Monday 16th January, a.k.a. Red Monday, was supposed to be the worst day of the year but I’ll wager that climbers who were out in the Peak over the weekend don’t hold to that theory...   more »

So at the 11th hour we get what must have been the hottest day of the year on 1st Oct! The un-seasonally high daytime temperatures followed by overnight dips give us a mass of soggy, gopping wet crags all last week. Just what we all wanted ahead of the weekend…   more »

Climbing:2012 was rolling off the press this week and all being well it’ll only be days now before I’ll be able to start shipping – well over a month ahead of last year shipping date. Get-in… as they say…   more »

“Final Proofs? Sure, they’re over there on the table”. Music to the ears of anyone involved in print media projects. Within minutes they were signed-off and Climbing:2012 was committed to the press…   more »

I’ve been in calendar mode for a good month now and a couple of weekends back I dragged Steve Mac and Mark Busby up to the Lakes for some pixs. I’ve always had a soft spot for the Lakes and Steve has too it seems. We had two days and figured two venues in different valleys would be cool. The weather wasn’t awesome as we went past Kendal so we figured that a low lying, easy access crag would be a good choice. I suggested Raven Crag, Langdale and Steve agreed; the question was would Steve fancy the ripe plums on offer?...   more »

The business day at Cliffhanger was even sunny and hotter that the qualification day – not a day for bearing down hard on small crimps or slopey volumes but that’s just what the World Cup hopefuls had to do – big style…   more »

Cliffhanger opened its gates yesterday in a blaze of glory – the weather, for once, played along with the preferred game plan...   more »

A little kid walking through the green and leafy west end suburb/parklands of Sheffield asks his mum “Hey mum, what’s that big red tent doing there – is it a circus”? Mum, sage that she is, answers, “That’s the World Cup son – it’s here in Sheffield this coming weekend”. “No way, you mean the bouldering world cup - right mum”? “Right!” says mum. Kids are smart these days…   more »

It’s time for the ‘Be in my Calendar Competition’ again as UKClimbing are sponsoring a page in Climbing:2012. We want YOU to feature in your finest kit and cut a lean, mean figure on the UKClimbing page. You should know the score by now; answer a few simple questions and then stand by and wait for Keith to call you to arrange the calendar shoot...   more »

A year ago the young top gun that is Adam Ondra blasted into The (Yorkshire) Dales and all but mopped-up. Well guess what – he’s back and straight down to work above the Malham Catwalk…   more »

With April fading fast in the rear-view mirror it’s clear that it’s been an exceptional month - both weather wise and climbing wise…   more »

Spain is where it all seems to be going down these days. Adam Ondra has been a regular in the news recently but this week it’s Chris Sharma’s turn. Hot off the press is the news that Chris has just made the first ascent of his long term project at the Laboratory, Margalef, First Round, First Minute…   more »

Several years back I had a quick early season visit to the old skool climbing mecca that is Siurana. I’m off back there this week, to get some new images, (hopefully) mop-up some outstanding business and to check-out some of new nu skool venues. Whilst packing, I pondered the changes that had occurred since my last visit...   more »

A fickle thing isn’t it the weather! Two day ago the forecast was for a wall-to-wall sunshine weekend in the Pennines, sadly, it turned out a little different than that. Almscliff was to be the venue and bouldering the game. Well we went and we saw and we left – for Malham…   more »

Woke yesterday to find an inch of wet snow covering the ground; winter, it appeared, was back. Today was no better either; Stanage area was covered in around 2 inches of the white stuff – very wet, white stuff it was too. Inside was the only way forward - for (another) training session…   more »

Amidst the grim winter weather here in the Peak we get an occasional burst of brilliance – a shaft of sunlight blasting through the clear air it’s looks nothing if not magical. The trick, as ever, is to be in the right place at the right time and this weekend the right place was Stanage and the right time was the evening ‘golden hour’.   more »

Whilst most folks were doing Crimball John Fulwood was out havin’ it on Peak Grit. From under the noses of all, John nailed Golden Egg (Font 7c+) at the former off the beaten track venue that is Clifftop Boulders down in the Cratclife area.   more »

At the last minute I turned the car out to the Peak rather than heading inside for a wall session and I’m glad I did. The days that are laden full of expectancy can so often fail to deliver. Conversely, days that are ‘obviously’ going to be rubbish turn out to be totally the opposite. Today was a case in point…   more »

After a twelve month gestation period, Climbing 2011, my rock climbing calendar for 2011 is back from the printers and is now shipping! Initial feedback suggests that others think it’s a cracker too. Positive feedback is a real blast for any producer – so I’m pretty happy at the mo…   more »

As leaked in a previous blog entry, the 2011 ‘Be in My Calendar’ Competition winner was Liam Lonsdale from the Lakes. Capitalising on some truly awesome weather on August Bank Holiday Monday – not a day traditionally know for it’s good weather, Liam and myself, ably supported by Phil and Rae respectively, hit the Lake in a two-venue photo shoot...   more »

Climbing nostalgia is alive and well – very well in fact – so it seems if the great turn-out this weekend for the Stoney re-union is anything to go by...   more »

Of all the great quotes on time some have struck a real cord with me over the last month or so: “The bad news is time flies. The good news is that you’re the pilot” – Michael Althsuler   more »

Adam Ondra, the Czech climbing machine, has just crushed the opposition in the UK round of the World Cup bouldering to take a very convincing win. Top honour in the ladies competition, which was altogether much closer, went to Belgian Chloe Graftiaux. The Dyno competition went to (past) form with the silverwear being lifted by Skyler Weeks (with a new world record of 2.85m) and Lilly Fitzgibbons…   more »

On Saturday 26th June three climbers away on a jolly for the weekend, stood on one of the UK’s most inaccessible summits – The Old Man of Hoy. Most climbers have heard of the Old Man of Hoy but few have done it. Yet any (reasonably competent) climber with few days to spare, as well a bit of grit and a mate or two, can get themselves a top, if not unique, climbing experience – and having been there and done the Old Man last weekend I can tell you it’s well worth the effort...   more »

Looks like all change on the weather front – again – as the mercury hits the deck and the brollies come out; anyone would think that it’s summer-time!   more »

Sometimes don’t you wonder what mysterious forces shape our lives? In an ironic twist of fate I returned to Chee Dale Cornice for the first time in ages on Saturday, the very day after the infamous Fenchurch East CID gang finally imploded. Perhaps nostalgia, – just like Gene Hunt – will 'live' forever. Mind you, the Quattro is past its best now…   more »

It’s a few days now since Adam Ondra left the country and the dust has finally settled. Not so in the KSP office though where the requests for photographs, reports and comments from around the globe continue to come in to my inbox where there’s a wee backlog building up...   more »

The atmosphere on the Malham Catwalk was palpable yesterday – King Wad, a.k.a. Adam Ondra was in town! And man was he pulling down big style. Ondra, one of the best climbers on Planet Rock at the moment, is here for a week and clearly means business. Between tie-ins he was scanning the guidebook and scoping the crag. He looked to me like a big game cat stalking his prey before pouncing and going in for the kill...   more »

A now fully dry Malham has been baking recently. Wednesday this last week was a typical day; silly hot until the middle of the afternoon when temps (and chains...) started dropping. The Catwalk was pretty quite but Sheffield-based Rob Napier and Dan Walker were on joint pole position and took full advance of the (by then) great conditions to send Unjustified and The Groove respectively.   more »

“Je suis un Rock Star” - so proclaimed Big Ron to an admiring (female) onlooker at the end of a shoot for a climbing filming in the Verdon in the early Eighties – or at least so the story goes!   more »

Those not glued, either in person or via the nearest flat-screen, to the action from CWIF (Climbing Works International Festival) might well have ventured out onto the limestone crags for some action last weekend. And those that did probably found them in remarkable good condition. Certainly, the quintessential crucibles of Pennine sport climbing, Raven Tor and Malham, are now substantially dry – barring all the usual seepage lines anyways...   more »