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 Peak
gritstone, whether you love it or hate it, offers some
of the best routing and bouldering to be found anywhere.
Gritstone by it's very nature tends to be fairly short
and strenuous, dangerous or in the case of hard grit,
both. This can lead to situations where taking a fall
can dent a lot more then your pride and more than a
little skin being lost. There are primarily two kinds
of climbing associated with grit. On the one hand you
have the natural exposed moorland edges of Stanage,
Froggatt, Curbar, the Roches and Burbage etc. While
on the other hand a different type of crag exists which
requires different techniques and styles. This type
of grit is quarried and such names of quarries found
in the Peak are Millstone and Lawrencefield. Gritstone
can be climbed all year round. There is however a relatively
small band of hard grit climbers and boulderers where
freezing cold, clear winter days offer the best conditions
for hanging sloppey holds, small crimps and smearing
on nothing for feet where friction is the name of the
game and a cool head is essential.
Natural Gritstone
 The
natural gritstone edges generally lie high up on moors
of the Derbyshire peak district where reasonable walk-ins
can be expected. Peak gritstone is probably the most
psychologically committing climbing that exists. This
is true even on the easier grades. Some peak climbs
can still have good gear yet tend to be strenuous, involving
jamming, lay-backing and other strength sapping techniques.
The higher the grades go, the slimmer the margin for
error. As the climbing gets harder the holds get a lot
smaller and more rounded in exposed positions with distinct possibility of big falls including the ever-present risk of decking out. This is hard grit. Gritstone takes in all aspects of climbing.
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On one hand you have the steep or overhanging cracks and flakes which have there own styles and techniques etc. Then you have the long unprotected slabs and aretes which involve committing moves on rounded breaks and holds with small or non-existentedges and smears for feet. Then you have many routes which combine a mixture of both styles. Some of these are reasonably well protected where others can only be considered suicidal.
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Bouldering
 Bouldering
is climbing in it's most natural and pure form. Large
amounts of expensive gear and the knowledge of how to
use it is not required. Generally it is the norm to
possess a boulder matt, as they do save your ankles.
Some of the better boulder matts are made by S7, Megagrip
and Metolius and a good one will cost about £100. The
concept of bouldering is becoming one with the rock.
It is the technique and power moves that count rather
than doing a route. This has led to boulder problems
which have become the most demanding moves on rock anywhere
in the world, no matter what type of rock is climbed.
The bouldering in the peak is exceptionally diverse,
whether the start of a dream route is being worked or
ticking problems on the large boulders scattered around
the bottom of crags. Bouldering also generally means
that very little is required to be carried, the walk-ins
are short and the climbing is fairly safe. It is one
the most enjoyable forms of climbing as it improves
fitness and teaches a plethora of techniques on how
to move on rock.
Quarried Gritstone
 The
main place to find quarried grit in the peak has got
to be Millstone but there are numerous other quarries
hidden away offering some stunning settings, serious
routes and a chance of testing how flexible joints are.
Unlike the natural crags, quarried grit offers crimps,
steep cracks rather than sloppers and rounded breaks
on its long walls. Unlike the natural crags you will
also find pegs and the odd bolt on some routes. The
main features of quarries are it's long walls, steep
unprotected aretes and cracks of all widths as well
as some featureless slabs but do not generally like
bad weather and sheep occasionally fall off the top. |
