![]() Dawes, May 2011 | |
Personal information | |
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Nickname | Stone Monkey [1] |
Nationality | British |
Born | Birmingham, West Midlands | 9 May 1964
Education | Uppingham School |
Occupation | Professional rock climber |
Height | 5 ft 3 in (160 cm) [2] |
Website | www |
Climbing career | |
Type of climber | Traditional climbing, Sport climbing, Bouldering, Free solo climbing |
Highest grade | |
Known for | Extreme traditional routes |
First ascents |
|
Major ascents | Indian Face (E9 6c) |
Johnny Dawes (born 9 May 1964) is a British rock climber and author, known for his dynamic climbing style and bold traditional climbing routes. This included the first ascent of Indian Face , the first-ever route at the E9-grade. [6] His influence on British climbing was at its peak in the mid to late-1980s.
Dawes' climbing career splits into an initial period pre-1986 where he focused on gritstone in the Peak District, which was suited to his unique climbing style (e.g. Gaia, and End of the Affair). [7] [8] [9] From 1986, Dawes focused on Wales and on a diverse range of rock, from the slate quarries of Llanberis (e.g. The Quarryman, The Very Big and the Very Small, and Dawes of Perception), to the quartzite cliffs of Gogarth North Stack (e.g. Conan the Librarian, and Hardback Thesaurus), and the rhyolite mountain crags of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu (e.g. Indian Face). [7] [8] Dawes is remembered for intimidating traditional climbing routes, in the legacy of Pete Livesey, Ron Fawcett and John Redhead, [9] and less for sport climbing routes, unlike his contemporaries Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon. [7] [8]
Dawes came to prominence outside of the rock climbing world with his 4 October 1986 ascent of Indian Face, [lower-alpha 1] the first E9-graded traditional rock route in Britain, [11] [12] and at the time, considered to be the hardest and most dangerous traditional route in the world. [13] [14] The guidebook described it as "A pitch of such appalling difficulty as to be almost beyond the realms of human comprehension". [13] In a 2011 interview, Dawes said: "As you set off it's best to consider yourself already dead. You just do it". [7] The climb, and rare repeats, are the subject of a 2006 documentary, Johnny Dawes and the Story of Indian Face. [13] [15]
In 1993, Dawes was a member of an expedition funded by the Mount Everest Foundation to attempt the first ascent of The Shark's Fin on Meru Peak in Gangotri Himalaya, India; a dropped boot led to a forced descent from 6,000 meters to avoid frostbite. [16] An autobiographical account of his climbing, Full of Myself, was published in 2011. [17]
Dawes had a uniquely dynamic technique, leaping between very small holds, and also for his levels of balance and foot-control that enable him to climb extreme-grade routes without using his hands. [1] [18] Welsh climber George Smith said: "His climbing seemed choreographed rather than constructed in a gym. If there's perfect pitch for movement, he has it". [8] Aspects of his unique technique was captured in the 1986 climbing film, Stone Monkey, considered one of the best-ever films in the genre, [8] as well as the 2015 climbing series, No Handed Climbing, [19] [20] [21] and other "no-hands", [22] [23] and "no-feet" videos. [24]
His unorthodox climbing style, coupled with his reputation for a keen intellect and an artistic or bohemian bent, [8] made Dawes an enigmatic and mercurial character in British climbing. [7] [25] His writing has been called "quirky, convoluted, and often obscure", [8] and a tendency to "speak in riddles" earned him the titles of "nutty professor", and of "mad genius" from some commentators. [26] [27] [9] His approach also made it difficult to secure commercial sponsorship, with Dawes saying in a 2019 interview, "I wasn’t supported by the climbing industry because I didn't fit the commercial template". [28]
Dawes is widely considered a legend of British rock climbing, [1] [12] and one of the most influential figures in British rock climbing history. [7] [14] Over a career spanning the early-1980s to the early-1990s, he pushed the technical level of traditional climbing with routes that were unprecedented both in terms of difficulty, and the style in which they were climbed. [7] [25] In 2012, The Guardian called Dawes a "defining figure" and wrote that: "His climbs were rated among the very hardest in the world, test pieces of both balance and nerve, some with a reputation for terrible danger". [18] Some of his routes are still so intimidating that they are rarely repeated, and several feature in climbing films focused on Dawes (e.g. 80s Birth of Extreme) and his routes (e.g. Hard Grit , Quarrymen). [7]
Dawes was born in 1964 in Birmingham, [29] into a wealthy family, whose parents were part of the 1960s British motor racing scene. [12] His education at the Uppingham School was a difficult one, with Dawes suffering from periods of depression and bullying. [18] [8]
Dawes rejected the career path of his contemporaries into third-level education and then a likely London-based career, choosing instead to obsess on climbing, telling The Guardian, "I was in a shut-off state, to a certain extent. When I was doing something dangerous it would wake me up". [18]
In 2011, Dawes was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which he called "depressing and heavy"; by 2018, treatment enabled him to climb at 8b+ (5.14a). [3]
Traditional climbing is a type of free climbing in rock climbing where the lead climber places the protection equipment while ascending the route; when the lead climber has completed the route, the second climber then removes the protection equipment as they climb the route. Traditional climbing differs from sport climbing where the protection equipment is pre-drilled into the rock in the form of bolts.
Black Rocks, is a small outcrop of ashover gritstone, between Cromford and Wirksworth in Derbyshire, the Peak District, England. It is an important crag in the history of British rock climbing, and has some of the most extreme climbing routes in Britain, including Gaia E8 6c.
Fair Head or Benmore is a 5-kilometre (3.1 mi) long, 200-metre (660 ft) high, mountain cliff, close to the sea, at the north-eastern corner of County Antrim, Northern Ireland. The cliff's sheer and vertical 100-metre (330 ft) high dolerite rock face is shaped into distinctive vertical columns like organ pipes, which formed 60 million years ago when a sill of igneous rock was injected between horizontal Carboniferous sediments.
Steve McClure is a British rock climber and climbing author, who is widely regarded as Britain's leading and most important sport climber for a period that extends for over two decades, starting from the late 1990s. In 2017, he created Rainman, Britain's first-ever 9b (5.15b) sport route, and by that stage was responsible for developing the majority of routes graded 9a (5.14d) and above in Britain. Although mainly known for sport climbing, McClure has also been one of the most successful British traditional climbers, and British onsight climbers.
Jerry Moffatt, is a British rock climber and climbing author who is widely considered as being the best British rock climber from the early-1980s to the early-1990s, and was arguably the best rock climber in the world in the mid-1980s, and an important climber in the history of the sport.
Master's Edge is an 18-metre (59 ft) gritstone arête that is a rock climbing route in the "Corners Area" of Millstone Edge quarry, in the Peak District, England. When English climber Ron Fawcett completed the first free ascent of the route on 29 December 1983, it was graded E7 6c, and one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world; it remains one of the hardest gritstone climbs.
Lisa Rands is an American rock climber. She is known for her bouldering for which in 2002, she became the first American female to win IFSC World Cup bouldering competitions, and topped the IFSC world boulder rankings in 2002. Rands was the first American female to climb boulders of grade V11 (8A), and V12 (8A+), and was the second-ever female in history to climb a 7C+/8A boulder. As well as making first female ascents (FFAs) of boulders such as The Mandala V12 (8A+), Rands was the first female in history to do an E8-graded traditional climbing route, The End of the Affair.
The Llanberis Pass in Snowdonia carries the main road (A4086) from the south-east to Llanberis, over Pen-y-Pass, between the mountain ranges of the Glyderau and the Snowdon massif. At the bottom of the pass is the small village of Nant Peris.
Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, is a north-facing rhyolite set of cliffs located on the northern flank of Snowdon mountain. Clogwyn Du'r Arddu is considered to be one of the best traditional climbing areas in Britain, and has been called "The shrine of British climbing", and a "crucible for the development of most of the finest climbers in Britain and the scene of many of their finest achievements".
In the history of rock climbing, the three main sub-disciplines—bouldering, single-pitch climbing, and big wall climbing—can trace their origins to late 19th-century Europe. Bouldering started in Fontainebleau, and was advanced by Pierre Allain in the 1930s, and John Gill in the 1950s. Big wall climbing started in the Dolomites, and was spread across the Alps in the 1930s by climbers such as Emilio Comici and Riccardo Cassin, and in the 1950s by Walter Bonatti, before reaching Yosemite where it was led in the 1950s to 1970s by climbers such as Royal Robbins. Single-pitch climbing started pre-1900 in both the Lake District and in Saxony, and by the late-1970s had spread widely with climbers such as Ron Fawcett (Britain), Bernd Arnold (Germany), Patrick Berhault (France), Ron Kauk and John Bachar (USA).
Dave MacLeod is a Scottish rock climber, ice climber, mixed climber, and climbing author. MacLeod was the second-ever person free solo a 8b+ (5.14a) graded route, and for climbing one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.
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Nea Everilda Morin was a British rock climber and mountain climber.
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Dinas Cromlech or Dinas y Gromlech is a distinctive rhyolite rock outcrop at the Llanberis Pass, in Snowdonia, northwest Wales, which has a distinctive "open book" shape that is clearly visible from the road (A4086), and is very popular location for rock climbers and contains some of Britain's most famous and notable rock climbing routes, several of which are important in the history of rock climbing.
Ron Fawcett is a British rock climber and rock climbing author who is credited with pushing the technical standards of British rock climbing in traditional, sport, bouldering and free soloing disciplines, in the decade from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, and of pioneering the career of being a full-time professional rock climber. At the end of the 1970s to the early 1980s, Fawcett was widely considered the best and most notable rock climber in Britain.
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Indian Face is a 45-metre (148 ft) rhyolite rock climbing route on the "Great Wall" of the East Buttress of Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, in Wales. When English climber Johnny Dawes completed the first free ascent of the route on 4 October 1986, it was graded E9 6c or, the first-ever E9-graded route, and was considered one of the hardest traditional climbing routes in the world.
Robert Andrew Pollitt was a British rock climber who was one of the most prominent traditional climbers and sport climbers of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1992, after having successfully repeated Punks in the Gym in Australia, the world's first-ever 8b+ (5.14a) graded sport climbing routes, he quit climbing and permanently emigrated to Australia. In 2016, Pollitt published an autobiography, titled Punk in the Gym. He died from a cerebral aneurysm on 13 November 2019.
Johnny Dawes: Mesomorph; Somatotype: 2:6:5. Below average height (5ft 3 inch) for an elite climber; naturally athletic with a muscular build; generally explosive dynamic style of climbing; exceptional on steep slabs and gently overhanging ground.
The various approaches to rock climbers' ever-present dilemmas evolve into schools of thought within climbing, with some adopting a highly physical approach and others, such as Johnny Dawes (the "nutty professor" of climbing), a more psychological approach.
No one doubts Johnny Dawes' radical and unorthodox approach to climbing; the problem is that few people understand it! The 'nutty professor' of modern climbing, who thinks in patterns and moves in waves is also renowned for speaking in riddles