Jonny Woodward

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Onsight solo first ascent of a big, blank wall.

I first tried it in the Spring of '82 on a dismal, damp and grey day. I was less than motivated to try anything that hard on that particular day, but I was climbing with Jerry Moffatt and he is an enthusiastic and persuasive fellow. The attempt ended predictably, low on the pitch, at the technical crux.

My next try was during the International Exchange Meet with the American crew in September '82. I was with the late Alex Lowe that day, climbing pretty well and keen to try it. I think I fell from the crux twice, then got through it and made it really high on the pitch to a place where I could get a shake. At that point I was so gassed that I was not recovering at all, and after a few minutes it was clear that I was not going to make it that try.

There was a big peanut gallery above the Meshach wall, interested in witnessing some sort of spectacle. I remember being far enough above the gear that I was a bit gripped about breaking the RPs, so I asked Alex to keep taking in the rope till he eventually pulled me off, so that the slack was minimized.

The gear held just fine. I rested and did it the next go. Alex enjoyed telling people of how he once got to pull someone off a route at the end of a run-out. These were the days of placing gear as you went and yoyo-ing back to the belay after you fell. Redpointing was not widely practised in '82 and I do not recall whether I pulled the rope or not.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/strawberries_-_a_british_on_sight-1117

Climbed with three belayers.

Athletic seconds required to prevent cratering. [1]

A few days after the ascent, Woodward repeated the route several times for photos.

Photographer Ian Smith:

Jonny had actually made the first ascent a few days earlier… and the plan was to for him to do the route as well as possible, given the poor conditions, to get a sequence of photos. It was clearly a climb at the absolute upper limit of what was possible at the time, particularly as he was wearing what nowadays would be regarded as very crude and non-sticky boots (this being well before the introduction of the Boreal Firé). He explained that he had top-roped it a number of times and had not been able to do it so he had decided that what was required was the adrenaline of trying it on the lead and seven falls later he had succeeded.

The photo session went really well and Jonny climbed the route a couple of times for different photography angles and, it being a Sunday and Froggatt being a popular crag, created quite a stir as most of the climbers in the near vicinity stopped their own climbing and sat around to watch Jonny at work. The first time he topped out the crowd broke out into spontaneous applause, very unusual behaviour for the normally reserved British climbers. [3]

References

[1] Lovers' Leap Café, Stoney Middleton: New Route Books - 1982-1994 (RockArchivist - New Route Books), Phil Kelly 2023. Page 4.

[2] On The Edge Issue 71, page 50

[3] https://www.geocities.ws/readza1/climbing/beaugeste/index.html

Jerry Moffatt was so incensed that Woodward had plucked the FA from under him (after his huge ground fall) the he never spoke to him again.

A clean one-push ascent.

In EBs, which Jonny found to be better for the route's micro-edges than softer sticky rubber.

From my experience in the spring, I was convinced that the route's full-body-weight edgy smearing was not possible in flexible shoes, but despite my best derisive comments, John had stubbornly pulled out a pair of his favorite floppies and proceeded to fire past every crux with little apparent effort. Christ, I hope he never tries his edging boots. Best to compliment his choice of footwear and keep him handicapped.

Johnny's full account of the ascent was published in 'Climbing' magazine and has been reproduced on Supertopo. (1)

References

[1] http://www.supertopo.com/climbing/thread.php?topic_id=527185&tn=20

In an afternoon.

The only route Johnny ever invested time in to redpointing.

It took forever and I just thought I might never do it...After I redpointed it, it was so traumatic, I had this other project and I immediately went and took all the bolts out because I was just like "I never want to do this again". Having said that, I'm very proud of Dog Eat Dog. [1]

References

[1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wajWz6vBjXY