Rick Armitage

Rick began climbing "properly" (as he puts it) in 2001, though he had done a little before that in the army. He started on the gritstone outcrops, such as Baildon Bank, Ilkley Quarry, Caley and Almscliffe, around his home town of Farsley, near Leeds, and soon progressed to climbing in the Peak District, Wales, the Lake district and Scotland. Highlight ascents include Great North Road (HVS) at Millstone, Main Wall (S), Cyrn Las, Tophet Wall (HS), Great Gable and Tower Ridge in winter (IV), Ben Nevis. He has also been out to the alps and experienced the usual battles with the weather - routes include the Normal Route on the Miroir d'Argentine (5a+), the North Face (F) of Tête Blanche (3429m) and Cosmiques Arête (PD+) on the Aiguille du Midi (3842m). In 2014 Rick had a bad climbing accident which put him in a coma for three weeks and out of action for much longer. In recent years Rick has got back into climbing at a modest level and also enjoys fell-walking, cycling and running. Rick mostly works in our mail order department.