The BMC Gower Climbing Festival 2019 is now in its 11th year, making it the longest continuously running climbing meetup in the UK. Regular attendees from all across the UK will confess to the delights of the Gower climbing, the fabulous scenery and the much-appreciated morning bacon rolls (veggie options available too!).

The BMC Gower Climbing Festival is well established, and this year's event will be held on the weekend of Friday August 30th to Sunday Sept 1st. The festival base this year will be at Moorlakes Wood Activity Centre, a private woodland next to Swansea Airport. It has camping fields, plenty of trees for hammocks, hard ground for campervans and a bunkhouse for those who don't have a tent.

Gower Climbing Festival Schedule

14:00                 Moorlakes Wood Campsite OPEN

19:30 - 21:00    Talk by Tom Livingstone at The Climbing Hangar (SA7 9FH)

Late                   Campfire at Moorlakes Wood

08:30 - 9:15        Yoga on site with Abbey from YogiBach

09:00 - 10:30      BMC Breakfast on site

09:00 - 10:30      Clipstick and gear demo by Pongoose on site

10:00 - 13:00      Introduction to leading workshop with Matt from OutdoorMatters, meet at Moorlakes campsite

14:00 - 17:00      Vertical positioning workshop with Matt from OutdoorMatters, meet at Southgate car park (Pennard Stores, SA3 2DH)

19:00                   Pongoose stand and gear demo at the Beaufort Arms

19:30                   Quiz at the Beaufort Arms pub in Kittle (SA3 3JG)

21:00                   Showing of Blood Moon at the Beaufort Arms

Late                     Campfire at Moorlakes wood

08:30 - 09:15        Yoga on site with Abbey from YogiBach

09:00 - 10:30         BMC breakfast on site

09:00 - 10:30         Clipstick and gear Demo by Pongoose on site

10:00 - 17:00         Full introduction to sport climbing workshop with Matt from OutdoorMatters, meet at Moorlakes camp site

10:00 - 12:00         Morning kids climbing session with RockUK, meet in the pay and display car park in Port Eynon (SA3 1NN)

13:00 - 15:00         Afternoon kids climbing session with Rock UK, meet in the pay and display car park in Port Eynon (SA3 1NN)

Any questions feel free to drop us an email and we'll get back to you as soon as we can! gowerclimbingfestival@gmail.com

More information on how to join in these activities (booking required for some events) on the Gower Climbing Festival website or join the Facebook group for the latest updates.

There is something for everyone, so whether it’s your first time climbing on real rock or you’ve climbed for years, come and enjoy a fun weekend on Gower. 

More about whats on:

Throughout the entire festival, you'll all be encouraged to take part in the weekend-long litter pick! We will be handing out bags at breakfasts and encouraging people to pick up litter at crags, joining in with the BMC Hills 2 Oceans initiative!

On Friday evening Tom Livingstone is giving a talk at The Climbing Hangar, where you'll be able to hear the dramatic tales of his epic ascent of Latok 1. We will be kicking off Saturday with a free yoga class and a fresh bacon and/or egg butty from local sources (for a small donation to a charitable cause). There’ll also be some friendly chit-chat and advice for those who want it for a fun day of climbing ahead of them.

Photos: Tom Ripley and Dan Lane photography

For those new to outdoor climbing, local aficionado and qualified climbing instrutor, Matt Woodfield will be running a free morning workshop introducing sport climbing and leading.

The evening will be spent in the pub with a family-friendly pub quiz and a showing of the climbing film Blood Moon.

Sunday will see a free kids outdoor taster session at local crags after the morning meet to get the kids off the plastic and on to some real rock. Then for those who want to learn a bit more about sport leading, Matt is running the full length learning to lead sport workshop. More experienced climbers can come along to a session on how to bolt.

Pongoose

The lovely people from Pongoose are coming along to the festival this year to show off some of their top of the range clip sticks and help you get the most out of your sport climbing and bouldering adventures.

The unique design of their clip sticks makes it all the more easy to get your draws in, and importantly out, of your project. The sticks also double as a extendable bouldering brush and GoPro mount with attachments that you can swap in and out with no faff!

The owners of the company, Katie and Robin will be at the festival base camp for breakfast and Beaufort Arms for the quiz and film as well as heading to some sport crags, so you can have a go checking out how their clip sticks work. What's even more exciting is that Katie and Robin will be showing off the new longer length clipstick, the Pongoose Climber 1000+.

There will be a few tasty bits of kit on offer as prizes for a competition yet to be announced too!

Check out their website for a sneak peak of what's in store.

Watch: Tom LIvingstone sample the delights of some of best routes at Gogarth

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