UKC

In a day and age of the internet forums, online databases and new routes being done less frequently, the role of the new routes book has not just changed as much as it has all but disappeared. Their place in climbing history is significant though, documenting far more than just the development of new routes.

New routes books, and the establishments in which they were located, were a focal point and culturally important places for the climbing community. It would have been all too easy for these new routes books to have been lost and with it our connection to a rich era of climbing folklore and legend.

Thankfully, Phil Kelly stepped in to avoid that happening. We asked Phil a few questions about the project and how it came to fruition.

Read more

Well done Phil, you’ve done a brilliant job with this massive project. A labour of love.

Chris

Next task is to get the Stoney woodshed rebuilt to house the original books   

Sounds good, anyone know what happened to the various Scottish new route books ? I can remember books at Tiso's (Stirling & Aberdeen ) and  Nevisports (Glasgow & Fort William) but there were probably others.

If you weren't there it's impossible to overstate the importance of some of these writings and jottings. Before Paul William's classic Llanberis guide  the only way to source out descriptions of the new Slate routes of the 80s boom was at Pete's and that infamous book. At lot of these climbs have become absolute classics and lots of VS to E3, so suitable for the more moderate climber like myself. I can clearly remember scouring descriptions with Shark (Simon) and comparing notes after our ascents. The Stoney book however seemed to be bristling with E5s and harder, so didn't make the same impact with me. Great days!

I was given to understand that the original Pete Eat's book had disappeared?

The Nevisport one was archived by Cog a few years ago, details can be found here;

https://www.colinmoody.com/Site/Blog/Entries/2015/2/18_New_route_books.html

Great to see these artefacts of climbing history being protected and digitised.

They're very much of their time and like the historical sections that used to appear at the back of guidebooks, add a richness to our sport.

I note the entries for Strawberries, Bananas, and Wrinkled Retainer were written by the same hand, so not the first ascentionists. I think I recognise the handwriting...

Excellent stuff.

"Climbs the obscure and insignificant arete 20' left of Holly Groove". That phrase alone tells you a lot about the nature of UK climbing in the 80s.

There was a peculiar thrill from browsing the first ascent notes and comments alongside, you felt a more intimate connection than the average VS climber had a right to be. As an aside, quite a lot of these spots have gone now. I mean the internet's great eh, but shops were great too.

"Stoney books; eight physical books from 1982 to the café's closure in about 1994."

I wonder if anyone knows what happened to the books after 1994 because the café was open for more than 10 years after that date.

I remember being sat in there with a cup of tea and Zippy suggesting I should call my new route Dig Deep For Victory (7c) the first in a series of rubble excavations we produced on Garage Buttress. It closed shortly after and became a restaurant of some sort before turning into the Curry Cottage. 

I've really enjoyed reading the Stoney compilation. It's been a very useful resource when exploring new route potential and proof reading new guides. Quite often guide books plagiarize the mistakes from previous editions so it's good to have the primary source to refer back to.

Very true! When the scans were still up on facebook (such a shame they had to come down!) I spent a long time combing through and pulling out dates etc. for https://climbing-history.org/ which highlighted a lot of inconsistencies with dates reported elsewhere. It was bloody amazing being able to link directly to the FA write ups. The spat around Tequila Mockingbird/Gandalf le Magicien was a particular favourite.

Anyone asked for the Parisella's book, Llandudno. Was definitely still about in the early 2000s.

I bought the Black Dog book as soon as it was published and it was a delight to read about the times we lived through all those years ago.  It was a particular pleasure to find a stupid comment I had written more than 40 years ago. Well done Phil Kelly. 

I bought the Black Dog book as soon as it was published and it was a delight to read about the times we lived through all those years ago.  It was a particular pleasure to find a stupid comment I had written more than 40 years ago. Well done Phil Kelly. 

the Wadi Rum new routes book went missing but i have the scans if the compilers would like them for the project 

The new routes book for the North Yorkshire Moors in the 80’s was kept in Wilderness Ways (which became Nevis Sports) Middlesbrough. I wonder what became of that? 

I think they were written by Paul Williams weren’t they? (I’ve not checked!)

Phil

Got it in one! This was a major driver for this work. You couldn’t have done it all those years ago because the books would become even more riddled with nonsense. The passing of the years gives it more gravitas, historically.

If you can find it we can add it to the series (and the NW bolt fund)

P

That’d be interesting!

P

See if you can track it down!

P

Most definitely. 

Would there be any mileage in crowdfunding support for all of these to be put online and free to access? I'd definitely support that, while at the same time I don't have enough interest in any particular book to want to order it, and I rarely choose to look at printed books nowadays anyway.

Not sure how it would stack up financially, but if there are enough people like me with a passing interest in many books rather than a keen interest in any one, there's a chance it might work well.

You probably already know but at least two other new routes books in the Lakes.

One at the Climbers Shop late 70s early 80s.

The Keswick one was at the Packhorse, later moved to Dog and Gun I think, then to Horse and Farrier in Threlkeld.

i just ordered a copy of the Stoney route books. The trolling and comments were as entertaining the route descriptions themselves. It took no time at all after Quentin wrote up ‘Kingfisher’ before some wag wrote ‘surely you mean Queen Quent?’.

Great work, Phil. Beau Geste probably is the most iconic entry, although I also liked Jerry's write up of Little Plum. 'No pitch exists which is more out there.' (Even though the quote was probably borrowed from Max Jones and Mark Hudon.)

But < peers again and adjusts specs > Oh  no! Caramba!!

Not two entries down from Beau Geste, just above Jerry's freeing of The (alternative?) Storm, some punter's weighed(!?) in with a blatant micro-route, to which a wag has rightly appended 'no such grade'. From the sublime to the ridiculous. Ah, God, the shame of it. Although, in retrospect, I suppose The Recidivist was oddly prescient... 

Far more importantly, does anybody know where John Kirk's fabulous portraits of Andy Barker on Circe and the late Tom Proctor on Menopause are now? Hopefully hanging up in Outside. For so many of us, they epitomised Stoney. A place of dreams. 

Mick 

Hi Mick. I think they’re safe. I scanned the original for Peak Rock - they were pulled out of the skip outside the cafe I think!

we printed the Menopause scan up to A3+ and gave it to the Moon, who were chuffed to bits to have it (is it still there?!)

P

Woa I’m beyond psyched you’ve done this. I like Rachel’s dad’s old 1980s copy of Welsh Rock. It’s battered but the stories are second to none; must have read it 10 times over. Whenever we do a route we look back to see if there’s a story about it! Copies of the Pete’s Eats and Eric’s books would be amazing to have. Thanks a bunch 

Before the internet it was actually quite exciting when you had put a new route up, to head over to the cafe or the shop to peruse the New Routes book. The extra thrill was to see whose route you would be following as I scribbled my VS on the same page, underneath a state of the art E8.

You then waited to see what was reported in the New Routes section of the mags such as High or On The Edge and if you made it in.

Well done to all those involved in getting all these wonderful tomes of history together and digitising them. One or two of them are certainly on my Christmas wish list.

Dear old Al Evans would have loved these books, he'll certainly be in quite a few of them.

Tom is still on the left side where the Dart board used to be....

I actually got a handwritten reply from a certain Mr Gibson some 40 years ago. I still have it.

I recently found a couple of things in the new routes book that are wrong in the guidebooks (now updated in the SMC database).

A route at Repton (Polldubh) by Ed Grindley and Stevie Abbott had been climbed by George Szuca and Gary Latter 20 years earlier.

Another route on Lewis credited to Paul Moores and Cubby was actually soloed by Paul.

I’ll need to check the whole lot!

Hi Mick,

just got my copy and I was surprised at what a visceral reaction I had. Those pages, the stains and wear from gallons of spilt tea and thousands of hands. I recognised pretty well every page, so I guess they were imprinted in memory after reading them on innumerable wet Sundays.

There’s a facebook group for habituees of The Limit Club in Sheff in the ‘80s which gives a similar feel for a time long gone and never coming back. Absent friends too, it’s a great document, well done Phil!

Great idea! Does anyone know what happened to the New Routes book in the Packhorse, Keswick? I remember it being used to scribble up routes in Borrowdale/Scafell etc. during the 70's. It would be good to know it had been collected and archived or treasured by someone?

hi. I have a lead on the Pack Horse book, which I’m following up on, but if anyone does know, I’d love to…

All our yesterdays! Generally happy ones. 

Decades later, the game still goes on. Another time; other places. 

And yes, absent friends. xx

Mick

i think you’re right John, and long term public access has always been my goal with these books.

it always surprised me that none of the movers and shakers ever bothered to make contact to see if any sort of synergy could be organised, but I guess either they were busy elsewhere or didn’t see any value in such raw, historic documents.

If the right organization came along with any decent proposition, for the good of the public domain record I would consider it, and that may well have to be crowdfunded.

I’ve always said these scans aren’t mine - they are ours - but they still need some sort of control, which is why I went down the KDP route.

There are still volumes to publish, and more to track down. I have to be honest though and say that I’m in the throes of writing a history book on the Lancashire crags and quarries and that’s taking 100% of my cpu cycles at the moment, so I’d welcome any decent organization approach.

P 

I believe the Jo Royle Buxton new route book is actually the Hanley shop book. It’s not the Buxton one. Full of routes from Stoke area climbers and non from Buxton, including among others the Buxton stick men Simon and Richard.

Reprisal?

The New Routes Book Strikes Back...?

Or Reprise?

Return of the New Routes Book...?

Thanks Phil. I will confirm this with the keeper of the book, but Joe Royle’s is what we were told.

Merry Christmas!

P

The three Pete’s Eats books were published on Kindle yesterday, so you no longer only have paper-based options.

I’ll work through the remainder over the next couple of months.

P

There used to be a Joe Royle in both Stoke and Buxton. The Stoke one became Mountain Fever.

I couldn't tell you if the original new routes book was kept in Buxton or Stoke, but in my memory, it was at the Stoke shop.