Pennine Lines w/c 8 May 2023
|| Warmer, humid || Summer comes at you fast ||
Wild South || Climber: Will Bosi
|| Not My King Line ||
Raven Tor
For someone with a high profile, an unrivalled recent track record at the cutting edge, and one of the biggest sports brands on the planet behind him, you have to feel that some of Will Bosi’s additions to Peak limestone don’t get the credit they deserve.
Case in point being his recent addition Wild South, a font 8c (that’s FONTAINEBLEAU EIGHT CEE), making it the hardest boulder problem at Raven Tor, the crucible of hard climbing in these parts, a crag with no shortage of desperate and iconic problems. Also making it one of the hardest problems in the Peak and wider UK. And one which took him twenty sessions over many months to unlock, the same guy who knocked off Burden Of Dreams in a single trip. And unlike Burden, it’s at a crag many of us have actually been to; a mere 30mins from Sheffield. It’s not even eliminate, and unlike Badger Cove this is actually dry for more than 10 minutes per year. A pretty uncompromising straight line up a blank wall, big moves, small holds, classic limestone material really. And yet, barely a glimmer of interest.
You have to wonder that in a media-rich world, ultra-connected, if climbing is now almost too global, to the point where we don’t really value what’s on our doorstep? Are we are all now so accustomed to being fed an eye popping diet of cutting edge boulder problems that the humble glue-covered limestone of Miller’s Dale can’t compete with huge glowing-orange ‘king lines’ in South Africa? Live-streamed history-in-the-making from Finland and massive steep problems - or ‘rigs’ to use the correct terminology - in Switzerland with bottles of champagne being popped upon success are great, but where does this leave the monumentally unsexy shattered grey polished rock of the Tor? Out in the cold it seems (ironic given the crag is a sun trap).
There seems to be parallels to be drawn with Ondra’s local limestone in Czechia, where similarly most of his hard problems were sort of just ignored. Again, unsexy limestone maybe is enough to switch people off. Perhaps we’re also numb to the big numbers now that we can’t really compute what’s going on unless there’s a Mellow video breaking it down for us? Is font 8c at the Tor so high in the stratosphere that it’s out of sight, and hence may as well not exist, despite being only 4 meters from the road?
Powerband || Climber: Dave Thomas
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that the limestone of the Pennines is very much an acquired taste. Basically even in the UK the whole ‘the Tor is crap’ narrative is embedded well enough that it’s probably achieved critical mass now and cannot be stopped. You have to wonder if Will had put up an 8c in some far away corner of the Scottish Highlands that the element of inaccessibility would lend it an air of mystique that would better translate to social media gold dust. Maybe the problem is we all know exactly what the Tor is like, and the enlightened few are in the minority.
I was going to round this off by suggesting that maybe it’s better for the Peak if our hard stuff looks a bit crap and remains undersold. That maybe if the Tor remains a niche interest crag against the tide of public opinion then that’s fine. Except it’s not actually the case. Raven Tor is still at times astonishingly popular, as the ongoing issue of chaotic parking on busy weekends shows. Sardine, Mecca and Keen Roof are probably the most climbed things at their grade nationally. So we’re stuck in this situation where the Tor is a sort of limestone Schrödinger’s Crag - too popular to be able to park, but no sexy enough for any ‘king lines’ at the top end to make ripples. Climbers are a weird bunch!
Mecca - The Mid-life Crisis || Climber: Frances Bensley
|| Focus on... ||
Circuits
OK right now I’ll apologise this is turning into a love letter to the Tor. I realise nobody signed up for this but hear me out. As this email so far proves, it’s easy when discussing Raven Tor (or as Jerry calls it, “Ravens Tor”) to typecast it simply as a crag full of mega-hard climbing. Perhaps this is understandable since it hosts iconic hard routes like Hubble, Mecca, Mutation etc etc. And to be fair there’s very little to be had which is accessible for the beginner or the lower grade climber. However - there’s actually a pretty good mini-circuit of boulder problems in the 6s to low 7s to be had which is sort of hidden, partly by reputation. But there’s essentially a good Font-style Red circuit here, if Font was made of steep often-glued limestone starts to sport routes. You get the idea anyway.
That’s a grade range which is very accessible to a lot of keen boulderers, often dry when all else is wet (this spring so far notwithstanding) and sports a decent pub at the end of the road and an excellent fish & chip shop in Tideswell (Elliott’s) for post-climb rewards. So maybe we should stop thinking of the Tor just as being hard undercutting, grim pockets and boning on minging crimps for the ultra-strong, and more of an all-round winner for summer mid-grade bouldering. Let’s take a look at the potential Red Circuit here, from left to right:
Too Hard For Mark Leach
Keen Roof Finish
Chimes start
Basher’s Problem
Traverse from Pinches Wall to Sardine
Toilet Start
Toilet Traverse
Pinches Wall left most problem (low jugs on left, vertical slopey side pull, top)
Pinches Wall matchbox rockover (normal diagonal start hold, RH on little chunky matchbox edge, rockover for top jugs over left)
Verbal Abuse Start
A Little Extra Direct start (bonus points for going all the way to the higher set of jugs)
Boot Boys Start
Rattle & Hump Start
Wild In Me sit start (as far as the sidepull jug)
Super High Intensity Bodybuilding Start (to the high good holds)
Saline Drip
Nothing here needs more than a couple of pads, no especially grim holds (by limestone standards), a range of styles (again, by limestone standards), everything font 6a-7a+, and for anyone operating up to the low-mid 7s getting all this knocked off in a session would represent a very good evening at the crag. You’re even allowed to use heelhooks, can’t say fairer than that. Still some beans in the tank? Well if you nip around to Rubicon you could continue with the circuit there. Maybe this is one for a future edition…
|| Recently through the lens ||
Classic local grit, and a new one from the south Peak
|| Fresh Prints ||
A couple more from the Print Shop - the inimitable spring limestone scene of wild garlic, and an early summer evening on Stanage.
