Pennine Lines w/c 14 august 2023
As I mention once or twice in Grit Blocs, in the world of gritstone bouldering we tend to look up to Fontainebleau; we borrow Font grades, and we use ‘Font style’ as the highest accolade we give to a problem. But the weird thing about British climbing’s relationship with Font is our tendency to characterise the climbing there as being exclusively rounded topouts on rippled slopers, reducing it to a stereotype and ignoring the wealth of climbing styles on offer. Font is in fact pretty well equipped with savage crimpy walls, horrendous cracks, tendon-snapping pocket pulling, steep basic pulling, one-movers, long stamina problems, low physical roofs, highballs deserving of route status and just about everything in between.
Pennine Lines w/c 7 August 2023
Fallen Slab Lip is a traditional problem, done regularly before any of the modern-era guide or apps existed, before anyone had pads, and before it had a name. The meat of the problem, the original thing, starts by hanging the big hold/ledge on the nose then hand traverses the lip up rightwards through a tricky sequence, a few really good sloper moves, until reaching an obvious good hold where you sort of run out of rock and are forced to roll over and top out.
Pennine Lines w/c 31 July 2023
We talk a lot about friction when discussing gritstone climbing, and it’s never better than when dry grit takes a hit from a passing shower, then dries off in a keen breeze. Something happens there; the friction goes sky high, even in summer. Maybe it’s just the fact that it cleans off the surface chalk and debris and just refreshes the holds. Maybe the water evaporating off actually cools the surface a little. But whatever it is it’s real and you know it when you find it. And find it you certainly can at this time of year in this sort of weather.
Pennine Lines w/c 24 July 2023
One unexpected bonus of Britain’s political shambles of recent years combined with spiralling cost of living and rampant corporate profiteering here at home means that Switzerland now barely feels any more expensive than the UK. Certainly when you collapse into a remote mountain hut at then end of an exhaustingly nerve-wracking 10-hours dodging crevasses on a melting glacier and order a pint of helicopter-supplied Swiss lager for 7 francs (about £6.30) then that starts to look like astonishingly good value compared to the average UK town centre pub.
Pennine Lines w/c 17 July 2023
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.
Pennine Lines w/c 10 July 2023
When all anyone was supposed to be interested in was route climbing, Baslow took a back seat to its near neighbours. It lacks the stature and the big routes of Curbar, it’s not equipped with classic after classic for the slab climber like Froggatt, and the rock quality for the most part is nowhere near as good as Gardoms. So Baslow is a really the underdog of the Eastern Edges, but viewed through a pair of bouldering eyes this underdog has a few tricks up its sleeve.
Pennine Lines w/c 3 July 2023
In climbing circles we talk a lot about the rock, understandably, but at this time of year it’s really two types of vegetation which are dominating the scenery of the moorland grit crags. Firstly, my least favourite aspect of the Pennines: bracken.
Pennine Lines w/c 26 June 2023
This was one I actually had lined up to feature in Grit Blocs once I’d got some shots of Ned attempting this at the end of a long day mopping up some other photos for the book. It would have at the very least got a mention in the Swivel Finger section, or there was a chance it could have bumped that problem out entirely, as it looked superb, and as a long-standing project carried a bit of gravitas. In the end I visited once more with Ned but again we left empty handed, and in fact it took Ned until this April to seal the deal.
Pennine Lines w/c 19 June 2023
When you've lived in the same place for a long time it's easy to fall into complacency and routine. Now, I'm not saying routine in climbing is necessarily wrong, and in fact I'm a strong believer that building a relationship with a place, with a crag or venue, can be a very a positive thing. Generally speaking it's got a lot going for it instead of the fashionable but consumerist approach of just flitting around picking off low hanging fruit. However, I am as guilty as anyone of falling to the trap of frequenting the same places each year almost by default.
Pennine Lines w/c 12 June 2023
We're only a couple of days in to the genuinely hot weather so at this point I'm reticent to go all-in on the woe-is-me patter about it being too warm in the Peak. Especially because if previous summers are any indicator of what's to come you can guarantee in a few weeks time we'll be looking back on today's weather with a sense of nostalgia for those days when it was comparatively cool.
Pennine Lines w/c 5 June 2023
As I return from a family holiday in Northumberland this weekend to the scene of most of the moor atop Burbage North as far as Lady Canning’s Plantation still being out of bounds due to fires still smouldering, it serves as something of a wakeup call to the world we live in now. Namely; it’s barely June, it’s not even been that hot yet, and we had a very damp winter and spring, and nevertheless we’re already seeing pretty substantial fire risk. This doesn’t bode well if we have another heatwave summer.
Pennine Lines w/c 29 May 2023
It will be interesting to see if fashions change on this over time, and also what the next ten or fifteen years will bring for the ambience at Kyloe-In. Will young trees start to grow back where the mature trees were felled and make recent felling seem a little less brutal, will the atmosphere of the crag change and evolve again? We'll have to wait and see.
Pennine Lines w/c 22 May 2023
This week I’ve returned from the Isle of Skye to find that climbers’ access to one of the Churnet’s finest crags, Wright’s Rock in Staffordshire, has been completely removed. Anyone following this development can’t have failed to notice the accompanying handwringing and gnashing of teeth online on the state of climbers’ disrespectful behaviour; the fact the Churnet apparently gets busy with climbers up from London, or that everyone climbs stuff when it’s damp, or that the rock and crags here simply can’t cope with this level of traffic.
Pennine Lines w/c 15 May 2023
Another hotbed of poor mobile coverage is the deep dank dales of the White Peak, so I'm simply offering up here a few images of limestone bouldering to keep the psyche rolling until I get back and normal service is resumed.
Pennine Lines w/c 8 May 2023
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).
Pennine Lines w/c 1 May 2023
Travelling south through the eastern Peak the gritstone gradually fizzles out, the long snaking crag escarpments giving way to more isolated outcrops. And just as it seems all the rock has turned decidedly pale and chossy, one last big finale remains, one last huge island of dark gritstone in a sea of limestone. Black Rocks; its name enough to scare off many, but it remains something of a hub of the climbing scene in this part of the Peak.
Pennine Lines w/c 24 April 2023
The woods at the north end of Froggatt were for too long overlooked, but in recent years have seen some new development attention and produced some really great lines. Despite relatively easy access and offering some chance of shade on a warm day it’s rarely anything other than very quiet there.
Pennine Lines w/c 17 April 2023
A great choice for this time of year lies further north, the until recently overlooked Bitholmes Wood - which is incidentally the current residence of the legendary Dragon Of Wantley
Pennine Lines w/c 10 April 2023
It would be remiss of me to allow this email to be the only one you receive over the Easter weekend to not contain some sort of egg or egg-related reference. I will spare you the puns and just offer up this image, which didn’t make it into Grit Blocs, although the problem did. This time next year expect an image of Easter Rib at Stanage, and the year after maybe Creme Egg Eliminate at Caley.
Pennine Lines w/c 3 April 2023
The narrative of modern rock climbing is often told in terms of the sponsored stars projecting on overseas trips, extended van-life tours, and famous trophy climbs. Which is all great, but climbing isn't all about the big names and big numbers. There’s a certain joy to be had as a local climber snatching a midweek hour or two at a local crag before it gets dark.