Situated between Sheffield to the east, Derby to the south and Manchester to the west, this is the most popular rock climbing area in England, with literally many thousands of routes to choose from. These routes offer a wide variety of style of rock climbing and different types of rock.

The area is famous for its gritstone edges, such as Stanage and Froggatt that are situated on the moors around the villages of Hathersage and Grindleford, plus others further afield such as The Roaches near Leek. These are generally single pitch routes where the leader has to place traditional gear such as nuts and cams. Under no circumstances will you find any bolts or pegs on these gritstone edges! The style of climbing varies from hand jamming cracks to delicately smearing up slabs that offer superb friction. It is at these Gritstone crags where the majority of the bouldering in the Peaks is also found.

The Peak Distract also has many limestone rock climbing areas that are both natural crags and old disused quarries. The natural crags found at places such as Stoney Middleton, and High Tor near Matlock, offer both single pitch and multi-pitch routes. Here again the style of climbing is to place traditional gear such as nuts and cams, though you will find some in-situ pegs. At the old disused quarries, such Horseshoe quarry, there are many single pitch bolted sport routes.

It is possible to rock climb in the Peak District throughout the year providing it is dry. During the winter, on crisp cold days, is the best time to go gritstone bouldering, as this is when the friction is at its best. Also during the winter many of the limestone quarries offer sheltered sport climbing. The best time for traditional rock climbing on many of the edges is from spring right through to autumn. 

There are many different rock climbing and bouldering guidebooks that cover the various gritstone and limestone crags of the Peak District.  These can be summarised by the definitive guidebooks (published by the BMC) and various selective guidebooks.

The definitive guidebooks for the Peak District are as follows:

Stanage – details all the trad and bouldering at the Peak’s premier crag.

Froggatt to Black Rocks – details all the trad and bouldering at 15 crags including Froggatt, Curbar, Gardom's Edge, Birchen, Cratcliffe, and Black Rocks.

Burbage, Millstone and Beyond – details all the trad and bouldering at over 20 crags including Burbage, Higgar Tor, Millstone, Lawrencefield, Rivelin, Bamford, and Wharncliffe.

Over The Moors – details all the trad and bouldering at 17 crags that ring the mighty moorlands of Kinder, Bleaklow & the Chew Valley.

The Roaches – details all the trad and bouldering on the Staffordshire gritstone crags including the classic crags of The Roaches, Hen Cloud and Ramshaw.

Peak Limestone North – details all the trad and sport at 92 crags in the northern half of the Peaks, including Stoney Middleton, Horseshoe Quarry, Raven Tor, Chee Dale, Staden Quarry, and Harpur Hill.

Peak Limestone South – details all the trad and sport at 50 crags in the southern half of the Peaks, including High Tor, Wildcat, Willersley, Dovedale, Beeston Tor, Matlock Quarries and Wirksworth Quarries.

Churnet Bouldering – details all the bouldering found in the Lower Churnet Valley in Staffordshire.

The selective rock climbing and bouldering guidebooks for the Peak District are as follows:

Eastern Grit – published by Rockfax it covers 26 crags ranging from Wharncliffe, north of Sheffield, to Shining Cliff, south of Matlock.

Western Grit – published by Rockfax it covers 35 crags in Staffordshire, around Buxton, and the remote moors around Kinder and Bleaklow.

Peak Limestone – published by Rockfax it covers the best trad and sport limestone crags in the Peaks.

True Grit - covers over 4,000 routes on the finest gritstone crags in the Peak District.

Moorland Grit – details the trad bouldering at many lost and hidden crags around Glossop and the north-west Peak District.

The Sport Climbing in England and Wales, Volume 1, North – published by the Oxford Alpine Club it covers 16 sport climbing crags in the Peak District.

Peak District Bouldering – is probably the most comprehensive guidebook covering the bouldering in the Peaks.

Peak Bouldering – published by Rockfax it covers 3,394 problems across 66 crags.