Solo Climbing in the Lake District

We always enjoy hearing from you, our readers, about the adventures that you have been having in the great outdoors. Not only that, we like to give you the opportunity to use the CheapTents blog to promote yourselves if you’re looking for sponsorship. Recently we were contacted by Mike Dunne, who loves climbing in the Lake District. We asked him to tell us about his climbing experience, his thoughts on the climbing scene and who he rates as a climber.

Solo Climber – Mike Dunne

Climbing Experience

I got into climbing when I was about 16, me and a mate were really bored during the summer holidays so he showed me the local climbing wall in Cockermouth, I didn’t even really know what climbing was but I instantly loved it. I started climbing at the wall a few times a week just in trainers, on my own and I slowly got better. After about 4 months I bought a pair of cheap climbing shoes and started trying to really improve my climbing. After a year another mate took me outside to show me how to trad climb. I didn’t have the attention span for learning as it turned out and started soloing straight away. For the next 2 years I soloed regularly in the mountain crags of the Lake district, such as Gable crag, High crag at Buttermere and Pillar Rock. In the past 6 months I’ve quit soloing due to external pressures and have started leading. My first lead was The Devil’s Alternative at Shepherds Crag which lead me to discover the joys of headpointing after the years of only ever onsighting. I climbed The Devils Alternative on one size 1 nut and two skyhooks. It was pretty sketchy but after a whipper on the first skyhook I got the confidence to go for it and got it clean. That skyhook is my lucky charm now.

Loving and Hating Climbing

I got into bouldering when I was at university, there was no decent trad really close by and I was still in my soloing phase so I started going to Cowraik quarry near Penrith in Cumbria and bouldering all the routes with this old crappy sofa bed cushion for a mat. I personally have never got that much into bouldering as an individual sport, for me its just training for the real thing. I know people who are totally obsessed with climbing but for me its just something I do. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it but its always there. I’m driven by something I don’t understand, deep in my heart, forget the grades and the bravado and the glory, I just need to know myself, I can only do that when I’m about half an inch away from doom.

Lake District Climbs

I climb pretty much entirely in the Lake District, though I messed about on grit once, Lake district rock just fits my style, I love it. Being on the mountain crags on an overcast, black day, that’s what sorts the men from the boys.

I don’t have a favourite climbing route as such, mainly because I never read guidebooks when I started out so a lot of my climbs were onsights of unknown routes. My favourite crag is Pillar Rock because it put me in my place once and its just got this atmosphere that you cant get anywhere else. Its like this sleeping giant that you have to creep up and if you’re disrespectful or an ass then you get spat off like I did the first time.

I tried to solo the full height of Pillar rock a few years back onsight and had to bail about halfway up on to this little ledge, it was as sketchy as it gets. That was pretty much my only fall, about 4 metres onto the ledge, hurt my foot quite a bit.

I quit soloing for a few months after that. It was my own fault, I was trying to climb it for prestige, not passion. I went back in the summer of 2011 and completed the climb, I wasn’t even hyped when I got to the top, I just thanked the rock for not killing me and walked off. Sometime people forget that its only by the rocks good grace that they survive, the illusion of control and ones own power is just that, an illusion. When I went back I was aware of that, very aware.

Training, Groups and Sport Climbing

I do bugger all training, occasionally I do some pull-ups or lift a weight but never with the intention of getting better at climbing, I just get bored.

I’m not a member of any climbing groups, I don’t do competitions and I never plan on changing that. I climb for myself, competitions make my skin crawl. I don’t like climbing magazines or forums or any of that stuff, its gets in the way of what climbing really is: personal and unique to each individual.

My ambitions are to set up some gnarly trad lines where ever I can. There’s nothing sweeter than a first ascent.

I don’t sport climb, I’ve tried it once or twice a while back but I just cant quantify it for myself. It feels wrong, like sticking a ring through a bears nose and making it pose for photos with tourists, you’ve taken its soul away, just like bolts kill the soul of a route. Climbing without soul isn’t climbing at all. I know that’s pretty controversial and I get shit for it but if you don’t stand for what you believe in then what’s the point.

Best Climbing Gear

I use a wild country ziplock harness, mad rock flash boots and that’s it really. I don’t know the make of most of my gear, its fished out of mountain crags and skips and stuff and I’ve only bought about 4% of it, the rest I scavenged*. I could do with some new brass offsets, a new cam or two and some quickdraws which I don’t currently own myself.

I think climbers get to caught up in gear, I know people who have climbed outdoors less than a handful of times and have a rack 3 times the size of mine, it’s a bit annoying. If you’re a good climber then you can make anything work, that seems to be a lost concept. I like the mad rock flash shoes because its comfy as hell and I wear it in the size I actually am. I don’t get the crazy little pointy slippers people wear, once again if you’re good enough then you shouldn’t need them. I get by just fine with my flash’s.

I love brass offsets, I sadly only own one, because they go in bizarre placements and I really trust them. I also love my black diamond skyhook because it saved my arse more than once, shyhooks are underrated massively.

Final Thoughts on Climbing

I really respect Johnny Dawes, his approach to climbing is just beautiful.

I do some winter stuff up to grade 2 and that’s about all I do in the outdoors.

I’d like to say thanks to my mate John Timney, he’s been there at pretty much every big climb I’ve done and he never doubted me. He’s a hell of a climber whether he accepts it or not, and its maybe the fact that he doesn’t accept it that makes him even better.

That’s about everything I have to say, I imagine I come across as a bigoted tool on paper and I probably do in real life as well to be fair but I’m a nice guy really. I just really dislike sport climbing…

Many thanks to Mike Dunne for sharing his experiences and thoughts on climbing in the Lake District and sport climbing!

If you enjoyed reading about Mike Dunne’s climbing experience, or would like some inspiration, why not read our article about professional speed climber Ueli Steck, or our interviews with urbex climber Stepping Lightly, the UK’s number one climber Kevin Thaw or The North Face sponsored climber Daniel Woods.

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If you’re an up-and-coming athlete and you’d like to be promoted here on the CheapTents blog, send us an e-mail. If you’ve had an adventure that you’d like to share or maybe you have a strong opinion about an outdoor related topic that you’d like us to publish, send us an e-mail!

Footnote – Climbing Gear Safety

* Please note that we do not recommend scavenging climbing gear. Since there is no way of knowing whether it has any internal damage, there can be no guarantee that it is fit for purpose. Therefore you could be putting yourself and others at risk of injury or death. To find out more about suitable equipment, please read our climbing gear advice page.