To celebrate the 55th Anniversary of the Joe Brown Shops in Snowdonia, The International School of Mountaineering (ISM), The Climbers Shop, The Joe Brown Shops and UKC have teamed up to offer you a fantastic summer rock climbing challenge right here in the UK.
In 2021, we challenge you to focus a summers energy exploring these 15 Classic Rock climbs in the Lake District and/or 21 in Snowdonia, enjoying some of the best climbing at the grade; all of which are below VS.
Complete either the 'Lake District Classic Rock Summer Challenge' or the 'Snowdonia Classic Rock Challenge' (or both if you are feeling keen!) by climbing all the routes from the iconic book Classic Rock, and you'll get not only the satisfaction of all those adventurous days out trad climbing and exploring the magnificent UK mountains, but a serious dose of FUN too! It's what climbing is all about. On top of THAT you will also get a digital £20 voucher e-mailed to you to spend at either The Climbers Shop in the Lake District or either of The Joe Brown Shops in North Wales and a FREE three month subscription to the brilliant Rockfax Digital.
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We want to promote this challenge as something to enjoy throughout the whole of this coming summer, with everyone focusing on spending more time outdoors and enjoying the space, experience and adventure rather than say a 24hr challenge. So from the 12th of April to 31st October spread out some dates and plan some great climbing across the year safely, and in line with any government restrictions.
The idea is that this challenge is open to all and to help new climbers or those venturing outside for the first time to enjoy climbing safely, ISM
They can talk through what maybe you'd like to get out of your climbing or maybe help you plan on giving outdoor climbing a go or maybe help you with the right skills to help with that transition from indoor climbing to climbing outdoors. If you are going to start climbing outdoors – make sure you learn from the best!
Finally; if you are looking for inspiration in between trips to the crag why not treat yourself to a copy of the iconic Classic Rock, by Ken Wilson. The ultimate British climbers coffee table book.
Enjoy a great summer of rock climbing ahead!
Useful Links
A brief explanation of what the UK rock climbing grades mean can be found here.
- BMC - Guidance for new outdoor climbers
- UKC News - BMC Releases Practical Measures for Climbing & Walking during COVID-19
- UKC Articles - Climbing Outdoors during COVID-19 - A Guide to Crag Etiquette
Comments
Nothing like encouraging more traffic onto the busiest routes...
I might see if I get the chance to do the ones that I haven't done so far, which is a short Lakes list, due to intending doing them on days when the weather was foul. So probably the hardest to get to do, is Jones' route in my mind, due to that uncertain weather.
In Wales, the ones that I have not done are further out of core pass/Ogwen areas, such as Will O' the wisp. These are mainly due to other climbers not wanting to travel away from the honeypot core area, so I'll have to be more persuasive.
Will o the wisp is close to me and is a brilliant route. Drop me a line if you want a partner for it.
I might just do that. Thank you.
This comes up every time pretty much anyone tries to do something positive and my conclusion is much the same: that people can pick holes in anything.
If Joe Brown's had selected a series of more esoteric routes I have no doubt that they'd have been accused of some other wrongdoing. Is the solution just to give up trying to do anything positive and embrace a more bland, homogenous form of marketing instead?! At the end of the day it's just meant as an excuse to have a bit of fun, much like their infamous/legendary challenge to 'Find Joe's Golden Nuts' back in 2016: https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/competitions/joe_brown_50th_anniversary_competition-8460
As a sweeping generalisation, popular routes tend to be popular, but beside them there will almost always be other quality routes that are quiet sat just beside them. Some people prefer the former, others prefer the latter - the choice is yours...