Scrambles in the Dark Peak: Easy summer scrambles and winter climbs

By Terry Sleaford and Tom Corker

Over 40 summer and winter scrambles are described with many links, variants and extensions to make up longer, more challenging days on the moors. Routes are graded 1-3, from scrambly walks to difficult rock climbs and winter ascents, including classics such as Wilderness Gully East, Wildboar Clough and in the Roaches. The easy scrambles are suitable for adventurous walkers with good fitness and navigation skills, harder routes require some rock climbing experience. In winter conditions, Scottish winter grades 1-2/3 apply and crampons and ice axes will be needed. The Peak District National Park contains a wealth of beautiful, interesting and often unexpected places to visit. Being so close to the major cities of Sheffield, Manchester, Derby and Nottingham it has been a very important area for walking and climbing for over 100 years. As a result, there are many well established footpaths criss-crossing the Peak District that provide reasonably straightforward access to the most popular locations and summits the area has to offer.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Cicerone Press
• Release date: Jan 31, 2013
• ISBN: 9781849655026

Terry Sleaford

Terry was 23 years old when he climbed his first routes in the Peak District and his climbing career soon peaked at leading v.diffs! After a few years of being dragged up harder routes, he decided that the life of a 'crag rat' was not for him. A weekend in Snowdonia in the late 1970s opened his eyes to other possibilities and he began to restrict his climbing activity to trips to Wales, the Lakes and the highlands and islands of Scotland, gradually extending his skills to include winter snow and ice-climbing. As he got older, the combination of a walk into the mountains, followed by a few hundred feet of steady scrambling to reach the summit, became his idea of a good day out. Over the past 45 years he has spent many a day on the crags and moors of the Peak District.