Jul/Aug 22

EXTRAORDINARY
Recently I had the great pleasure of meeting Jesse and Molly Dufton in the Peak District. Some of you may have heard of Jesse and indeed have seen the excellent fi lm by Al Lee, Climbing Blind, which portrays Jesse climbing, amongst other things, the Old Man Of Hoy. Whilst Jesse doesn’t profess to be a top climber, he has led up to E3 on trad. No great shakes you may think but what is remarkable is that he is blind. Most of us would struggle to lead an E3 with full sight but with no vision and by feel alone is, well, pretty stunning.
I was there to photograph Jesse, along with his partner and sight guide Molly, climbing Sirplum, a steep and intimidating two pitch E1 in Chee Dale. Whilst he’s climbed many straight-up cracks, this wanders up and diagonally through overhanging territory where it is diffi cult for Molly to see what and where Jesse is climbing to give feedback and suggestions. You also have to bear in mind that Jesse needs to place solid protection to avoid a bad fall if the protection wasn’t great. He does all of this by touch and searching for holds to pull on is done by the ‘windmill’ method where he sweeps every inch of rock within reach until he’s happy he can pull on something. I’ve photographed some amazing ascents in my time from the scariest ‘death’ trad climbs to the hardest sport climbs by talented climbers. Watching Jesse lead Sirplum was certainly up there and was very special to witness. You can read more about this extraordinary person from page 16.
So what else is in store in this issue? Amongst the many articles, Keith Sharples shares his long-held passion for Peak limestone and, in particular, his love of the stunning Chee Dale and two crags that sit directly opposite each other. The trad/sport behemoth of Chee Tor and the hard sport crag of The Cornice couldn’t be closer but further apart in their climbing styles.