Pennine Lines w/c 4 November 2024
|| Mild and claggy || Uninspiring ||
Mono Bulge || Burbage North
|| Focus On... ||
An Overlooked Classic
Back in the game….Firstly, apologies for missing last week’s email. After doing this for well over 18 months now I’ve managed to only miss a week due to the Christmas holidays, but last week I grossly overestimated how much mobile signal and wifi (not to mention time) I’d have at my disposal on a family holiday in the Lakes. Lesson learned there….Anyway by the looks of it most of you will have been too busy climbing in Fontainebleau in shorts to have noticed.
Now November is here temperatures in the Peak have plummeted to 12 degrees, delaying the proper grit season somewhat, which is in no way cause for alarm or existential dread (sarcasm - it IS). However it’s not all bad news, as fans of Kudos wall - all eight of us - have been glad to find that certain limestone crags have actually been largely OK despite the seemingly endless clag, mist and dampness of late. The climbing at Rubicon might be an acquired taste, but as a place to be and hang out whilst nursing bruised fingertips it’s not too shabby, it’s just a shame that the noise from Western Europe’s most expensive civil engineering project somewhat tarnishes the ambience. Luckily photographs have no sound.
Rubicon Wall || Water-cum-Jolly Dale
At this time of year, in this sort of weather, the utility crags really come to the fore. Rubicon is a great example, but on the grit places like Burbage are great examples of where you can make the most of a short window of opportunity, whether that’s giving you a fast-access option for a quick hit when time is short, or rather just as a relatively clean and fast drying crag. But beyond that, there’s certain times when it just feels right to go to Burbage. It’s one of those places where you don’t need a specific goal, you don’t need to turn up on a mission, you can just let the crag guide you and play that afternoon as it lands.
It doesn’t matter if you’ve done everything before, there’s always sport to be had, always a traverse or a variation to be enjoyed, the almost-lost-art of playfulness and creativity still rules here. On a quick hit on a marginal day everything is a bonus, there’s no such thing as wasted time. Everything is a win - at least you didn’t give up and go indoors.
In today’s training-oriented goal-driven climate this is something it’s worth remembering - you don’t have to be targeting a specific problem; warming up on a fingerboard, pulling on the project and the project only, then leaving. It’s fine to just go climbing, to just follow your nose. Walk along the bottom path - looks busy? Keep walking, you’ll find a quiet spot to warm up. It’s a compact and densely developed crag but even when the roadside verges are overflowing with cars there’ll be a hidden line or an overlooked problem to search out.
Mono Bulge || Climber: John Coefield
If you must have some sort of inducement, some carrot to dangle in front of the purple ticking psyche-donkey, to get you digging out a lesser-travelled minor classic then you could do worse than checking out something like Mono Bulge at Font 7b. Down in the woods amid the moss and the twisted boughs it’s one of those which never seems as popular as its immediate neighbours, which must be due to the landing more than anything as the climbing is great. With two or three pads and a spotter you’re sorted so it’s a good experience to share with a mate for mutual encouragement. Don't be put off by the name either; there IS a mono, but your thumb goes in it as a pinch so it's nothing to worry about. Other than being careful to not dab on the rock underneath at the start it’s a fairly slappy powerful affair on friendly holds up the deceptively steep jutting prow, with a few moves where you’ve give it full beans. Great stuff. Boyager and Monochrome might nab the headlines here for the cleanest and purest looking lines, but move for move you can’t really fault Mono Bulge. There’s also the very airy looking right-hand alternative finish, improbably sporting the same grade…hmmmm….which reminds me I’ve still not done that one….. Anyone fancy Burbage next weekend?
|| 2025 Calendar ||
We're getting closer to the Calendar ordering deadline now - just under two weeks until ordering closes, so before you know it it'll be your final chance, with the deadline being the 16th. Once again a huge thanks to everyone who's placed an order, and to everyone else; don't sleep on this one.
|| Recently Through The Lens ||
For your delectation; a sample from Rubicon's all-you-can-crimp buffet, and a rather spectacular dawn cloud inversion in Hathersage from the other week.
|| Fresh Prints ||
If you've been taking the opportunity, quite reasonably, to dodge the uninspiring weather and go indoors, then find a bit of training inspiration from the battered perfection of the Schoolroom hold prints in the Print Shop.
