Crag features

Mam Tor is a 517m hill near Castleton. Its name means 'Mother Hill', so called because frequent landslips on its eastern face have resulted in a multitude of 'mini-hills' beneath it.

The crag is situated on the southeast face of Mam Tor and is impossible to miss, dominating as it does the Hope Valley and seen as soon as one breasts the crest of surprise view several miles away when approaching from the east. The ground is loose, broken and treacherous in most conditions. Probably best summed up in the wise words of the late, great Paul Nunn who declared: 'A shale-built slag-heap of inveterately crumbling rubble.'

The face is only probably comparatively safe after several days of hard frost and cloud cover has prevented the sun from appearing. The routes are therefore normally climbed, on the scarce occasions they are, under winter conditions.