OpenCrag – Climbing and capturing the Great North Wales Outdoors.

OpenCrag is a group of committed photographers who post photos and videos about their passion across a number of social media platforms.

Their regular posts have caught our eye and so of course when we noticed  their exploits in North Wales recently, we just had to get in touch with  them.

Andy Myers got back to us for the following interview.

Andy can you give us a brief Bio on yourself?

I’m Andy Myers, aged 20, I work part time at a local climbing centre and spend the rest of my time working on OpenCrag, I live in Shropshire and I have been climbing now for around 5 or 6 years.

Who’s idea was OpenCrag and how many people are involved?

OpenCrag was more of a natural transition or progression rather than an idea, as we have always made videos and taken photos but never did anything with them other than share them with each other. Living in the age we do now, social media was a great platform to finally show other people our climbing journey.

Where are you all from?

We’re mainly based in Shropshire and Staffordshire although one of our members recently moved to North Wales giving us more of a reach with filming and photography.

What is your background? Are you experienced climbers or do you vary in ability and experience.

We all met and started off at a local bouldering centre, so our roots will always be in bouldering. As time has passed we have all gained experience in other areas such as sport and trad climbing. Some of our members have Single Pitch and Mountain Leaders awards turning there hobby into a career. Some of us have aspirations for some big walls in the future too, which is exciting!

What comes first photography or climbing?

For me it’s got to be photography, as we post daily pictures on our social media platforms it’s my main goal when we go out climbing. If its a choice between a picture and a climbing project the picture will always come first. But it’s all very dependant on the situation. As there are a few of us taking pictures, we can always get that awesome photo we want and send the project as well.

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What photography kit do you use to capture your photos and video?

We use a Nikon D3200 with a 18-55mm lens for our video making and a Canon 500D with a 18-275mm lens for our photography. Also the odd GoPro every now and then.

Where in North Wales have you been to and what attracts you to the region?

We’ve been all over, climbing at the Wavelength Boulders to the Llanberis slate quarries and closer to home Dinbren. What attracts me is the beauty and history of the lines, along with the density of diverse rock types.

What kind of climbing do you do? Aided, Big wall, Bouldering, Crack,solo,Face, Free, Ice, Indoor, Mountain, Roped , Slab Speed, Trad, Tree

Bouldering is a big one for us, as its what we started doing it’s always something we fall back on after doing a big send or video. But there are a lot of us at OpenCrag so although we mainly boulder some of us are fond of sport climbing and trad which is great for our videos and photos as it doesn’t allow the content to become stale.

How long have you been climbing?

We’ve all been climbing for a little over 5 years although we have had a few new comers like Charlotte who’s only been climbing for a year and has managed to crush through the grades doing her first f7A in the Wales video.

Where are you favourite North Wales spots?

I love to climb in the Llanberis Pass, the bouldering and trad climbing there is some of the best in Britain.

What is the future of OpenCrag, where would you like to see it go?

We are in the process of setting up a website allowing us to connect with other climbers a lot better, we’re trying to give people what social media gave to us, a platform to show their passion to who can appreciate it, whether it be an article, a picture or a video. Climbers are friendly and amazing people so we want them to do what they do best and show people who are interested.

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Can others get involved with OpenCrag?

Absolutely, we are more than happy to come out and film/take photo’s of climbers adventures, it’s our passion that we take to heart. Just drop us an email at opencrag@gmail.com and we will answer as fast as possible.

How can we follow you online?

We have pages set up all over. The best places are YouTube for our videos, Instagram/Tumblr for our pictures and Facebook/Twitter for updates.

 

TWITTER: https://twitter.com/OpenCrag
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfqGg6A-0e2JQgnPo6KnrqA
INSTAGRAM: https://instagram.com/opencrag/
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UMBLR: https://www.tumblr.com/tagged/opencrag

Flick of the Tempest | Bouldering at Tanygrisiau (Climbing)