Let’s examine the standard mountaineering film template. Craggy heavily bearded types take months planning an assault on Parba Nangbat, drone on endlessly about the challenge and gather a mountain of gear that is finally, after a tedious build-up, carried to the foot of the mountain by some nice cheap native bearers. The next hour is the cinematic […]
Let’s be honest, I don’t even like running and running doesn’t like me. In the dim distant past, I struggled through a couple of half-marathons and pretty much hated every minute largely thanks to my training consisting of a couple of half-hearted jogs and watching Steve Cram on the telly. I therefore approached 3022 Feet […]
It’s obvious how much the British love their national parks as I slowly weave my way through crowds enjoying the Peak District in the late season sun. A welcome September warmth has flushed out walkers, cyclists, climbers, horse riders as well as tortoiseshell butterflies and flocks of meadow pipit. It is one of those days when the sense of […]
Steve McClure has been one of the UK’s outstanding climbing talents for years and his pre-eminence in sport climbing is undeniable. Now the talented blighter’s gone and written a damn good book too. So, family man, talented climber, writer, annoying git. To read Beyond Limits is to immerse yourself in a welter of flash-pumps, flags, […]
The Wedge A wedge is wave that forms in the angle of a cliff or as the result of a man made structure like a jetty. They’re generally the ugly face of surfing, mutant waves that don’t conform to the usual rules. They tend to take no prisoners. The Wedge is an eye-popping four minute […]
Project Mina is a thought provoking film. Essentially the story of Mina Leslie Wujatsyk trying to make her mark in the world of competition bouldering, it ends up being an honest appraisal of the pressures that elite climbers have to tussle with. Wujastyk is a phenomenal climber, as those who have seen the short film […]
Way back in 2008, rock climbing underwent one of its periodic naval gazing episodes. James Pearson, having shaken up Peak District climbing by cruising a number of existing hard routes and nabbing a couple of last great problems, climbed The Walk of Life on Dyer’s Lookout, grading it E12. I’m sure I wasn’t the only […]
Santa Cruz 5010 may be a film promoting a product but it’s Steve Peat riding in beautiful Torridon, so it’s easy to forgive the product placement. It’s a little gem featuring a bona fide sporting hero, the production values are top notch, the riding is exceptional and the scenery is jaw dropping. This film made it a certainty […]
Valley Uprising is to Yosemite climbing what Stacey Peralta’s Riding Giants was to big wave surfing. Using a similar mix of first person testimony, original footage, photos and reconstructions, it weaves a picaresque tale of the dirtbags, heroes, villains, dope fiends and climbing superstars who contributed to the development of the big walls of Yosemite […]
The Peak District is special is one of those trite statements, a bit meaningless and fluffy. Special how? In habitat terms? Because its cream teas match those of Devon? Because it’s popular? More special than the Lakes? Less special than the Cairngorms? Which leaves me relying on personal experience to flesh out a meaningless platitude. […]
Over the years, Vertebrate Publishing have produced a series of area guides to Britains diverse mountain biking landscape. Detailed and authoritative, they’re arguably the best mountain bike guidebooks in the country. This mighty tome however is an attempt to encapsulate all that the UK has to offer, the best of the epics, quick blasts and […]
The Peak Adventure Sports Alliance campaigns on behalf of outdoor pursuits enthusiasts and is determined to impress upon Central Government and the National Park Authority just how crucial adventure sports are both to the economic viability of the Peak District and the health of the nation. Many column inches have been devoted to […]
When someone as steeped in the world of mountain biking as Andy Waterman suggests that the sport is in decline, it’s got to be worth taking seriously and, in an article entitled ‘When Did it all Start to go Downhill for Mountain Biking‘ in the Independent, that’s exactly what he suggests. However, the picture he […]
I love a bit of mountain biking porn as much as the next man, but there comes a time when endless footage of riders pulling whips is no longer enough – what I need is a story, some larger-than-life characters, raw emotion and triumph over adversity. Clay Porter’s Won’t Back Down is feast after famine, […]