An extract from Peter Goulding's upcoming 'Slatehead: The Adventure of Britain's Slate-climbing Scene.' This article delves into the quarrymen and how they once climbed and navigated this grey and slippery landscape for the exploitation of slate in the 19th and 20th centuries, a source of vital employment in the area; how the decline and decay of the industry then saw a spike in interest in climbing as a leisure activity particularly in the 1980s and then, in turn, how this 'professionalisation' of climbing has become another mechanism of employing people
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