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 […]
Quartzite Climbing… But not as you know it!
Quartzite is synonymous (at least for this Gogarth devotee) with the climbing on Holy Island. Others will think of Arapiles or (more unlikely!) of Kamouraska https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/10/11/kamouraska-carling-dont-make-crags-but/ It’s a great rock […]
Paroi des Lys – Fiesta del Cinq Soup / Siza, TD-
Paroi des Lys is like a big brother to La Ponteil, looming above it and about twice the height. It’s remarkable that such a sizeable crag (routes up to 8 […]
Les Guions
This post starts with a few pics from another mission for Helen to enjoy leading routes she was only able to second when we visited with her broken ribs a […]
Aiguillette de Laus de Cervieres and Terre Rouge
After our Queyras jaunt we tootled down the far side of the Col de L’Izoard through the Cerveyrette valley, using the time to suss out some of the crags. Rounding […]
Valle de Claree
There’s a tonne of climbing to the north of Briancon which we hadn’t previously explored as it’s a 45mins drive from Roche de Rame and generally a bit higher altitude, […]
Casse de Prelles – Les Aiguilles
We’d visited the lower walls of these unusual quartzite crags last year, so this was a chance to check out the extraordinary-looking Sector Aiguilles. It’s a bit of a yomp […]
Clapeyto in the Queyras
Continuing our search for non-polished rock, we headed up into the Queyras mountains to Clapeyto, encouraged by the guidebook promise of the qualite du rocher. This gorgeous pre-alpine area is […]
Les Traverses & St Crepin – French Polish Before and After
We’ve been visiting France to climb for over 35 years (a terrifying thought in itself!) and can still conjure up a vague recollection of effortless smearing up seemingly blank slabs […]
Drive-by cragging en route to the Durance
After a year when RockAroundTheWorld morphed into RockAroundTheUK (much of it very enjoyable, it has to be said!) we’re finally back on the road! A quick Eurotunnel dash (very quiet […]
Upper Pen Trewyn – Sunshine by the Seaside
Llandudno looked like the best bet to escape the rain elsewhere in North Wales, and we woke up parked at the top of the Great Orme to find we’d finally […]
Tremadog – Cream, Vulcan and Falcon
A gloomy forecast across the UK, with occasional chinks of dryness had Jake and me heading for North Wales in hope rather than expectation. Even the usual safe bet of […]
Southern Scotland cragging – The Good, the Bad and the Baggy
The Old Man of Stoer was undoubtedly the highlight of our 10 day blast around Scotland Old Man of Stoer … and it was great to catch a glimpse of cloud-free […]
Old Man of Stoer
One of “The Big Three Scottish Sea Stacks” and “arguably the finest” according to Gary Latter, The Old Man of Stoer has been a long-term goal of mine – I’d […]
Sron na Ciche, Skye
It’s over 30 years since we last stayed at the Glenbrittle Campsite, and the most obvious change is that it’s now 90% vans and motorhomes (so much for distant memories […]
Dallen’s Rock – a very handy microcrag
Craigallan, The Rucksack Club’s Scottish hut, is a fabulous base for exploring the finest mountain crags in Lochaber (and therefore Britain?) Strategically situated overlooking Loch Linnie, it’s just twenty minutes […]
Cloggy Revisited
Having polished off the Lakes section of Hard Rock over the Bank Holiday weekend, the ticking focus moved on to the remaining Welsh routes – Vember and Slanting Slab; both […]
Birthday Climb – North West Girdle, Almscliff
I usually try to grab a memorable climb to celebrate my birthday with. Sometimes these are epic / exotic https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2019/09/01/outer-space-eldorado-canyon-and-a-memorable-birthday/ Often they’ve been at Gogarth https://rockaroundtheworld.co.uk/2017/09/01/flytrap-on-gogarth-north-stack-birthday-adventure/ Or involved a “tick” […]
Black Crag, Pike o’ Blisko
There are a string of crags, scattered over the southern slopes of Pike o’ Blisko, of which Black Crag is the most extensive. They’re more on the scale of a […]
Destination Dow
Dow Crag is one of the great mountain crags of The Lakes, and benefits from fairly easy access from Langdale (20mins drive) so is a great spot to avoid the […]
Engineer’s Slabs, Gable and a long overdue encounter
I first leafed through Hard Rock almost 40 years ago – a hallowed tome on Pete’s (my father-in-law to be) bookshelf. At that time, and for quite a few years […]
