SA Chris said:
For some reason that site is blocked at work.
SA Chris said:
Sloper said:All we know is that you're saying that you were told by person x that they belayed RS.
Paul B said:I'm not sure how much of the UKC thread people over on this side of the fence have read (or I may have missed it here?) but this information was offered to petejh (assuming the names carry over) first to clarify the historical record (with conditions), which I gather was refused. This information didn't have to come through Doylo.
by - petejh on - 14 Dec 2010
In reply to friend1:
Seeing as this thread is going to be locked and I have the feeling that Alan won't be allowing anymore speculation to appear on UKC - I'd like this to be on some sort of public record before I forget the details:
Rich got in touch with me 4 days ago (on the 10th December) following my request for him to validate his ascent of Liquid Ambar for the forthcoming North Wales Limestone guidebook. He told me that he'd give me the name and contact details of his belayer for Liquid Ambar and Hubble provided I accept his 3 conditions, which were:
1) That his (the belayer's) details (name, email etc) are not placed on internet forums or in widespread media of any kind.
2) That only one person (yourself preferably) makes contact to verify my ascent.
3) That you request verification for the purposes of the historical record in your guidebook, and do not mention debates on ukc etc – he abhors this type of thing, and would probably be reluctant to get involved if he believed that your requests were in direct response to forum speculation.
I see these as smokescreens and attempts to control the situation - typical of his behavior whenever he's been questioned. His conditions are unacceptable to me for these reasons -
they isolate me into being partly responsible for supporting his reputation without his proof being open to public scrutiny,
it's totally unrealistic for Rich to try to keep his means of validation separated from the internet climbing community by which so much of the doubt has been raised about his claims,
Rich's behavior, by which I mean his long-term refusal to respect the wishes of any member of the climbing community by supplying proof when he's been respectfully asked to do so, has ensured he isn't in a position to demand 'conditions' from anyone,
and lastly there's no reason for there to be any great secrecy in this matter, it's a claim of an ascent up a little bit of a cliff near Llandudno - we're not talking about international espionage here, the only possible reason for wanting secrecy is if Rich has something to hide.
I emailed Rich back today to tell him either to verify his ascent of LA in an open and honest manner by giving me a straight answer, or consider his ascent struck from the record, he hasn't replied yet. I've spoken or been in contact with a lot of Rich's acquaintances over the last week to get a more complete picture, none of them supported Rich's claims and they actually raised even more doubts then they cleared up.
People have always been open and receptive to Rich proving the doubters wrong but he's never done so which is a shame, because he's a 'nice' guy and one of the strongest climbers around. As things stand I believe Rich has lied about all of his most impressive sporting achievements.
..Then one I day met someone called Dan Tounley he was older than me and had a very high motivation and was very talented he was climbing 8a+ at the time, he obviously saw that I was talented and very keen so he took me under his wing and taught me how to climb hard, how to train, that there's nothing to be scared of and that you must give 110 per cent if you want to achieve your goals and that you can do anything as long as you want it bad enough. He took me outside and even helped me with money on a few occasions by not letting me pay fuel money etc. We then went on a climbing trip abroad to northern Spain for 3 months, I was only 17 at the time and was very nervous but he was great he looked after me and I just had an incredible time and realised that all I wanted to do was to climb and travel and fortunately I'm still doing it now and enjoying it more than ever.
3. Who or what has influenced your climbing?
My great friend Dan Tounley, who got me into climbing and showed me the ropes. Although he does not climb anymore and has lived a life full of problems, he remains the person I most respect in climbing
Sloper said:All we know is that you're saying that you were told by person x that they belayed RS.
shark said:I'm not sure what you are saying (as usual) but it sounds like a criticism of petejh. Doylo knows who the belayer was, had his contact details and also knows him personally. petejh didn't.
shark said:
RAK Punter said:shark said:
Difficult to take this article too seriously when the interview opens with:
"1. When and how did you discover climbing?
At school, my science teacher took me climbing as I was being disruptive in her class. I really enjoyed it and continued to climb with her until it I discovered that she was in fact an alien. I found myself looking for a new climbing partner shortly after. "
I read no futher
a dense loner said:not really interesting, and the author goes on about uncut footage way too much