Fake gear warning There’s yet another worrying trend appearing, thanks to the wonders of the world wide t’interweb – and that’s the availability of fake climbing gear. Scary stuff, and…
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How to adjust rucksack straps Why it's important to adjust rucksack straps properly It's often interesting to see how much discomfort people will go through before learning how to adjust…
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Mountaineering maps (Part 3) Finally, here is Part 3 of preparing your handy mountain map. In Part 1, we mercilessly cut down an enormous OS map sheet into an A4…
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Mountaineering maps (Part 2) (You can learn more using maps in the mountains on a navigation course in Snowdonia, the Lake District, Yorkshire, and the Peak District.) Now for the second…
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Mountaineering maps (Part 1) (You can learn more using maps in the mountains on a navigation course in the Lake District, Yorkshire, the Peak District, and Snowdonia.) For the next few…
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Pockets in winter This week I was out in the Cairngorms with several different groups, but almost all of them novices. There was very little snow, but it was cold…
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Be avalanche aware Take avalanches seriously. Of course they happen in the Himalayas and the Alps. Everyone knows that. But they happen in Scotland (a lot), the Lake District and…
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How to use crampons Winter will be back, and when it returns, some of you will want a tip on how to use crampons for the first time. Here are…
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Two kinds of tape There are two tape tips to tell this time. (This is either an amazing poetic alliteration or perhaps a new tongue-twister). The first tape is one…
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Rope and sticky tape I was out coaching a client at a sports climbing crag recently, when a couple of university students turned up to climb. We exchanged greetings and…
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