Climbing History

Rock Climber and Educationalist.

References

[1] https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/vol-59-issue-3/article-6379/

References

[1] https://journals.lwbooks.co.uk/forum/vol-59-issue-3/article-6379/

John Menlove Edwards was a pioneering British rock climber of the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for many influential first ascents in Snowdonia and widely regarded as one of the great writers in climbing literature.

With Colin Kirkus he was regarded as the finest rock climber active in North Wales in the 1930s. His first ascents on the cliffs of the north side of the Llanberis Pass, which had hitherto been regarded as too steep and loose for climbing, paved the way for the exploits of Joe Brown, Don Whillans and others in the 1950s. Consequently, the epicentre of Welsh climbing moved from Ogwen to Llanberis where it has remained ever since.

Menlove Edwards trained and worked in Liverpool as a psychiatrist. He was gay, at a time when homosexual sex was illegal in the UK, and a conscientious objector for most of World War Two. His mental health deteriorated in the latter part of his life and he took his own life in 1958.

References

[1] Perrin, J. (1993). Menlove: The Life of John Menlove Edwards. United Kingdom: Ernest Press.

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/36tUZibMMhAB4fmjz3X1pq?

[3] https://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-black-rainbow-life-and-times-of.html

John Menlove Edwards was a pioneering British rock climber of the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for many influential first ascents in Snowdonia and widely regarded as one of the great writers in climbing literature.

With Colin Kirkus he was regarded as the finest rock climber active in North Wales in the 1930s. His first ascents on the cliffs of the north side of the Llanberis Pass, which had hitherto been regarded as too steep and loose for climbing, paved the way for the exploits of Joe Brown, Don Whillans and others in the 1950s. Consequently, the epicentre of Welsh climbing moved from Ogwen to Llanberis where it has remained ever since.

Menlove Edwards trained and worked in Liverpool as a psychiatrist. He was gay at a time when homosexual sex was illegal in the UK and a conscientious objector for most of World War Two. His mental health deteriorated in the latter part of his life and he took his own life in 1958.

References

[1] Perrin, J. (1993). Menlove: The Life of John Menlove Edwards. United Kingdom: Ernest Press.

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/36tUZibMMhAB4fmjz3X1pq?

[3] https://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-black-rainbow-life-and-times-of.html

with J Cooper

John Menlove Edwards was a pioneering British rock climber of the 1930s and 1940s, responsible for many influential first ascents in Snowdonia and widely regarded as one of the great writers in climbing literature.

With Colin Kirkus he was regarded as the finest rock climber active in North Wales in the 1930s. His first ascents on the cliffs of the north side of the Llanberis Pass, which had hitherto been regarded as too steep and loose for climbing, paved the way for the exploits of Joe Brown, Don Whillans and others in the 1950s. Consequently, the epicentre of Welsh climbing moved from Ogwen to Llanberis where it has remained ever since.

References

[1] Perrin, J. (1993). Menlove: The Life of John Menlove Edwards. United Kingdom: Ernest Press.

[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/36tUZibMMhAB4fmjz3X1pq?

[3] https://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-black-rainbow-life-and-times-of.html

References

[1] https://footlesscrow.blogspot.com/2015/11/a-black-rainbow-life-and-times-of.html