UKC

Do we have one [a quiz] yet? As a grumpy sociopath I struggle with Christmasy things - Christmassy? - but this is about climbing, so it's different. I suggest something along the lines of MP's long-running 'Spot the Climb' competition - or whatever it's called - whereby the successful guesser supplies the next image; but easier! Here the smug and correct respondent only has to come up with a new question, rather than a photograph - great news for those of us whose climbing history is still only recorded in slide form! I'll start:

Which well-known Manchester climber - I'm guessing at Manchester specifically, but thereabouts - was 'eaten' by his portaledge on 'The Trip'?

Clues will eventually become available if required, but only after a lot of hard cash into MR boxes. [You're a trustworthy bunch, so don't let me down!]

Ian P

A wild guess to get us going. Pete Boardman?

No. Sadly, when Pete and Joe died in 1982 portaledges were still somewhat in the future. There were certainly prototypes around and I think that Mike Graham's Cliff Dwelling was commercially available - albeit to order and with a waiting list - but for most people hammocks were still the order of the day. Good guess, though.

Having said all that; the event in question actually occurred in 1980 - but the offending item was most definitely homemade!

Black Nick?

'Morning Neil. No.

Hmm. Two guesses; this is going better than I expected! Perhaps I should have called it Easter Quiz. Time for a clue, perhaps.

In case anybody hasn't worked out where one would have been most likely to encounter any sort of portaledge in 1980 the location is Yosemite Valley. 'The Trip', much like 'The Corner' and 'The Gates', is a familiar abbreviation of the route's full name - and in this instance might be said to be the same colour as a recent ex-president. While clearly reasonably fine standing in aiders or hanging in a harness, when on level ground our hero's progress at the time required the assistance of crutches.

Edit: Probably should have mentioned El Cap, although that's clearly the most likely venue.

Strappo?

Hi Steve. No. I'm starting to think that this might be too obscure. Do you know which route it is?

TT?

Yes, the route was/is obvious, but I think you might have pitched your opening question at a level unreachable by this audience…

🙂

No sh*t Sherlock! Who’d have thunk it??

Yes; Steve's correct. I'd whittled the choice of questions down to this one or "How hard is Three Pebble Slab" - and went with the easier option! Or so I thought.

You're a diplomat, Neil!

Charlton Chestwig.

I thought he was from Yorkshire!

Ok - another clue. He shares a surname with another well known climber from the same region.

Hank…. 🤔

No; both roughly the same generation but, as far as I'm aware, unrelated.

Evans?

Rice Kemper….?

No, Steve - but he made the second ascent of what was probably one of Al's hardest routes.

And "no" to Neil.

Well Al seconded Jim Moran on the FA of Barbarossa... is that what you mean ?

No; I mean FAs that Al led. And it's not that one near Test Case.

Brian Hall?

No.

I notice that the other "well known climber from the same region" with the same surname has climbed with at least one of the current respondents to this thread!

Looks like it might be clue time again. Pursuing the 'namesake' angle: that person also happens to share a first name with one of the posters on this thread.

What, 'Wilder'....?

Wilder? I was absolutely livider!

I do love a cryptic Parsnips quiz

Hope you are keeping well? And will put my thinking cap on.

Hah; Mr Biceps! Good to hear from you, and welcome aboard.

It didn't start out cryptic but is possibly heading that way. [Caveat: I should probably look up 'cryptic' to see what it actually means.] I just assumed that there would be a few people out there who knew the story. Perhaps somebody should give Steve Monks a call; he was leading the next pitch at the time [#5 in old topos, I think]. Apparently looked down to see a red, thrashing mass after the ledge had done a venus flytrap impression and engulfed its occupant.

Well, pseudonyms aside, first name is Ian or Steve. 

Or John or Neil. Sorry John and Neil, it's late, but such a beautiful night. 

Correct. This is the other climber with the same surname, of course - not the actual 'portaledge fodder'.

Having bailed following the ledge incident our hero returned to the route a few days later - with another climber from the South West, Steve having returned home - and completed what I'm fairly sure was the first British ascent.

Rowland Perriment

Very close. Perriment was from the South West, not Manchester.

Dennis Carr?

We have a winner! With much relief I can now pass the baton; I'm sure you'll be better at choosing a reasonable question than I was!

Oh dear I didn't realise that winning meant I'd have to do the next one! That was definitely a really hard one, normally I back myself to get Yosemite based trivia, but I only solved this one by finding an old UKC thread where you had posted the answer back in 2014, with the promise of an interesting story about it, glad it finally came out!

A slightly easier one then: Which Australian climber made the second (reported) ascent of the Stanage girdle traverse along with Pete Whittaker?

Ben Cossey, I believe.

Hah, yes; I'd forgotten that I referred obliquely to it back then.

It started with Steve Monks. He'd had a good season out there - notably soloing a route on The Diamond on Long's Peak [Casual Route, I think - but not that common 42 years ago], putting up what was back then a hardish new route [Auntie Gravity 5.11d] in Yosemite's Lower Falls area, and making what was possibly the fastest solo at the time of Half Dome's Regular NWF. An El Cap nailing wall would obviously be the topping on the cake. To this end he recruited a well known climber from Liverpool [hah - another excellent quiz question there!] and set off up Tangerine Trip.

For whatever reason this first attempt ground to a halt very quickly and Monksie was soon prowling Camp 4 in search of another victim. Dennis had been hobbling around for some time, unable to climb, while an ankle injury took much longer to heal than expected. Steve pounced. While free climbing wasn't an option this didn't matter on The Trip; there pretty much isn't any. Steve was able to persuade Dennis - who was possibly quite amenable anyway - that standing in aiders for a few days wouldn't be a problem and off they went.

At some point somebody in Camp 4 had been selling a homemade double portaledge, which Steve had bought. Rather than steel or aluminium, the frame consisted of some sort of large-diameter fibrous tubing. As far as I'm aware Dennis was recumbent on the ledge at the hanging belay at the end of the route's original fourth pitch - a long, descending rightwards traverse beneath a prominent diagonal roof - belaying Steve as he nailed the  following immaculate pitch that diagonals back up left above the roof; one of the frame poles 'popped', others followed suit, and our man found himself abruptly cocooned in red nylon. At which point the attempt ended.

Steve left Yosemite shortly thereafter - but Dennis's appetite had clearly been whetted by the discovery that he could actually climb despite the ankle. The very experienced Rowland Perriment showed up around then; they teamed up and topped out a few days later. As I mentioned earlier I think that this was almost certainly the first British ascent.

I've just heard that in the following years Steve actually went back on the route solo - presumably successfully. Later, in October 1994, it was soloed by an American whose name, if I recall, was Dave. At the time I think it was thought that this was probably the first solo ascent; possibly not, then.

Yep, spot on. Your turn now!

Ok, one from personal experience.

Which well-known British climber's unfortunate mishap led to my being invited, by the late José Luis Pereira, to attempt the first free ascent of the south-east Face of Cerro Autana in Venezuela?

Leo Houlding?

Got it in one. Leo had smashed his ankle up in Patagonia only a month or two beforehand, when I found myself in Caracas (with Anne), having returned from our first abortive attempt on Angel Falls and with time on our hands.

Turned out to rather fortuitous, as I'd known José Luis from time in the US 15 years earlier, and the Autana climb ended up being among the most fun, and hardest, big wall adventures I've ever done.

Was awful when I heard that José Luis had died later that same year 😢.

Over to you now ...

Rather fortuitous indeed!

Alright then, this shouldn't take too long:

What route did Niall Grimes bail off while being belayed by Olympian Kelly Holmes?

Another guess to bump the thread…

https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/stanage_plantation-101/wall_end_cr...
?

Right crag, wrong route...

That's narrowed it down a bit, then

Presumably this was the occasion - just in case anybody hasn't found it yet:

https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/ukc/dame_kelly_holmes_rises_to_the_bmcs_c...

Doesn't seem to offer any clues - except that it might be somewhere near The Coign. Fortunately I have no idea!

I think I probably was (although that's not where I got it from so can't be 100% sure). It was on a podcast where he describes it, in an intro to reading a story about a trip to Greece...

Dennis Carr the'brickie'?