Where we go
Most weekends someone from the club is leaving London for climbing – most often North Wales, but also the Peak, the South Coast, Wye valley or elsewhere. Our first love is arguably trad climbing, but there’s normally at least one European bolt clipping trip in the calendar plus a winter climbing trip to Scotland and a summer trip to the Alps.
Great Britain
North Wales
If the club has a spiritual home, it's here. We've owned the members' cottage at Capel Curig, in the heart of Eryri (Snowdonia), since 1973, and members rebuilt it themselves. It's free for members, and it's the base for most of our trips to the area, including the new members' meets in spring and autumn and the twice-yearly working meets.
From the cottage, the mountain crags of the Llanberis Pass and the Ogwen Valley are a short drive, and the slate quarries above Llanberis aren't much further. When it's raining in the mountains, as it does, the club has a well-worn habit of heading for the coast – the quartzite sea cliffs of Gogarth and the other crags around Holyhead, or the roadside rock at Tremadog – where it's often dry.
Peak District and Yorkshire
The Peak is famous for gritstone: rough, compact sandstone on short outcrops that reward technique – jamming, laybacking and smearing. There's limestone too, mostly trad with some sport. It's close enough for a day trip as well as a weekend, and we run several meets here each year, recently including Western Grit and Yorkshire Bouldering trips.
Lake District
It’s a long drive from London but we normally go to the Lakes on a May bank holiday to climb beautiful mountain routes on volcanic rock. The weather on NLMC club trips involves either torrential rain or unbroken sunshine, with very little in between.
Pembrokeshire
Steep limestone sea cliffs, from slabs to overhanging walls, with pockets of sandstone and volcanic rock along the coast. Some of the best climbing is on the Castlemartin military range at Range West, where you need to attend a briefing from the MOD before climbing. We also get to the Gower now and then.
Wye Valley
One of the nearest climbing areas to London, and a popular day trip. The climbing is mostly limestone, much of it with fine views over the river.
Cornwall
Every summer solstice weekend we camp near Land's End, with a barbecue on the Saturday evening at Porthcurno. Cornwall is a regular bank holiday destination too. The climbing is mostly on granite sea cliffs, with some more unusual rock – schist, greenstone and even pillow lava – thrown in.
Devon, Dorset and the South East
In Devon, there's granite on Dartmoor and adventurous climbing on the north coast, a club favourite. Members were behind a good number of the first ascents at Baggy Point including the popular Kinky Boots (VS), put up by Ben Wintringham.
Dorset is a frequent day-trip destination. Portland has sport climbing and can be a sun trap in winter, while nearby Swanage has trad, sport and deep water soloing.
Closer to London, the soft sandstone of Kent and Sussex is climbed on a top rope to protect the rock. It isn't to everyone's taste, but it can be surprisingly demanding. Some of the club's early members put up routes here, including Trevor Panther, our first Vice-President, who wrote a guidebook to the area and was known for climbing in bare feet.
Scotland
At least one group of members normally organises a winter mountaineering trip to Scotland in January or February. We organise a trip each winter for snow, ice and mixed climbing, and plenty of members head north on their own trips too. In summer, members have made sea-cliff trips to Pabbay, Mingulay, Lewis and the Old Man of Hoy.
Overseas
The Alps
The club's main summer trip is to the Alps. Recent years have taken us to the Saas valley, Chamonix and Ailefroide, and plenty of members organise their own alpine trips as well. Our recent ascents are arguably less headline-grabbing than some in the club's history – the Golden Pillar of Spantik in 1987 takes some beating – but they include the Frendo Spur on the Aiguille du Midi and the Cassin route on the Piz Badile.
Ice
Members have also made ice climbing trips in recent years, to Cogne, Norway and Chamonix.
Sport climbing
We do go and clip bolts in the sun, usually at Easter or in the autumn, partly to stay fit for the summer but also because we reluctantly love it. Recent official trips have been to the Margalef, Siurana, and Chulilla in Spain, and Geyikbayiri in Turkey.
What’s coming up
See what's coming up on the meets calendar, or find out how to become a member.