Update: as there hasn't been any interest in the dry tooling meet this year, the meet is cancelled. 

This year’s dry tooling meet will be at The Works (https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/the_works-18038/) and/or Bakestone Quarry (https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/bakestone_quarry-18216/), these venues are very close to one another and it’s perfectly possible to visit both on the same day.

If you’ve not heard of Dry-tooling, it started out as way of training for hard ice-climbing and mixed winter climbing when there wasn’t any Ice. It involves climbing on either artificial structures or dry-rock using ice axes and tools. Hence: Dry-tooling. As the use of tools on dry rock causes more damage than ‘normal’ climbing, there are quite rightly very few dry-tooling venues in the UK; please don’t ever climb on tools at a crag that isn’t an established venue.

Anyone who can comfortably second WI4 or Scottish V/5 should be able to get up most of the easier routes. You might struggle a bit if you’ve not climbed winter routes at these standards, but there’s no reason not to have a go if you’re enthusiastic and willing to put up a bit of a fight. Fully technical tools and mono-point crampons are best, but you can still get up stuff on mountaineering axes and crampons with a bit more effort. Routes are bolted so you don’t need a trad rack, a sport rope and gri-gri (or similar) are recommended, and it’s standard practice to clip-stick the first bolt (at least).

In addition to the usual BMC participation statement, due to the extra risks of people dropping tools, and the nature of tools on rock, helmets are obligatory for dry tooling. If you are not an experienced tooler, a pair of safety specs/ski-goggles and some thin work gloves are highly recommended. Please let me know if you’re planning on coming along, if you think you’d like to try dry tooling but are new to it, feel free to get in touch and we could have a chat before the meet about what to expect, gear, etc. I will post details of exactly where/when I’ll be at the start of the day once I have a clearer idea of who’s coming.