UKC

It turns out I might be in London for a summer school program this summer. It's not certain I'll have any time for other things than school during the weekends, but if I do it would be fun to try some mountaineering on the island. Otherwise I'll just go to the crags or boulders near the city.

I've been trying to google this but it's hard to find anything suited to my level. Right now I'm at the PD+ level, so hard scrambling etc. Did some very easy unroped climbing once. Haven't had any courses in trad climbing yet and I don't think I will have the opportunity until this summer. If I do then something up towards AD+ or D could be suitable. I have taken a glacier course, and I have a lot of general glacier, winter and mountain experience. Not so much technical except sport climbing and top-roped ice.

What I find online are either lists of hillwalks or lists of winter mountaineering routes. Is there something in between that? A halfway challenging route on something I can get to within a day's trip from London. I'll have to rely on public transportation or find a partner with a car.

So this might be asking a lot to find something within that criteria but any tips would be welcome. I just need to be pointed in the right direction and I can plan the rest myself.

In reply to TheFasting:

You know they'll be no winter routes to climb in the summer? Sounds like you'd be best heading to the Lakes and North Wales and getting some long classic easy climbs/hard scrambles in, and there's plenty of guidebooks covering that kind of thing - although none within a day trip distance really.

In reply to JayPee630:


...yes I realise that.

Transportation will be a problem I think. Without a car then it would be tricky to find something close enough to the trains, right? Of course I'd like to go to Ben Nevis or Snowdon but they are probably too remote compared to London.

Maybe it'll be sport climbing and bouldering in that case.

In reply to TheFasting:

You're going to have to find a partner with a car, and it really needs two days to travel to and from N Wales or the Lakes (N Wales slightly better for what you're looking for, and slightly closer), and do the kind of route you have in mind. Eg. Parson's Nose and Clogwyn y Person Arete, North Buttress of Tryfan, or possibly Slanting Buttress on Lliwedd.

In reply to TheFasting:

Mountaineering with base camp in London in Summer?

What about trying a second ascent of the North Face of the Uxbridge Road? Some beta at youtube.com/watch?v=nm6Wv6i1GCc&

In reply to TheFasting:
It might be worth joining a local club (or two) while you're there?

Getting to anything resembling a mountain from London by public transport in a weekend is somewhere between "difficult and expensive" and "basically impossible". About the cheapest and most practical thing to do is to get the sleeper to Scotland on Friday night and then another sleeper back on Sunday night, but that can still get fairly expensive and not everyone likes turning up for work from the train on Monday morning! A club would mean that you get to share lifts, and also meet people who have ideas about what to do when you get there.

As a quick plug, I'm in the Rockhoppers, who normally have some contingent who are interested in scrambling / easy mountaineering type stuff.

In reply to TheFasting:


Sorry wasn't sure, just was a bit unclear in your text, and possible for someone to think we might have some snowy stuff over the summer like mainland Europe.

Basically London is rubbish for being near anything mountaineering based. TBH if you're sure you've only got single days free (is that right?) then even the close stuff (a bit of sport and bouldering) is going to be pretty impossible for you, even more so if on public transport (which is horrendously expensive generally - although get yourself a student railcard which will help.)

Can't you go somewhere else?!

In reply to JayPee630:

No I didn't mean that I only had a single day off. I meant if I had a weekend free, I could spend one day travelling from London, one day in the mountains, and one day going back, at the maximum. According to Google Maps that puts most of the island within my reach. But then there's the complication of travelling from the train station to the mountain.

In reply to TheFasting:

If you can't find someone to give you a lift, then by far the best bet is to join a club, e.g. the London Mountaineering Club. They have a very good hut in Nant Peris too.

In reply to TheFasting:

Getting a lift from London, eg via a club, will actually give you 2 days climbing in Snowdonia/Lakes.....travel up Friday evening and return Sunday evening.

A feasible scramble/easy climb for a confident, experienced person using public transport might be Mupe Bay Traverse which is mainly quite easy. 1300m with a description in the UKC logbooks. Easiest done at low spring tide from Lulworth Cove ensuring that the Lulworth firing range is open (most weekends and school holidays) (check these details on the web). The hardest bit of the traverse is given Hard Severe in this description but as far as I remember it is in a non-serious position above a pool of water. The short climb at the end is not actually very hard but if you go light you could probably swim the short distance to Mupe Bay if the sea is calm (or reverse the lot!). Train Waterloo to Wool then infrequent 104 bus to Lulworth Cove (not Sunday) or X43 in summer months.
I think that the grade under these conditions is easier than the logbook suggests but I don't want to be irresponsible as it is likely that you will not be comfortable with this route. Maybe a partner with a short rope and minimal gear would be best. Perhaps others could give their opinion on this thread. please?
There is also great coastal and inland walking in the area.

In reply to TheFasting:

The Lifts and Partners Forum on here may help with lifts to the mountains?

And as others have said, there are lots of London climbing clubs with active Meets programmes.

In reply to TheFasting:

Sleeper train from kings cross to fort William or Inverness. Problem solved.

In reply to oldie:

That does sound really exciting actually.

In reply to oldie:

Btw it seems like climbing there might be banned?

In reply to TheFasting:

People often do it, that's presumably while it has a description in UKC. Just don't ask locally about where it is etc (just walk to east side of Lulworth Cove and start)...many people do climb elsewhere in this area when its not strictly allowed but are just not too obvious about it.
Incidentally I think its possible to email through UKC....you could try contacting me in the summer and I'd be more than happy to do ithe route again if it was convenient.

In reply to Rob Parsons:

Actually, it would be the 1st ascent... as the whole team perished at the end... and AFAIK the 1st ascent is still up for grabs.

In reply to TheFasting:

If you have a licence then sometimes you can get cheap deals on hire cars.