Last year Climbing Magazine published a feature article on Jamie Logan, one of the great pioneers in North American free climbing and all around badass. After blazing a path of first ascents and first free ascents across North America, Jamie Logan transitioned to female in...
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By now, you’re hopefully feeling some psych for getting out and trying your hand at trad climbing. At first you may spend a long time seconding (following) your climbing partner/s up a variety of trad routes to get into the trad vibe and get used...
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The next stop on your trad journey, is, of course, the kit. All of that lovely shiny expensive climbing gear that clinks so nicely at the local crag. The trad climbers metal skirt. But what is it all? What are those dangly, noisy items trad...
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Climbing is a mental challenge for me. I’ve felt embarrassed and frustrated in equal measure at my slow progress in trad lead climbing outdoors. If I had a pound for every time my friends and climbing partners said ‘you can easily do that – it’s well within your capability’, before...
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Hamish MacInnes is a renowned Scottish Mountaineer, credited with inventing the metal ice axe, the MacInnes stretches used in mountain rescue and many first ascents of mountains around the globe. This film charts his life almost in reverse. Currently 89, the film documents his life...
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The road to trad climbing is littered with lingo, gear, and a very specific set of skills. But don’t let that put you off! If you want to get into trad climbing but aren’t sure where to start - look no further! What even is trad...
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As the Easter weekend proved, summer is well underway. More daylight and longer hours means much more time spent outdoors, but that doesn’t mean you need to neglect climbing completely during your down time....
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Are you excited?! Just in case you haven’t heard (are you living in a climbing-free cave?), in 2016 it was announced that Sport Climbing, along with Skateboarding, Surfing and Karate, would be trialed at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. But a climbing competition? How do you...
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Ever wanted to climb, but none of your friends are available? Ever felt daunted by a particular route, unsure how to go about it? Join one of our monthly Indoor Meetups, all across the UK! Each meetup is led by a wonderful Womenclimb Ambassador: ‘I became an ambassador for Womenclimb because...
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I’ll be honest. I discovered Thorn Crag as a result of a somewhat desperate Google search: “easy bouldering UK”. As that search indicates, I am by no means a boulderer. A nasty ankle injury bouldering indoors early in my climbing career, compounded by a trip to Font with...
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Going to the bouldering gym to crush your project is a satisfying and fun way to climb, but what about those days when you want something a little less intense while still...
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Then and Now, Courtesy of the Ice Age “Finnish bouldering is as good as anywhere, and there is a lot of it”, one keen climber summed up in the Finnish climbing documentary Cold Stone. It is easy to second that. You’ll notice granite blocks dotting the forest floor...
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Spring Fin Bouldering, Åland Island Life Anssi Laatikainen photography Spring sunshine is brushing the surface of red granite blocks in Åland’s Djupviksgrottorna (more casually, Grottan). The granite here is slated in such a way that the ubiquitous roofs look like they’ve been constructed from stacked up Lego blocks. The hold-potential of those...
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Planning your next Adventure Holiday: Lappnor Projects Weak rays of autumn sunlight reach through the twigs of an evergreen forest. A dirt road slithers between the trees, becoming more and more uneven as it runs deeper into the forest. It is Sunday in mid-August, and the boulder...
Read MoreThere has been a recent explosion of bouldering gyms around Sydney, and having climbed at each of them, let me tell you why I travel one hour each way to get to the gym I chose. It’s in Lane Cove, and it’s called 9 Degrees...
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Spring is finally here and our trad gear is rattling to get out of the closet and onto the crag. For some early season inspiration we thought we’d bring you five of the best crags in England and Wales (sorry Scotland and NI!) for climbing...
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Natasha Hirst Photography Enjoying the bouldering wall, but not sure what the lingo's all about? Here's a quick guide to get you started: Barn door: when the body swings open from the same hand and foot being positioned on the wall Beta: information about the moves, approach...
Read MoreThey don’t speak english, they’re not safe, they’ll rip you off and leave you hanging in a remote place with no way to exit. They are different and are only for people who are cheap and want a bargain price with none of the comfort....
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17th October 2018, Kathmandu International Hospital Pharyngitis and AMS the doctor has written on the whiteboard outside my room. I haven't even googled it yet. Sitting cross legged on bed, in lilac hospital pajamas, I google instead ‘Denali climbing operators’. Forever living in the future. I...
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How did I get on at the Women's Climbing Symposium? I talk about my WCS experience and what I got out of it. Read on to find out about my journey. I’ve been climbing indoors and out, for around 5 years, but overhangs and climbs requiring any...
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The Women’s Climbing Symposium is a UK based event with speakers from across the world talking about their climbing experiences and renowned coaches helping to develop individual climbing skills, aiming to ‘Connect, Develop and Inspire’ women in the climbing community. The event is organised by...
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The theme for our posts this week is celebrating our personal successes from 2018. All week we’ll be sharing success stories of some of the country’s most inspiring women climbers, including Hazel Findlay, Madeleine Cope, Michaela Tracy, and Abbie Robinson. We also invite you to...
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To begin, I was a bit unsure whether or not to write this post. I thought that it might come across as being a bit over the top and just a bit of a rant but, I decided to give it a go and share...
Read MoreIf you are a BMC member, vote in this year's crucial AGM. How to vote: On 18thMay, you received an email from this email address: onlinevoting@electoralreform.co.uk. In that email is your unique link to vote online. Voting online takes less than 5 minutes. (You can also vote in...
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VOTE IN THE BMC AGM!! If you are a BMC member it is important that you vote. We support option A and here’s why: The BMC is a membership organisation. It means that if you pay for BMC membership or if you are a member of an affiliated...
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Guest writer Lorna Potter, founder of Bristol Women Climbers, discusses her insights and suggestions in the set up of a women’s climbing group.
Women’s climbing groups are are a great way to empower women and create a community for women to come together and build friendships around their love for climbing.
I’m Lorna and I run Bristol Women Climbers (BWC), a group for women climbers in Bristol to get to know other local female climbers, make friends, have fun, share skills and inspire each other to climb harder.
A fall can be nothing and everything depending on the outcome. Not many people enjoy falling and the aim of climbing is too often to complete your bucket list of routes, without taking a fall. Sometimes however, the artist makes a mistake – hopefully they get straight back on the rock to perfect the move, but other times they can’t walk away from the fall and it is a long wait before the next attempt at any route outdoors.
The outdoors can do amazing things for you, if you can find the thing that you really love. We love this film, featuring Traharn Chidley. It shows just how important men are in helping women up, giving support and encouragement when we need it most...
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By Natasha Hirst // I was a fearless child, and my favourite word was adventure. Often to be found up a tree, racing through fields and staying out on my bike all day, I always had an affinity for the outdoors. Sometimes though, life has a way of knocking the spirit of adventure out of you. 2015 has been my year to turn that around and release the active, carefree side of me once more.
Womenclimb today launch their inspirational Indiegogo crowdfunding campaign. The Social Enterprise aims to raise £5,000 to fund startup costs, develop forums on their website and create a model for a sustainable business that women climbers love, making social change part of every day.
Climbing changes people’s lives and their inspirational film trailer gives you a flavour of what climbing has done for the women in the film. With quotes from recent climbing events, the film offers a glimpse into how life changing the sport can be.
Tiffany Stoneman posing and cooling down after a long old walk in! before her first multi pitch climb in Mallorca
By Tiffany Stoneman // Climbing is a complex sport. It requires stamina of body and mind, the ability to haul your weight up vertical cliffs, and the mental stability to take on huge challenges that can incur risk. It is a sport/activity/hobby that has been around for longer than you might think, and is slowly but surely coming into the mainstream as an awesome way to get fit and see the world. Not only this, but it can be hugely competitive, and these competitions are gaining an increasingly global audience, recently helped by an attempt to get sport climbing into the Olympics. Overall, climbing is a pretty badass thing to do, and the ones who do it tend to be pretty badass too!
Congratulations to Natasha Brooks, winner of first prize and People's Choice Award in the Women in Mountain Adventure Film Competition. The film is a beautiful exploration of her life long love of wild swimming in the lakes of Snowdonia. Thank you to every filmmaker and person...
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Emily // Womenclimb is my passion. I want to do it right. Whatever right is. I want it to be the best - the best information, the best content and the best place for women who climb, because I think that women deserve the best and...
Read MoreAbout a week ago I received a tweet from @WildlifeSamus, with a link to her blog post, questioning the validity of women's clubs and it gave me food for thought. Why do we have women's clubs? Here are my thoughts // by Emily Pitts: Women’s clubs do...
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By Maiju Lucas // Statistics show that although rock climbing is still a male dominated sport when it comes to the number of people participating in it, the number of women involved is steadily growing. However we at the TXC do not really see this...
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Nominated for Trespass Blog of 2014 in the Climbing category, we need your votes to win: www.trespass.com/blog-awards-voting Womenclimb is run by real women who climb year round. We don't currently receive any income or payment for the blog - it's entirely self supported, so being nominated for...
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Climbing means something different to everyone. Sometimes I come across climbers who can’t get their heads around other people who only climb indoors. Others wonder why anyone would venture outside, when you can stay warm and dry in a climbing centre. Others still are unable...
Read MoreSo, things have been quiet at Womenclimb. But why? The site started, with no content, in June 2013. We had an inkling that women would like our site and our ideas, but we didn’t realise quite how much!! It seems that you really love it –...
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Today, something interesting popped up on the Womenclimb Twitter feed. I had to take a second look at the strange image with which I was presented. Was a climbing website trying to promote climbing, a sport which has freedom of thought and being at its...
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