The death of ‘Bradford Lad’ Peter Greenwood after battling illness marks the closure of yet another chapter in the stirring history of post war climbing in the UK. A romantic period which threw up so many characters in contrast with the rather self promoting one dimensional breed of activist abroad in the 21st century.
Legend has it that Greenwood took up climbing to impress a girl.His natural aptitude impressing a band of Bradford Lads so much he was quickly invited to join them in their activities on the Yorkshire Gritstone crags and further afield on foreign shores.....well... The Lake District! Teaming up with superstar of the day Arthur Dolphin, this perfectly balanced partnership which blended Dolphin’s guile and technique with Greenwood’s necky tenacity, saw the pair quickly establishing some of the hardest climbs of the day. Contemporary test pieces like Bowfell’s Sword of Damocles and Scafell’s Hell’s Groove; both ‘extreme’ climbs capable of stopping the modern tiger in his/her tracks!
Fiercely loyal to his friends and partners,Greenwood was so outraged by Lancastrian Joe Brown’s placing of a peg on Dolphin’s classic Kipling Groove that the proud Yorkshireman spat on the peg as he passed it on the third ascent to the wild cheers of the watching crowd of climbers from the white rose county!
Remarkably, after just four intense highly creative years which saw him establish around 30 hard climbs in the Lakes, he suddenly gave up the ghost and retired from climbing. Handing over his gear to a dumbstruck Don Whillans. In the late 1980’s early 1990’s he did enjoy a swansong of sorts after being cajoled back onto the rock face by David Craig and fellow Lakeland legend Paul Ross. However,anyone looking back on his career could only ask ‘what if’ his climbing career had been extended? It is probably not too far short of the mark to suggest that his name would be spoken of in the same hushed reverent tones as those used to describe Brown and Whillans such was his huge talent.
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→Peter Greenwood 1930-2010
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