The greatest concentration of celebrated gritstone edges in the Peak District lies along the eastern fringe of the national park, where bold escarpments rise to confine the moorland stretching west from Sheffield. Stanage, Froggatt and Curbar edges are among the most revered names in British climbing. Far to the southwest, in the Staffordshire Moorlands, the … Read more
There are few hills worthy of the name ‘peak’ in the Peak District, with two very distinct exceptions. Geographically secreted in the upper Dove Valley, Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill are spectacular craggy etchings on the skyline of the limestone landscape. Figuratively titled the Dragon’s Back, these peaks are not the only examples of the … Read more
Mam Tor is a social media phenomenon, although most of the 700,000 visitors who stand upon the summit every year have no knowledge of the geologically complex and historically significant land beneath their feet. The hill may be the focal point of Derbyshire’s Great Ridge, although many do not progress beyond Mam Tor’s trig point, … Read more
Kinder Scout is a table top mountain, supporting a vast upland moorland plateau that forms the highest point in the Peak District at 2087ft (636m) from which, quite bizarrely, the skyscrapers of Manchester are clearly visible. Conversely, Kinder is three times taller than the city’s loftiest skyscraper and considerably more extensive, exerting an enticing presence … Read more
A ‘peak’ is a pointed mountain top, so whoever bestowed the name Peak District upon the upland terrain at the southern rise of the Pennines was a little over enthusiastic, for the majority of the higher hills there are not peaks at all, but moorland giants. Nevertheless, there are peaks in this widely varied national … Read more