Lake District Rock: Selected Rock Climbs in the English Lake District

In my opinion, general guides are the hardest to get right, particularly for an area so rich in quality routes as the Lake District. Deciding what routes are worthy of inclusion, juggling the right mix of grades, trying to give fair coverage to the various mountains and crags and then trying to fit everything in to a pocket sized booklet must be a nightmarish task. In my opinion such guides all to often give too much focus to the harder routes and not enough to the easier ones, and I feel that those who seek to benefit most from such guides are the newcomers to the sport; after all, if you’re just starting out you’re not going to want to spend a lot of money accumulating a library of detailed guidebooks. It is to the FRCC’s credit therefore that their little book gets it right – the right mix of routes and the right mix of areas all in one compact and colourful location. Of course there are those who will always complain about the omission of a route or the inclusion of another, but by and large, I’m sure most will agree that what should be here, is.

The pages are laid out with clear, colour coded descriptions, colour photographs and crag topos. The topos are of the diagramatical kind, which may seem a little old fashion considering recent Rockfax, Climber’s Club and Ground-Up publications, which use photographic topos in their books, but this is saved by the fact that the diagrams are of a high quality and clearly the intricacies of routes and crags. There is also the addition of a small bouldering section, which although not as comprehensive as the most enthusiastic Lakeland boulders might like, is more than enough for the occasional visitor. Basically, if you’re a local just starting out or just an occasional visitor to the area, then this book is an absolutely perfect companion to your exploration.