He was an influential figure in the early development of rock climbing on the gritstone edges of the Peak District of Derbyshire along with his close friends Siegfried Herford, also of Manchester, and Stanley Jeffcoat of Buxton.

In 1903, Laycock became a founder member of the Manchester-based Rucksack Club, which included local climbing enthusiasts such as Charles Pilkington of the glass manufacturing dynasty.

Laycock, Herford and Jeffcoat climbed numerous new routes on the escarpments of Derbyshire, Staffordshire and Yorkshire in the years leading up to the First World War.

Concerned about trespassing, the Rucksack Club had opposed the publication of the book as a number of the crags described were on private property.

Laycock thereafter resigned from the club, and the book was published by the Refuge Printing Department (then an insurance company in Manchester) in 1913.

Rajah and Tan Chye Cheng, received approval for the club at the General Committee Meeting of the Singapore Municipal Council on 28 June 1929.