The first of it’s kind – the WICM was instigated and orgnised by Hilary Lawrenson, President of the Pinnacle Club – a women’s only climbing club. There was quite a bit of controversy about this meet on UK Climbing with both sexes saying it was sexist but the whole idea of the meet was to […]

Paul made contact via the new look website and said he was very impressed by the informative site and the wealth of experience of Ali Taylor – Chief Instructor and Director of Monsterclimbs. Paul had climbed in the past but had never actually placed any trad gear or led a route but he was very […]

It really is a privilege doing Ali’s job – meeting interesting people and teaching them to become independent climbers – and this course was no exception. Alfonso and his son Paolo had no experience of trad lead climbing but had done a little bit of sport and some snow and ice climbing. They took advantage […]

It’s always a bonus when you meet 3 strangers and they bond with each other and with you as their Instructor. I met Steve, Martin and Helen at Symonds Yat, the venue for our trad lead course and there was immediate rapport and genuine warmth. We spent the first day looking at gear, placing it, […]

Tom and particularly Josh Pettigrew have become addicted to trad climbing. Josh especially loves multi-pitch. They haven’t climbed much this year as Josh has had exams to prepare for and sit. They also had an ‘incident’ at The Roaches earlier in the year that dented Josh’s confidence. He decided to try a nice looking VS, […]