Gower Climbing Festival
BMC Gower Climbing Festival is a weekend of adventure on the Gower Peninsula in South Wales. Whether you're a seasoned sea-cliff climber or new to outdoor trad, this community-driven festival is the perfect way to explore Gower's stunning limestone cliffs. Expect epic routes, social gatherings, and plenty of local knowledge to help you make the most of your time on the rock. Come for the climbing, stay for the good vibes – and let’s celebrate one of Britain’s best coastal areas together!
Base camp will be held at the beautiful Moorlakes Wood campsite where there will be space for camping, campervanning and even hammocking! We will have a variety of activities to do on-site including morning yoga, gear demos with Petzl, slacklining, campfires, discos, talks and more! In the evenings there will be a fully licensed bar selling a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and you can choose the fully catered ticket option to get breakfast and dinner cooked for you on Saturday and Sunday.
During the day plenty of locals will be around to recommend the best climbing locations across the peninsula. Or if you want to learn something new, we have climbing instructors running courses on a variety of skills from taking the first steps to climbing outside to self rescue on sea cliffs.
The BMC Gower Climbing Festival is entirely non-profit, organised and run by a small team of volunteers and supported by funding from the British Mountaineering Council.
TICKETS ON SALE NOW
FESTIVAL TICKETS
Concession Festival ticket (includes camping and discounted BMC membership) | £65
This is for students, under 18's, those on low income or those who are retired.
BMC member Festival ticket (includes camping) | £60
You'll need to add your BMC membership number at the checkout
BMC Gower Festival Bursary Scheme
This scheme aims to make the festival more accessible by providing financial support to individuals who may face barriers to participation.
This initiative is designed to support climbers from diverse backgrounds, ensuring that financial constraints do not prevent them from experiencing the festival. The bursary may cover entry fees, travel, or accommodation costs, depending on individual needs.
Applications will be reviewed based on specific criteria to ensure fair distribution of support, reinforcing the festival’s commitment to inclusivity and community engagement. We have 10 bursary places available and bursary applications close on 30th April. You will not need to purchase a ticket to apply.
Please apply for the scheme using the following link below.
ADDITIONAL COURSE TICKETS
SATURDAY | First steps to outdoor (Trad) Climbing | £50
Whether you are new to climbing or only climbed indoors then this day is for you. Refine belay skills, learn about guidebooks, outdoor climbing safely and movement on rock. There may also be the opportunity to look at outdoor trad gear, placing some gear and setting up anchors.
This course if led by outdoor instructor Tom Partridge
SATURDAY | Intro to multipitch | £95
This course is aimed at helping you develop your multi pitch climbing skills so the you can climb multi pitch routes more confidently with greater efficiency. Throughout the day you'll receive personalised coaching and instruction helping you develop the skills you need to develop your climbing.
This workshop will be co delivered by Emlyn Price and Henry Giles
SATURDAY | Fear Of Falling Workshop | £70
In this workshop you will learn different techniques and mental strategies for managing fear while climbing. We will look at belaying improvements, how to land well on the rock, and assessing risks from the ground and on the wall as well as relaxation and grounding techniques for managing fear.
Suitable for those who can belay and climb 5b and up outside.
Run by labyrinth climbing: coaching@labyrinthclimbing.co.uk
SATURDAY | First steps to Sport Climbing | £70
A full day workshop looking at the skills, knowledge and equipment you need to safely climb bolted routes outdoors. To get the most from this workshop you should be comfortable leading indoors, or have done some outdoor leading/seconding.
This workshop will be run by Climbing Instructor Steffan Jacob.
SUNDAY | Sea Cliffs and Self Rescue | £70
A full day workshop looking at the skills, knowledge and equipment you need to safely enjoy routes on sea cliffs, and be able to get yourself out of trouble when things don’t go to plan. This workshop will be run by local guidebook author and Mountaineering & Climbing Instructor Matt Woodfield.
SUNDAY | Building belays, abseiling and setting top ropes | £70
This is a technical day for anyone who has experience of climbing outdoors and is looking to get into being a competent outdoor climber - ideal for those looking to lead climb, multi pitch climb or access crags from above via abseiling.
We will cover gear placement, keeping yourself safe on the top, methods for belay set ups, setting up tops ropes and descending a crag safely.
This course if led by outdoor instructor Tom Partridge.
SUNDAY | Projecting Workshop | £70
Learn an approach that will help you find joy in mastering a route, and allow you to push your grade. Among other things, we will look at finding beta, equipping a route, and remembering sequences.
Suitable for those who can belay and climb 6a and up.
This workshop is run by Labyrinth Climbing
SUNDAY | Advanced Trad Climbing | £70
This course is aimed at helping you develop your skills so you can climb more confidently with greater efficiency and ultimately harder on sport or trad routes.
This workshop will be co delivered by Emlyn Price and Henry Giles
Food Tickets
Alternative Accommodation
Festival Evening Activities
FAQs
Festival tickets include camping for 3 nights at the beautiful Moorlakes Wood campsite as well as access to all the festival activities including yoga, talks, gear demos, live music, the UV party and our quiz night. This year tickets also include free annual BMC Membership worth £50!
Our wonderful caterers are back again this year making delicious food all weekend and running the bar late into the night. You can buy a food ticket via the eventbrite which will cover your breakfast and dinner for Saturday and Sunday. Dinner on Friday will be available to purchase on the night. You will need to bring your own lunch or get something from a local venue while you're out exploring Gower!
Children are very welcome at GCF, all our activities are suitable for children. Under 14’s go free, just get one of the free tickets on the eventbrite so we can keep track of numbers. 14 to 17 year olds qualify for our concession tickets and will receive free BMC membership with their ticket. Please note that under 18’s must be accompanied by an adult with their own festival ticket.
Yes, we love dogs, just make sure to keep them on a lead at all times while on site and to pick up after them. (They don’t need a ticket!)
Moorlakes is a woodland site owned and run by the scouts. It has limited space for cars to park on site so you will be asked to park on the common and make a short walk to site where you can choose your camping spot. The site is over 40 acres so you have plenty of choice when choosing where to camp. There will be a quiet camping field away from the noise of the main festival hub and some portaloos are placed in the woods around these camping fields.The paths around site are rocky/rooty and can be quite uneven so care is needed when navigating, especially in the dark. There will be an accessible portaloo at the main festival hub.
If you have any questions about accessibility or feel you need special provisions please let us know and we will do our best to accommodate your needs
The site charges a day rate per person per 24 hrs so the price would be the same whether you plan to camp or not, this means we are unable to offer cheaper ticket options to those not wishing to camp on site. However once you have your festival ticket you can come and go as you please so it’s not a problem if you’d like to stay somewhere else nearby.
We would really like to emphasise that you can not stay in your vehicle in the car park. We don’t own the land that we use for parking and have an agreement with the farmer that we don’t want to jeopardise. If we lose the ability to park cars on this land the festival will no longer be able to go ahead! So please don’t breach the terms of our agreement by sleeping in your vehicle. If we find anyone not following these rules we will have to ask you to leave.
Bring all the things you’ll need to camp in the woods, you will also need a torch, a chair for the talks and quiz, cash for buying things from the vendors if the signal is too weak for card payments, a power bank to charge your phone, a bin bag so you can take your rubbish home with you and maybe some wet wipes as we don’t currently have any showers onsite.
No, unfortunately there are no showers on site, and the toilets will be portaloos. The site is still under development and hopefully we can expect these improvements in the future.
The site does not have hook-up, however if you really need to charge your phone there will be a charging point at reception. Please note we can not take any responsibility for devices left unattended.
The signal tends to be quite patchy, the best provider for signal on Gower in general is usually Vodafone.
Gower offers a great variety of limestone climbing, from adventurous sea cliff trad climbing to spectacular sunny sport crags and beach boulders. Grades range from Mod’s to E8’s and 4’s to 8b’s so theres something for everyone! There will be plenty of locals around at the festival to ask for advice about where to climb over the weekend. Free up to date topos and descriptions for all the gower crags can be found at the South Wales Climbing Wiki
Yes the bus goes right past the site! You can get the 118 bus to Rhossili from Swansea City bus station and get off at the Airport stop, it's then a 10-15 minute walk to the site from there. This bus could also be used to take you to the crags over the weekend as it goes all over Gower! Find more details here on the Adventure Travel Cymru Bus website
