My Dad rarely spoke about his rock and ice climbing days when I was growing up. I knew he was an adamant walker who had a love for map reading but the conversation between us seldom ventured beyond that. My fascination with his involvement with the outdoors was heightened when spending time with him during the Coronavirus Lockdown. He opened up about his obsession with the great outdoors and how he found it an escape from school, work and life itself. I wanted to explore this almost untold part of his life and understand how and why he became totally consumed by walking and climbing in rural Lancashire and eventually France.
A combination of the dramatic landscape of the North East of England and a friendship group that shared a passion for the outdoors, the majority of my Dad’s late teenage and early adult life was spent on the side of a cliff, whether it was rock or ice beneath his feet. His hometown of Rochdale had little to offer a teenager in terms of entertainment in the mid to late 1970’s. This monotony led my Dad and his friends to look outwards and explore climbing in the jagged Lancashire and Yorkshire countryside. The group spent summer evenings climbing rock faces such as Curbar edge and Stanage edge. These impetuous escapades led to late night journeys back to Rochdale and a lack of concentration at school for the following days. Towards the end of my Dad’s teenage years, he began ice climbing in Chamonix, France. He spent weeks away at a time with friends ascending and descending the mountains. When looking back, he told me of the euphoria of climbing above the clouds when the only sound in earshot was his crampons crunching through the snow. These moments were pure bliss and the best times he had in the mountains. I never truly understood his infatuation with the landscape that surrounded him and the peace it brought. This may be because I only lived in Rochdale for a short period of my life. However, listening to stories of my Dad and his friends climbing throughout the years, I feel a greater sense of connection with my northern heritage and the landscape that moulded his youth.
