Neil Gresham in his own words

Mick Ryan

18th September, 2006

This has been read 2,161 times

Last week we reported of an impressive deep water solo by Neil Gresham on Lundy.

There was plenty of interest and comment on this event at the forums at UKClimbing.com at this thread which had 2,344 views. You can read the original news item lower down this page. The news item got amended and updated as the day progressed with contributions from Paul Harrison and Dave Thomas (Dave Thomas was one of the first ascensionists of Flying Dutchman along with Nick White). Such is the dynamic nature of the internet.

However Neil has just sent his own version of events and his opinion, kindly illustrated with a photo by Nial Grimes.

Neil told us, "'The Flying Dutchman, is one of the most exciting Deep Water Solos I've ever done and it is a safe and logical undertaking providing the tides are right and the second pitch is avoided. An easy escape can be made rightward from the first belay at HVS. Regarding grades, a few people have suggested that it 'feels' 7c if you are climbing completely onsight and the route isn't chalked. The difficulties with the Dutchman are more technical than physical and both my falls were taken as a result of going off-route. It's very unobvious where you're supposed to enter the top crack. However, with the climb fully chalked and with beta, it would probably feel more like 7b/ 7b+. For the record, one of the falls I took was about 40 feet and the other was 50ft."

This post has been read 2,161 times

Return to Latest News

UKC Advertising

Comments

Michael Ryan

23 Sep, 2006

We've had several emails about this report. I think the latest comment direct from Neil Gresham clears it up, he soloed the first pitch of the Flying Dutchman then traversed off up an HVS. For the record, Neil did not contact us re: this report, we got the orginal report from another source. This was further clarified and corrected by others. We contacted Neil, then he got back to us and we published his comment. Mick

DAVETHOMAS90

26 Sep, 2006

Dear Mick, this still sounds as though you are trying to protect your position. It's good at least, that you inform us of the third party nature of the source of this news item. For those of us that know the route, it's now easy to see how Neil had not made a deliberate attempt to mislead anyone, which is good for Neil too. For those that do not know the route, and what has not been well reported, is that the meat of the route is the second pitch, so it isn't really appropriate to talk about Neil soloing "The Flying Dutchman". Neil may well have talked about it in this way, in terms of what the route offers within a deep water soloing context, but the implication from the manner of the reporting, was that "The Dutchman" had been soloed. It hasn't. Neil did not solo "The Flying Dutchman". The route as a whole warrants E7 6b/c and maybe easy 7c, above rock. The first pitch alone would be E5 6b and 7b, above water. I suppose I'm writing this in order to protect the stature of the original route, and as a contemporary of his, Nick White's achievement on the first ascent. Of more concern, is a worrying trend to misrepresent what has gone before, in order to dress up the current vogue. Dave Thomas.

Add Comment