With the summer now here we are planning on meeting up down at Bowles Rocks in Tunbridge Wells on Friday 16^th July for a Craggy Island social. There will be no formal instruction, just the chance for you to meet up with other Craggy members and staff down at the rocks for a friendly climb.

 There will be people on hand to give advice but YOU will be responsible for your own safety and equipment whilst climbing.

 If you have not been down the Sandstone before, then we suggest that you seek professional instruction before hand. We recommend that you contact Joe Coverley who will be running Sandstone instruction down at Bowles on that night. More information on this can be found by emailing:  climbingtasters@live.co.uk

 For those who have been to the Sandstone before then we shall be there from 6pm and will climb until it gets dark.

 Bowles will be charging the normal entry fee of £2 so please make sure that you pop in to their reception before you start climbing.

 For anyone that has not been to Bowles before please have a look at the following link for directions: http://www.bowles.ac/

For more information or if you have any questions please feel free to contact us, but if not then hopefully we shall see you there.

Tags: Climbing, Social, southern sandstone

Ben Read took the position of Centre Manager at Craggy Island (Guildford) as of the 1st June. So we thought for those who don’t already know Ben, yours truly (Cliff Hanger) would ask him 10 pertinent questions about himself and his policies for the wall.

At 23 Ben is a very young pair of hands for such an important role, however his general enthusiasm and passion for climbing, and the centre, we believe will more than compensate for his lack of years. We’ve known Ben since he started working here 2 years ago as a duty manager and he has more than proved himself capable and popular with the crew and customers. And under the guiding hands of Danie Rushmer (who should need no introduction), now promoted to General Manager we are expecting great things for the future.

Ben in party mood

Q when & why did you start climbing?

Ben; I got into climbing in 2004 through my brother who was working at my local wall. It was mainly a social thing to start with, but soon developed into a passion when I realised I was doing fairly well at it.

Q whats your favourite; bouldering sport or trad climbing?

Ben; I do a bit of everything but prefer bouldering and sport at the moment because it pushes me physically and all in relative safety, as I’m no longer too keen on the whole danger element at this stage of my life.

Q wheres your favourite crag?

Ben; I guess I would have to say Apremont in Font, but equally I do still love going down to High Rocks in Tunbridge Wells, as it feels just like home.

Q tell us about Sandstone the hard routes..

Ben; I started the face book page ‘Southern Sandstone – The Hard Routes’ mainly as a little tick list for myself, but then when people started commenting and adding themselves it soon developed and has now become very popular. It brings a nice sense of community to the Sandstone that brings everyone together in one place. It has also become a great source of information for all things climbing related in the South East.

Q what are your climbing achievements so far?

Ben; Some of my proudest climbing achievements are as follows:

Climbing my first Sport 8a in 2009

Bouldering several 7C+’s around the country

Climbing many first ascents on the Sandstone including Judamondo, my hardest route to date and one of the hardest routes on the Sandstone.

1^st in the Southern Indoor Bouldering League 2009

Top 10 in the British Bouldering Championships 2009

Ben climbing Judamondo a line he developed in 2009

Q what were you doing before you worked at Craggy?

Ben; I used to work for High Sports climbing centres in a variety of different roles for a number of years, I then worked as a freelance route setter and instructor before the position for a Duty Manager came available at Craggy.

Q how and when did you first hear about Craggy and what made you apply to work here ?

Ben; I first heard about Craggy when I was working for High Sports and to be honest I was quite jealous of all the amazing routes and walls that it had. I soon visited and was hooked to the climbing as there is nothing else like it. Then when a position became available about 2 years ago I was very quick to apply. To me it felt like a step up in the climbing world.

Q what is your priority for Craggy now that you are centre manager?

Ben; My main priorities are to continue the high standard that Craggy already offers in all fields and try to develop this further. I want to add to the community side of the wall and create an even more friendly environment for people to climb at. I am going to be running more events and competitions as well as special promotions happening through out the year, so watch this space! I will also be working with Mark Croxall with a view to procuring more holds and volumes to ensure that our routes are always offering fresh challenge for the climbers. Our routes are well known for being imaginative, its so important that we not only maintain this standard but keep pushing the boundaries. Oh yes the grades will continue to be hard won here, its important that when our climbers go outside to sports crags, that the grades achieved at Craggy are genuine.

Q Do you have a mission statement?

Ben; My mission statement is to keep pushing Craggy Island forward and establish ourselves as the true front runners in Indoor Climbing.

Q 10

Ben; A Mature Wensleydale with Cranberries! ( You can try and guess the question)

Tags: Ben Read, southern sandstone