In its intensity and preoccupation with line and space, the climbing experience is akin to poetry. These poems celebrate climbing in all its forms: indoor walls, hill walks, bouldering on Yorkshire grit, traditional climbs in Derbyshire and North Wales, ice climbs on Ben Nevis, the Alps and further afield. They explore risk, falling and finding balance - on rock, ice, and other places in our lives.

For poetry readers, this collection opens a window into the world of climbing, its joys, risks and motivations. For climbers, it showcases poetry's power to express and explore why we climb.