• It’s quiet
• It’s tall (for the Peak District) – some of the climbs are almost 30m
• There’s some really fantastic climbs, whether you’re a V Diff or E1 leader

If you can lead up to HS standard, you will absolutely love this venue as there are some really pleasurable and rewarding climbs in the lower grades.

Don’t get me wrong, if you’re looking for a massive venue with a lot of climbs you may be disappointed, but if you like smaller venues without the crowds and some first rate rock then Lawrencefield is definitely for you. Millstone is also just a short walk away if you need to make a long day of it.

Fantastic VS corner crack

To get to Lawrencefield crag, you should park at the Surprise View car park at the Sheffield side of Hathersage. From the car park, cross the road and walk about a hundred metres up the path to the corner. You’ll spot a little path leading off to the left, follow that through a gate then over a stile to your right and bingo, you’re stood at the top of the crag. Follow the rocky path in front of you which veers around to the left to get to the climbs.

You’ll be greeted by a sheltered area with the rock face curving around a central pool.

To the left of the pool there is a nice V Diff for beginners to experience a nice big climb, called Pulpit Groove. For those with a bit more experience there is a wonderful HS called Three Tree Climb, with a delightfully exposed move around a flake in the middle. VS leaders will love the crack in the corner, called Great Harry.

I haven’t yet climbed anything behind the pool, but they look pretty interesting. Once I have done them I’ll let you know.

The climbs to the right of the pool are steep slabs and most have some nice hand and finger jamming. Every climb has obvious belay points at the top. There’s everything from V Diff right up to E2 along this wall.

I have reviewed a couple of books that feature Lawrencefield (so you can identify the routes):
Eastern Grit and Peak District Climbing

How to get there:

Lawrencefield – The Peak District is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District
2. Climbing book review: Peak District Climbing (Vertebrate Publishing)
3. Gareth Hanson – Editor

This was our second trip to Lawrencefield, and it didn’t start too well. We got all the way down to the crag and I realised that I had left the guidebook in the car – doh! I had to run all the way back to the surprise view car park.

We started on the Gingerbread Slab, David kicked things off with a pretty easy V Diff called Snail Crack, which we had climbed on our previous visit. I decided the raise the stakes and go for a HS called Nova.

Nova is a really cool climbing route which requires a variety of techniques to reach the top. The first couple of moves are pretty straight-forward, then it gets interesting as you try to work your way over to an upward crack. One of the moves had David stumped for about 10 minutes as he came up second (it probably didn’t help that I was chuckling at him from the top). There’s a couple of small but comfy ledges on which you can stand to place gear, and the route is pretty well protected all the way up. I found the crux move to be the second to last one on the final crack, I had to jam my fingers as I placed some gear to protect me over the top. The awkward stance combined with faffing around to find the appropriate piece of kit had my arm (and heart pumping).

In summary, I can recommend this as a very rewarding climbing route for all you HS leaders out there. I can also highly recommend the fantastic 3 Tree Climb (HS) over at the Great Harry area. I’ll cover that in more detail soon.

Let me know how you get on.

Nova HS 4b, Lawrencefield, Peak District is a post from: Rock Climbing UK, an online UK climbing magazine, written BY UK climbers FOR UK climbers.

If you liked this post, you might also like:

1. Climbing book review: Peak District Climbing (Vertebrate Publishing)