Historical Nuggets

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remus

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It seems like there's been some interest in the stuff I do through climbing-history.org, so I thought a thread to discuss anything to do with the history of climbing could be fun.

To whet the whistle, Gordon Jenkin recently donated the diaries of Arnis Strapcans to the Mountain Heritage Trust, and I was able to have a browse through them, scan a few pics and take a few notes. He was a prolific climber in the south west throughout the 1970s before he sadly died in the alps in 1980. If you've spent any time trad climbing down there you'll likely be familiar with some of his routes: Main Wall Eliminate at Avon, The Exorcist on Lundy, Heart of the Sun, Atmosfears etc.

His diaries and first ascent write ups are amazingly well written and well worth a browse (click 'more' under pics and vids): https://climbing-history.org/climber/1808/arnis-strapcans
 
And next up a question: is there a vid of Chris Sharma on Just Do It? I'm sure I've heard of something but can't remember what it is. One of Mike Call's ones from that kinda time perhaps?
 
remus said:
And next up a question: is there a vid of Chris Sharma on Just Do It? I'm sure I've heard of something but can't remember what it is. One of Mike Call's ones from that kinda time perhaps?
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Think it was on a DVD called Fast Twitch, which was by Mike Call, mid - 90s, '97? He takes his jumper off halfway up.

It's here, and says it's free to watch, but I've not watched it again to check if it does in fact have Just do It on:

https://www.mntnfilm.com/en/film/fast-twitch-1997
 
Good knowledge, cheers both. It was the top off scene I was after :wub:

The link on there doesn't seem to be working for some reason, I'll see if I can hunt down a copy of the film somewhere.
 
remus said:
To whet the whistle, Gordon Jenkin recently donated the diaries of Arnis Strapcans to the Mountain Heritage Trust, and I was able to have a browse through them, scan a few pics and take a few notes. He was a prolific climber in the south west throughout the 1970s before he sadly died in the alps in 1980. If you've spent any time trad climbing down there you'll likely be familiar with some of his routes: Main Wall Eliminate at Avon, The Exorcist on Lundy, Heart of the Sun, Atmosfears etc.
Click to expand...

Amazing stuff. I started climbing in 1978, in the Avon Gorge, where Arnis Strapcans' reputation loomed large. He has always been an almost legendary figure to me as a result.
 
remus said:
To whet the whistle, Gordon Jenkin recently donated the diaries of Arnis Strapcans to the Mountain Heritage Trust, and I was able to have a browse through them, scan a few pics and take a few notes. He was a prolific climber in the south west throughout the 1970s before he sadly died in the alps in 1980. If you've spent any time trad climbing down there you'll likely be familiar with some of his routes: Main Wall Eliminate at Avon, The Exorcist on Lundy, Heart of the Sun, Atmosfears etc.

His diaries and first ascent write ups are amazingly well written and well worth a browse (click 'more' under pics and vids): https://climbing-history.org/climber/1808/arnis-strapcans
Click to expand...

These are great. As Andy says, a legendary figure in Bristol climbing circles. I seconded Atmosfears in the 90s when I was going well: it was bold, a bit loose, steep for Avon, and would have been hard even with two rest points. I'd love to do Wall of Prey.
 
Just to highlight that Arnis, alongside Mick Fowler, also contributed some impressive routes to the Outer Hebrides, e.g. Panting Dog Climb on the seldom visited but extremely impressive Creag Dubh Dibidale, https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/tamnasbhal-10837/panting_dog_climb-139450
 
duncan said:
I seconded Atmosfears in the 90s when I was going well: it was bold, a bit loose, steep for Avon, and would have been hard even with two rest points.
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Out of interest, I took a look on UKC - Atmosfears has a total of nine ascents logged, not all of them leads.
 
Tony S said:
Just to highlight that Arnis, alongside Mick Fowler, also contributed some impressive routes to the Outer Hebrides, e.g. Panting Dog Climb on the seldom visited but extremely impressive Creag Dubh Dibidale, https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/tamnasbhal-10837/panting_dog_climb-139450
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Thanks Tony, I've made a note of this ascent on ch. Amazing breadth of climbing he did in the period he was active!
 
Good timing on this thread as this video just came out https://youtu.be/V8-nrzA_3KQ?si=Q3bZ9mq03R23cf_H
 
Duma said:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C2aWynONt7z/?igsh=dnFhZ21oY3BtcWk5

Nice little nugget re the FA of Biceps Mou
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Great Instagram account that, love the little stories and great they're putting the effort in to do French and English. Must be so much don't history that's french only.
 
spidermonkey09 said:
Dingdong said:
Good timing on this thread as this video just came out https://youtu.be/V8-nrzA_3KQ?si=Q3bZ9mq03R23cf_H
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Thats really good. Well done Stan!
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Much appreciated! Not a super regular poster on here but definitely have my eye on this thread for some inspiration.
Any ideas throw em my way!
 
slab_happy said:
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2024/jan/21/john-bulmer-cambridge-night-climbers
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That was a nice read, thanks!
 
Bit of an open offer based on some conversations elsewhere, but if anyone has any digital material you think is of interest (pics of a cool FA, vids of interesting repeats, guidebook draft material etc.) I'd be happy to sort out some long term storage via climbing-history.org.

If you'd be happy making it public that'd obviously be cool, but if you just want somewhere safe for it and want to keep it private I'd be happy to help with that too.

Just drop me a DM.
 
As far as historical videos go, i always love this Dumby '99 vid.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVpioikyPKM&t=72s
 
Enjoying this episode of The Enormocast https://open.spotify.com/episode/1rvb7V4CnHDiVKmaIK907F?si=21OrMonxRueHzU2810IkOg

The first part is an interview with David Smart, a climber and author who has written some (excellent) biographies, most recently of Royal Robbins.

The second part is an interview with Robbins, recorded in 2012.
 

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