In our screen-saturated age, a great many people hungry for a real bond with fellow human beings have taken up climbing in organised clubs, yours truly among them. Interestingly, it seems that the kind of surface a climber chooses, be it moulded plastic or weathered stone, has a real bearing on the fostering of genuine human fellowship, among other benefits. The Canadian Federation of Climbing insists that the choice of surface, whether the padded wall of an indoor gym or the rough face of an outdoor crag, makes no difference at all.

But veteran climbing coach David Rogers points out a flaw in that view. Fingers and tendons that pull on the same moulded gym holds over and over take on far more repetitive strain, and so more nagging injuries, than those that must constantly adjust to the irregular cracks and edges of natural rock. Granted, dedicated gym climbers may, on their first days at a real cliff, be humbled by the route-finding and cool head that outdoor rock demands.