Peak Rock

the history, the routes, the climbers

Peak Rock is a celebration of significant developments at the cutting edge of
rock climbing in the Peak District, from the day that James W Puttrell first
set foot on rock at Wharncliffe in the late 19th century, through to modern
ascents on the area’s gritstone and limestone crags. Meticulously researched
and written by a team of local authors.

Meticulously researched and written by a team of local authors, this is the
story of the sharp end of Peak District climbing as told through the words of
many of the Peak’s – and the world’s – top climbers, including: James W
Puttrell, Jack Longland, Joe Brown, Don Whillans, Ed Drummond, Tom Proctor,
John Allen, Ron Fawcett, Andy Pollitt, Jerry Moffatt, Johnny Dawes, Ben Moon,
Miles Gibson, Pete Whittaker, Steve McClure, Ryan Pasquill and many more. The
late Giles Barker first started work on Peak Rock – then titled Peak
Performance – in the early 1980s, before progress was halted by his premature
death in 1992. It was almost twenty years before Phil Kelly picked up where
Giles left off, pulling together Giles› original research and interviews,
which were stored at the Mountain Heritage Trust.
Phil enlisted Graham Hoey to work on the book, updating the manuscript with
their own interview material and other primary source information, writing a
number of missing chapters and also adding a number of chapters, including the
significant developments of the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s. Phil and Graham
brought in a team of experienced Peak District climbers drawing on their
knowledge of specific developments – trad climbing, sport climbing,
bouldering, gritstone, limestone – and worked with them to develop individual
chapters. This resulting book on the history of Peak District climbing is the
most comprehensive to be published since Eric Byne and Geoff Sutton’s High
Peak in 1966.