It has been said that the Peak District is a difficult place to start sport climbing. The UK as a whole is not endowed with a huge number of high-quality, easy sport routes and hearing the words 'Peak limestone' certainly doesn't bring to mind climbing on tufa-ridden orange rock in the sun. Nonetheless, there's enough to go at for some...

Anna Fleming concludes the Herstory series by examining the growing number of female qualification holders and outdoor professionals and what work still has to be done to achieve a better balance. The Herstory articles have uncovered the hidden history of women's mountaineering and climbing, from the early ladies who chased up British peaks in the 1700s, to the forgotten women...

On International Women's Day, Anna Fleming speaks to French climbing icon Catherine Destivelle about her evolving career, subverting stereotypes and her respect for British climbing and its culture... Since she began climbing in the 1970s, Catherine Destivelle has recorded a diverse and highly successfulcareer, from hard sport climbs to world championship titles and alpine feats involving first ascents across the...

Looking to make the step up to multi-pitch routes? British Mountain Guide Polly Harmer recommends her top beginner spots in North Wales. If you've been trad climbing on your local crags and you're starting to plan a bigger multi-pitch trip, then North Wales is a great place to start. This relatively compact area offers loads of multi pitch crags with...

IFSC commentator and EpicTV presenter Matt Groom writes about travelling to Ukraine during the Russian invasion to make the documentary 'Climbing Never Die' for the current Reel Rock 18 film tour. On the journey to Kyiv by train, I shared a cabin with a bearded bear of a man who spoke very little English. I woke up to find him...

Grandly named 'Devonia's Alps' by celebrated author William Crossing, Dartmoor is formed by the largest mass of granite in Britain, is very peaty and has a lot of bogs. Of more interest for us, however, is that over the last 30 years it has matured from being a relative backwater frequented mostly by tough-skinned locals into an outstanding bouldering destination,...

Luke Davies shares tips and tactics for climbing the six classic north faces of the European Alpswith some history to boot... In the 1930s, Alpinism had already been around for over a century and the list of unclimbed faces in the Alps was becoming shorter and shorter. Top Alpinists of the time from Austria and Germany such as Heckmair and...

Borrowdale is the perfect place to develop your trad climbing skills. It's a valley with a long and storied climbing history where many have honed their practice over the years. The volcanic rhyolite here is one of my favourite rock types to climb on. It is full of features and friction (apart from the odd spot where it has worn...