In reply to UKC Articles:
Thank you to everyone who left comments, whether complimentary or critical – or both. My apologies for the delay in replying to various points. Life (and climbing) got in the way. And then it seemed there were so many points that covering them would be longer than the original article.
First of all, a big thank you to Jack Geldard for publishing this article in the first place. I wrote it three years ago, trying to understand the background to Jim, Iain, Duncan and so many others. These days, I don’t try to get published - sad but true. Back in the day, I fell out with various magazine editors through sticking up for people like Jim Perrin, Stevie Haston and Pete Oxley when they were decidedly out of fashion.
I’m certainly not attacking the mags but, back then, there was an iron control over what was published/saw the light of day. One UKC contributor had his guidebook unfairly reviewed; when a rebuttal was sent to the mags, it wasn’t published for fear of offending the reviewer. Nowadays, with the internet/UKC, it’s much harder for that to happen.
Normally I just write/file/forget but, three years ago, I sent the article to two people whose views I respect. Neither really responded. I took this as code for, “You’ve laid a duck egg.” (‘Duck egg’ was a favourite term of my old mate, Mick Hillas, no stranger to wild runouts and wilder parties.) So I filed and forgot.
Then, a couple of weeks ago, Jack emailed, asking me if I had anything suitable. There was lots I could have sent but... I guess I was still flying a flag for Jim, Iain and Duncan. So I did what I’d normally never do and sent him something with a bit of a question mark hanging over it. Let him make up his own mind, I thought. If he doesn’t like it, there’s no harm done, no offence, I can always send something else, more conventional.
An article about events which finished around when Jack (and most UKC readers?) was born? A climbing article which doesn’t mention climbing until almost half-way in? And admission of drugs (which I certainly don’t endorse and wouldn’t have endorsed even when I was taking them.) Not exactly the born-in-heaven UKC article, is it? If Jack had run a mile, I wouldn’t have blamed him. But he published it – so thank you.
Terms of reference... I’ve wandered across 100 years of history in general and 20 years of climbing history in particular, in less than 2,000 words. Necessarily it’s been a whistle-stop tour. I think the years 1966 to 1973 were generally a Golden Age, the first since the 1920s. Certainly, compared with today, most people still lived in dire poverty. But you don’t miss what you’ve never had. (If you go from big mountaineering boots to PAs - the first rock shoes - it’s fantastic. You don’t miss chalk, cams, pads, clipsticks... because you’ve never had them.) By 1966, things had been getting better, year on year, for about 12 years (since the end of post-war rationing). People felt good. Things were getting better... and better... and better. Although living standards are unbelievably better now, the 45 degree curve of progress has long ago flattened. We’ve lost ‘that loving feeling’ of better and better.
Climbing’s Golden Age. We went from Vector (E2) in 1960 to Strawberries (E7) in 1980. A lot of that upward curve was roughly 1970-1980, courtesy of Pete Livesey, Ron Fawcett, John Allen and Steve Bancroft.
Photographs. Jack did a fantastic layout. Thanks! (And, ever so discreetly, removed the embarrassing typo – more thanks! Memo to self – wear glasses when proofreading.) I’m massively indebted to all of the photographers. Looking at new photographs on UKC each morning is sheer delight, the perfect way to start the day. Some massively talented people... Two of the photographs were courtesy of Brian Cropper, whose work encompasses climbing’s golden age. Again and again he’s uncannily caught the character of major activists in a split-second shot. Often they’re not even climbing. But he’s got the essence of their being; don’t ask me how.
Two photos were from USBRIT, aka Paul Ross, who, of course, is the first ascentionist of Post Mortem in 1956. The Lakes’ answer to Right Eliminate but overhanging and on a dark, fierce North-facing crag. It’s probably taken more scalps than Sitting Bull. I believe Whillans got his knee stuck, trying the first ascent unsuccessfully and had to be rescued. When we did it 20 years later, we had gear that Paul hadn’t. (He probably just had a sling around the chockstone.) Obviously now there are big cams - but you’re still going to have to give it some welly to get up it. (And isn’t that what climbing should be about?)
For me, the person who most epitomises the spirit of climbing is Paul. Post Mortem is nearly 60 years old now. It’s still spanking E5 and E7 leaders. Paul’s fought the good fight on the crags for 60 years and more, most of the time around the E3 level (and that’s Lakes, i.e. ‘proper’ E3!) Commitment... I guess he knows a little about it.
Climbing’s Golden Age – before and after. Gwen Moffatt’s, ‘Space Below My Feet’ takes thing from the mid 1940s to the early 1960s. Al Parker’s (of Parker’s Eliminate fame, with tons of great routes on grit, especially Stanage) ‘Alpha Males’ deals with the early/mid 1960s. It would probably have to be Gordon or Jim Perrin or Keith Ellison to chart the 1960s Llanberis, Peak, Lakes scenes. Jim’s exactly the right age; he lived through it and knew most of the major activists, such as Pete Crew, very well indeed. Keith Ellison did the superb ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ website, though it’s gone now, depicting the early 1960s Llanberis scene. And he’s a superb photographer. (Incidentally he was leading Welsh Extremes in the late 50s/early 60s when he was barely in his teens.)
The 1980s? Although I knew many of the activists, I was 10 years older, already an old fart. There’s too big a difference between 30 and 20. My guess is that it would need somebody like Paul Pritchard or Phil Kelly, with probably lots of input from people like Mark Leach and Graeme Alderson.
Wellington Crack? Should have done it but was over-awed by the amount of time Pete spent working it before the FA. Folk say that, now that boulder’s gone, it can get dirty, so best to get your mate to clean it before attempting the onsight. Councils and crags? Hmm... No doubt they do their best but, supposedly, their efforts at Dalkey Quarry weren’t entirely helpful either.
Ken Wilson? The most impassioned person I’ve ever met. Utterly decent. Behind the brashness, remarkably sensitive and kind-hearted. Yes, he could drive you to distraction, but Ken cared so much you just had to forgive him. What a conscience... What a man... Les Ainsworth’s and Phil Watkin’s Rocksport was superb on a national scale but, with Mountain, Ken cast a magisterial eye across the whole world. His issues (roughly the first 60) have never been bettered. And then he gave us Hard Rock. And then he gave us Games Climbers Play. And then he gave us so much more.
Ray McHaffie? Little Chamonix in boxing gloves and roller skates – an expression of climbing style which will probably never be bettered. Earlier, it was soloed by a young lad on his first day on rock. Eek! Fluff that top wall without a rope and there won’t be a replay. We seem to keep coming back to Paul Ross.