It began for me in 2005, with my first ever outdoor lead climb. This is not a description of an epic first ascent or even a speedy repeat of a super hard test piece; it's simply a personal account about climbing iconic gritstone routes.
24 year-old Sam Hamer writes about completing the list of Top 50 climbs from the 2001 Rockfax Eastern Grit guide - an achievement which was 10 years in the making.
I thought this journey was going to start with Flying Buttress (the vdiff, not the Direct) and make its way slowly through Black Hawk Hell, Crack and Corner to Manchester Buttress, Inverted V and the Black Slab. Instead I find the author doing his first lead on a climb harder than I've led in my first two years. Very boring. I'd be more interested to read about climbers getting sandbagged by Right Hand Trinity.
Press Release Alpkit and Outside Bank Holiday Hathersage Tent Show 4-5th May
Gear News The Art of Climbing – Out Now
Podcast Mountain Air - 3. Keri Wallace on Girls in the Hills
Fri Night Vid Finding Focus - Life Behind The Lens of a Climbing Photographer
This week's Friday Night Video is a portrait of a prolific climbing photographer from Wedge Climbing. Sam Pratt is well known in both the outdoor and competition scene but if you haven't heard of him, you've likely seen...