UKClimbing lists 4 crags within 20km of Warwick. Two are now banned, one is a dirty arched bridge under a road near the police station, but the fourth is a lovely picturesque arete near Radford. This is Warwickshire's premier outdoor climbing venue, a single boulder problem apparently graded Font 5+.
Neil joined me for a weekend of touring in Berchtesgaden and we warmed up with a skin up to the Watzmannhaus beneath the Watzmann. Commonly skiied as an out-and-back route, we instead hiked down the short steep ridge behind the hut and skiied the slopes down to the north east, an excellent variation.
My first trip out with Warwick Climbing Club, hauling enthusiastic beginners up the diffs and severes of Windgather. A heavy dump of rain during the day did little to dampen spirits and route counts for the day still reached double figures.
A productive week in the gorge, taking Adam and Craig on their first multi-pitch trad routes either side of a day out with Steve Gibbs. The latter was fairly eventful as found myself back near the ground upside after taking a big lob off of Simian.
I took my cousins Joe (15) and Ben (12) out for a wet weekend in the Lakes. Saturday was a pretty wet and horrid day but the boys stormed up and down Helvellyn without any fuss. On Sunday we hiked up to Pavey Ark and they had their first taste of scrambling up the classic diagonal route. A great weekend, hopefully we can do it again in the Spring!
The rain was falling hard as we struggled to extract the car from the muddy field. By the time we reached Raven Crag the route was pouring with water which made for an entertaining day's climbing.
