Pennine Lines w/c 10 July 2023
|| Showers, unsettled || Windows of opportunity ||
Cold Diggerty || Climber: Adam Long
|| Focus on…. ||
Baslow
I’ll admit to July being a bit of a weird time for climbing and the Peak in general. Or at least it is for me. Traditionally it’s quite a humid month, getting a bit more damp, and usually it’s the warmest time of the year. Motivation and performance comes in fits and starts, with the feeling that you’re at the mercy of the odd cooler day. Even my landscape photo opportunities on the grit edges are limited due to the stiffing green pallet of bracken (something I will continue to complain about, sorry not sorry). Autumn still feels like a long way off at this point, but time pressure is felt on those summer limestone projects when you know you have a family holiday coming in August to break to often-essential regularity. And nothing is as much of a psyche killer than having to come back to an unfinished project. "Yeah I think I'll probably keep heading to limestone instead this year once it cools off in autumn" - yeah right. Never happens. I know that once back from holiday I’ll be itching to get back onto grit.
With that in mind, instead of banging on about the minutiae of the foot sequence on some steep limestone roof or other, I’m just going to give in to that whole wishing-your-life-away thing and talk about one of the spots which makes a great early-season grit venue - Baslow.
When all anyone was supposed to be interested in was route climbing, Baslow took a back seat to its near neighbours. It lacks the stature and the big routes of Curbar, it’s not equipped with classic after classic for the slab climber like Froggatt, and the rock quality for the most part is nowhere near as good as Gardoms. So Baslow is a really the underdog of the Eastern Edges, but viewed through a pair of bouldering eyes this underdog has a few tricks up its sleeve. Even in the bouldering age it's still a little bit off piste and doesn't have a rep for being especially hardcore, or easy, or user friendly, or fast drying, so you're unlikely to find yourself fighting for space.
A late summer Renaissance || Climber: Dave Parry
With some notable exceptions a lot of the best problems at Baslow are furnished with relatively positive holds, by gritstone standards. So early in the season this makes it a great place to get reacquainted and try and work your way back into the whole ‘gritstone feel’ thing with no heroics required. One of the first boulders encountered from the parking is the Square Stone, which embodies this perfectly - nice holds, not high, with a good spread of problems in the lower grades to get you going.
Working further long the edge there’s a great circuit of problems dotted around that you can dip in and out of to suit. Thin walls, short solos, and even the old classic lowball traverses on the Walnut boulder. There are a few things which get a little taller though, should you need to test the highball nerves a little, safe in the knowledge that there’s no gripping slopey mantle finishes. There’s a few taller slabs, old routes rebooted as classy highballs; Renaissance being the obvious one. For some slightly overhanging terrain the quarried wall of Hot Ziggerty has a couple of great problems and variations to put the limestone finger strength to good use while still requiring a bit of a cool grit head.
The lesser-climbed line of Cold Diggerty, breaking across the left side of the wall, is a classic example of a problem that looks like it could be any grade at all if you catch it unchalked. It doesn’t give a lot away just looking at it. But once you piece together where the decent holds are it’s surprisingly amenable, given the terrain it crosses. It takes a bit of commitment, and a couple of pads, but it’s a good early-season confidence boost if you can unlock it.
Avoiding the crowds || Eagle Stone
I couldn’t really write about Baslow without mentioning the Eagle Stone. Much has been said about this boulder (well, a tor really, as it’s part of the bedrock) and to be honest all of the plaudits are justified. It’s an outstanding piece of rock, with no really easy way up (even the descent requires some care) so every line of ascent is worth something and memorable in some way.
The groove line of A Beagle Tor Far was a difficult choice for inclusion in Grit Blocs simply because all of the other main lines on here make an equally strong case. The low roof of A Fist Full Of Beagles is perhaps the straggler in this group, but the delicate lurch off the unique sharp edges of The Beagle Has Landed is superb, the reachy slopers of The Good The Bad And The Beagle require good fingers, and the oddball undercutting double-dyno (or thin pocket pull) of Where Beagles Dare is just a brilliant example of gritstone weirdness.
My favourite is probably For A Few Beagles More - steeper than the rest, with the crux higher up, and an actual bit of proper sloper mauling to finish - thankfully above a flawless landing. I will admit it’s markedly easier for the tall, but what can I say, sometimes you play the hand you’re dealt in life. Regardless of height it’s a great one to prove to yourself that you’re ready for the cool weather again. If you can get all the main lines done in the Eagle Stone in a visit, well, then you’re set for a productive autumn.
The Beagle Has Landed || Climber: Adam Long
|| SUPPORTED BY ||
|| Recently Through The Lens ||
Enjoying the big clouds and the limestone savagery.
|| Fresh Prints ||
Looking forward to autumn this week in the Print Shop.
