New Slate Guide and the White Cliff Imminent

So for the last, 8 months I have been working on the latest Rockfax guidebook to climbing in the Slate Quarries around Llanberis. It has been a great opportunity to highlight some of the great new and classic routes in teh quarries, by developing a definitive guidebook to an area I fell in love with the first time I climbed there back in 1994. Ever since I have been drawn back time and again with friends and clients to explore the area and climb so many routes.

The last guide by Ground Up was a great book, with excellent historical articles, we could and would never be able to capture that, so instead focused on the visuals for the book we are producing. I have been going through some of the final PDFs before the book heads off to the printer. I cannot tell you how proud I am of this book and it would not have been possible without the amazing team at Rockfax and all the people I have ever shared a rope or a chat with about climbing in the quarries.

Check out Rockfax or UKClimbing to get a pre-order in for the august release date. 

I was also involved with another new book due for release in August, The White Cliff is edited by Grant Farquar, who has brought together over 100 climbers who have a love for all thing Gogarth and put together a collection of their writing on climbing at this great cliff. I can’t wait to get my copy and whilst it is going to be a rather niche book, the fact that so many people have been involved will mean there will probably be some amazing stories.

I wrote about how climbing at gogarth is a ying to my yang, helping to lift my spirits when I am down and re-focus my energies ina  more positive way. It is one of the most personal pieces of writing I have every dare write. I am filled again with a little dread as to how people will view it and mne once they read it. A proofreader did contact me and say it was a powerful piece. He probably doesn’t know it but it meant a lot to me to hear that, as I was aiming for some kind of reaction as I wrote it. 

The book will be available from cordee in august as well.

Both of these publications come at a time, when I am for a short period looking at focusing more on my writing, not because I don’t love the work I do here with my clients at Snowdonia Mountain Guides, but more just an exploration of something a little different for a short time.