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 […]
Dalmatian Delights
The Montenegro monsoon had us cutting short our plans and fleeing northwards. Things looked to improve somewhere around Split, so we hopped on the ferry across Kotor Bay and headed […]
Kotor cragging
With a four-day monsoon forecast to hit Montenegro we had the option of spending the remaining dry day at Bar or moving on for some further exploration. We opted to […]
Stari Bar and some Montenegro Seaside Climbing
Stari Bar old town sits proudly on a hill top, about 3km inland from the coast and the upstart seaside resort of Bar. No doubt a tourist hot-spot during the […]
Lovka, Cijevna Canyon
If the established epicentre of climbing around Podgorica is Smokovac, then the new kid on the block is definitely Lovka. The two climbing areas contrast and complement each other well. […]
Smokovac, Podgorica
The Morača Canyon winds its way northwards out of Montenegro’s capital city, Podgorica, slicing its way through the limestone geology to reveal mile upon mile of climbing potential. Development began […]
Accursed Mountains and into Kosovo
Spoiler alert – this post contains no actual climbing 😦 The farthest extent of our Balkan Odyssey was planned to coincide with the UIAA (International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation) General […]
Durmitor National Park – Montenegro cragging
Heading south from Banja Luka, we took a route via Sarajevo, where there’s a lot of climbing and a dedicated chunk in the guidebook. Closer investigation reveals it’s either quite […]
Tijesno Canyon, Banja Luka
Banja Luka is BiH’s second city, about four hours north of Mostar (one of those weather-induced wrinkles in the obvious trajectory) and a similar distance north of Sarajevo. The drive […]
More climbing around Mostar
Mostar is situated on the Neretva River and is the fifth-largest city in BiH and the largest in Herzegovina. It is named after the bridge keepers (mostari) who guarded the […]
Blagaj – into Bosnia (or strictly Herzegovina)
Blagaj is a town just south of Mostar in Herzegovina, most famous for the spring of the Buna river which emerges from a cave at the foot of some major […]
Čikola revisited
We’d planned to cross into Bosnia from near Zagreb, to enter the north of the country and explore the climbing in some kind of logical sequence. The weather had other […]
Another Balkan Odyssey – 3 Crags, 1,000 miles and a Ruby Wedding
Rockaroundtheworld is back on the road, on another Balkan Odyssey (our third?) This one could be sub-titled “to Bosnia and Beyond!” but that’s a fair schlep, so here’s the first […]
Angel Face, Beinn Eighe
The final installment in my Scottish Hard Rock obsession (until some opportunist produces HR3!) took us to Torridon. Arriving at the free/donations campsite provided by the village (they’ve got a […]
Vulcan Wall, Skye
With the original edition of Hard Rock finally ticked in the spring… … you’d think I’d have hung up my HR boots, but “the devil makes work for idle hands”. […]
BMC Basecamp
It’s not all endless zoom and emails in the BMC hot seat, and by far the most rewarding bits of the job are getting out on the hill with our […]
Out-Flanking Floris
Jake had a couple of days’ window before starting a stretch of night shifts, but the imminent arrival of Storm Floris sweeping in from the west was looking like scuppering […]
Three days in North Wales – 3 different rock types on 3 new (to me) crags
We’ve spent much of the spring and summer in North Wales, from celebrating the Centenary of the CC hut at Helyg, to the BMC International Meet in the Pass… .. […]
Celebrations in The County
I got to know the lovely folks in the Northumbrian Mountaineering Club when they invited me up to deliver a Slideshow to raise funds for CAC last year I had […]
Pen Llŷn Liaisons (not so Dangerous!)
The Llŷn Peninsula extends for over 30 miles into the Irish Sea, and if you count all the crinkles it doesn’t take a genius to work out there’s getting on for […]
BMC International Meet and Gogarth
Brilliant to re-launch the BMC’s International Climbing Meet after an eight year gap (another victim of Covid that’s taken a while to get back on its feet). With the hiatus […]
RockAroundTheWorld 