Dry Tooling In the Lake District

Drytooling has now become a sport in its own right! Originally developed in North America on winter routes where sections of rock had to be ascended or crossed in order to link icicles or ice smears to complete a route. As equipment developed and climbers became more confident (or just plain stupid) more technical and desperate sections of rock were being climbed to reach that tantalising ice tentacle or verglas smear!

Nowadays, especially in the UK, indoor drytooling is becoming very popular and as a result Distant Horizons are dedicating a large section of their indoor wall space at the soon to be completed purpose built training facility at Watermillock, Ullswater, specifically to drytooling. There will be 6 different wall lines with 2 additional overhanging roof lines spanning 7m which can be top roped or for the more adventurous led! We are also fitting some 'Ice Holdz' to give that feel of your pick actually being in ice and also some suspended wood log problems. We are offering a range of technical sessions for groups of up to 8 people at our new facility from mid May 2010.

If you want to simply have a go at drytooling why not combine it with an indoor climbing and abseil session before progressing to the dry tooling walls. If you are already experienced and are looking to refine your technique, strength and stamina then book a session with our instructors to enhance your performance. If you are heading off to the Alps in the summer and require some ropework skills for those big mixed alpine routes then a day session could be exactly what you need to practice crevasse rescue and hauling, climbing steep with axes and crampons and place screws!

You can do it all at our training centre. All sessions must be booked in advance by telephoning 017684 86465