Review: Lake District Bouldering by Greg Chapman. Published by Vertebrate Publishing, Sheffield

VERTEBRATE Publishing have just published the long-awaited guide to bouldering in the Lake District National Park.

Bouldering is becoming increasingly popular – not rock-climbing using ropes and various hardware for aiding the climber, but solo climbing without artificial assistance and with crash mats at the base of the crag in case of a fall. Most boulders are between fifteen and twenty-five feet in height. Bouldering areas in Ilkley and Otley are the famous Cow & Calf rocks and the boulders near to Caley Crags.

This Lake District book contains over 3,000 different bouldering problems located in over 70 different venues throughout the National Park.

It has been written and compiled by Greg Chapman, one of the pioneers of bouldering in the Lakes. The book is divided into five sections; South East, South West, North East, North West and South Lakes Limestone.

Each crag visited includes details of its access and approach information including GPS references for parking and map grid references for the crags themselves. Greg includes local information and condition of each of the crags. Ordnance Survey maps of each of the areas are included along with grades for each of the climbs. There are also over 700 colour photos of both the crags and the climbs taking place.

Details are given about Safety, Mountain Rescue, The Countryside Code, Tourist Information Centres, Pubs and Cafes, Campsites, Gear Shops, Climbing Walls plus climbing related websites.

The book is a weighty tome with over 560 pages and a retail price of £36.95 but is well worth this price for the number of bouldering problems included in the book – in excess of 3,000 different routes.

Published by Vertebrate Publishing – www.v-publishing.co.uk

by John Burland