GET BOLDER AS YOU BOULDER

Cubby explains his passion for bouldering and says it is not just a training aid but also an important strand of climbing.

I was a keen hill walker before I started climbing but my first real climb, other than the odd scramble was actually on an indoor climbing wall. Meadowbank in Edinburgh to be precise. I always felt that the mentality of climbing indoors was very much a bouldering one and therefore an aspect of climbing I grew to enjoy and developed a passion for.

Bouldering is an intregal part of climbing, it's as fundamental as drawing skills are in art. But you know climbers have always bouldered as a sport. It's often said, or seen to be only, a means of preparation for bigger and better things in the mountains. But I think it's quite clear that bouldering is enjoyed for what it is, whether you are consciously aware of it or not.

From the St Kildans, all those centuries ago to the Victorians. The St Kildans were great climbers and from about the age of five, the young children were encouraged by the community to boulder on the stone exterior of their houses. Of course their livelihood depended on their ability to climb (to harvest eggs and birds from the sea cliffs and stacks). There was pressure on the men of the island to climb well, for it was said that good climbers made for a better husband. But there is also evidence to suggest that the St Kildans did not just climb out if necessity but also because it gave them great pleasure and whenever they had the opportunity, or were fed up with domestic chores, they would escape to playing on the rocks - sounds familiar!

I've seen pictures of Victorians and the great Harold Raeburn playing on Salisbury crags in Edinburgh, a playground that has been used by each successive generation ever since. An area, which me and my contemporaries used frequently. It's always been a popular venue with Edinburgh climbers and we were certainly aware that some hard problems had been worked out by the likes of Robin Smith, Marshall, McKeith, Bathgate, Spence and other leading climbers of the day.

Dougal Haston took training a stage further when in the first edition of Creag Dubh and the Eastern Outcrops guidebook, there was a complete section dedicated to the Currie Wa's - disused railway embankment walls on which numerous problems and traverses could be found. In typically Hastonesque style, there was a degree of risk involved on some of the problems. A traverse of the Tannery Bridge for example, where the consequence of a fall into the fast flowing Water of Leith, which at this point the tannery spewed a concoction of toxic waste and sewerage, did not bare thinking about.

In fact, I had to sit with my friend Cosmic Dave upstairs on the number 45 bus, all the way from Currie to Portobello (a trip of about one hour), after he had lobbed from the aforementioned traverse into the Water of Leith! Cosmic was not amused as he sat, sulking on the seat with his tweed breeches and big boots, soaked to the skin and leaking a strange brew that trickled between the seats and down the stairs. What made matters worse was that Cosmic, strange fellow that he is, kept his big, Joe Brown, orange helmet on. Funny how we had the bus to ourselves!

Prior to Jimmy Marshall's appearance on TV (the Edge series, 1996) where he climbed Bludgers Revelation with John MacLean, I asked him what he had been up to. He said that he was recovering from an operation for angina but he continued "I've been up at the crags (Salisbury) a wee bit. I always go there when I get the chance." If you saw the documentary, you will know how well Marshall climbed on what was a very cold day in May.

My first trip to the Alps in '76 was memorable for a number of reasons not least for the numerous days we spent bouldering on Pierre d'Orthaz in Snell's field. It was here that I met the two Californian giants, Mike Graham and Rick Accamozo, both of whom were talented and very stylish climbers. They were into "dynamics". "Yeah, you've gotta be in to leapin' man". And so the American leapin' route was established on Pierre d'Orthaz. Back home, the Glasgow Tech climbing wall may not have had the backdrop of the Dru but we worked out some wild dynos - the distance of which we measured by the number of bricks. Our best effort was 17 or 18 bricks I think and often diagonally, which extended the distance. Not good for the shoulder joints though!!

Living in Edinburgh, it was no real distance to the sandstone outcrops of Northumberland, which are now a major bouldering venue and one of the best in the country. Murray Hamilton always attributed our rock climbing success in the 70s to the amount of time we spent down there. On a fresh November day, there was nothing to beat the sound of the wind, feathering through the tall pines at Kyloe in the Woods. Cool, sun-dappled rock, the friction was superb. You would never leave the County on a day like that without raw fingertips, arms wasted and a rosy complexion - content.

When I climbed my first sport 8a, (Rain Dogs in 1986), some climbers questioned how I could spend so much of my time guiding in the Alps and yet still maintain so much strength and fitness. The answer is simple - bouldering (not to mention focus and motivation). When I was based in Chamonix, most of my spare time and evenings were spent bouldering on Pierre d'Orthaz or at the Col de Monte above Argentiere. Both were superb bouldering spots and while most of the Brits were getting tanked up in the Bar Nationale (I did a bit of that too of course) I would meet up with other like-minded guides, such as Patrick Berhault, Edlinger, Jean Claude Gilles and others.

They were an inspiration but I had to prove to the French that I was not a slouch and that way I became noticed. "You are English on Holiday," they would ask. "Non, Ecossais and I work here as a guide," I would proudly reply. When I guided away from Chamonix, for example on a traverse of The Haute Route, I would always pop a pair of slippers and a chalk bag in my sac. I knew a number of good venues and problems that I'd worked out in the mountain villages of Arolla and Zermatt but in between these venues I would traverse the outside wall of some of the huts. I'd get a telling off by the more grumpy guardians but most of the time they thought it was quite entertaining.

Nowadays, as a slightly older climber, I rely on inspiration. In previous years, I always turned to the young up and coming. To the Brat and Face in the early and late 80s and in the 90s, Malc Smith and Stuart Cameron. I'd had a full winter season's guiding before I met Malc and Stuart and I was very tired. Duncan McCallum suggested that I should meet up with the young phenomenon. "Come on, swallow your pride," he said. But I gave it a couple of weeks to get into shape and then joined Malc and Stuart for a great session on "the wood" at his home in Dunbar. I couldn't believe how well it translated to real rock.

So where is all this leading? Well I suppose I'm highlighting these experiences to show that bouldering perhaps plays a more important role in climbing than one might think. Bouldering is very much in vogue these days. It's not a new sport by any means but the good side to its rising popularity is that bouldering is now recognised for what it is and deservedly shares a place alongside all the other aspects in climbing. Great things are being achieved and to watch a top boulderer in action is, for me, as awe inspiring as someone soloing a major alpine or Himalayan face.

Unfortunately, my wilting little frame won't allow 18 brick dynos any longer but one of the advantages in bouldering, unlike climbing in the mountains, or in winter, is that you generally have control while warming up and of the moves you make, without too much stress. So for me recently, bouldering is a revelation and contrary to popular belief, therapeutic to injuries.

Recently I received a phone call from Ben Pritchard, who had called me last year wondering if I would be interested in being filmed for their new bouldering video. Ben works with Richie Heap, makers of Hard Grit and other climbing videos, such as Salathe Wall that is due out shortly. Thankfully, as I was ill prepared, the film never came off last year. I suggested to Ben, as the weather was stunning and due to stay good until the end of the week, that he should get himself up here. "So yeah, I'm up for it," I said not really thinking about what I was letting myself in for. "I'll give you a call back but it will probably be up next week sometime."

For once I had been climbing and bouldering up at my favourite venue at Glen Nevis, where last year I had worked out a fun traverse. I was half way up the track to Sky Pilot when the mobile went. "We're coming up tonight and we'd like to film you on your traverse tomorrow (Friday)". "Yeah, fine," I replied. "God, better get up there quick!" I'd only managed the traverse once before and I'd like to have extended it for the film.

Sky Pilot is an undercut wall on the top tier of High Crag in Glen Nevis. It has a perfect grassy lawn beneath it and the outlook towards Stob Bhan and the Mamores is breathtaking. I started thinking about some of the questions they might ask and in my mind I prepared some answers. I couldn't escape from the fact that one of the reasons I liked the area so much was because of its magnificent outlook and tremendous sense of height and exposure. It was a place where I could immerse myself in my own little world.

I met up with Ben and Rich and forewarned them of the steep, 20 minute approach and suggested some nice spots to take landscapes from. At that point they sort of looked at me, then I realised how much my romantic side had clouded the reality of a fast moving, hard core bouldering video. Arghh, I thought! How naive of me. "We need a few landscapes but not many, so that will do," said Rich, as he pointed his camera at a birch tree, with a piece of rock behind it. They asked a few questions before I started warming up but I'd lost my concentration and whittered on about Sky Pilot, a climb that I put up back in 1982. "Sky Pilot, remember Eric Bourden and the Animals - no of course not." "Sky Pilot, how high can you fly..."

I started the warm up process, my mind full of American thrash. "By the way, it takes me ages to warm up - need to stretch all that scar tissue into place you know." "Wow, what a view," they remarked. Thick creamy snow capped the top of Sgur a Mhain. The light was harsh but still they took a few more landscapes. That's encouraging I thought. The weather was superb, very warm and with a strong breeze. Great conditions for bouldering and for once I was feeling strong, if a little nervous. After some time, I announced that I would try it in one push. Ben lazed in the sun, faded out after a trip to Kashmir, while Rich engaged in a full on bouldering session. These guys are pretty laid back, that's good I thought. And my announcement slowly aroused some interest in filming.

I started climbing. I was nervous and fumbled a couple of moves but managed to get to the last move, the crux, before popping off. "You're a very quiet climber," said Rich. "I'm sorry but I've always been quiet, it's just the way I am," I said apologetically. "Don't worry," Rich assured me. "We need this sort of stuff to break the film up a bit." Great, I'm obviously the old fart - oh well, that's reality for you! I talked through the moves and thought about being wacky and going off at a tangent and saying something like - "Hey dude, start with your butt on the deck and milk that mother fucker, way rad, wicked, super cool, kinda funky traverse...huh?" But no, instead, I said, "you know, I really like this traverse because it's full of interesting moves and the crux comes right at the end, which I think is nice!"

In an odd sort of way it was master of the understatement which did create a sense of something that was not entirely twee. Ben retired to his sunning spot once more and faded out, while Rich impetuously ran around trying some new problems, determined to leave his mark. "Wow, look at the light now," said Rich and went off to shoot some more landscapes. I got the traverse next time round and continued along the extension to finish up Auto Roof, falling from the finishing hold. I think I shook at that point, which got Ben and Rich quite excited! All things considered and the soaring temperatures, I was more than pleased. We had a great session but I think in the end, Rich had fallen in love with the landscape more than the bouldering!

Cubby
16/5/2001