UKC

Chris Hamper reminisces of Font trips old and new, and of the people who support him as he continues to climb in spite of Parkinson's disease. If you haven't read Chris' previous articles 'Shaking Out - Climbing with Parkinson's' and 'Losing the Thread' then they're well worth a read!

I first went to Font about 40 years ago. Never been abroad before, only Wales. Eddy, the climbing shop owner in Coventry had sung my praise to a visiting French climber. He must've sung well because we got an invite to stay at his house near Fontainebleau.

Read more

In reply to UKC Articles:

Once again, brilliant stuff.

In reply to UKC Articles:


Good to see these haven't changed, Chris.

Lovely article.

Mick

In reply to UKC Articles:
I really enjoyed this. Brilliant. If the world’s greatest climber was who I think he was, I once took him to your old stomping ground Kenilworth Castle. He had never climbed there before but seeing as we both lived in Leicestershire it wasn’t that far to go.
I wanted to go home the same night but the world’s greatest wouldn’t stop traversing. We ended up dossing outside a pavilion-cum-sports shed, in the park. First thing in the morning the shed door burst open and out rides a gardener on a sit-on lawnmower. The world’s greatest and I are sleeping foot to foot either side of the door. There’s a flurry of feathers followed by a high-pitched squeaky scream. The bottom of the world’s greatest’s sleeping bag had been mown.
To think, if the world’s greatest climber had been a bit taller we would have had the climbing equivalent of Douglas Bader, and a rival to Norman Croucher. He could have called his autobiography Reach for the Ground.
I could have got the world’s greatest climber wrong. Either way I much preferred watching you climb – far more style… on the rock, and on the page.

In reply to UKC Articles:
Another great article Chris. Thanks.

Chris

In reply to Greg Lucas:

Hi Greg; yes it was him. Stayed at my house in kenilworth a couple of times. Refused to try any problems on the wall, said he never tried problems on other people's home ground. Sensible.

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article, thanks for that!!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Great article Chris and an inspiration. It has fired up me for another Font trip despite arthritic fingers and shoulders that barely have a rotator cuff. Good to see that Leachy is back cranking again!

In reply to chrishamper:

Nice one Chris, enjoyed that,
(Mnoo) Cheers,
AP.

In reply to UKC Articles:

A thoroughly enjoyable read!

In reply to UKC Articles:

Excellent article. Thank you. Si.

In reply to Greg Lucas:

Ha ha. We used to climb on Kenilworth Castle when I was at Warwick Uni. We even produced a mini guide.
We stopped going in the end when the cops got involved. Happy days. Si.

Hi Chris!
I am the owner of the alarming on the photograph and your host on your first trip. A long time ago (1978?) but yes, I remember well the shop owner in Coventry who kept saying, "he's in the top ten, you know, in the top ten!". Then the very small Spitfire -my daughters moved it- and the sight your friend and you offered when you came back from Le Saussois (did you climb l'Ange?) after two days of climbing without eating. You just couldn't extract you selves from the car... And the way you carefully put away the folding beds in the cramped living-room before breakfast. We had two children and a half (Our third daughter was born a couple of months later) and the flat was very, very small. Only, for the sake of historical truth and national pride, I insist that we had a civilised toilet and toilet paper (we'd also heard of toothbrushes for some time). Maybe a very sensitive backside, or a faulty shopping list for which I hope it is not too late to apologise... ????.
As for "Font" (funny, we call the place "Bleau"), yes, we took you to Isatis on the morning and seeing that you did everything there took you to Le Cuvier in the afternoon. My French friends were happy to share the playground with you but were horrified at the chalk everywhere -we only used colophan at that time. I was even subsequently held responsible for this barbarian defacing of the most famous boucherie and charcuterie. Times have changed... On this occasion I was happy to climb the lily, being more at ease with slabs such as la défroquée.
I quit climbing in the mid eighties after a serious car accident, fortunately I had enough time before that to bag the Brenva spur in the Mont-Blanc and the Walker spur in the Grandes Jorasses, both sources of epic memories.
A very close friend of mine has just been told that he has Parkinson, at 53. Waiting for the first effects of the treatment he has just started and trying to decide how to react. I told him in length about your efforts to go on climbing. This set him an example and encourage him to fight as hard as he can with his own means. Thank you very much for that.
Alain Decang