Wanna go Sport Climbing?

Wanna go Sport Climbing? Following its creation in Germany, sport climbing spread like a wild-fire across Europe and into the UK taking root on the limestone cliffs of the Pennines and North Wales. The likes of Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon were earlier adopters of the new skool climbing and as the 80’s rocketed by, many other climbers joined the party, myself included. And now, 20+ years on, I’m still battling away at my tick-list which never seems to get any shorter! Save for winter/spring bouldering forays and the odd ‘away-day’ on the grit or into the mountains, I’ve been a ‘regular’ sport climber throughout. Burning considerable midnight oil in the process, I eventually managed to shoe-horn as many tips and techniques that I’ve not forgotten into two supplements for Climb Magazine at the back end of last year. Published with Climb 33 Part 1: The Basic Skills appeared in November 2007.Part 2: The Next Level came out with Climb 34 in December 2007…

The origins of sport climbing make quite an interesting tale in its own right. Kurt Albert is credited with inventing the sub-sport in Germany back in the late 70’s. Albert, and his mates, painted a red circle on the rock (bet they wouldn’t get away with that today!) at the base of the climb when they managed to free-climb all the moves on a route. They then practiced the climb, either on a top-rope or leading; their ultimate aim was to climb the route from the bottom to the top in one go without falling off or weighting the gear. Once they had climbed a route in this way, the red circle was then filled in with red paint and it quite literally became a redpoint!

The practice of redpointing became a cornerstone for the emerging group of German climbers; sport climbing was borne. It grew quickly in Europe, including the UK, and then spread world-wide. The moves on sport climbs were characteristically harder, the climbs were altogether much more sustained and the rock was often so blank that natural gear couldn’t be placed to protect the new routes. The solution was to pre-equip routes with expansion bolts which were left in situ for all to use. This was a simple solution but, and didn’t you know there was a but coming, whilst this seemed a perfectly reasonable practice for the sport climbers, the traditionalists objected and many disagreements and arguments erupted, especially in the UK and the US, between the two camps. Here in the UK, the greatest climbing debate every even got air-space on the radio with Ken Wilson standing in the red corner (no surprise there then…) and Mark ‘Zippy’ Pretty standing in the other corner. The interview scene was Rubicon Wall in Water-cum-Jolly in the Peak District beneath the hallowed wall that, by then, contained Ben Moon’s Zeke the Freak (F8b). Traditionalists, perhaps understandably, were concerned that existing routes would also get bolted and that the advent of bolt-protected sport climbing would signal the death knell for traditional climbing. The sport climbers didn’t advocate wholesale retro-bolting, but were fully in support of new crags/routes being developed that used bolts for protection. Eventually, a voluntary agreement was reached that protected traditional crags and yet enabled sport climbing to develop at particular crags.

Ben Moon, an early UK sport climber, captured on Statement of Youth (F8a), his 1984 classic at LPT, North Wales.

Now, after more than twenty years in the main-stream, sport climbing happily co-exists alongside numerous other climbing styles. New climbers join the sport climbing game each year and face a bewildering world of ethics and techniques to learn. Whether crossing over from traditional climbing or ventured outside from an indoor climbing wall the learning curve is considerable and steep. The skills and subtleties, the methods and madness of sport climbing can be rewarding and frustrating in equal measures. Even the very best, reference Steve McClure in Psyche and Hard XS, gets rattled when projects don’t go down as fast as they should. Self-help is readily at hand through various sources including the two supplements from Climb. Part 1, The Basic Skills takes new-comers to the sport through the essentials which are then developed in Part 2: The Next Level.

There’s a brief run-down of the content of the supplements:

Steve McClure fighting hard on Overshadow (F9a+) at Malham, UK.

Sport Climbing:UK plc has been pretty busy developing literally thousands of routes at hundreds of venues across the country. The following list is a quick ‘n’ dirty summary of the best venues to head for this summer if you are staying at home and being environmentally-friendly. Not all destinations are suitable for beginners, intermediate and advanced climbers though. Clearly this makes choosing a venue harder if you are climbing in a mixed-ability group. Whilst it’s generally accepted that the UK cutting-edge sport climbing is represented by an East/West axis running across the Pennines to North Wales, these areas are very definitely ‘not the best’ locations for great, easy-graded sport climbs. Of all the UK venues, Portland and Swanage undoubtedly come close to the top of the list for those looking for great easy sport climbs. Combined with their southern location, and hence milder weather, they’re also as close as the UK comes to offering year-round climbing. In the right conditions they offer a very real alternative to short haul hops to the continent.

Good, easy-grade sport climbing isn’t particularly widely available here in the UK. Paradoxically LPT, as a number of decent easy routes despite having a life-time of hard testpieces; one of the few UK cliffs that offers worthwhile routes from F6a to F9a!

Here’s a bit more detail for the principal crags within the main sport climbing areas of the UK:

Environmental considerations aside, the overseas venues have a diversity and wealth of climbing that is simply bewildering. Unlike the UK crags, many continental venues often have climbs which span a wide grade range, making trips for mixed-ability groups much easier. Throw in (generally) consistent weather, great rock and impressive scenery and you have all the ingredients of a potent mix that is hard to resist. Of the venues around, there’s plenty that sit easily on a list of in-vogue ‘must visit’ crags.

Here’s a (very) brief outline; a where’s where, whether its single or multi pitch and the best time to visit. This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it does reflect the popular and well established destinations.

Overseas venues offer great climbing in often stunning locations; Suirana in the Costa Durada, Spain is typical.

If you are starting out and have a question or two that you want answering, please get in touch with me and I’ll do my best to come back to you with some answers. Email me here.

Click here to see a gallery of sport climbing images which appeared in the supplements. These were selected to illustrate specific points rather than to provide a comprehensive coverage of sport climbing venues. The captions will reveal all.

The images, if you’d love a print are all available – email me here.