Guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District. 14th July 2016.

A few weeks ago Iain was out with Matthew Dean and his girlfriend Katie. The pair were visiting the area for the week and it was also Katie's birthday. Katie enjoys climbing and the pair have already spent some time  climbing at their local indoor climbing wall, so Matt thought it would be a nice birthday treat for her to experience some real outdoor climbing on proper Lake District Rock.

Matt had contacted us some time previously to book a guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District. Iain arranged to meet the pair at the Old Dungeon Ghyll Hotel in Langdale and guide them, first of all, on the classic Lake District Rock Climb - Middlefell Buttress (Diff).

Photo one sees Katie and Matt feeling somewhat elated - having put all of the difficult sections of Middlefell Buttress behind them.

As well as climbing, the pair also wanted to try a proper abseil too and a large Rowan tree at the top of Middlefell Buttress presents such an opportunity - being draped with a large loop of "Abseil Tat" (climbing rope left for the purpose of doing an abseil) and a Maillon (steel karabiner)  through which to attach your rope for abseiling.

We made our way over to this tree and with cowstails at the ready, attached ourselves to the abseil tat. Iain then threaded our climbing ropes through the maillon and then attached Matt & Katie to the ropes using our belay plates in a fashion known as a "stacked" abseil. This allowed him to leave the pair safely attached to the climbing ropes whilst he descended first.

Once Iain was down, Katie was given the call to follow; and once Katie was down, Matt followed her (photo  two). Getting off Middlefell Buttress this way allowed us to avoid the gully descent and get back to our bags quickly before we headed off to our next rock climb of the day.

Photo three sees Matt & Katie several hours later at the first stance on Route 1, Upper Scout Crag. We had moved to the National Trust Sticklebarn Car Park; and had lunch before taking the short walk up to this crag.

Upper Scout Crag is a great place for taking your first steps on to real Lake District Rock and a venue that we often use for teaching Rock Climbing Skills. It is also a great route for guiding on as well - being a relatively easy rock climb, but just like Middlefell Buttress, having the feel of a big mountain crag.

As you can see from the photos, we were lucky with the weather on this Guided Rock Climbing Day. It was exactly what we wanted, warm, dry & sunny with only a light breeze at the top of the crag and stunning views in all directions!

Our final photo from this post about a Guided Rock Climbing Day in The Lake District sees Matt  & Katie at the top of Upper Scout Crag looking very satisfied with what they had achieved - and not without good reason!

With Iain's guidance, they had climbed two of The Lake District's best easy multi-pitch rock climbs with a total of six pitches of rock climbing and a long abseil. Now, that's not bad going for your first day's introduction to multi-pitch  Rock Climbing in The Lake District!

The pair paid just £80 each for their Guided Multi-pitch Rock Climbing day with Iain who is an experienced & knowledgeable Mountaineering Instructor. Equipment provided as part of your fee per person including helmets, harnesses, ropes and rack. We can hire in climbing shoes for you at £10 per pair per day if you do not possess them.

If you fancy trying out multi-pitch Rock Climbing in The Lake District as the next progression from indoor climbing then contact us here. We look forward to working with you!