Winter's just around the corner, time to sharpen those axes and get used to pulling on them again! This is primarily a dry tooling meet where we will visit The Works (a dedicated dry tooling venue - no tooling elsewhere please!) but if tooling isn't your thing you could still come and enjoy the Lake District for walking, scrambling and, if the weather plays ball, climbing.

What is dry tooling? Take mixed winter climbing and remove the wintry bits from the mix, and you're left with using your axes/crampons over bare rock. This does cause significant wear/tear on the rock and hence the need to ensure dry tooling is ONLY carried out at dedicated dry-tooling venues. If you've never tooled before, this would be an ideal opportunity as there will be people to show you around, and you may be able to borrow some tooling kit too, if you don't have your own.

On the topic of kit, you'll need helmet, harness, rope, belay device, a few quickdraws and then some more specialist bits: technical axes (if you have adze/hammer, cover them with tape or a cut open tennis ball to protect your face should your tool ping off the rock), boots/crampons (mono-points work best), protective gloves and protective eye-wear. If you don't have crampons you can make a start in rock shoes.

We have 8 beds booked at the Rucksack Club's High Moss hut in the Duddon Valley, available to members/associate members only in the first instance.