Women's Trad Festival is a trad climbing festival in the Peak District, bridging the gap between indoor and outdoor climbing. If you'd like to find out about the festival, sign up to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.
We aim to help beginners transition from indoor to outdoor climbing, support women and other marginalised genders in outdoor leadership, and to help create an inclusive network of trad climbers.
Read more about why our aims are important here.
We are an inclusive community, welcoming and actively seeking to support diversity in all its forms. We support, connect and inspire climbers of all abilities, ages and genders, ethnicities and backgrounds; you are welcome no matter who you are, where you come from, your experience. Our most recent project, Climbers Like Me, has been shining a light on and celebrating the diversity within our wonderful community.
Underpinning everything we do are three core values: Accessibility, Sustainability and Mental Wellbeing. Since the start, they have been fundamental to who we are and what the Women’s Trad Festival is about. Read more about how our values are interwoven into the festival here.
Watch the 2022 festival film:
What is trad climbing?
Trad climbing is where the first person (leader) climbs a route placing their own gear and clipping the rope into that as protection if they were to fall. Once at the top, the other person who was belaying them (the second) climbs up too, taking out all the gear and leaving the rock face as they found it.
Trad climbing is the traditional form of climbing in the UK and a big part of the UK climbing culture.
![40 WTF-21-Jessie_Leong-[F79A6537] copy.jpg](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/b78e6d_99bab1c86f564de69298161529516571~mv2.jpg/v1/fill/w_76,h_51,al_c,q_80,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,blur_2,enc_auto/b78e6d_99bab1c86f564de69298161529516571~mv2.jpg)
How the festival works:
Women’s Trad Festival a fun and learning-filled weekend in the Peak District. Everyone camps in a big field with a marquee and food and drink stalls. Throughout the weekend, experienced trad climbers, ‘leaders’, are carefully paired with new climbers, ‘learners’. Leaders teach and support learners in whatever area they need it most, gear-placement, rope-work, anchors, leading or confidence building. Highly qualified professional MCI instructors and members of the Association of Mountaineering Instructors,, 'mentors', support the leaders offering advice and ensuring safety throughout the weekend. There are also a number of 'workshops' running, helping climbers who already have some experience to gain new skills.
The best way to get a taste of what Women’s Trad Festival is like to attend is to read about previous year’s events, check out the photos and watch the festival films!
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Women's Trad Festival.