FAQ

If you’re new, the best place to start is one of our new members’ meets in North Wales, held in the spring and autumn. Email the New Members’ Secretary for details. Once your belaying has been checked, you can come on meets before you join.

We run official meets throughout the year – see the meets page for dates and contacts.

Plenty of trips are also arranged informally, heading wherever the weather looks best. Members organise these on our WhatsApp community; if you’re not a member yet, use our chat forum. The best way in is to come to the Castle Climbing Centre on a Monday evening, and The Brownswood afterwards, and get to know people.

You don’t need to be an expert, but you do need to be able to lead belay safely, have the basic kit (harness, helmet, rock shoes) and be keen to climb. Lead belaying is a requirement for joining: a club member will check it with you at the Castle on a Monday. Become a member explains the rest of the joining process.

The club doesn’t provide formal training. Members are happy to share what they know, but we’re not instructors, and taking part in club activities is at members’ own risk.

If you need tuition or a refresher to get your belaying up to the club’s standard, we recommend Holly Peristiani – a qualified climbing instructor, long-standing member and former New Members’ Secretary. She runs trips for small groups and one-to-one coaching, indoors and outdoors, covering trad gear placement and anchors, abseiling, sport climbing (including rethreading anchors and using a clipstick), setting up top-ropes, movement and technique, fear of falling and the mental side, and rock-specific skills such as crack climbing.

London climbing walls and outdoor centres run plenty of other courses.

For a residential rock-climbing course, Plas y Brenin in Capel Curig – the National Outdoor Centre, close to our cottage – runs a wide range. For winter climbing, Glenmore Lodge in the Cairngorms runs courses, and you’ll have a better chance of good snow and ice there than in North Wales.

The club doesn’t own any gear, so people bring their own ropes and racks and share. If you don’t have much yet, don’t worry – there’s usually enough to go round, and you’ll build up your own as you go. Here is a checklist:

Climbing: climbing shoes, harness, helmet, belay device and a screwgate (HMS is ideal). Ideally also a nut key, a spare screwgate and two prusiks – and know how to use them.

Clothing: waterproof, approach shoes or walking boots, outdoor trousers, base layer, fleece, rucksack and head torch. Exact needs depend on the venue and season.

Sleeping: a sleeping bag (needed at the cottage and for camping). If camping, a tent and sleeping mat, plus a stove and pans unless you’re sharing cooking with someone.

Food and washing: breakfast and lunch for each day (often bought on the way – check with your driver), a water bottle, wash kit and towel. In the evenings we sometimes cook and sometimes go to the pub.

No. Plenty of members don’t have one, and lifts are shared on most trips - spaces in cars are advertised on the trip spreadsheet. Passengers normally chip in towards fuel.

That depends slightly on the type of trip, and factors like whether we go to the pub. For a typical weekend camping you might want to assume £10-20 for petrol, £20-30 for the campsite, and £10-20 for food. Obviously, if you’re staying at our cottage, accommodation is free!

Members go walking or scrambling from time to time, but on most trips we just climb, and there isn’t usually a walking contingent. Other London clubs offer a broader range of activities.