witnessed the huge “spike” in popularity of the bolt-clipping hereabouts. Every lay-by, pull-off and scrape on […]
Giltar Slabs – Penally East
We only discovered the climbing around Penally last year, so had plenty more of this quiet Pembrokeshire backwater to explore. Only a mile or so east of Mother Carey’s, Penally […]
A Chance Encounter with the hardest HVS in the world, and more Mowing Word
Something old and something new for today’s itinerary – the boys fancied Mowing Word which we were happy to go along with despite a few recent visits ( https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/04/18/mowing-word-2/ https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/07/01/stand-by-to-boogie-more-mowing-word-fun/) […]
There’ll be a welcome at the seaside – Pembroke’s open for business!
With restrictions easing in Scotland and Wales we had a choice to make for the next stage of getting RockAroundTheWorld back on the road. In the end, the forecast made […]
RockAroundTheWorld Retrospective – The 2004-5 Big Trip part 2: The US – from Boulder to Smith
You can find “Previously on The Big Trip” installment 1 here: https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2020/06/22/rockaroundtheworld-retrospective-the-big-trip-part-1-around-the-baltic-in-80-days/ or just launch in and join us as we land in Denver. After almost three months in our […]
Rock Around Yorkshire
It’s a case of baby steps as RockAroundTheWorld emerges from lockdown, and our first taste of van life (now that some campsites are opening) was a trip to North Yorkshire. […]
A Feast on The East
According to Hard Rock: “The East Buttress of Scafell is the finest crag in The Lakes. A great lonely crag. Its walls overhang. Water drips out instead of down.” Quite […]
RockAroundTheWorld Retrospective – The 2004-5 Big Trip part 1: Around the Baltic in 80 Days
We first coined the phrase “RockAroundTheWorld” in 2004 when Helen and I took the tumultuous decision to have a “grownup gap-year”, take the kids (aged 8 and 10) out of […]
Virtual Gogarth Meet and Quiz
Every June, for almost 20 years, Helen and I have organised The Gogarth Meet. Despite my best efforts, and the climbing on The Best Crag In The World, this has […]
Nesscliffe – Trouble in Toytown
We visited Nesscliffe a couple of years ago, with the focus very much on Jake’s ambition to lead his first E7. That trip turned out well… https://www.google.com/amp/s/rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2018/06/03/nesscliffe-and-jakes-first-e7/amp/ …and I’d been […]
Curbar – a John Allen homage
Jake is back home for a while and keen to get some Peak climbing in the bag, and a fairly arbitrary decision saw us pick Curbar for a rather damp […]
Kinder Northern Edges – a different Kinda Grit
Ashop Edge, on the north side of the Kinder plateau, is something of a connoisseurs crag. Rarely in condition, it features a number of routes that (when “in”) would warrant […]
Climbing along the Pennine Way
Another crag conundrum – where to climb in a heatwave during the barmy busyness of a lockdown-loosened Bank Holiday / half-term week. Helen and I found two solutions at either […]
Social distancing in a post-Industrial hole in the ground
We nipped into Harpur Hill for a bit of lockdown-loosened cragging and were amazed to find the place rammed – not with climbers (though we did bump into Chris and […]
Lockdown loosening
It’s hard to believe that I haven’t set hand or foot to rock since 20th March – almost 8 weeks and the longest gap in my outdoor climbing in certainly […]
Running Like a Climber – A trip back into the RockAroundTheWorld archives
We’re approaching 6 weeks into lockdown and the lack of climbing is starting to tell. Desperate times call for desperate measures, and I briefly rekindled my running career, only to […]
North America Wall revisited – The Rucksack Club’s first virtual slideshow
In these difficult times it’s really important to stay connected even if we can’t meet physically, so it was a great privilege to team up with Bill to deliver The […]
Run-Around-The-House
Two weeks into “lock-down” (in the UK that is, three weeks if you count our lock-down escapes in Spain and then France) and it’s the longest time that I haven’t […]
