Je revois avec plaisir et émotion ce film avec ces 2 légendes de l'alpinisme et l'escalade. Respect ....Je revois également les marques de matériel de l'époque : North Cape, Karrimor, Troll Whillans, etc
I love this video and have watched it many times in recent years. It brings back happy memories of the route itself (1978), and of the friendships and fun that climbing brought to my young life. Brown's reflections at the top of the route and his carefree dance down the scree still bring a lump to my throat.
I have just watched it yet again and the same emotions returned. As for my own ascent , I have to admit that I did not lead it. By 1978 the rising levels of difficulty had far surpassed those of the early early 1950s. Even at my own lowly level of performance, the difficulties were not excessive, but the beauty and the ambience, captured wonderfully in this video, remain the same. Brown and Whillans were very lovable legends. @@3vimages471
@@3vimages471 You do me too much honour. I was only the humble second on a rope of three. and the likes of Cenotaph Corner and Left hand Wall were already receiving plenty of traffic. In fact we managed Cenotaph Corner the next day. But, as I stated in my comment, it was always the fun, the friendships and the beauty of both routes and locations that really mattered.
@@rodneybarton-hall3867 I didn't say you were Don or Joe, but you climbed 'that' ...... I say again, respect. I love the hills and mountains and I ski pretty well but I could never climb that. Enjoy your memories mate!
Thanks to whoever uploaded this. I remember watching this as an 17/18 year old, who really wanted to climb. I got my chance a few years later and always wanted to climb Cemetery Gates. The closest I got was staying at the UBMC hut in Llanberis and after 5 pints of courage I was going to climb it the next day. but the next day found me chickening out in favour of a VS on Dinas Mot (Lorraine IIRC). Was a great days climbing, watching people on the opposite wall of the valley failing off Cenotaph Corner. Happy memories.
What happened to my comments about 6 months ago? Someone delete them? This was not his last major climb! I went to the Dolomites with Don in July 1985. We climbed a pinnacle near Lecco called 'Il sigaro' which was a grade 5.8 on UIAA scale - about HVS. This was a 4 pitch climb with an abseil off the top. The crux was 10 feet from the summit - a sloping ledge with a bulge pushing you onto your left foot. Don lead this part and overcame the obstacle with a bit of puffing and panting. It was a honour to be the last person to climb with Don. We spent over 2 weeks together in the Dolomites, travelling down on motor bikes. unlike some of the stories, I found Don easy to get on with as long as you were upfront with him and gave him no bulls**t!!! I think I was the only person to ever owe money to Don. He lent me 100 french francs for petrol on the way back, but unfortunately he died before I could pay him back!! Bernard Tamworth
half way up a sheer wet rock face "hang on, me hearing aid's come off" friggin classic, had me smiling for days 🤓✌️ .... legends the pair of 'em ...... top geezers
i love watching these old climbs and this one is so amazing to watch i love how Don so out of shape and smoking and still climbs this mountain with Es he must of been one good climber in hes day .
Don did a slide show for our club back in the day, based on the 1971 International Expedition to Everest, having come all the way down to Kent from Yorkshire on his motorbike. I had the task of pushing the slides through, and it wasn't until I heard this dry voice saying "I think the projectionist has gone to sleep" that I stopped laughing at his ribald quip re Yvette Vaucher! He also insisted on referring to Bonington as "Christmas Bonus"! Couldn't believe it in the pub afterwards when he said he'd like to join us for our meet in North Wales later that year - sounded quite sincere, but it didn't happen..........
In those days a first ascent was you start at the bottom and if you got to the top you described how you did it and that was that, hence the grading reflected that experience. nowadays you can abseil down the route clean it off and, practice the moves over many months even years and piece al the moves together and if you reach the top claim it as a first ascent, hence the phenomenal grades achieved now. hats off to two great hard climbing english pioneering legends who I had the privilege to meet.
Dixie C Yes your right. And in those days the intention was never to fall off! If you did it was a fail! These days they expect to fall off numerous times! That together with what you said, makes these old climbers superior in every way to many who claim to have pushed up the standards of today!
@@ultimateoutdoors4659 if you watch adam ondra on TH-cam he likes to go to really hard climbs and see if he can clean them from the bottom first time. Its awesome to watch 💪
Great to see Joe and Don together. I was in The Vaynol one evening in the 1970's when Don was drinking at the bar. H was keeping himself to himself, it was a real thrill to see him in the flesh!
I remember reading Chris Bonington's 'Annapurna South Face' in my teens in which the legend of Whillans was semented. Later I would visit Annapurna base camp and beyond to marvel at one of the most dangerous and challenging climbs there is, even to this day.
I have to agree with Zoe before me...he's hilarious, old school, and a solid climber to boot! He's totally off the couch and does an awesome job repeating an obviously important climb to him, done *years* prior. RESPECT to you sir...
He was not first person to reach summit of Annapurna. Herzog and Lachenal (1950) were. Whillans and Haston were first to summit after ascent of Annapurna South face (1970).
I met Whillans at Western Mountaineering in Santa Cruz, California back in the late-1970s. He was a character. He certainky didn't look like a mountaineer with his beer belly, but his resume' said otherwise. I wonder what he thought of Messner's and Habeler's ascent of Everest in 1978 sans O2. I climbed with Habeler in 1982 in his hometown area of Mayrhofen, Austria. Peter was a great guy.
This just brought back so damn many memories, when I was first starting to climb I had the honor to be on the rock with Don. I've always cherished and wondered about him. Thanks for sharing this. Dare I say it brought tears to my blue eyes. I have a trip planned on my own ' ' Vertical Memory Lane ' on Mount Sir Donald .It will also be my last climb.
That's a superb video, i was all in it. Doing this as young lads is scary. Doing it in the shape of Don Whillans in this video seemed suicidal but as he proves here, technique, skills and experience go a long long way. Even so it's still incredible to me to see someone going up first and inserting the pegs as Brown.
Another historic and bittersweet moment in the annals of mountaineering. We are very fortunate to see these two climbing legends rope up together one last time. I love it when Whillans asks, “ is this a non-smoking stance?” The guy smoked, drank heavily, was obese and STILL climbed a 5.9+ crack at age 54. Amazing.
Love the comment that Don was considered the technical equal of Bonington. I think you'll find that Bonington was not regarded as remotely the technical equal of Don!
This I have to save ... love these guys .... I been there in snowdonia also many times in my youth ..... in this world we live in now of bubble wrapped softies ... it’s great to see these guys ... talking about drinking and smoking too and no ones judging like today a man can’t event light up a smoke unless he’s halfway out the pub and across the street now ... cool blokes these guys are
amazing to see how safety has progressed. "I shall be safe in about two minutes" is not something you'd ever say now... lest you hear back "alright, you're off belay" !
That was painful to watch in some parts. Whillans was clearly physically uncomfortable and pushing himself against how he must have felt. He is still more able at his twilight than I ever was at my best. An absolute legend and was glad to see the little whoop he gave at near the top.
I remember an interview with Don on Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World where he gives an account of seeing a Bigfoot type creature while on his Annapurna expedition. He saw this big shape drop behind a ledge and it startled two crows. Sherpa says to him "Yeti coming Saab!" and he thought to himself "Shall I grab the ice axe or what?!" A terrific climber with character to boot.
To all those who’ve added comment to this vid. Hats off to you. I’ve been up a few Villian gritstone routes without a single bit of grace and a chalk bag full of expletives. The founders of the silly games we play on the blessed rock 🤣
il n'est pas noté que Whilans est aussi l'inventeur de ce fameux "baudrier" qui nous a libéré le haut du corps et assuré de pouvoir "voler" avec un confort inégalé à l'époque !
Still have my Whillans harness. Old and stiff now but one is still in the Mountaineering Museum in Chamonix last summer. Don invented other stuff as well! Willans Boxes and variuos hammers. Heroes of my boyhood and had the pleasure of meeting both under Cloggy in the 70's.
@@goognamgoognw6637 Totally agree. Not a climber/mountaineer myself (but have been through a dozen Russian winters) and wool is just amazing: warm, comfortable, lets your body breathe - and will still generate warmth when it's wet! Some modern "Hitec" fabrics are great but wool is still hard to beat.
@@grantchallinor5263 i tried to like those so called modern hitech fabric but i find out it's junk. It makes me sweat, i feel like wearing a plastic bag, i think it's a scam. I reject all those non cotton T-shirts and jersey. I'm only wearing natural material, except for coats.
@@goognamgoognw6637 In my younger years I had a skin allergy and wearing shirts/clothes made of natural fabrics/fibres really helped. To this day I still prefer natural fabrics (generally I wear cotton) and they're much better. I (sadly) don't have many woollen clothes (a couple of jumpers and a wool vest - the latter for extreme cold/wind chill) because good wool clothes are so expensive. Like you've said too, coats are the exception. I have a 10 year old expedition parka which has very thick goose-down insulation (it can be as cold as minus 45 to minus 30 C in winter where I live) and to get a coat warm enough (while keeping the rain, snow or ice out as well) you have to look at something with a Gortex (or similar) outer layer.....
I met Joe Brown in Alaska in '85 or '86. It was over a beer in the Fairview Inn in Talkeetna. I'd just guided the West Buttress and Joe was there to climb the mountain with his mates. I don't think I asked him what route they were going to do. I was pretty star struck.
You mean the first British man to summit Annapurna I in 1970. It was first climbed about 2 decades earlier by a French expedition (Herzog and Lachenal)
Dons wife Audrey is my mums cousin. We used to go and visit her in that house. She was a wonderful lady. Only saw Don a couple of times, he was always away doing his stuff.
Was a great day, was unbelievably humble about his achievements and just talked as a fellow climber even though he was miles above my ability and experience. Unfortunately I don't climb anymore but coming back to these sort of videos make me want to get fit again even though it i getting a bit late for me :)
It was pretty much all nuts although I did see what looked to be one cam on his rack. Joe was sticking to old school stuff even though by '85 cams were in full use. I'm not familiar with this type of rock. Perhaps nuts are more ideal there than Yosemite.
Of course, hammerless ascents using nuts were the new school to these guys...and a lot of the climbers from that era considered cam technology as cheating.
How Don got up that, being so unhealthy and , frankly fat. He's an inspiration to normal guys. We must remember that we are not Don Whillans though.! Lovely watching Joe climb.
Yep, I had a Whillans Sit-in harness and you're right, wasn't at all comfortable. If you fell off a lead you spent the time waiting for the rope to come taught not with your life flashing before your eyes....but hoping your 'bits & pieces' were in the right place and not going to get jammed in the leg loops!
Je revois avec plaisir et émotion ce film avec ces 2 légendes de l'alpinisme et l'escalade. Respect ....Je revois également les marques de matériel de l'époque : North Cape, Karrimor, Troll Whillans, etc
That's a a superb bit of film. Fantastic banter and climbing. RIP both these legends.
I love this video and have watched it many times in recent years. It brings back happy memories of the route itself (1978), and of the friendships and fun that climbing brought to my young life. Brown's reflections at the top of the route and his carefree dance down the scree still bring a lump to my throat.
You climbed that in 1978?
Respect.
I have just watched it yet again and the same emotions returned. As for my own ascent , I have to admit that I did not lead it. By 1978 the rising levels of difficulty had far surpassed those of the early early 1950s. Even at my own lowly level of performance, the difficulties were not excessive, but the beauty and the ambience, captured wonderfully in this video, remain the same. Brown and Whillans were very lovable legends. @@3vimages471
@@3vimages471 You do me too much honour. I was only the humble second on a rope of three. and the likes of Cenotaph Corner and Left hand Wall were already receiving plenty of traffic. In fact we managed Cenotaph Corner the next day. But, as I stated in my comment, it was always the fun, the friendships and the beauty of both routes and locations that really mattered.
@@rodneybarton-hall3867 I didn't say you were Don or Joe, but you climbed 'that' ...... I say again, respect. I love the hills and mountains and I ski pretty well but I could never climb that. Enjoy your memories mate!
Two off the greatest of all time ...... Woröd renowned and with good reason.
Rip Joe & Don.. May you climb free wherever you may roam...
Smoking and overweight, I’d rather his company any day than many of the obnoxious Lycra clad QuickDraw dudes frequenting our rocks
Had to watch this one again, its twice as good as the first time. Way to young to be leaving us at 52yrs old. He is missed I'm sure. RIP ....
Thanks to whoever uploaded this. I remember watching this as an 17/18 year old, who really wanted to climb. I got my chance a few years later and always wanted to climb Cemetery Gates. The closest I got was staying at the UBMC hut in Llanberis and after 5 pints of courage I was going to climb it the next day. but the next day found me chickening out in favour of a VS on Dinas Mot (Lorraine IIRC). Was a great days climbing, watching people on the opposite wall of the valley failing off Cenotaph Corner. Happy memories.
Climbed this three days ago. Safe to say it wasn’t as chilled as these legends make it out to be, and it wasn’t soggy! 🤣
What happened to my comments about 6 months ago? Someone delete them? This was not his last major climb! I went to the Dolomites with Don in July 1985. We climbed a pinnacle near Lecco called 'Il sigaro' which was a grade 5.8 on UIAA scale - about HVS. This was a 4 pitch climb with an abseil off the top. The crux was 10 feet from the summit - a sloping ledge with a bulge pushing you onto your left foot. Don lead this part and overcame the obstacle with a bit of puffing and panting. It was a honour to be the last person to climb with Don. We spent over 2 weeks together in the Dolomites, travelling down on motor bikes. unlike some of the stories, I found Don easy to get on with as long as you were upfront with him and gave him no bulls**t!!! I think I was the only person to ever owe money to Don. He lent me 100 french francs for petrol on the way back, but unfortunately he died before I could pay him back!! Bernard Tamworth
Glad he had another great trip! I love his dry British humour and what a great climber in his day!
so you claim...
You seriously think he would make that up?
So fortunate to have climbed with him. Brits,Scots and Irish are the best people to climb with. I guess some Yanks also.
Ah, so it was the cigarettes what finished off our Don!
How many times will this be watched over the next few days. RIP Joe.
half way up a sheer wet rock face "hang on, me hearing aid's come off" friggin classic, had me smiling for days 🤓✌️ .... legends the pair of 'em ...... top geezers
Beautiful piece this vid thanks for the upload it's a gem
i love watching these old climbs and this one is so amazing to watch i love how Don so out of shape and smoking and still climbs this mountain with Es he must of been one good climber in hes day .
Don did a slide show for our club back in the day, based on the 1971 International Expedition to Everest, having come all the way down to Kent from Yorkshire on his motorbike. I had the task of pushing the slides through, and it wasn't until I heard this dry voice saying "I think the projectionist has gone to sleep" that I stopped laughing at his ribald quip re Yvette Vaucher! He also insisted on referring to Bonington as "Christmas Bonus"! Couldn't believe it in the pub afterwards when he said he'd like to join us for our meet in North Wales later that year - sounded quite sincere, but it didn't happen..........
Riley did a fantastic job filming the old codgers going up the Gates.Whillans and Brown will forever be legends.I enjoyed that.
Tee Larkin i
Old codgers bet they burn u off sharky!
Great film of them climbing, so exciting! Thanks for video!
In those days a first ascent was you start at the bottom and if you got to the top you described how you did it and that was that, hence the grading reflected that experience. nowadays you can abseil down the route clean it off and, practice the moves over many months even years and piece al the moves together and if you reach the top claim it as a first ascent, hence the phenomenal grades achieved now. hats off to two great hard climbing english pioneering legends who I had the privilege to meet.
Dixie C Yes your right. And in those days the intention was never to fall off! If you did it was a fail! These days they expect to fall off numerous times! That together with what you said, makes these old climbers superior in every way to many who claim to have pushed up the standards of today!
@@ultimateoutdoors4659 if you watch adam ondra on TH-cam he likes to go to really hard climbs and see if he can clean them from the bottom first time. Its awesome to watch 💪
Great video. Thanks for sharing. Lovely to see these two great climbers getting together again before it was too late.
Great to see Joe and Don together. I was in The Vaynol one evening in the 1970's when Don was drinking at the bar. H was keeping himself to himself, it was a real thrill to see him in the flesh!
Brilliant bit of film to watch. May they both rest in peace. Both of them true legends of the climbing world. Simon.
Genuinely some of the most exciting climbing I’ve seen
I remember reading Chris Bonington's 'Annapurna South Face' in my teens in which the legend of Whillans was semented. Later I would visit Annapurna base camp and beyond to marvel at one of the most dangerous and challenging climbs there is, even to this day.
Excellent
Glad to have seen climb
They sure are great climbers to be recognized
Thank you
I have to agree with Zoe before me...he's hilarious, old school, and a solid climber to boot! He's totally off the couch and does an awesome job repeating an obviously important climb to him, done *years* prior. RESPECT to you sir...
He was not first person to reach summit of Annapurna. Herzog and Lachenal (1950) were. Whillans and Haston were first to summit after ascent of Annapurna South face (1970).
ah summit vs South face. I wondered why the narrator mispoke.
"And all t'footholds are wet!" utter respect for these two climbing hard wet rock, and Whillans so out of condition.
RIP Joe and Don, great climbers, great men I'm sure... I could sense a bit of their good character show here climbing together...
Don seems like a fun guy and having a few pints with him would of been enjoyable I'm sure. RIP sir.. Great video - thanks
I met Whillans at Western Mountaineering in Santa Cruz, California back in the late-1970s. He was a character. He certainky didn't look like a mountaineer with his beer belly, but his resume' said otherwise. I wonder what he thought of Messner's and Habeler's ascent of Everest in 1978 sans O2. I climbed with Habeler in 1982 in his hometown area of Mayrhofen, Austria. Peter was a great guy.
this is the best climbing film i've ever seen
What a pair - the climbing world's original unlikely couple - respect!
This just brought back so damn many memories, when I was first starting to climb I had the honor to be on the rock with Don. I've always cherished and wondered about him. Thanks for sharing this. Dare I say it brought tears to my blue eyes. I have a trip planned on my own ' ' Vertical Memory Lane ' on Mount Sir Donald .It will also be my last climb.
Are you the writer David?
@@boathemian7694 I spend every day writing, I miss a great many of my climbing buddies. But I try and spend as much time as I can on ice these days.
RIP sir
Jeez.my heart rate sky high watching these pair. Absolutely beautiful stuff.well done both
That's a superb video, i was all in it. Doing this as young lads is scary. Doing it in the shape of Don Whillans in this video seemed suicidal but as he proves here, technique, skills and experience go a long long way. Even so it's still incredible to me to see someone going up first and inserting the pegs as Brown.
thanks for posting these great videos!
Astonishing! "6 pints every day in the pub lad"....and he made the climb! c'mon! If that doesn't deserve a round of applause! haha!
RIP Joe Brown
If you saw these two walking toward you... you wouldn’t think ‘now there is two world class climbers’ would you?
But that’s what they were.
Another historic and bittersweet moment in the annals of mountaineering. We are very fortunate to see these two climbing legends rope up together one last time. I love it when Whillans asks, “ is this a non-smoking stance?” The guy smoked, drank heavily, was obese and STILL climbed a 5.9+ crack at age 54. Amazing.
Love the comment that Don was considered the technical equal of Bonington. I think you'll find that Bonington was not regarded as remotely the technical equal of Don!
The banter between these guys is hilarious
Bloody brilliant, the pair of them! Genius!
Love these old films! Interesting to see how basic the safety gear was back then. Wonder what they’d make of all the fancy kit climbers use nowadays.
This I have to save ... love these guys .... I been there in snowdonia also many times in my youth ..... in this world we live in now of bubble wrapped softies ... it’s great to see these guys ... talking about drinking and smoking too and no ones judging like today a man can’t event light up a smoke unless he’s halfway out the pub and across the street now ... cool blokes these guys are
Loved this , Fn legends both of them .
I loved this film thanks, inspring to someone who thinks they're to big to climb
It’s brilliant 👌
Great balance for his size...easily see his abilities in younger days..go on don
truly an amazing climbing film, rip.
amazing to see how safety has progressed. "I shall be safe in about two minutes" is not something you'd ever say now... lest you hear back "alright, you're off belay" !
That was painful to watch in some parts. Whillans was clearly physically uncomfortable and pushing himself against how he must have felt.
He is still more able at his twilight than I ever was at my best. An absolute legend and was glad to see the little whoop he gave at near the top.
I remember an interview with Don on Arthur C Clarke's Mysterious World where he gives an account of seeing a Bigfoot type creature while on his Annapurna expedition. He saw this big shape drop behind a ledge and it startled two crows. Sherpa says to him "Yeti coming Saab!" and he thought to himself "Shall I grab the ice axe or what?!" A terrific climber with character to boot.
i luckily got to play pool with joe a few times whilst living in torridon, top bloke, great to see the pair in action. :)
@@IamVegaskid I bet he was an ace great uncle to have, to me he seems like he'd have been wise and funny and kind.
one word describes him LEGEND.
Felt relieved when Don made it to the top!
I can't fathom a climb like this!
To all those who’ve added comment to this vid. Hats off to you. I’ve been up a few Villian gritstone routes without a single bit of grace and a chalk bag full of expletives. The founders of the silly games we play on the blessed rock 🤣
This is priceless. Such great climbers and such great attitudes. I enjoyed this.
Joe still moves beautifully.
does he ever..I was impressed at his pace and scouting his next holds..that was cool.
me? not so much. I thought a few of the moves were a bit ragged....but ok...i suppose.
@@bkknoodles68 🛎 END
Only found out from comments after watching this that Joe Brown died recently. RIP Joe. Talk about legends.
Don is the GOAT
I found myself out of breath watching Whillans following that 1st pitch ...RIP 2 absolute climbing legends .
I absolutely love Don's climbing helmet! A very early Petzl...
Joe, so patient and encouraging. What a gent.
il n'est pas noté que Whilans est aussi l'inventeur de ce fameux "baudrier" qui nous a libéré le haut du corps et assuré de pouvoir "voler" avec un confort inégalé à l'époque !
Led this in 1983 .
It was hvs then.
Love Don
let's not trip up the vertical memory lane ..... killed me with this line; lovely chap!
Both Joe & Don were fantastic climbers and now sadly no longer with us - I sometimes wonder if they are up there looking down on us.
They both certainly knew how to get "up there" 😉
Hard Men, who never complained and never had sponsors, and did epic shit in simple wool sweaters. Whillans is more than a man, but less than a god.
Wool is still better than all these petroleum derived garments.
Still have my Whillans harness. Old and stiff now but one is still in the Mountaineering Museum in Chamonix last summer. Don invented other stuff as well! Willans Boxes and variuos hammers. Heroes of my boyhood and had the pleasure of meeting both under Cloggy in the 70's.
@@goognamgoognw6637 Totally agree. Not a climber/mountaineer myself (but have been through a dozen Russian winters) and wool is just amazing: warm, comfortable, lets your body breathe - and will still generate warmth when it's wet! Some modern "Hitec" fabrics are great but wool is still hard to beat.
@@grantchallinor5263 i tried to like those so called modern hitech fabric but i find out it's junk. It makes me sweat, i feel like wearing a plastic bag, i think it's a scam. I reject all those non cotton T-shirts and jersey. I'm only wearing natural material, except for coats.
@@goognamgoognw6637 In my younger years I had a skin allergy and wearing shirts/clothes made of natural fabrics/fibres really helped. To this day I still prefer natural fabrics (generally I wear cotton) and they're much better. I (sadly) don't have many woollen clothes (a couple of jumpers and a wool vest - the latter for extreme cold/wind chill) because good wool clothes are so expensive.
Like you've said too, coats are the exception. I have a 10 year old expedition parka which has very thick goose-down insulation (it can be as cold as minus 45 to minus 30 C in winter where I live) and to get a coat warm enough (while keeping the rain, snow or ice out as well) you have to look at something with a Gortex (or similar) outer layer.....
Old Schoolers: "Watch the rope carefully, quite a bit of wet about."
New Schoolers: "40% chance of rain, prolly gunna bail this weekend."
UK climbers are gnarley. They run that shit oooout. Don't really have sport climbing over there either.
I thought I recognised the narrator's voice, Ian Wooldridge, the legendary sports writer. He was of the same vintage as the two climbers.
RIP Don - So young - So sad....
Don = salute
A Legend Mountaineer ..
"You standing on the Rope ?" Yes, you want me to get off of it , "Yes, please" :)
'So are you looking forwards to this, Don?'
Pause
'No'
Legend!
'You don't have to like each other'... 'don't get cocky with me, old man'. Yeah, bit tense, this one.
Andy Northall what? They're ribbing each other
I met Joe Brown in Alaska in '85 or '86. It was over a beer in the Fairview Inn in Talkeetna. I'd just guided the West Buttress and Joe was there to climb the mountain with his mates. I don't think I asked him what route they were going to do. I was pretty star struck.
You mean the first British man to summit Annapurna I in 1970.
It was first climbed about 2 decades earlier by a French expedition (Herzog and Lachenal)
First ascent of the more difficult south face of Annapurna
Dons wife Audrey is my mums cousin. We used to go and visit her in that house. She was a wonderful lady. Only saw Don a couple of times, he was always away doing his stuff.
2 climbing legends :)
Wet Rock and cams/nuts...the balls on these guys wow. Much respect
Was so lucky to meet Joe Brown in the early 90's. Amazing what these guys did back in the day and were still doing later in life. So much respect.
Trikky2 wow that would have been a great day. I hope too be climbing as long as I can
Was a great day, was unbelievably humble about his achievements and just talked as a fellow climber even though he was miles above my ability and experience. Unfortunately I don't climb anymore but coming back to these sort of videos make me want to get fit again even though it i getting a bit late for me :)
It was pretty much all nuts although I did see what looked to be one cam on his rack. Joe was sticking to old school stuff even though by '85 cams were in full use. I'm not familiar with this type of rock. Perhaps nuts are more ideal there than Yosemite.
Of course, hammerless ascents using nuts were the new school to these guys...and a lot of the climbers from that era considered cam technology as cheating.
How Don got up that, being so unhealthy and , frankly fat. He's an inspiration to normal guys. We must remember that we are not Don Whillans though.! Lovely watching Joe climb.
Absolute legend
Legends!
Such talent and confidence. I am lucky if I can climb out of bed and get to work.
brilliant watch. thanks for sharing it.
Haha a bootlace around the tree. no chance
These old guys are scaring me to death. Especially Don
10:24 is pure comedy gold. Don's response was brilliant.
This guy sounds real cool, He loved the Killer, jerry lee lewis. cool type of guy
And he had a climbing harness named after him. Not the most comfortable but it worked and was affordable for a young chap in the early 80s.
Yep, I had a Whillans Sit-in harness and you're right, wasn't at all comfortable. If you fell off a lead you spent the time waiting for the rope to come taught not with your life flashing before your eyes....but hoping your 'bits & pieces' were in the right place and not going to get jammed in the leg loops!
I had one a real ball buster.
@@muckypots Yep, Troll are still in business...working out of premises in Skipton...and making more comfortable kit :)
"Hey wizard of mountains, work some magic make me 7 stone again."
15:45 some serious lockoff strength on the old man... puts me to shame!
Some of his weight is on his right foot as well, but he's wiry and in shape there most definitely.
Magnificos
As Guy Martin would say, this is "proper" nothing more nothing less, and not a smartphone in sight aaaaah :)
Manc banter and hard climbing. I'd struggle with that at 36! Haha legends!
Whillans on a big mountain though, He would see the route and also was tidy in disagreements in the bar national. Alledgedly?
super ces vieux films !
A true adventurist, rip,.
“Is this a non-smoking stance?” Gotta love it.