Routes like Billy Whizz (E2 5c) and High plains drifter (E4 6a) at Lawencefield.

Dies Irae (E2 5c), Circe (E5 6b), Kink (E5 6B), Oliver (E4 6a) and Millionaire Touch (E4 6b) all at Stoney Middleton.

And then for the first time ever this weekend, I visited the incredible chunk of clean white limestone that is High Tor. For some strange reason I had never climbed there but had heard so much about the cliff so it was time to check it out. I was not disappointed! What an amazing cliff. Managed to climb two stunning lines up the middle of the left hand side. 30 metres of immaculate limestone with a real feel of isolation on a big wall and a great feeling of topping out in the sun! Flaky Wall (E4 6a) and Supersonic (E5 6a) were truely awesome.

Then finally I managed to clip the chains on an old nemesis route of mine called Caviar (8a+) down at Rubicon which I tried on and off for a few years now. A fairly short and bouldery offering but what it lack in height it makes up for in hard moves!

Visit Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, men’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.

You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Choose from a range of cutting edge waterproof jackets, fleeces, trousers & more from Berghaus.

Its one of the best places I have climbed at in the UK for sure and has some of the most impressive routes I’ve seen.

Ranging from huge 40m arêtes, to blank corner and sheer faces all perched on top of this hill and with all this amazing weather we’ve been having recently, the cliff was in perfect condition.

So the first route I did was a Nick Dixon testpeice called Une Jeune Fille (E8 6c/F8a). This was a super fingery line protected by a few old pegs, some cams and even an ice screw! All went smoothly and I managed to get the 4th ascent of the route.

Next up was another unusual route called Il y a Stazi (E8 6c/F8a). Another one with dubious gear, hence the grade split depending on how much you trust the in-situ gear! A route consisting of some wild moves in a committing position.

We finished the day off with great E5 6a called Notional Trust, up a big pocketed wall and a lot of pump!

Then on the last day I did an amazing arête climb called Marlene Direct (E7 6c) which involved some interesting moves high up on the crux arête.

So a fantastic few days at such a great crag!

Hope we get some more weather like this over the summer and it should be a good one!

So starting it all off was a trip over to Eastwood rocks to have a look at the famous roof climb Fat Slapper E7 6c. This was made famous by Seb Grieve’s ascent in the DVD Hard Grit, although I hadn’t heard of many ascents since then, so wasn’t sure what to expect. Anyway after having a quick look at the moves and checking out the gear I made an ascent in good time.

The following day we spent the morning in an obscure little quarry, on an amazing sharp arete called Speak the Truth E7 6b. Having no gear on it, it’s just a solo with quite a balancy start above a slopy landing. Another quick look at the moves and it was in the bag. Managed to get it on film too.

We then headed down the road to Black rocks to have a look at some stuff on the green slab up at the top. The next line to go down was Velvet Silence E6 6c and then finally to finish off a great day Jumping on Beatle E6/7 6c.

Then at the weekend we headed up firstly to Froggat where I smeared my way up the Johnny Dawes classic Benign Lives E6/7 6c.

So yeah, a good few days out.

Here’s a couple of videos of some of Sam’s recent climbs:

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

The last couple of weekends were quite productive with a couple of classic testpeices sent. Firstly a flash of the awesomely steep Painted Rumour (E6 6a) at the Roaches.

This route goes through one of the biggest grit-stone roofs, involving scary moves above a huge drop! Then the following weekend I was down on the limestone at Rubicon where there was amazing conditions and I was able to send the classic Peak crimp fest Zeke the Freak (8b).

Visit Berghaus Online Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, men’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.

You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

Choose from a range of cutting edge waterproof jackets, fleeces, trousers & more from Berghaus.

Highlights of the trip were doing the classic 10- (8a+) Nikita and onsighting Down Under 7c+, one of the most amazing and bizarre routes I’ve ever climbed!

I had been to the Frankenjura 4 years ago and I cant understand why we hadn’t gone back! I guess because there are just so many other places to visit! Its just an incredible place to go climbing! I’m also going back in April for a longer trip.

We also did a couple of awesome lines down at Raven tor just before I left. The first one being the Classic Ron Fawcett route The Prow. This is a massive 40m 8a pitch all the way to the top of the crag with  huge amounts of exposure! Quite a ride! Then I did the more recent addition Cruxifiction 8a which blasts its way over a steep bulge and up the head wall. Two amazing routes which felt very BIG!!

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

So we spent the majority of the time in this huge gorge just north of Nice called the Gorge du Loup and most of this time was spent climbing at the world famous Deverse sector. It was an incredible place to climb with some of the steepest and hardest routes in the world all packed into this one cliff! Tuffa’s and chipped pockets was the name of the game here. So yeh, a pretty wicked place to be if you like that kind of stuff. So during the time we were there, some fairly amazing sends went down from a lot of people, including three 9a’s by some Euro beasts!! It was a pretty hard place to get used to as everything was just soooo hard! I found the style of the climbing there pretty tough and didn’t quite get the sends that I was hoping for from the trip but still managed some stunners.

Highlights of the gorge were sending the classic of the cliff Deverse Satanique 8a, as well as Cascade 8a, Sika 8a, Arrow head 8a, Welcome to the jungle 8a and Quassai 8a+.

I also managed to flash and onsight a load of great routes up to 7c+ as well as a flash of a short bouldery 8a.

The last week we needed a change, so headed across to Chatauverte near Aix and did some awesome 40metre pump fests as well as a few bouldery offerings. It was a tad warm but a great place to unwind and finish the trip off. The top routes I did there were Bill boullette 8a, Le Diktateur 7c+ and Alexandre du blocos 7c+.

All in all a great trip was had with over 50 routes climbed on amazing cliffs in a beautiful area of southern France. It did get fairly stressful at times but we had some pretty rad times as well! Bring on the next trip hey!

Right time to get back into training for the next trip!!  Also looking forward to getting stuck into some trad projects on the Grit!

We have had the odd day out though with a day down at the impressive Cheddar gorge. It was all a bit wet really but I did manage a gorge classic Valley of the blind 7c, a bouldery 7c+ and a 7b+. Then last week I did a cool little 8a+ called The Inch test down at Rubicon in the Peak District. Quite a tricky little number that doesn’t get done that often.

I’ve also been training quite a lot indoors trying to get as fit as possible for the summer ahead! I’m off down the the South of France for all of August  to check out quite a famous crag called the Gorge du loup near Nice. Its a incredible looking cliff with some super hard lines on it. We’re going to be taking the van down there and hopefully checking out some of the other crags in the area. I’m so psyched to head abroad basically and find some dry rock!! Should give me great opportunities for pictures to send through to you.

Here’s a few photos of a cool route I did a little while ago – nothing super hard but a peak classic called Emerald Crack.

Berghaus Store

For outdoor clothing from Berghaus including men’s waterproof jackets, women’s rucksacks and more then please visit our online store.
You can find a wide range of gear for climbing, hill walking, mountain biking and other activities.

On Sunday I was over in the Churnet in Staffordshire at a crag called Harston rock. It’s a very esoteric place with two Classic lines! One Chromosomes missing E7 6b and Pair O’Genes E7 6c.

Was great climbing on dry rock in the sun!

The climbing was incredible with super steep routes coming straight off the beach, covered in pockets, jugs, tuffas and many amazing stalactites dripping from the side of the walls! So in quite a short time I tried to climb as many classic and inspiring lines as I could all around the Tonsai and Railay area. Conditions were a bit different from what I’m used to, being incredibly hot and humid!! This was quick tricky at times making even the warm ups feel a bit ‘spicey’ let alone trying to redpoint something hard in +35 degrees! I’ve never sweated that much before in my life! But anyway I got used to it and just got on with it. You just had to fight hard to get up some of the routes. No pain, no gain as they say! Here were some of my favourite lines: Cafe Adaman 7b, Tidal Wave 7b+, Just Dusit 7c, Definitely makes you whinge 7c, Phet Maak 7c+, Voodoo doll 7c+, Gaeng som pla 7c+, Elephant 8a, Sex Power 8a, Just call me Helmet 8a, Tantrum 8a+ and Cream of Tom Yum Kai 8a+. But to be honest with you, every route I did was pretty special!

So in the end it was an amazing trip and I got to climb around 40 spectacular routes in one of the most beautiful regions in the world! I hope to go back there as soon as possible for a longer period.

I would like to say a massive thank you to Berghaus for the kit they gave me for my trip. I really appreciated it and made good use out of all of it.