Salt on the Breeze

A trad climbing trip to Pabbay and Mingulay, off the west coast of Scotland, with some international friends. We discovered beautiful, pumpy trad climbing surrounded by nature, with birds and basking sharks for company.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneAugust 29, 2024writing, pabbay, mingulay, trad climbing, scotlandComment

What Lies Beneath

A short piece about Deep Water Soloing the route, ‘I Ran The Bath’ (E7/7b) with Andy Moles. The route climbs above a lake in Vivian Quarry, a short walk from the village of Llanberis in North Wales. Mixing DWS and pure soloing above the mirror-like surface of the lake made for some interesting moments.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneAugust 11, 2020climbing, writing, deep water soloing, what lies beneath, vivian quarryComment

Conan

Conan the Librarian (E6 6b) defines sea-cliff climbing at Gogarth - which is a defining part of UK traditional climbing. The route climbs from sea level to the top of Wen Zawn, via some of the steepest, wildest, juggiest, loosest rock. It’s just the best type of adventure you can have, and one of the routes I’d saved for a very long time. Together with Ben Silvestre, I’m glad we saved the route…

trad climbingTom LivingstoneAugust 30, 2019writingComment

The Good Life

I climbed a new route on Cloggy, in North Wales, and the process reminded me of why I like North Wales so much - living here really is ‘the good life!’ It’s amazing what you can find if you start looking…

The Collection - Bold or Stupid

This is the last of five short stories based around climbing, and describes a gripping time on 'Book of Ages,' Yellow Walls. A micro-wire was all I could find. The stories were first written about two years ago, and have never been published.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneNovember 24, 2017yellow wall, gogarth, trad climbing, the collectionComment

The Collection - Goldmember

This is the fourth of five short stories based around climbing, and describes one of my 'lucky' pieces of gear: a small gold wire, which has stood the test of time (just). The stories were first written about two years ago, and have never been published.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneNovember 17, 2017the collection, goldmemberComment

The Collection - RPs

This is the third of five short stories based around climbing, and describes buying my first micro-wire - a Brass Offset. These legendary minuscule pieces of gear are synonymous with hard - and bold - trad climbing. The stories were first written about two years ago, and have never been published.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneNovember 10, 2017trad climbing, rps, the collection, brass wire, llanberis, north walesComment

The Collection - It's Only a Skyhook

This is the second of five short stories based around climbing, and describes a frightening trad lead, when I 'came to' high above a skyhook, about to fall off.

The stories were first written about two years ago, and have never been published.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneNovember 3, 2017the collection, skyhook, trad climbing, onsight, north wales, summerComment

The Collection - New Blue in the Deep Blue

This is the first of five short stories based around climbing, and describes a dirtbag climber's worst nightmare - losing gear to the sea. The stories were first written about two years ago, and have never been published.

trad climbingTom LivingstoneOctober 27, 2017trad climbing, pembroke, cam, the collection, new blue in the deep blueComment

Sugar Rush

A visit to Red Walls should contain as much excitement as nervousness. This piece describes two days of trad climbing with John Orr and Tim Neill at Red Walls - one of the finest crags at Gogarth.