Friends of Wolf Mountains Blog: Getting Outside

Now the Weather is nice it is time to get outside climbing and put all you have learnt inside together into the real rock. But where do you go and how do you you go about it. Well hopefully the following information may help you do this. But remember Climbing can be dangerous so always be careful and take nothing for granted.

Nesscliffe

Where to go

Living in Midlands you may think there is no local climbing, well may be there are no crags 10 minutes away but 45min to 1hr there certainly are. With Llanymynech and Llangollen highly recommended for novices

Crag	Location	Sport	Trad	Bouldering	Distance/Time from Wolf Mountain
Llanymynech	Shropshire	X	X		50m / 50mins
Nesscliffe	Shropshire		X	X	42m / 42mins
Pontesford	Shropshire		X		45m / 45mins
Churnet	Staffordshire		X	X	40m / 53mins
Llangollen	Wales	X	X		63m / 1hr 10

Crag	Topo
Llanymynech	http://www.sportsclimbs.co.uk/mainpages/clwyd/Llanymynech.htm
Nesscliffe	See Nick Dixon’s Guide
Pontesford	http://westmidlandsrock.co.uk/downloads.htm
Churnet	seek local knowledge and peak bouldering guide
Llangollen	http://www.sportsclimbs.co.uk/mainpages/clwyd/Clwyd%20index.htm

Llangollen

How to

The easiest way to get out climbing is to go bouldering (although be careful you can still injury yourself more so than doing routes). All you need is a pair of climbing boots, some chalk and it is nice to have a bouldering mat.

The next easiest do is sport climbing. This is were there are already bolts and lower off already in the climb for you to clip a quick draw into , just like a the wall.

If you are used to leading you can just go ahead and lead as normal. If not the use of a clip stick , Petzl Grigri and a rope you can self belay between the clip to lower off and thread this ready for top roping ( see this link How to Thread a Belay or BMC Info)

Then there’s traditional climbing where the leader places there own protection. Is is not easy and require lots of gear and lots of time learn what to do. The best way to learn this is to go out regularly with some one who knows what they are doing. There are crags though like Trevor Quarry at Llangollen which you can walk to the top and use existing stakes to set you top ropes, but you may need some slings and screw gate karabiners for this.

Here are a few links to help on your way and a few books suggestions

BMC - Safety & Skills

ACMGGuides - Climbing Skills

Mountaineers books - Basic Skills

Mountaineers books - From Gym to Crag

Rockfax - Trad Climbing

Rockfax - Sport Climbing

Equipment

Petzl GriGri

Bouldering Mats

Clip Sick

BMC - Equipment Advice