If you spent last summer getting dripped on by Peak limestone, or worse, sweating in a wall, training for an autumn bolt jaunt, fear not. The Lakeland Revival is here to save you.
Get off the polished holds, get out of the south, leave the crowds and come north to the land of climbing history. Now in its second year, the Lakeland revival is an Arc’teryx initiative that aims to get 50 classic routes reclaimed from nature and re-climbed in good style between June and August.
In return for sending one of the listed lines, you lucky climbers get a nice new Arc’teryx t-shirt or chalk bag to change into afterwards. You don’t want to dirty the pub with Borrowdale muck now do you? Two very lucky revivalists will even get a brand new DMM rack.
Tim Hill from Arc’teryx told us:
"The Lake District is one of England most treasured mountain environments, and the Lakeland revival is designed to encourage people to go off the beaten track, step away from the norm and discover the climbing heritage that the Lakes has to offer. Pack an extra sandwich and get to appreciate a wilder climbing environment!
"And it's not just about reviving. It's about gathering information, up-to-date information that can be used by the FRCC and BMC to assess the current state of crags, buttresses and routes. The list of routes has been picked by staff from Lakeland climbing shops to provide a great challenge for anyone who wishes to take on the Lakelands Revival and get involved in its future!"
Hear that? Pack an extra sandwich! Lakeland revivalists get to eat more than normal climbers. FACT.
Katy Whittaker, trad wad and Arc’teryx climber says:
"Last year was the first Lakeland Revival and the uptake and enthusiasm was amazing. Everybody involved was so excited to get out and clean the routes and almost 50 percent of the climbs were revived!
"I think consistency is important and hopefully running the Lakeland Revival for as long as we can will be a step in the right direction for keeping both the routes clean and people psyched for Lakes climbing. We had alot of requests to run it again so here we go, get involved people!"
How to get involved
-
Step 1: Choose an unclimbed route from the specified list.
-
Step 2: Climb it! Get a photo of the route with you/your partner climbing it.
-
Step 3: Visit The Climbers Shop, Needle Sports, George Fishers or The Epicentre with the photo as proof and collect your FREE Arc’teryx t-shirt or chalk bag.
-
Step 4: Leave your route feedback with the shop staff.
-
Step 5: Make sure you leave your name and number with the shop staff as two lucky people will win a brand new DMM trad rack.
Pretty straight forward. You can find more information about the revival, and stay up-to-date with the route list on the Arc'teryx Lakeland Revival website.
Finally, it’s key that you don’t take your strimmer with you. Reasonable cleaning on the line itself is fine but no creative hedging. If you have any concerns about the best practice for cleaning and climbing the routes please speak to the staff at the involved shops or contact the BMC.
Photo: Nick Brown
"A great initiative"
Here’s what our man of access, Rob Dyer at the BMC says about it all:
“The Lakeland Revival is a great initiative that applies the idea of crag restoration to loads of different crags, allows climbers to take part when they can rather than on a specific day and identifies specific routes that are in need a bit of TLC.
"Many of the crags in the Lakes don’t see huge amounts of traffic and so even the classic routes get a bit dirtier than they might on easy access crags elsewhere so a helping hand in the form of the Lakeland Revival is a great way of restoring some quality routes back to their former glory. Last year saw a fair few routes get a spruce up, but let’s see if we can do even better this year.
"Climbing anywhere in the Lakes is brilliant, but if you get on one of the listed routes you’ll get a nice warm glow knowing you’ve helped restore a classic route, a great day out climbing and some free kit to top it off – what’s not to like?!”
So if you want to consider yourself a part of climbing present and climbing future, get yourself to the Lakes and revive yourself a line.
Get the guidebooks
The BMC shop stocks a comprehensive selection of Lakeland guides with all the information to get you to the route (if not up it!). You might well find you end up with a tick-list of over 50...
« Back