A new film celebrating the unique, infamous and underrated crag that is Black Rocks is now live on BMC TV. Filmed by Mike Cheque, Johnny Dawes has said "This film was all I love about rock and the climbers that love climbing on it. Well done Mr Cheque!"

Tell us the story behind the film and why you decided to make it - is it a labour of love?

MC: It was absolutely a labour of love! When I first got the idea to make the film I thought I'd make a short film with a few mates climbing the most esoteric easy routes there; something I could shoot over a few weekends and put online almost immediately.

But as more people became interested and I spent more and more time at Black Rocks it just snowballed. I immersed myself in the project for more than a year - cleaning and gardening routes, picking up litter,  learning the crag’s history; just living and breathing Black Rocks really.

Why is Black Rocks so special?

It’s just so far from the template of the standard grit crag. It has such beauty even though it's quite different to the ideal of the unspoilt wilderness. It’s miles from the moors and minutes from the car but when you’re on the routes it can feel as remote as anywhere. Even though it’s small it’s got such a density of quality climbing too. Few grit crags have as many two- and three-star VSs. The hard classics are world famous and there are brilliant, historically important climbs in between.

What's your favourite route there?

Either Central Buttress or Promontory Traverse. Both are unique routes with a real variety of great moves in very grand positions. Proper challenges for their grades too, like all Black Rocks routes. I’d say Gaia if I’d climbed it though: it's such a breathtaking line. I don’t think there’s a climber in the world who’d disagree with that.

Some people think there's a weird atmosphere at Black Rocks - what would you say to that?

It does seem to have this kind of haunted house reputation. I’ve read and heard so many negative stories and assertions about the place and most of them are pretty hard to square with the experience of climbing there every week! I can understand why people get the spooky feeling there, though, particularly on their first visit.

I play with that a bit in the film, but a big part of why I wanted to make it was to destroy some of these myths - show how much fun you can have there, how many quality routes there are and that it’s not this evil crag that you just visit once and run away from. So many of the climbers I filmed admitted that they’d never have climbed there if I hadn’t persuaded them to, but were thanking me afterwards!

Can you tell us a bit about you - what you do, where you live and why you climb?

I’m a librarian by profession, looking after computer systems for the public library service in Nottinghamshire, which is where I live. I climb because I love the outdoors and the physical and mental challenge but also because it’s such an honest activity. You can’t just 'fake it ’til you make it' - you’ve got to be humble and do it simply for the pleasure of the experience. I hope that’s what non-climbers can see when they watch my films.

We want to say a big thanks to every BMC member who continues to support us through the Coronavirus crisis.

From weekly Facebook Lives and GB Climbing home training videos, to our access team working to re-open the crags and fight for your mountain access, we couldn’t do it without you.

Did you know that we've launched a U27 membership offer for just £1.50 / month? And with full membership from £2.50 / month, it's never been easier to join and support our work: 

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/join-the-bmc-for-1-month-U27-membership

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