A walk on the wild slide with Johnny Dawes

A walk on the wild slide with Johnny Dawes

Page Type Page Type: Trip Report
Date Date Climbed/Hiked: Sep 1, 2017
Activities Activities: Trad Climbing
Seasons Season: Summer

A walk on the wild slide with Johnny Dawes!

Warmest greetings Summit Posteers from a cold, wintery day in the UK!

I was lucky enough to team up with and film the legendary climber Johnny Dawes on Lundy Island at the BMC Climbing Festival in late August. On his first ever visit to the Puffin Isle, he wanted to attempt a hands free "walk" up the island's classic climb called "The Devil's Slide"

Johnny came up with this fantastically outrageous idea the night before we sailed from Bideford and fortunately I had some filming gear with me so a plan was soon formulated. All we needed was a couple of mates to help out with the logistics and the weather to play ball. So on a bluebird but blustery Friday September 1st and the wind getting ever stronger just to add to the excitement, Johnny started his walk up the Devil's Slide...

Anyway here's a wee video of the day with some aerial footage of one of the UK's greatest ever climbers to lace up a pair of rock shoes on his attempt to "walk" up Lundy's most iconic natural feature on the classic climb of the island. I have seen one or two things in 25 years of climbing but this was something else!



All constructive feedback welcome, please feel free to share to your Facebook friends .Hopefully it will brighten up your tea or lunch break so sit back and take a walk on the wild slide with Johnny Dawes! :-)

Cheers

Dave




Comments

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Silvia Mazzani

Silvia Mazzani - Dec 9, 2017 11:08 am - Voted 10/10

Wow!

Both excellent, David! The performance and the movie!

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle - Dec 11, 2017 5:54 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Wow!

Many thanks Sylvia and indeed a great performance from Mr Dawes! :-)

MikeLJ

MikeLJ - Dec 10, 2017 9:29 am - Voted 10/10

Great stuff

Done that route a couple of times..... but never like that!

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle - Dec 11, 2017 5:57 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Great stuff

Hey Mike thanks a million and I very much doubt if anyone has "walked" up the Devil's Slide like that! :-)

markhallam

markhallam - Dec 12, 2017 12:29 am - Voted 10/10

Agree, great stuff!

Your movies get better & better! And clearly you are also an accomplished drone pilot as well. Some fabulous views and extraordinary action by Johnny Dawes.
best wishes Mark

PS On the back of some of your comments my movies have improved - slightly. But still vast gulf between mine & yours, which I hope to narrow a little more through investing in next level of GoPro with 'anti-shake' - as well as more diligent use of a tripod! And I'm off to the Andes in Feb 2018 : ) Don't think I'd have the time to get up to speed with a drone though, even if I could afford one!

Bald Eagle

Bald Eagle - Dec 13, 2017 5:38 am - Hasn't voted

Re: Agree, great stuff!

Hey Mark thanks a million for taking the time to post your kind words and I spent the first 6 months of this year getting my CAA approved drone license which I am putting to use in my wee videos a lot more! Good luck with improving your vids and enjoy the Andes lucky you!:-)
Cheers
Dave

Viewing: 1-6 of 6