The really important point about this shot is that it shows just how unspoiled the gritstone crags were in 1969, with heather and grass at the bottom. This very spot is now a shocking, disgraceful sandpit.

I notice the hemp waistline, hawser rope, waist belay, baggy socks and breeches, badly fitting Masters rock shoes, paucity of gear...

"This very spot is now a shocking, disgraceful sandpit."
Are you taking the urine? Perhaps this spot is now a shocking disgraceful sandpit because it was popularized by people publishing books about the area? Now then, who might we know that has done that?

It is certainly the fault of climbers (yes, that's us), but to suggest that I myself have 'popularised' the Peak District when it has been our most visited National Park for many decades (something like 12 million people a year??) is absurd. Somewhere like Curbar, or any of the most popular eastern edges very close to Sheffield, is in no need of popularising by the likes of myself. With a bit of luck I have helped do the reverse, and help 'spread the load' by showing some of the much less frequented parts of the Peak. Recently, when I've been walking on several weekends along both Kinder North and South in good weather, I haven't seen a single climber - despite about eight or nine rather alluring shots in my Peak book.

Really?

Really.