Climbers from United Kingdom

An influential climber in the UKs Peak District throughout the 1960s and 70s.

I climbed solo for the first year because I had no one to climb with, I didn't know anybody. I treated it like a job, I'd go out at 8 O’clock in the morning and take my sandwiches, climb to about 12, eat my lunch and then climb to about 4 O'clock and then go home. I did about 4,000 foot of solo in a day and that was every week. 1 went about 38-39 weeks on the trot around Birchens, finding new bits to do and treating it as a bit like a workout. [4]

Tom once climbed "157 routes, mostly hard" [3] in a day on Stanage.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2001/09/tom_proctor_dies-1249

[2] On The Edge, Issue 112 page 12

[3] Alan Rouse in Two's a Crowd, Mountain issue 21, page 28

[4] The Power of Climbing (1991), page 35

Prolific developer around the south west england and south wales.

Talented and bold British rock climber responsible for a number of impressive new routes and onsight or flash repeats of some of the UK's harder routes in the 1980s. Winner of the inaugural IFSC Climbing World Cup in 1989. He still (2026) climbs, pioneering new routes in northern Scotland.

Tom is a British expat living in Spain, where he has done most of his harder climbing.

References

[1] https://www.climbing.com/people/tom-bolger-interview-pro-climber/

Arnis Strapcans was a British climber who was active in the 1970s. He was killed in a suspected fall from the Brenva Spur on Mont Blanc in 1980.

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/the_late_arnie_strapcans-423688

[2] https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/arnie_strapcans-390263?v=1#x5631533

References

[1] Obsession Fatale by Ian Parnell. On The Edge 115, page 42.

Paul Nunn:

With Joe Brown he was the dominant influence upon British rock climbing and mountaineering for over two decades, setting new standards between 1951 and the early 1970s. [7]

Pat Ament:

I loved Don. I never saw him be mean-spirited, though I did know he drank and had his frustrations. He was especially intolerant of people who overrated themselves or simply did not know what they were talking about. I respected that quality in him, although he could have tempered his opinions, certainly, at times. I don't think I ever saw him get wrankled with someone who didn't deserve it.

He was incredibly funny, incredibly brilliant, not - in my opinion - a tragic figure. I saw greatness. I mean, think of all he achieved, the successes run through memory, glimpses of deep winter with Haston on the Eiger Direct, or on various mountains of the Himalaya, such as Annapurna.

He was like Joe [Brown] in that, coming from a rock climbing background, it was astonishing he could switch to mountaineering as though it were nothing. In younger years, he and Joe were in their element and climbed so beautifully, so boldly, with such limited gear they mostly invented as they went along. Sure, like all of us, he had his challenges and his imperfections, had some personal trials. He wasn't about to be pushed around.

Not so many will deserve a wonderful biography by a wonderful author. I climbed with Don in Eldorado in 1966, when Royal brought him to America. He ran out one difficult pitch on sight, nothing to it.... We hit it off. After his visit to Yosemite, where he walked up the Crack of Doom with Pratt, followed the difficult off-width on Crack of Despair, and showed that, even out of shape, he could climb with the best of them, Don returned to see me in Colorado. He gave me the small gift of some British coins that were of no use in America. I still have those, still cherish them and his memory. Some 18 years later, when I was guest speaker at the Buxton conference, I was sitting at a mirror backstage, and he suddenly was standing behind me. He took me for a shandy, and we talked and laughed. He was, by the way, one of the stars of that conference, dressing up like a woman.

He could have fun. Life is short. Few, at least in the climbing world (but perhaps in any world) will - at the end - be able to say they did as much with their time and accomplished as much as Don Whillans. [2]

Bernard Tamworth:

I went to the Dolomites with Don in July 1985. We climbed a pinnacle near Lecco called 'Il sigaro' which was a grade 5.8 on UIAA scale - about HVS. This was a 4 pitch climb with an abseil off the top. The crux was 10 feet from the summit - a sloping ledge with a bulge pushing you onto your left foot. Don lead this part and overcame the obstacle with a bit of puffing and panting. It was a honour to be the last person to climb with Don. We spent over 2 weeks together in the Dolomites, travelling down on motor bikes. unlike some of the stories, I found Don easy to get on with as long as you were upfront with him and gave him no bulls**t!!! I think I was the only person to ever owe money to Don. He lent me 100 french francs for petrol on the way back, but unfortunately he died before I could pay him back!! [1]

References

[1] Bernard Tamworth, comment on Don Whillains' Last Climb

[2] https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4384744478304277&set=a.230171883761578

[3] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/948094701923372

[4] With Chris Bonnington on the Central Pillar of Freney https://www.instagram.com/p/CO5502uDiQU/

[5] With Joe Brown https://www.instagram.com/p/B_a_U0Rjqgs/

[6] Interview with Ken Wilson 1972, Mountain Issue 20, page 24 https://climbing-history.org/file/eaff6c84-b054-0d0c-220a-a00119bdff3a/whillans%20wilson%20interview.html

[7] Obituary by Paul Nunn in Mountain Issue 105, page 16 /library/11126/mountain-105

Mick Ward:

Ed Drummond was probably the most visionary figure in British climbing history. He left a legacy of stunning routes and superb writing. And he had a reputation for having the most complicated, mercurial character imaginable. [2]

References

[1] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/a-dream-of-edwin-drummond

[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/ed_drummond_1945-2019_-_a_retrospective-11940

[3] https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/rip_ed_drummond-704064

[4] http://www.supertopo.com/climbers-forum/3195076/RIP-Edwin-Drummond

[5] https://www.thebmc.co.uk/thats-me-ed-drummond

John Arran is a very accomplished trad climber with adventurous first ascents across the UK, North and South America and beyond, often climbed onsight. Spending 3 years in the US in the 80s, John onsight soloed multipitch routes up to 5.12, a level that has not been surpassed today. In the late 90s he dabbled in gritstone headpointing, climbing The Zone and the unrepeated Doctor Dolittle E10.

On 20th June 2003 John and his partner for the day Shane Ohly soloed or descended 536 routes in a mammoth single day. [1] Following in the footsteps of Ron Fawcett's Arran climbed 100 extremes in a day in 2001, all at Stanage with 55 of them onsight. [2,3]

John helped pioneer big wall free climbing in Venezuela, culminating in Rainbow Jambaia (E7) on Angel Falls, one the most spectacular hard big walls in the world.

References

[1] On The Edge Issue 130, page 11

[2] On The Edge Issue 113, page 32

[3] http://www.thefreeclimber.com/johnHistory.htm

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

Jon Fullwood is a climber with a long history of access, conservation and development work in the UK. In particular in the Peak District where he has added many new routes and boulder problems.

References

[1] Access All Areas, an interview with Sam Pratt, April 2024. Summit Issue 113, page 35.

Dave sadly took his own life in 2014.

I remember laughing like a drain hearing about him smearing Vaseline on the holds of a project at Kilnsey to stop a French superstar stealing it. [1]

Dave was a lovely guy. I first met him up in Newcastle when I was just starting my climbing career, and kept in touch when he moved to Sheffield. He had lots of time and patience for a shy kid. I was once coming down to sheffield for a competition and Dave offered for me to stay in his room for the weekend. He was going away but, with typical kindness, told me to help myself to anything in his food cupboard. After he left I went to the kitchen to make myself some dinner and opened the cupboard to find six bottles of fat burner pills and a mouldy potato. [2]

References

[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,25009.msg465272.html#msg465272

[2] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,25009.msg465387.html#msg465387

[3] Features in The Width of Life

[4] https://www.dailycamera.com/2014/11/18/chris-weidner-a-lost-goodbye-to-colorado-climber-dave-pegg/

[5] https://rockandice.com/lates-news/dave-pegg-king-of-rifle-has-died/

[6] https://rockandice.com/lates-news/living-with-a-very-serious-climber/

North York Moors enthusiast and latterly Llanberis slatehead. Cookson has ploughed his own furrow, initially on highball boulders and micro routes, more recently on the technicalities of the North Wales slate quarries.

References

[1] On The Edge Issue 71, page 50

References

[1] Interview with Xa White for UKClimbing.com, July 2023 https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2023/07/tom_pearce_on_bold_trad_homemade_gear_and_the_north_york_moors-73391