Lines of Flight

Martin Wood, 2009

Wellington Crack (16m, E4 5c) is the stunning crack on the left wall of the quarry at Ilkley Cow and Calf, Yorkshire.

The photo was taken in June 2009 while filming a short documentary Lines of Flight which I made. The cameraman is Sheffield-based Rich Heap (Hard Grit, Hard XS, Salathe: Blood, Sweat and Bagels, Stone Love.)

The film, which drew positive responses from critics and over 20,000 views on UK Climbing, teases out a relationship between the industry of mills and mines in the region and solo rock climbing on the nearby outcrops. A line of flight is something that liberates us from the confines of modern life. Climbing then becomes a political act and free soloing is its most pure expression. The film has a circularity at its core: the stone mined from the quarries was formed into the buildings people toiled away in, toil that burdened them, toil that compelled them back to climb the stone of the quarries.