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 to handling all the gear. The exciting next stage of your trad journey is lead climbing, and putting it … [Read more...]
The Trad Journey – Part 2/3
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 climbers seem to treasure so much? May I proudly present, my climbing cupboard - the favourite of … [Read more...]
How to improve your lead climbing outdoors: Intro
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 I backed off a route (sometimes before even starting!), … [Read more...]
The Trad Journey – Part 1/3
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 climbing anyway? ‘Traditional’ climbing: rock climbing where climbers place all gear required to … [Read more...]
WTF is the Women’s Trad Festival?!
If you were one of the lucky ticket-holders to the Women's Trad Festival (WTF) last year, you'll probably know that tickets sold out in 4 minutes. Yes, you read that right. We caught up with 3 of the the organisers - Charlie, Hetty and Ellie - to find out why it's such a big deal, and why you should want to be there this August. Women's Trad … [Read more...]
Outdoor Meetup Success
Excited climbers joined the first official Womenclimb Meetup at Stanage Popular End to meet new climbing partners, learn new tricks and gain confidence in their outdoor climbing as the UK trad climbing season kicks off, now the clocks have gone forward. Here's what we got up to: We had fun! If you've never climbed outdoors, then the … [Read more...]
Best VS crags
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 that lovely mid-grade VS (Very Severe), with some added bonus places you might like to check out … [Read more...]
Celebrating our friends’ successes
Our mini-series this week is celebrating the climbing achievements of our friends - the friends who support, motivate or challenge us; the friends who have faced their climbing fears; the friends who have overcome obstacles through climbing; the friends who are just awesome to climb with. We'll also be sharing exclusive stories from Mina … [Read more...]
Busting Climbing Myths #4: Trad, Lead, Sport, what do these terms all mean and do I need a partner?
As with any sport, there is always a whole bag of new lingo to pick up and climbing is definitely a guilty candidate. There are many different types of climbing and some may suit your lifestyle and time more than others. Whatever one you like the most, it’s very easy to transfer skills from one to the other. Bouldering This involves climbing … [Read more...]
My First Trad Rack
If you are anything like me you cannot afford to buy an entire rack in one hit! I built mine up over years of second hand bargains, crag booty and work trade-account orders. Here I have complied a list of 'whats' and 'whys' to a rack and in the order I would advise people to buy them in. We get the lowdown on creating your own rack from … [Read more...]