Pennine Lines w/c 7 July 2025
This is how spring normally goes, how it’s supposed to go; a waft of wild garlic carried down the dale on the river breeze. Benchmarks repeated, the barometer recalibrated. Good banter at the Tor. Familiar faces, back again. Stone is here with that same weird blue PVC gym mat. Ted edging with glacier-like inevitability towards the belay on Evolution. Wide-eyed and fresh-faced owners of immaculately clean pads spill four-deep out of a hatchback, first time bouldering outside, looking for the easy “V7s”, never to be seen again. A dance as old as time itself.
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.