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Johnny Dawes

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Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Similar names Template:Infobox climber 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.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> His influence on British climbing was at its peak in the mid to late-1980s.

Climbing careerEdit

File:Johnny Dawes on sights Regalo da Babbo Natale F7b at the granite crag Lucertole al Sole, Lotzorai.JPG
Dawes onsights Regalo da Babbo Natale Template:Climbing grade, at Lucertole al Sole, Lotzorai, Sardinia. 2009

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).<ref name=PMI/><ref name=SMR/><ref name=PR/> From 1986, Dawes focused on Wales and on a diverse range of rock, from the slab climbing routes in the slate quarries of Llanberis (e.g. The Quarryman, The Very Big and the Very Small, and Dawes of Perception), to the face routes on 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).<ref name=PMI/><ref name=SMR/> Dawes is remembered for intimidating traditional climbing routes, in the legacy of Pete Livesey, Ron Fawcett and John Redhead,<ref name=PR/> and less for sport climbing routes, unlike his contemporaries Jerry Moffatt and Ben Moon.<ref name=PMI/><ref name=SMR/>

Dawes came to prominence outside of the rock climbing world with his 4 October 1986 ascent of Indian Face,Template:Efn the first E9-graded traditional rock route in Britain,<ref name=PM9>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=GUB/> and at the time, considered to be the hardest and most dangerous traditional route in the world.<ref name=IF1/><ref name=GUAR>Template:Cite news</ref> The guidebook described it as "A pitch of such appalling difficulty as to be almost beyond the realms of human comprehension".<ref name=IF1>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In a 2011 interview, Dawes said: "As you set off it's best to consider yourself already dead. You just do it".<ref name=PMI/> The climb, and rare repeats, are the subject of a 2006 documentary, Johnny Dawes and the Story of Indian Face.<ref name=IF1/><ref name=IF2>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

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.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> An autobiographical account of his climbing, Full of Myself, was published in 2011.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

StyleEdit

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.<ref name=SM/><ref name=GUAR5/> 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".<ref name=SMR/> Aspects of his unique technique was captured in the 1986 climbing film, Stone Monkey, considered one of the best-ever films in the genre,<ref name=SMR>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> as well as the 2015 climbing series, No Handed Climbing,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> and other "no-hands",<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and "no-feet" videos.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

His unorthodox climbing style, coupled with his reputation for a keen intellect and an artistic or bohemian bent,<ref name=SMR/> made Dawes an enigmatic and mercurial character in British climbing.<ref name=PMI/><ref name=SAM/> His writing has been called "quirky, convoluted, and often obscure",<ref name=SMR/> and a tendency to "speak in riddles" earned him the titles of "nutty professor", and of "mad genius" from some commentators.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=PR>Template:Cite book</ref> 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".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

LegacyEdit

Dawes is widely considered a legend of British rock climbing,<ref name=SM>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name=GUB/> and one of the most influential figures in British rock climbing history.<ref name=PMI>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name=GUAR/> 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.<ref name=PMI/><ref name=SAM>Template:Cite magazine</ref> 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".<ref name=GUAR5>Template:Cite news</ref> 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).<ref name=PMI/>

Personal lifeEdit

Dawes was born in 1964 in Birmingham,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> into a wealthy family, whose parents were part of the 1960s British motor racing scene.<ref name=GUB>Template:Cite book</ref> His education at the Uppingham School was a difficult one, with Dawes suffering from periods of depression and bullying.<ref name=GUAR5/><ref name=SMR/>

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".<ref name=GUAR5/>

In 2011, Dawes was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, which he called "depressing and heavy"; by 2018, treatment enabled him to climb at Template:Climbing grade.<ref name=8b/>

Notable ascentsEdit

File:Johnny Dawes on Poetry Pink.jpg
Dawes on Poetry Pink (E5 6b), Rainbow Slab, Dinorwic quarry, North Wales
  • 1983: Monopoly (E7 6b), Millstone Edge. First ascent. Originally climbed with side-runners, Dawes reclimbed it in 1984 with a low peg runner (now removed).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • 1984: The Salmon (E7 6c), Bamford Edge. First ascent. Reclimbed by Dawes as Smoked Salmon at E8 7b in 1995, after it lost a crucial pebble.
  • 1984: The Braille Trail (E7 6c), Burbage South Edge. First ascent.<ref name=PR/>
  • 1985: Dawes of Perception (E7 6c), Vivian Quarry, Llanberis. First ascent.
  • 1986: Janus (E7 6b), Curbar Edge. First ascent.
  • 1986: Slab and Crack (E7/8, 6c), Curbar Edge. First ascent.
  • 1986: Gaia (E8 6c), Black Rocks, Derbyshire. First ascent.<ref name=PMI/> Britain's first grade-E8; featured in the 1998 film, Hard Grit; repeats are coveted.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1986: End of the Affair (E8 6c), Curbar Edge. First ascent. Dawes' hardest gritstone route, and the end of a period of focus by Dawes on gritstone.<ref name=PMI/>
  • 1986: Indian Face (E9 6c), Clogwyn Du'r Arddu, Snowdonia. First ascent.<ref name=PM9/> Britain's first grade-E9,<ref name=PM9/> and considered the world's hardest 'trad' climb at the time; features in the 2006 climbing-film, Johnny Dawes and the Indian Face.<ref name=IF1/><ref name=IF2/>
  • 1986: The Quarryman (E8 7a), Twll Mawr, Dinorwic quarry, Llanberis. First ascent, 4 pitches on Welsh slate, one of the hardest climbing routes at the time, now part of a 2019 climbing film, The Quarrymen,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and its notorious Groove pitch features in the 1986 climbing film, Stone Monkey. Dawes soon added the Fire Escape alternative finish (E7 6c).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> partly shown in the 1988 film, The 80s: Birth of Extreme.<ref name=BI/>

  • 1987: Coeur de Lion (E8 7a), Twll Mawr, Dinorwic quarry, Llanberis. First ascent. Unrepeated until 2015.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1988: Hardback Thesaurus (E7/8 6c), Gogarth North Stack. First ascent and first onsight of an E7; is shown in the 1988 film, The 80s: Birth of Extreme.<ref name=PMI/><ref name=BI>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • 1990: The Very Big & the Very Small Template:Climbing grade, Rainbow Slab Area, Dinorwic quarry, Llanberis. First ascent. Only 3-bolts, hardest slate route at time; rarely repeated; Dawes believes grade is 8c.<ref name=8b>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

|CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

  • 2003: Drummond Base (E8 6c), Curbar Edge. First ascent.

BibliographyEdit

  • Peak Rock – The History, The Routes, The Climbers, (Phil Kelly, Graham Hoey, Giles Barker), 2013. Template:ISBN.
  • Full of Myself (Johnny Dawes), 2011. Template:ISBN.

FilmographyEdit

See alsoEdit

NotesEdit

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ReferencesEdit

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External linksEdit

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