UKC

I've recently got myself for involved in climbing, I've been scrambling/lower grade climbing for years so I know the basics etc.
My other half is interested in climbing now and is quite confident indoors upto around 6a.
I'm looking at taking her on some really easy climbs (upto VDiff) in the Peak District and was looking at a few places especially:-
http://www.rockfax.com/databases/results_buttress.html?id=466
I wondered if this would be a good place to start to show her the basics etc?
Many thanks in advance

In reply to Montygoo:

Try Windgather. It's a great little crag for beginners. Not too threatening, a very short walk in and lots of Diffs/VDiffs to go at. As the name suggests it can be quite windy!

In reply to Montygoo: Windgather rocks has a lot of nice low grade grit routes

In reply to Hoppo: Beat me to it!

In reply to Montygoo: Looks a bit esoteric and 6 metres doesn't qualify as a climb in my book but you will probably get the place to yourself and the length of the routes will make things easy to manage but it seems a strange choice considering the wealth of quality crags in the Peak.

Al

In reply to Montygoo:

To be honest, you'd be better off going to Stanage, Froggatt, or the Roaches, where there will be some quality routes that you and your other half will enjoy. The routes will have had much traffic and the gear placements will be easy to spot. There'll be other climbers around too, so if you're unsure about setting up belay or something, you can ask someone for a little bit of help or advice.

In reply to Montygoo: Stanage has some awesome routes. Hollybush crack, 3* VD is really good, flying butterss the HVDand many more

cheers guys, the reason I picked their was due to time restaints. We're coming from Manchester and this is the best location I can think of.
I'm thinking of heading to Stange, Frogatt with her once we've more time.

Many thanks for all the advice and I'm going to have a look at Windgather also as that seems quite accesible also

In reply to Montygoo: Burbage North is good

Windgather may be a bit farther to drive but whn you factor in the 30 second walk in rather than walking up to kinder....

Also I really think having otehr people around is a good thing and you will likely get that at Windgather.

In reply to Montygoo: As others have said, Windgather's a great bet. Lots and lots of climbs in the mod - severe range and it's literally a 60 second "approach" from the parking whereas the ones in your first post are an hour uphill slog!

In reply to Montygoo: Yeah Windgather was busy when I was there. There's plenty for anchors though they aren't always totally obvious, good practice.

In reply to Montygoo: I'm thinking Windgather may be the place to go now.
Thanks fr everyones response...it's really appreciated.

One last things...does anyone know a site the might have some info on the climbs as ive only got rockfax eastern grit at the mo which I'm pretty sure doesn't include windgather?

Cheers

In reply to Montygoo:
http://www.wikitopo.com/area.php?areaId=158

or get the Rockfax Western Grit guide

In reply to Montygoo:

How about Wharncliffe? Loads of good easy stuff, nice sharp incut holds, good pro, easy belays, short walk-in, and straight over the A628.

In reply to Montygoo: That's a remarkably obscure crag with a long, strenuous walk-in and hardly any rock!

Like others have said, Windgather is a classic beginners' venue, as is Birchen. Personally, I like takind novices to the obsure bits of Stanage ('Secret Stanage' in the BMC guide). There are good routes, and it's quiet. Both Birchen and Windgather are a bit 'circusy' a lot of the time, and I think it's nicer to be somewhere really quiet so no one's self-conscious about top-roping/ being rubbish. I have found (sexist remark alert - but it is my experience) that girls new to climbing tend to cry a bit, which makes being somewhere quiet more appealing for all concerned.

In reply to Montygoo:

I live in Manchester and to be honest places like Stanage and the surrounding crags end up taking about the same amount of time to drive to as any of the in theory closer crags. Get on the snake pass and you'll be there quick (and avoid the traffic on the A6).
If you're looking for somewhere you can get to quicker than the only good one I can think of would be Wilton (the top one, can't remember the number but sure someone can answer). Depending when you're going you can do that in about half an hour drive and it's almost roadside. Plenty of low grades in a safe feeling environment.
Only downside compared to Windgather (prob your best bet really if you can get there with time constraints) is that the routes are a bit steeper so maybe not as good for a newbie.
To be honest, when someone's new, they'll probably be quite tired enough after a couple of routes so get to Windgather and just accept a shorter session.

Hope it goes well!

In reply to Montygoo:

Just to echo what others have already said... I did my first trad leads at Windgather a few weeks ago. A really nice crag. It did get a bit busy but we didnt have to wait to climb at all, and it was a nice atmosphere.

My climbing partner was able to easily and quickly scramble up to the top once i'd lead a route and show me what to do to set up a belay, he then scrambled back down and I belayed him up.

There's some really good climbs and enough to keep you entertained for a whole day. Fully recommended for learning trad.

In reply to Scarab9:


one note for windgather I just remembered- take warm clothes! it does get windy there and can be bloody freezing. 'climbers' are geneally more prepared to be freezing for the sake of getting on some routes, but if you take someone out for the first time and they spend the whole time shivering it's doubtful they're going to have a good overall opinion of climbing full stop

I'm going to stick with Windgather at the mo, but thankyou to all who have replied with all the suggestions.
I completely agree with Jon Stewart: I took her up a few grade 3 scrambles and she was a mess until she got to the top...but then wanted to do it again (cue the tears) which I was amazed at.

So we're looking forsomewhere where we can be confident together and also take our time to get to know the ropes and also build lots of confidence up.

In reply to Montygoo:
I did some of my first outdoor climbs and some of my first leads at Harborough. It's not that convenient for Manchester, although there's virtually no walk-in once you get there.

The basic downside is that there isn't always loads of gear, although I'm fairly risk-averse and my girlfriend is even more so and we've both lead there.

The upside is that it's almost all on proper positive holds, so you can actually use some technique on the easier routes rather than having to thrutch your way up scrotty chimneys.

Other than that, I still only lead about VDiff and quite like Birchen for its density of genuinely pleasant routes at that sort of grade.

In reply to Montygoo:

As others have said, and seems you agree, Windgather is as good as it gets for beginners.

Now, take her on Mods to start with, get her used to being on a rope and the height of the crag and once familiar with that she will be asking for something a bit harder to do, that is when you move to the diffs, and maybe finish off the day with a vdiff if she is keen enough.

Have a good time.

In reply to Montygoo: One of the other good things about Windgather is that there's logical progression after it for building up confidence on harder/longer routes.

Windgather is very "soft" in that it's not massive and imposing, the lines are very plausible (no "vdiff my ARSE" moments") and just generally very pleasant climbing. Once you're happy there, Castle Naze is just round the corner which is very much Windgather's bigger brother with similar types of climbing but on bigger, harder lines.

In reply to Montygoo: not long started trad climbing myself and i can highly recomend windgather and some areas of the roaches. Windgather is very fun climbing fantastic for learning to trad lead with good nut and hex placements on most routs. i have also often found that dmm alloy offsets tend to give a much better placement than the wallnuts. setting up at the top of windgather can seem daunting at first but the placements are there and there are plenty of then once you know what your looking for. have fun climbing

In reply to John Ww:

An excellent suggestion. Most of the easy routes don't require grit techniques like jamming or thrutching, so are beginner-friendly.

In reply to Montygoo: theres the Roaches too i learnt there - great there are mod's all the way up to E8 so something for everyone and you can start to test yourself on real rock - ive been climbing about 2 months now and outdoors i can confidantly climb vs 4a-4b i would recommend there !