Pennine Lines w/c 24 March 2025
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Pennine Lines w/c 24 March 2025

Of course some of you already know what to expect, and still don’t get on with it. The Pavlovian response mechanism in you, conditioned from previous seasons ill-prepared for Peak limestone, lead you to think the holds are grim and uncomfortable, the crags all dusty humid glue-covered grief-holes with slugs taking up residence in every low-lying slot and pocket. The good news here is the conditioning can be broken. This dislike of Peak limestone, like all weaknesses, can be trained to turn it into a strength. This is where the psychology comes in, because you need to understand your aesthetic benchmarks and enjoyability-mean-sea-level are out of whack due to years of, say, ‘enjoying’ expertly set indoor climbing on smooth uniform holds, or simply by swanning off to tufa-drenched Mediterranean sport climbing utopias every winter. It takes time, but you can reconfigure yourself.

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Pennine Lines w/c 4 February 2025
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Pennine Lines w/c 4 February 2025

We tread between stones placed with a purpose, we climb among carved curiosities, gutters, lintel slots, reminder that we’re not the first to be drawn to these places. To find them special in some way, to attach significance to them, a link to the past and the future is felt. And it’s not just us seeking a quiet bit of refuge in the woods; approaching the boulders something dark and muscular is disturbed, and swiftly disappears away, antlers deftly weaving between the trees as we stumble clumsily through the undergrowth with ungainly slabs of foam on our backs.

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