Climbers

Pete O'Sullivan:

It is with great sadness that I write to announce the death of Des Hannigan. He was a central figure in West Cornish climbing for over 40 years. He was in many ways a polymath as a writer, poet, journalist and climber. He wrote and/or edited 7 guidebooks to the area over 30 years and was a great help to me when I wrote the 1984 West Penwith guide. His first contact with climbing in Cornwall was in the 1960s before as he said he 'ran away to sea' finally becoming a trawler skipper.

His exploits can be seen in the trilogy of short books in the brilliant The Almost Island series. He was given his first opportunity in journalism by Toni Carver of the St Ives Times and Echo to whom he was eternally grateful. He wrote guides for Lonely Planet and AA Publishing and contributed to local newspapers and the Associated Press.

The contacts he made through this with key members of the National Trust and RSPB enabled him to diplomatically and quietly sort out access issues. He was also a gifted poet and was highly acclaimed on a regional level.

As a climbing companion he was second to none with a seemingly endless store of anecdotes of his various lives and an encyclopaedic knowledge of unclimbed rock. His contribution to new routes in the area was huge and with characters such as Dennis Bateman he fruitfully pioneered in quiet and remote areas.

He was a key figure in the anti bolting campaign in the 1990s and 2000s and was a formidable advocate against bolting. In the 1960s he was a key figure in the area's folk music scene and he admitted to me once he had 2 songs in the Cecil Sharp folk Archives.

His passing will be felt by many in the South West because he was a very warm and generous person both with time and encouragement but mostly for his humour and integrity. I am honoured to call him a friend as will many others as we grieve for a real larger than life figure. [1]

References

[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/des_hannigan-777326

Doug was the idiosyncratic resident of Rock Cottage at Roaches Lower Tier, a cottage built in to the cliff. Doug died in Summer 2022 aged around 88.

Although not a climber himself he was friendly (or intimidating, depending on who you ask) with many of the climbers who climbed at the Roaches and surrounding area. He was known to memorize beta for routes and then find climbers in need and help them out by relaying the sequence to them.

Phil Burke:

He also probably saved my life, when soloing Elegy I hadn’t realised the top delicate last few moves where green and wet. Made one upward move too many and started to slide, but I couldn’t reverse for the same reason. I’d started contemplating a fall out zone, when I spotted and shouted to Dougie, who ran round to the top and lowered me the end of his wood bundle rope. One quick pull and I was up, so thank you Dougie! At the top I thanked him profusely and he replied “Any time Ron”. Ron [Fawcett] and myself both lived in Buxton at the time and so climbed there a lot, sometimes soloing together and Dougie often mixed us up. [3]

Dan Middleton:

Back in the 80's my mum used to go to the Roaches regularly, running personal development courses for British Gas and Royal Mail apprentices. Sometimes the youngsters could be hard work and be a bit macho and cocky, which she would solve by asking Doug to do his axe routine, which would terrify the living daylights out of them and get them in order sharpish. She'll be gutted to hear he's gone, she had a real soft spot for him. [2]

References

[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg7DKSGjYHf/

[2] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,18343.msg663919.html#msg663919

[3] https://www.ukclimbing.com/forums/rock_talk/dougie_moller_-lord_and_king_of_the_roachesfor_a_while-750563?v=1#x9668401

[4] https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/aug/26/doug-moller-obituary

The founder of Metolius.

References

[1] Moving Over Stone 1988 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGcUl1obrWA

Doug founded The North Face together with his wife Susie.

Owner of Rodeo Resole.

Features in Statement of Youth.

If you're the world's best climber and you treat somebody with dignity and respect...they will shine and they will grow, I think that's a very important thing that you can learn from these people.

I went bouldering in Texas, this guy I was bouldering with was called Fred, and Fred just kept saying "Oh no, it is easy...tak, tak, tak and summit" and I say "Oh god Fred, you must be mad!" Turns out it is Fred Nicole! Tak, tak, tak, summit...yeah right! [1]

[1] https://niallgrimes.libsyn.com/jcpc-110-ed-february