UKC

There is little doubt that Stevie Haston is the UK's most accomplished all-round climber and alpinist. His record speaks for itself. His appetite for climbing is vast.

Here's an overview of his climbing career that started in Gozo and London as a boy, began officially with his first roped climbs on Yorkshire gritstone in 1970 and has continued all across Europe, the USA and the Himalaya since.

Read more at http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=2721

In reply to UKC Articles:

Fisher Towers looks surprisingly - well, rock-like, in that picture.

Did Stevie really free Amanita? I thought that was somebody else. It's very hard now to visualise a time when it was thought easier to do that at A5 (shudder) than E4. Anyone care to explain what was involved in doing it as A5?

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Certainly someone else (Monks?) had the credit in the early 1980s CC Avon guide that I grew up with.

Presumably it was deemed unjustifiably loose in Wilmot's time? Duncan will be along shortly to clarify though, I'd guess.

Is the picture overhaging roof crack in which Stevie Hastons legs are stuck Cannabis? 70 metres of 8a rock climbing to M8 mixed to Scottish 6+.

It looks quite warm and where are the axes?

In reply to UKC Articles:

Pretty astonishing list of routes.

In reply to UKC Articles: Awesome list of routes.
2004 - Should read losing hope instead of Loosing.

Brilliant article as always though UKC.
Thanks
James

In reply to UKC Articles:

I noticed one or two minor errors in there.
Dervish was a loose E5 when it was first climbed and was still rated as such in 1983 when Derek Hearsey, Dave Lee and I all led it. Personally, I thought it was only E4 but I was outvoted in Pete's. I find it hard to believe it is now E2; the polish was nasty when I repeated it about 10 years back with wifey.
The article might also have mentioned Steve's 'lost years' when he went a bit off the rails with the ale and such. Which makes his achievements all the more impressive.
Lastly, can't believe the article didn't mention me, Tom Jones and Stevie climbing Cabbage Crack together in 1982........

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Under the baked mud it's basically gritstone. But more importantly the caption looks wrong. I don't think there is any part of the Finger of Fate route on the Titan which can photographed with one of the other Fisher Towers behind. It is either the Sun Devil Chimney (though that doesn't seem quite right either) or a different tower altogether.

In reply to The Purple Pimpernel:


It's not, is it? I suppose my guides are all ancient now. Maybe it is.

jcm

In reply to tobyfk:


I think it's low down on Sun Devil Chimney


In reply to Jody:

I don't think it's Cannabis either, I've seen the picture before but can't place it exactly, its a big offwidth in the US.

Thrice V12 should be Trice. </pedanty>

Amazing list of routes over the years.

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

It's been E3 since the at least the late 90's hasn't it?

In reply to duncan:


Yep, and a third here. Is it the "Crack House"? Some name like that and in Utah - or one of those western states. I'm sure I remember seeing pictures of Haston on that route maybe 5-7 years ago? When he was still writing for the OTE anyway.

In reply to Removed User: im prety sure its a typo, thought without the start its E2, but thats by the by, unlss you have a ladder, and if yu took a ladder across that step you get E13!

In reply to dunkymonkey17:

Apropos nothing but who on God's Earth thinks that it is acceptable to ram a nut key into the crack beneath the gear? Are the fires of hell hot enough for such scoundrels?

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:


I don't think Stevie is credited with the FFA in any of the guides but who knows?

The A5 loop on Amanita skyhooked right from the final (3 bolt) belay, up what is now Was It You?, then back left to join the Yellow Edge ramp. As it involved hooking and RURPs in somewhat soft rock and a potential 60' directly onto the belay it probably was equivalent to old-school Yosemite A5. Ed Hart freed this pitch not long after the FA by doing the sensible thing and climbing up and left off the belay to join Yellow Edge, avoiding Wilmott's aided section.

In reply to UKC Articles: The picture of Cannabis here is on widefetish.com as Century Crack. I guess it's some kind of offwidth crack route judging by the rack he used shown in other pictures.

In reply to duncan:

And did that leave some other aid on the other pitches? I suppose there was still the quarryman's spike on pitch two, but I don't really count that. Wasn't the rest of it always free?

jcm

In reply to johncoxmysteriously:

Tony Willmot climbed the rest of the route nearly free, a peg on P1 and the spike on P2, Ed Hart climbed it with just these two points. Perhaps Stevie eliminated these? Amanita was known as an aid route because of the eye-catching A5 grade, but it including some proper E3 climbing which was not too shabby an effort for 1972.

tobyfk:

Sundevil chimney with climber on P1 in a similar position to Stevie: http://www.rockclimbing.com/images/photos/assets/6/258706-largest_8995.jpg

the Master!

In reply to dunkymonkey17:

But my point is that at the time of the first acent it was an E5. It was horribly loose and dangerous. Even Derek Hearsey pulled a wire through the rock and had to grab a runner. In 1983 it was still E4 at least.

In reply to The Purple Pimpernel:

I'm not sure there wasn't a time when it was even given E6 6a, or have I made that up? Hard to believe now, of course.

jcm

In reply to UKC Articles:

A timely article. Stevie attracts a lot of flak on here from people who probably dont understand the importance or longevity of his contribution. While this doesnt always excuse him his more pointed moments, it should make people think twice before prematurely dismissing his opinions.

Some changes/corrections/speculations made.

Refresh your browser. Others welcomed.

Thanks.

Mick

In reply to UKC Articles:

Did he ever get his UIAGM badge? I remember reading a highly amusing rant of his on the subject in one of the mags many years ago.

In reply to The Purple Pimpernel:

I wonder what Hersey would have achieved had it not been for his early demise. Of course he wasnt an all rounder like Stevie but cant help but ponder it, he would never have been able to afford a winter set up for a start , lol.

In reply to Bisset:
The route pictured for "cannabis" is below the White rim road in Canyonlands, somewhere near monument basin - I think Crusher discovered it. Its definitely not granite.

In reply to andy kirkpatrick:

Stevie the Master, you the bater............

In reply to Mick Ryan - UKClimbing.com:

Very impressive. Long live the old climbers!

I think there might a little mistake re Nuits Blanche WI6 not WI7 and it was my impression taht it was first climbed by Thierry Renault (solo).

In reply to francoisecall: No mistake, Stevie did first ascent at WI7. It forms from the drip from a pipe above, and flow has changed so since that first year it has formed fat and thick and about WI5, there are pictures around the time of the first ascent with the bottom pillar looking about 6 inches wide and unprotectable. Stevie I believe chipped out little mini threads, Lafaille believed it unclimbed and unprotectable so drilled a bolt. Anglo-French relations got tricky after that.