Laddow Rocks
Dig out the plus fours and ditch the chalk bag for a visit to a proper old school crag.
From its lofty position above Crowden Brook Laddow looks down on the Longdendale valley and across to the dark mass of Bleaklow. As you walk up from Crowden you have time to scan the cliff for its classic lines. Cracks and buttresses punctuate its steep face. Perched at the top of the steep moorland valley and finishing where the heather meets the sky this is natural gritstone. It's a long way from the sterility of the indoor wall or the convenience of roadside belays. Laddow is something altogether wilder and less comfortable. Good belays are scarce, holds are often dirty and rarely picked out for you in a previous climber's chalk. There's a good selection of routes in the lower grades, but they don't always feel like it. Laddow offers not just a great day's climbing but a real adventure.

I first climbed here in May 1964, my first ever "proper" rock climb. With an older friend from school I caught the bus from Hyde to Crowden.  As we walked up past the active rifle range my gaze was fixed on our objective and I imagined myself on a treck through Tibet to conquer some unclimbed Himalayan peak.
We did ten routes that day, diffs, Vdiffs and one severe and I became a climber.

Meet at Crowden car park 0900 - 0930 to walk up to the crag.
Convene at the cave at the far end of the crag.

Wet weather alternative:

leave the climbing gear in the car and walk up to the crag, brew stop in the cave then continue up the Pennine Way to Black Hill, descending via Tooleyshaw Moss and Loftend Quarry.