Pennine Lines w/c 17 July 2023
|| Remaining showery || Dodging the heatwaves for now ||
Alphubel from the Feechopf || Unknown climbers
|| Focus on…. ||
The Other Pennines
Obviously this is Pennine Lines, but built into that name is a secret get-out clause for cases when I’m away and need to deviate from the standard email format. That life-hack is that the central section of the Swiss/Italian Alps is known as the Pennine Alps, and fortunately as I am there as you read this I can get away with writing about it.
Taking a tedious tangent for a minute; it’s interesting that the word “Pennines” seems to have a level of disagreement attached to it regarding the etymology. Clearly in this country we’re used to seeing “Pen” used in England and Wales in various place names to mean a peak, hill, head or high ground, making us think that Pennines is of Celtic origin. But there’s also a suggestion that the name was influenced by the Apennine Mountains, running down the middle of Italy like a spine in the same way our Pennines do. And it turns out the Apennines might also be named from Celtic influences OR there’s a case for saying it’s come from Latin, as in fact the name of the Pennine Alps in northern Italy and the Swiss Valais region did. Basically nobody really knows.
Mont Blanc massif at dawn, as seen from the Grand Combin || Swiss Pennine Alps
But anyway, for the purposes of this week’s email I’m pleading a case for validity based on some sort of shared naming kinship between our Pennines and the Swiss Pennine Alps. Also, since I’ll be in Switzerland with probably no signal and hopefully half way up a mountain I’m writing this in advance whilst packing bags and can’t really think beyond the Alps at the moment. Hopefully some nice photos will smooth over the lack of UK content this week. All bar one of these (the black & white image) were shot on film too, proper slide film; I am really spoiling you here!
Matterhorn and Dent Blanche with Mont Blanc visible in the distance || Swiss Valais
One of the things I think is great about climbing is it’s one of those pursuits where a relatively small set of skills and knowledge can go a long way. Ideally gained early on in your career and well embedded so you can dredge them up from the back of your mind when required, just a few nuggets of know-how can gain you access to some pretty special places and stunning scenery - and aren’t really linked to how hard you are inclined to climb or push yourself. Basically if you can tie a couple of knots, can belay, can coil a rope, can abseil, know how to place gear and clip a bolt then that opens up a lot of possibilities.
Approaching the Weissmies summit ridge || Climbers unknown
If you can then learn to move on rock competently and know your limits and your level then it’s a bit of a passport to getting into some fairly wild situations, places that would blow the average pedestrian’s mind, in relative safety. The full spectrum from local bouldering, sea cliff climbing, mountain trad, sport climbing, single pitch outcrop routes, it’s all there.
Add on a few bits of navigation and moving on snow and you’re into alpine mountaineering. Confident swimmer and willing to push the boat out (pun intended) then deep water soloing is another option. Can put up with hot aches and bad weather? Scottish winter ice climbing might be for you. Don’t mind sleeping on a portaledge and hauling sacks? Big walls might be what you’re after. But whatever it is it’s mainly all built on the same basic skills and competencies, so much that even if you only do one aspect of climbing 99% of the time you can still switch it up fairly easily for the other percent.
Descending from the Weissmies || Triftgletscher
Storm brewing over the Egginer || Saas Fee, Swiss Alps
With this in mind despite spending a lot of my time typecast as a boulderer I do still try and get on some things a bit more 'highball' now and again. Maybe this is how you balance spending hours sat under dingy limestone roofs failing on one single move repeatedly all summer; if you can manage the odd mountain route in stunning scenery every few years it kinda cancels it out. You can still end up with a positive figure in the aesthetics column long term. Doesn’t have to be some big epic like you read about in all the classic alpinism books either, even just doing any standard voie normale up an alpine mountain is epic in its own way. Epic scenery, epic scale, that’s usually enough.
Anyway, I’ve got bags to pack, so I’ll leave you with that thought and a few images from some previous trips to the Swiss Pennine Alps, hopefully it might inspire some future adventures.
Mont Velan from the Valsorey Hut || Swiss Valais
|| SUPPORTED BY ||
|| Crag Cleanup ||
Once again Outside in Hathersage are organising a Crag Clean-Up day in August, a date for your diary and a very worthy endeavour to support.
|| Fresh Prints ||
Alps not your bag? Fair dos, just train instead - inspiration in the Print Shop.
