Neil Gresham

More

• Change Log
• Pics and vids by Neil Gresham
• Library
• Threads

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/4H9lcr8Fp4lR6lMMmJa8Yt?

Just days after Nick Dixon made the second ascent.

I was locked in this world and the only way I could release myself was by climbing this route.

...

The reason it was particularly fatalistic was Airlie [Anderson] was coming over to North Wales to belay me, and it was obvious it was gearing up towards her belaying me on the route when I did it, which she did. She was with Rachel [Farmer] when she died, and we never really discussed this and I don't know why it played out this way, but in the end I went for the lead and she was belaying me and I really sketched. I was not steady on it. I started really shaking on the crux part, and I can remember hearing her in tears belaying me, because if you fall off that top part that's almost certainly it. You're like 100ft up and you've got an RP2 that's miles below you and that's probably going to rip. And Airlie lost it, she was in tears, and I was fighting for my life climbing up this thing. [1]

References

[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/5cac0uPMB1TYDaUF8XN06f?

My ascent of Gravediggers turned into a tale of friendship of rivalry. Having spotted a great looking line on the Gravestones in the Llanberis Pass in the summer of 1997, I was somewhat put out to hear that a young climber called Leo Houlding who was emerging on the scene was keen to step on my toes. I had mentioned to Leo that I'd been trying the route but he didn't seem too interested in respecting 'the code'. In the end, Leo ended up leading the route one evening, unaware that I had snatched an ascent at lunchtime on the same day. He returned jubilantly to record his ascent in the new routes book in Pete's Eats in Llanberis, only to realise that he'd been pipped at the post. We shook hands over the affair and became great friends subsequently. I conceded that this would be the first and last time that I would ever have the upper hand over someone who went on to become one of Britain's most prolific and accomplished climbers. [2]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DBEH3D5tyuw/

[2] https://www.neilgresham.com/climbing/first-ascents/traditional-climbing/uk

[3] On The Edge Issue 71, page 73

After days of touring around the fjords near Stavanger, Leo Houlding, Adam Wainwright, Andy Cave, Trym Saeland and I were preparing to throw in the towel. We had hoped to get our teeth into some trad new routing but instead we spent a week being savaged by midges, soaked by torrential rain and wading around in waist-deep in bogs. However, the looming silhouette of Profile Wall, the huge, severely leaning crag on the skyline above the Jossingfjord was surely the answer to our prayers. On close inspection we found that the wall was laced with thin cracks and seams, most of which were old aid lines, and some which looked futuristic but free’able. Leo and I set to work on a line which turned out to be the steepest and one of the best trad climbs I’ve ever done. The final slab pitch should have been straightforward but it had a waterfall running down it and turned out to be the crux!

References

[1] https://www.neilgresham.com/climbing/first-ascents/traditional-climbing/scandinavia

References

[1] https://www.facebook.com/rockarchivist/photos/a.115413049915581/115416679915218

Prior to making the second ascent Neil took a nasty ground fall and banged his head resulting in severe vertigo.

On my first attempt to repeat it in 1999, I fell from the crux and knocked myself unconscious. This left me with vertigo symptoms and put me out of climbing for the subsequent year, but strangely, during this time I became increasingly fixated on a rematch. Meantime, the route’s reputation had only increased and it remained unrepeated during my period of convalescence. [3]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/Co_4j5SNocT/

[2] On The Edge Issue 97, page 28

[3] https://www.instagram.com/p/DHgXTRutcDi/

Whilst foraging around the cliffs of Pembroke in the summer of 2004 with Charlie Woodburn, I spotted an unclimbed line on the back wall of Box Zawn through the middle of the roof and up the capping headwall. It was clearly going to be at the upper limit of difficulty for me, so I abseiled down to check the gear options, place a couple of pegs and practice the moves. However, greasy conditions thwarted my initial advances and frustration started to set in. When the good day came I was so eager that I leapt on it without warming-up and took a 50 foot fall from the finishing jug! I only just managed to get it second try, just as the tide came in to submerge Tim Emmett's belay platform. [1]

References

[1] https://www.neilgresham.com/climbing/first-ascents/traditional-climbing/uk

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcsKGFAR3TE

First DWS ascent.

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6o6QnoO6ZA

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WdgO9WXiiMU

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaMxHv6x_u8

References

[1] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/neil-gresham-hydrotherapy-deep-water-solo-in-pembroke.html

References

[1] Photos of Neil on Route https://www.instagram.com/neil.gresham/p/DBWCO2VNDFW/?img_index=1

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZzdtFsm-ZQ

[2] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/interviews/neil-gresham-and-his-olympiad-climb.html

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4m55m6MfgxQ

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2020/09/final_score_e10_7a_-_iron_crag_first_ascent_by_neil_gresham-72507

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2021/09/lexicon_e11_7a_-_first_ascent_on_pavey_ark_by_neil_gresham-72872

[2] https://www.climber.co.uk/news/neil-gresham-talks-about-the-first-ascent-of-lexicon-e11-7a/