General:- I know it's a cliché but it is probably correct to say that Stanage is the most famous and frequented climbing area in the UK with few rivals for which Southern Sandstone can be counted as one. You wont find long stretched out routes or multi pitch runs but Stanage makes up for this in pure quality with short intensive routes. There is everything here from moderate scrambles to rarely climbed masterpieces. But what really makes Stanage the Bees Knees is its pure availability with miles of  south facing, quick drying rock! This gritstone is a favorite both with the beginner as with the well homed and seasoned guru. VDiff's  to E( pick a number ). If you do get fed up with Stanage and that takes about 20 years you can easily go to another near by venue such as Millstone, Bamford, Lawrencefield or Yarncliffe, the list is almost endless.        

Area:- Stanage is synonymous with Hathersage the village a few miles from Stanage. This is usually where climbers start and finish their day with a visit to some of the sports shops and load up with supplies or have a gut busting breakfast in the Outside cafe above the climbing gear shop. Some dedicated climbers have even moved to Hathersage to be as close as possible to the action.

Location:- Stanage is in the Peak District about 10 miles west of Sheffield. Take the A625 west out of Sheffield and at a 10 mile marker just as you come into  Hathersage turn right down a small lane. Follow the winding lane for about 2 miles until you see the crag ahead of you. Turn left on to a small road with a good long lay-by and obvious path up to the Popular End of Stanage (Hooks Car Park SK244829 ), continue down this road for about a mile to another more substantial car park on the right and the Plantation Area (ref SK237838). Again keep on this road and a further car park on the right for the Northern End. There are other ways to get to Stanage as most roads north of Hathersage lead there. If you are coming from the north, take the A57 to Moscar Lodge and either park and walk to the northern reaches of Stanage or drive back down to the previously mentioned areas.

The Climbing :- Stanage has some of the best gritstone around with good to extremely good friction in colder weather. There are plenty of classic crack jamming masterpieces to strip your hands of skin, but that's not all, blank walls that require fine balance, horizontal breaks with jugs, easy roofs, wild bridging, bouldering test pieces etc etc, so don't think Stanage is all jamming!   The climbing areas are split into about four areas starting at Stanage End in the north, High Neb and The Plantation area in the middle and The popular end at the south eastern end. The picture above shows the view of most of the rock from the popular end.  There is probably no best or worst time to climb on Stanage rock though sharp cold clear days in the middle of winter can a delight as the cold seems to increase the friction.

The Popular End:- This part of the web page is not supposed to be a complete guide to every nook and cranny at Stanage, there are several books that do that very well. No this is just a taster of what you can expect at Stanage starting at what is known as The Popular End. probably because it lives up to its name because it is the easiest crag to reach by bus or car and is close to North Lees Camp Site. 

    Please Click on the small photos to enlarge.

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