The forecast was typical for late October in the Lake District: some sunny spells, some showers, some drizzle, but little certainty over the relative proportions of each, and even less certainty over when each would arrive. But spirits weren’t dampened and there was a good turnout for this meet: KMC members: Sean Clancy, Luke Cullem, Jake Fletcher, Adam Griffin, Michelle Harrison, Stuart Hurworth, Paul Lonsdale, Adam McCudden (joint meet leader), Phil Mitchell, Lynne Williams, Gareth Williams (joint meet leader). Guest: Harriet. We also enjoyed the company of some dry tooling regulars Jonathan, Lina (none other than the dry tooling guidebook author) and Reece who were at the crag by chance. Well, maybe they had a bit of a tip-off we were coming?!?

Everyone staying at the hut managed to find their way to High Moss, with some abandoning it almost immediately in favour of the pub. The East Yorkshire Mountaineering Club also had a group at the hut and were a friendly team and good company over the weekend. We didn’t convert any of them to dry tooling though.

On Saturday most of us headed to The Works, a dedicated dry tooling cave and one of the UK’s premier venues for the sport. After scrambling down the approach slope, rope and ladder, we were all in the quarry ready to unleash our axes. The two Adam’s set about putting top ropes on a couple of routes in each of the Industrial Sector and the People’s Slab and everyone had a go on these. Notable mention to Harriet, her first time dry tooling and she had a fractured wrist, still wearing a splint, she climbed her route with a single axe. Adam Griffin put in some hard work on Bloodline (D10) in the Paddy Cave. Stuart, busy filming him, produced the quote of the weekend “I’m pumped just holding the camera up”. We also had a go on Cerberus (D6+), thanks to Adam again for putting a rope up it. As we got back to the cars the heavens opened and we realised we’d timed it perfectly with the weather. On the way back to High Moss we stopped off at The Black Bull in Coniston where good food was enjoyed with a few drinks.

On Sunday our venue of choice was Bakestones Quarry, just around the corner from The Works. The rain was a bit more persistent today but one of the good things about dry (sic) tooling is it can be done in the wet, and there’s usually deep caves to hide away from the rain in. Routes climbed, to various heights and in various styles, were Outside Leg (D5), DibDab (D8), Left Slip (D5), Right Slip (D5), The Fang (D8). Not everyone went tooling, some naught people snuck off searching to find dry rock to climb. I understand they were successful but didn’t take note of exactly what they did. Thank you to everyone who came along to make this a very successful meet, whatever you did!

Footnote: dry tooling is a niche sport which is tolerated in only a very small number of dedicated locations. We have a good number of dry toolers in the Club with a lot of knowledge about venues and routes. If you fancy a go, please get in touch with one of the keen dry toolers in the Club who will be only too happy to introduce you to it (note there are further tooling meets already in the calendar). Whatever you do, PLEASE don’t go dry tooling anywhere that isn’t an established tooling venue.

Winter's just around the corner, time to sharpen those axes and get used to pulling on them again! This is primarily a dry tooling meet where we will visit The Works (a dedicated dry tooling venue - no tooling elsewhere please!) but if tooling isn't your thing you could still come and enjoy the Lake District for walking, scrambling and, if the weather plays ball, climbing.

What is dry tooling? Take mixed winter climbing and remove the wintry bits from the mix, and you're left with using your axes/crampons over bare rock. This does cause significant wear/tear on the rock and hence the need to ensure dry tooling is ONLY carried out at dedicated dry-tooling venues. If you've never tooled before, this would be an ideal opportunity as there will be people to show you around, and you may be able to borrow some tooling kit too, if you don't have your own.

On the topic of kit, you'll need helmet, harness, rope, belay device, a few quickdraws and then some more specialist bits: technical axes (if you have adze/hammer, cover them with tape or a cut open tennis ball to protect your face should your tool ping off the rock), boots/crampons (mono-points work best), protective gloves and protective eye-wear. If you don't have crampons you can make a start in rock shoes.

We have 8 beds booked at the Rucksack Club's High Moss hut in the Duddon Valley, available to members/associate members only in the first instance.