Hey all, I hope people's summers are going alright.

Around about the 4th September me and two of my mates are planning on going on a climbing weekend around the UK. Initinaly it was going to be the dolomites in Italy, however due to the fact that none of use are 21, [19 ]the lack of a hire car was a major factor in making us change country.

Anyhow, I was wondering if anybody could recommend any good trad climbing areas to visit. The Roaches is kinda off the list as we've been going there almost every weekend. My mate JT is planning on doing all the driving, so he's after places which aren't too far appart so he doesn't arrive at the crag completely tired out from the drive. Cheap hostels would also be worth knowing about!

I'm climbing up to VS and HS 4b level, JT & Ant (my mates) are just below this atm. So I guess we can't go anywhere too challenging, but a weeks climbing is a good time to boost our grades.

Any advice/tips would be much apprecitated. We have looked at Tremadog in Whales since we've been there before, but any recommendations are welcome. Thanks.

I guess I'll see some of you this October time.

P.S. Should anybody be crazy enough to want to join and have the time, (making this mad group into even numbers would help, and split petrol costs!) they are welcome to as long as they've they're own gear/rack - it doesn't have to be massive, but any contribution means you pay less of the fuel. [Ant only has a harness so he may have to fork out 70% of the petrol costs! lol] Anyhow, if you think you can brave a bunch of random people for a week/5 days, (some of you may remember me from the Wednesday Creation sessions) let me know on my mobile 07835926627.

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"I'm not mad, I just see things differently"
No longer VP : But still Vaguely Philippino
FYI: Actions speak louder than wombats

You don't need a car for the dolomites, you can get a 2 hr train from venice airport to a station I can't remember the name of (sorry) and then another bus to Cortina or wherever you want to base yourself. Within the mountains the buses are quite good and there are loads of mountain huts to stay at, many of which have chairlifts upto them, which gives you easy access to routes without a car. You just have to be a bit flexible with the routes you can do if you're not staying nearby, although it's easy to get away with wildcamping. Rob B and myself went in July 06 and did several long routes and a few shorter ones, would have done loads more but I sprained my ankle (on a footpath in true UBMC style), there is loads of via faretta there to though if things like that happen. It's a really amazing place and I can't reccomend it enough, definitely want to go back soon.

As for your UK suggestions if you want to do some mountain stuff you really can't beat North Whales at those grades. There are so many mountain crags in loads of areas just get the Selective guide North Whales Rock by Groundup http://www.outside.co.uk/cgi-bin/psProdDet.cgi/5795|||0|user|1,0,0,1|2| and pick anything. I really recommend the slate too for sport and trad if you don't mind long runouts but be wary that most of the trad is bold and hard but there are a few good VS lines and loads at HVS if you want to push yourselves. If you don't have a car Keswick in the Lake District is really easy to get to (train to Penrith and then the X4 or X5 bus to Keswick) and there are quite good buses in Borrowdale in the summer. Plus there are loads of good places to Bivvy (or even camp if you take your tent down and stash it) if you want to be right in the mountains like Black Moss Pot and Styhead Tarn. Apparently the campsites in seathwaite and Wasdale are good but I've not stayed at them.

The only other places I've been in the UK that isn't the Peak, North Whales or the Lake District are Pembroke which is obviously classic and the is lots of VS stuff at Crystal Slabs, Stennis Head, Saddle Head, Crickmail Point and loads of the North Pembroke stuff just look at the guidebook, and The Wye Valley, which is very nice but I only climbed on Symonds Yat which was a bit crap, the other big crags there are meant to be much better.

I would love to come on a climbing trip but I have been an idiot and got a job Although if you were doing a weekend I would be up for it, got rack and ropes and a few guidebooks.

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MILF-Hunter

I remembered the name of tyhe station, it is Calalzo, which you can get to from Mestre near Marco Polo (10 min bus). There are also trains to Trento from Verona and buses everywhere else. Also when we went you could hire a car with engines below a certain size at 18 in Italy, the problem was the chief driver needed a credit card and Rob didn't have one. Maybe they changed the law now to 21 or maybe you have only looked at a few company's who may have 21 or over policies.

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MILF-Hunter

Thanks for the tips! They have all been duely noted. The more you talk about Italy being easy to get to the crags, the more tempting it now sounds. (For some reason, my mates are all scared about the weather, i.e. should it rain in Italy we'd have nothing to do, accoring to them).

If anybody else has any pointers, they'd be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

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"I'm not mad, I just see things differently"
No longer VP : But still Vaguely Philippino
FYI: Actions speak louder than wombats

Yeah we had a lucky week where there wer only 2 thunderstorms but you get quite a lot of them in the dolomites, it can be amazingly sunny in the morning and thundery in the afternoon so just get up early and you should get a route done.

Lower level via farettas can be ok in the rain but be careful of the metal/lighting combination. It's a beautiful place to chill out though and if you stay near the big lakes you can do watersports. There's also plenty of places to hire mountainbikes and lots of lower level sport crags when it's raining in the mountains.

If you find a route you really want to do then getting a taxi from the nearest village is quite cheap.

For route info and inspiration definitely get this guidebook it is excellent http://www.amazon.co.uk/Classic-Climbs-Dolomites-Anette-Kohler/dp/1898573344. But I would recommend some ones you can get locally in Italian or German, and the topos on planet mountain.com as some of the topos in that book are a bit off.

If you do decide to go I would wait until september cos most people in Italy go on holiday for the whole of August and it will be really crowded and expensive.

Anything else just ask, I have a couple of guidebooks including the above if you want to have a look at them, I'm living Brum at the moment.

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MILF-Hunter

you sure you cant get a car? pretty sure the only thing that prevented us from getting one in the dolomites was because i was unable to get a credit card for the deposit (had to be a CREDIT card). i remember on the website the only thing about being under 21 was wer restricted on the car size and had to pay a slightly larger insurance rate. it may have changed now tho....

like MILF-Hunter said, the trains to get to cortina are a piece of piss, just using busses there isnt perfect. the scenery is amazing

advice: take Starley.

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