diff --git a/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/conjecture/junkdrawer.py b/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/conjecture/junkdrawer.py
index 10fcb69421..2ab0e5cf48 100644
--- a/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/conjecture/junkdrawer.py
+++ b/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/conjecture/junkdrawer.py
@@ -435,7 +435,7 @@ def gc_callback(phase, info):
                         _gc_start = now
                     elif phase == "stop" and _gc_start > 0:
                         _gc_cumulative_time += now - _gc_start
-                except RecursionError:
+                except RecursionError:  # pragma: no cover
                     # Avoid flakiness via UnraisableException, which is caught and
                     # warned by pytest. The actual callback (this function) is
                     # validated to never trigger a RecursionError itself when
@@ -443,7 +443,7 @@ def gc_callback(phase, info):
                     # Anyway, we should hit the same error on "start"
                     # and "stop", but to ensure we don't get out of sync we just
                     # signal that there is no matching start.
-                    _gc_start = -1
+                    _gc_start = 0
                     return
 
             gc.callbacks.insert(0, gc_callback)
diff --git a/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/escalation.py b/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/escalation.py
index c3c678d239..b85d9fcdc9 100644
--- a/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/escalation.py
+++ b/hypothesis-python/src/hypothesis/internal/escalation.py
@@ -87,9 +87,12 @@ def get_trimmed_traceback(exception=None):
     else:
         tb = exception.__traceback__
     # Avoid trimming the traceback if we're in verbose mode, or the error
-    # was raised inside Hypothesis
+    # was raised inside Hypothesis. Additionally, the environment variable
+    # HYPOTHESIS_NO_TRACEBACK_TRIM is respected if nonempty, because verbose
+    # mode is prohibitively slow when debugging strategy recursion errors.
     if (
         tb is None
+        or os.environ.get("HYPOTHESIS_NO_TRACEBACK_TRIM", None)
         or hypothesis.settings.default.verbosity >= hypothesis.Verbosity.debug
         or is_hypothesis_file(traceback.extract_tb(tb)[-1][0])
         and not isinstance(exception, _Trimmable)
diff --git a/hypothesis-python/tests/nocover/test_recursive.py b/hypothesis-python/tests/nocover/test_recursive.py
index 1c3f58a87b..021c682d56 100644
--- a/hypothesis-python/tests/nocover/test_recursive.py
+++ b/hypothesis-python/tests/nocover/test_recursive.py
@@ -216,7 +216,7 @@ def gen_cycles():
         # of reference cycles, to trigger GC (if enabled). Beware: there may not
         # even be room for raising new exceptions here, anything will end up as
         # a RecursionError.
-        for i in range(NUM_CYCLES):
+        for _ in range(NUM_CYCLES):
             a = [None]
             b = [a]
             a[0] = b