Pennine Lines w/c 8 January 2024
|| Cold and damp || Keep it local ||
Acid Reign || Climber: Adam Long
|| Focus On... ||
Rivelin
So here we are staring down the barrel of another January. Exiting the Christmas period slightly heaver than we entered it, paper recycling bin overflowing, and dreams of endless cool crisp winter days dashed to pieces on brown wet rocks. Brown wet rock, next to brown wet mud, with some brown wet decaying leaves thrown into the mix. Make no mistake, January is a brown month. At least the wet days will be getting slightly longer now with the evenings drawing out, so that’s something at least. Things can only get better.
One thing I’ve noted over the years is I don’t seem to take that many climbing photos during January, in general. I suppose that tells you something about the prevailing weather. And those that I do have tend to be dominated by one or two crags; one or two reliable fallback options which we seem to default to. Burbage North, obviously, but even then Burbage is still a moorland crag, getting moorland weather. Sometimes you need to retreat to those lower lying and slightly more urban crags when it’s really grim.
In fact, Rivelin is a classic winter venue, THE January crag. I swear some years have passed where it’s the only place I’ve found dry rock. Low lying and sheltered, yet open enough for that fine grained rock to dry fast; it’s a sun trap too and rarely feels as grim and bleak as other Sheffield local moorland crags. On a dull day it can seem like a brown crag for those brown January days, so it just fits. But it's even better when the low winter sun rakes through the bare trees, the light modelling the crag, shadows are cast and everything pops into relief. BOOM.
April Fool || Climber: Dave Norton
Rivelin doesn’t get the credit it deserves really. I know the Needle is a bit of a trad crowd pleaser but the entire natural crag has some superb trad routes in the HVS-mid-E-grades area. Blizzard Ridge, Exit, Roof Route, I’m Back, Easy Pickings, The Brush Off, Auto Da Fae, etc etc. All classics. There are not that many of them, but the crag sports a good density of legit bangers, and for the most part they are pretty approachable and not too intimidating, so perfect for picking off the odd one on a winter afternoon. And that’s before you get to the hard ones like Moolah or New Mediterranean, or go down the trad esoterica rabbit hole of cleaning up any routes in Rivelin Quarries.
Then you’ve got the sort of highball / short solo circuit in the Font 5/6 region into the low 7s. Again, not tons and tons of lines, but just about enough to create a decent circuit and give a much needed bit of outdoor mileage during the grim dark winter weeks, especially if all you feel like you’re doing is hanging off a bit of wood in your cellar.
I'm Back || Climber: James Parrott
For pure bouldering Rivelin hasn’t proved to be a massive hotbed of ongoing development in the way that, say, Wharncliffe has been. There’s just not the same magnitude of scattered and uncharted large boulders, and the crag is too densely packed to really hide much. So for destination problems to lure the masses away from Stanage there’s probably only really one or two at each grade, if that. But they are good ‘uns! I gave Master Kush the nod for Grit Blocs, but Acid Reign is up there with anything in terms of clarity of line, Happy Campus / No Class in the quarries is a bit of a brutal local classic, Faze Action is a stern test of the fingers, and Trivial Pursuits 2 is a brilliant little line too. The list goes on, and if you want to see what an unrepeated Font 8a looks like that’s repelled various 8b+/8c wads then have a look at Nik’s Wall.
Despite the quality problem cup runneth-ing over it’s still a relative backwater really, ignoring the temporary post-lockdown boost when you couldn’t drive a pathogen over an administrative boundary. But it’s always worth considering on those marginals days when the options are slim. In snow it’s often a winner as the road stays pretty clear, and it gets less snow than the moorland crags to begin with. Also, the start of the old John Allen E5 route Moontan stays remarkably dry in the rain and snow, being protected from above by the rest of the route, and is a a great problem in its own right with a good landing and some really fingery climbing. Always given 7a+ but it was a bit of a nemesis of mine for years despite it ticking all my usual boxes (reach AND crimpy) so personally I don’t reckon you get much change out of a 7b note. It’s a really a stern test of crimping and at least ensures you won’t leave Rivelin openhanded.
Moontan Start || Climber: Adam Long
|| Recently Through the lens ||
Shapes thrown during a couple of the non-wet days after Christmas at Wharncliffe and Bamford. Get 'em when you can!
|| Fresh Prints ||
Hopefully the cold crisp and clear frosty mornings will return again soon - until then here's a reminder of those winter dawn scenes from the Print Shop.
