The New Stanage Guide

It arrived at last, and has been very well received. It is good to see my years of research come to fruition; Nial has done a grand job with the book, fresh, up-to-date, anecdotal stories a-plenty, plus inspirational pictures, just the ticket really. Stanage finally has the guide it really deserves.
A slight surprise is the lack of new routes since the 2002 guide, I think we must have pretty much squeezed the place dry working on that one.

Negatives: almost (almost) too few to mention,

• I am not a fan of the front cover, it doesn't encapsulate the Stanage Experience the way a guidebook cover should.

• The bouldering circuits, I will hold judgment on these, a very brief dip in found the layout and the information confusing, maybe that is my old brain. I'll be interested to see the environmental impact in a couple of years on the more isolated areas too.

I was pleased to see that despite being the villain (in some eyes anyway) of the Stanage Saga, my contribution to the cliffs superb repertoire (over 100 new routes) hasn't been ignored. I nipped out on Tuesday to do a new Direct Finish to Fern Crack HVS 5a that we explored (sounds better then top-roped) at the weekend - so it is out of date already!

The Sheffield launch was a convivial (and bloody hot) do, stories were swapped, beer quaffed and curry troughed. The pub was bulging with faces old and new, including Ron Townsend (first new route on Stanage back in the 1940s!) Dave Gregory (who has been involved with Peak guidebooks for 50+ years) and Malc Baxter who's superb drawings have graced generations of guidebooks.
I think it is fair to say a good time was had by all.