Bermuda’s burgeoning deep-water solo and sports climbing scenes are being featured by Britain’s biggest rock climbing magazine, highlighting the potential for the activity to grow here.

David Pickford, editor of Climb magazine, has been climbing for 25 years, spanning 40 countries, and is on the Island to get first-hand experience of what our cliff and cave faces have to offer.

Boasting a vast experience and knowledge about various disciplines of climbing, he has described Bermuda’s offering as “remarkably good”.

The Island has two distinct styles of climbing — sport climbing, in which a climber is secured by ropes fed through bolt holes in the rockface, and deep-water soloing, when the climber is unattached but can fall safely into the water.

Mr Pickford was invited to the Island by a friend, Bermuda resident and climbing enthusiast Grant Farquhar, who has almost single-handedly developed climbing as a sport here over the past decade.

Mr Pickford told The Royal Gazette: “Bermuda is a hugely attractive place to come whether you are a climber, a yachtsman, a diver or surfer — there is so much cool stuff here if you enjoy the outside life and water sports. There are about 250 deep-water solo routes and about 50 sports routes here so far.

“I would say from an outsider’s point of view, sport climbing is great, but the thing that climbers would travel here for is the deep-water soloing.

“The sea temperature here is warm enough most of the year. I’m from the UK, so it’s pretty mild and the season can be really long here. Then there is the presence of the sea everywhere. I hear people come and don’t want to leave.”

Bermuda has recently been named Best Island by Outside magazine, which cited deep-water soloing and the America’s Cup as two of the Island’s strongest attractions.

While the climbing scene here is still in its infancy, a number of famous climbers have visited to scale our rockfaces, including professional extreme sports athlete Tim Emmett, and Seb Grieve, who featured in the award-winning climbing film, Hard Grit.

There are about 20 dedicated climbers based in Bermuda, from age 15 to 50, and most of them are Bermudian.

During his visit, Mr Pickford was particularly impressed with the Great Head in St David’s and Clarence Cove, which will both feature in the print and digital editions of the magazine.

Mr Pickford said: “The Great Head in St David’s is probably the highest cliff on the Island at 100 feet.

“It’s a really steep cave, so the climbing is overhanging and you must use ropes. The hardest sport climb in Bermuda is there, which goes through the middle of the cave.

“I also love Clarence Cove — it is so accessible. You can park your car at the top of the cliff, put on your board shorts, chalk bag and shoes, scamper down and you are climbing after a couple of minutes.

“It’s a special place. There is something of a James Bond-feel down there as you approach the climbs through this amazing cave.

“There is something quite glamorous about being here.

“It’s one of those things that is hard to describe in a single sentence. There is a combination of the old colonial style and then there is also its big international community.”

Mr Pickford believes there is the potential for rock climbing to grow in popularity in Bermuda, both locally and through promoting it internationally as a climbing destination.

Mr Farquhar regularly posts information about the local scene online at http://climbderock.wikifoundry.com.

He said: “A lot has been developed but there is still significantly more routes that could be established.

“There could be 200 more deep-water solo spots and there is the potential for a similar number of additional sport climbs. It is far from all worked out.

“Word gets around, especially when a magazine article comes out about it.

“Also, in the last decade there has been an exponential explosion in both the popularity of both sport climbing and also bouldering, which has been driven by the rise of indoor climbing gyms in cities around the rich world.

“As a result, the existing sport and bouldering areas in Europe and the US — such as Bishop in California and the Red River Gorge — have become really popular and are at capacity. It is maxed out.

“So the rise of places like Bermuda on the world climbing map is cool because it releases the pressure off these really popular places.

“What is interesting about Bermudian climbing is that it is part of the general expansion of the map of world climbing as the sport grows and develops.”

The Bermuda feature will appear in Climb magazine’s Autumn 2015 edition and online via at www.climbmagazine.com