UKC

What are the some notable climbs done barefoot? What's the hardest? Any hilarious stories? Famous routes with barefoot FAs?
I'm just wondering...

In reply to SenzuBean:

try googling for 'Hot' Henry Barber

In reply to Doug:

https://www.thebmc.co.uk/mina-lesliewujastyk-barefoot-in-hueco
Unfortunately this is a deliberately misleading title.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/everest-climber-falls-short/2007/05/28/...
Dutch guy gets to 6700m in only shorts and sandals.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Has to be Scoop at Castle Naze....first did it barefoot around 1985....my mate couldn't do it as he had big ugly feet!

In reply to Doug:

Good lead - I think I had heard of him at some point. Proving hard to find what he has climbed in bare feet though.

In reply to SenzuBean:

I was wondering if anyone could explain why barefoot climbing is a 'thing'? I've seen it crop up in a couple of guidebooks and elsewhere, but have no idea why it is seemingly significant.

Is it a historical thing (was barefoot the done thing back in the day?), or is it simply a bit of good old fashioned fun, one-upmanship and bravado?

Cheers,

Mike.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Used to climb barefoot a lot on S sandstone late 80s early 90s, probably saved on rock boots, can't remember the hardest thing, but frequently soloed Cat Wall at Stone Farm.

In reply to Fruit:

Of course the best-known exponent of barefoot climbing on southern sandstone was Trevor Panther - I've certainly seem him climb 6a at Harrison's barefoot.

In reply to SenzuBean:
A B Reynolds - an early practitioner

http://footlesscrow.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/barefoot-in-twenties.html


Pmc

In reply to SenzuBean:
Have done this barefoot Chien Lunatique (HVS 5a).

Was one of my early climbs, may have my first climb, done as second. I had no rock shoes and decided barefoot was better than trainers.

In reply to SenzuBean:

There's a video of Patrick Edlinger soloing Debiloff Profundicum in the Verdon Gorge barefoot. I think it get F6c or F6c+

In reply to SenzuBean:

Try googling 'Andreas Profit climbs 8a barefoot'. I can't seem to make the link work for some reason.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Gwen Moffatt says in "Space Beneath My Feet" that she did a lot of her climbing barefoot.

In reply to Doug:

And Skip Guerin.

Mick

In reply to jon:

youtube.com/watch?v=4jws9P6w8wQ&

8a+, it says. Bloody hell, he doesn't just climb it he soloes it.

In reply to jon:

Jon, we were messing around (like you do) on this little crag (Penya Roca?) on the Costa Blanca a few years back. There was a caravan parked just below the crag. Suddenly the door flew open and this huge, shaven-headed dude with his bloody huge dog emerged. Definitely a Fistful of Dollars moment! Now I'm not fazed by much but this guy looked f*cking terrifying. Woops. Run up the white flag. Or maybe it was too late... cos he was headed straight for us.

For some odd reason, my mate, who hitherto had shown a strange inclination not to leave the ground, suddenly seemed to recover his mojo and shot upwards at a tremendous rate. I was stuck belaying him and thus going nowhere in a hurry. Mr Decidedly Scary marched straight past me (err, in his bare feet) and proceeded to head up a 7a, with really shitty rock, sans corde. Bloody hell, I thought, if anything comes off, it's gonna hurt. Meanwhile my mate had ground to a halt on a greasy, smeary bulge. Mr Scary quietly informs him (in impeccable, albeit decidedly Teutonic English), "Your route - the grade is... not so nice."

"What's he effing saying?" "It's a sandbag, dickhead, that's what he's saying." "Ooh." Slumps on rope.

I do believe that was our passing acquaintance with the gentleman. Who was an utter gentlemen. I hope he goes safely out there.

Best wishes,

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:

Yeah, we met him in El Chorro about five years ago, Mick. He was doing one of those 7as above the steps going up to secteur Arabe. He was properly shod, though.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Barefoot, a famously tough E2 5c at Polney, with the first ascent by Cubby in 1976, was soloed, barefoot, just a few hours later by Derek Jameson. The rock is schist, which is not at all friendly to bare feet. The route is now more commonly climbed with a second pitch and known as Barefoot Beginning. No match for climb id:3429

In reply to SenzuBean:

Doing the Big 4 at Cuvier barefoot is a pretty amazing piece of barefoot bouldering!

vimeo.com/119466066

In reply to SenzuBean:


I remember an old ad in one of the climbing mags from the '80s or so which had a picture of Andy Pollitt climbing Regent Street at Millstone barefoot.

In reply to SenzuBean:

Not as many have been done barehanded

In reply to John2:

It's this (had a big downgrade): Path of Excess Power (7c)

In reply to John2:

Trevor Panther was an incredible barefoot climber who made first ascents of many 6A, 6B and 6C climbs from the 1950s onwards at Harrisons. I used to see him climbing there regularly in the 1980s when he was continuing to climb at a very high level.

In reply to SenzuBean:

saw a bloke do a vertical 7c in gandia barefoot. with it not being overhanging it wasnt a footloose jobby

In reply to Trangia:

What became of Trevor Panther (I guess he just got old?) Always wanted to see him climb. He seems like one of those unsung legends, massively ahead of his time in terms of technicality. Would have been great if someone had done an article with/on him. (Or maybe they did and I missed it?)

Mick

In reply to Mick Ward:
Last I heard, which was a few years ago, was that he was in a nursing home.

Sad end to someone like him and a sobering reminder of our own frailty as human beings.

I've got his 1986 Guide book to Harrisons and quote his final comment on the last page which has a drawing of a rabbit hopping away into the hills (presumably drawn by Trevor?)

"Old Bumblies never die - They just bounce away!"

In reply to SenzuBean:

Traditionally back in the hobnailed days they would remove their boots and climb barefoot for the more technical moves, so there is historical precedent

In reply to SenzuBean:

Thanks for all the replies everyone - really is interesting stuff.

In reply to Trangia:

A mate of mine who moved up here to Scotland years ago, still speaks of Mr Panther in awed tones! He was some climber by all accounts?! Did he ever climb anywhere else, away from the sandstone?

In reply to SenzuBean:

Check Berd Arnold, from Elbsand Mountains/Sachische Schweiz, although most link is in German
http://gripped.com/profiles/bernd-arnold-soul-stone/

In reply to Otis:





The obvious answer is that it's a more natural way to climb, just as using natural pro is more natural than bolting - and free soloing is more natural than roped climbing. Whether or not is a step too far is a personal question (as the two examples I gave hem in the majority of people). It's also a bit like barefoot running in that sense too, most of the people alive today were raised with shoes on their feet every day of their life - and there's a slow rediscovery that maybe these lumps of meat we call feet can actually do some things without shoes on.

Personally I don't have a hard-on for barefoot climbing, but just wanted to know a bit more about it so that maybe if I do give it a go one day I know what other people have managed to do with just their feet.

In reply to dek:


I don't know if he climbed anywhere other than sandstone, but he seemed to a permanent fixture there. It was amazing to watch him climb, very fluid and always with a slack rope, so no assistance from the rope. He also didn't wear a harness, just a bowline round his waist. His rope was thick and well used and seemed to be as old as him.

In reply to Fruit:

Yeah it was a popular thing there in the 70s too. In those days I'd do Larchant at Bowles barefoot, but then I also did it naked and in wellies.

In reply to SenzuBean:


Good grief, 'heard of [Henry Barber] at some point'.

Idle Threats, most famously, an E2 on Mewsford which has now fallen down. I don't think he was a regular barefoot practitioner, so much as someone who forgot this shoes on this particular occasion, though I could be wrong.

jcm

In reply to Trangia:

Thank you for letting me know. A sad end indeed. I'm very sorry.

Mick

In reply to dek:

'Did he ever climb anywhere else, away from the sandstone?'

I remember him chatting with one of his mates in the 80s about how he'd like to undertake one last expedition, maybe to Greenland, so I'm sure he did make some pretty major trips abroad, but I don't know the details.

vimeo.com/119466066 has to be well up there.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:




Apologies..

Anyway, I'd heard of him because he put up a load of hard routes in Australia, which - as you would know it, many of which were barefoot:
http://www.mountainproject.com/v/mount-arapiles/105907765

Here's a partial list of what he did there:
http://www.rockclimbing.com/forum/Climbing_Information_C2/Climbing_History_...

He did a few FFA Aus-grade 23s, which correspond to E4!

In reply to SenzuBean:

Pretty impressive and on-sight to boot: -

youtube.com/watch?v=xAB9-VGIkzM&

In reply to duncan:

Hi Duncan,

Thanks for putting these historic links on - lovely to see them again.

I can't begin to imagine how you edge in bare feet - no matter how well-conditioned Skip Guerin's toes were. Hope Airlie hasn't trod on 'em!

Have only recently heard about you doing the Nose in a day again - some 30 years later. Superb effort.

Best wishes,

Mick

In reply to SenzuBean:

Not notable as such but I was had a great hr or so barefoot soloing at the Wainstones NYMs. I'd never even heard of them before we were just walking past on the coast to coast. I didn't have a guide book and just soloed obvious lines barefoot up to about severe. It was lovely.

In reply to Removed UserArdverikie2:

That's awesome - thanks for posting. Let's see 'em on Duel, mind!

jcm