People I will never climb with again
By Roger Dyke
After nearly 40 years climbing, there are very few people I would never climb with again. But one man springs instantly to mind, from the 1980s.
He was 30ish, and appeared in the pub one Thursday explaining that he'd like to climb with us for a few weeks because his partner had had an accident and was in hospital. He didn't want to talk about it, but we assumed a car accident. We were next at Tremadoc and somehow it fell to me to climb with him. I asked what he was comfortable on: "VS" "How about Scratch then - I haven't done it for ages?" He looked doubtful, so I asked if he fancied something else. "No, no, Scratch is fine. I'll lead the first pitch."
He led the first pitch in good style, and I set off up the second, the long layback crack with no gear. About 20ft up there is a tricky bit, and while I was working this out his voice penetrated my concentration: "Where you are now, that's where my mate fell from. Broke both legs on this block here."
Amazing coincidence, absolutely staggering lack of tact.
(and if you wanted more, these stories are a pale shadow of what you can find on the Internet - as Roger personally recommends in these example links:
An Epic After Climbing by John Cox: on ukclimbing http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=830
Stop Press - An adventure on Lundy: on ukclimbing http://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/page.php?id=1590
Just don't meet these people on the crag.)
