Climber May/Jun 24

GOOD PEOPLE
I begin with the sad news of the untimely passing of Bernard Newman. Bernard was the editor of Climber magazine between 1998 and 2007. Before that, he held the same role at Mountain magazine and also served as the editor of The Alpine Journal. One of his best-known accomplishments was his role as the compiler for the much sought after and iconic book, Extreme Rock. He was also a talented photogra-pher – who can forget his inspired image of Steve Bancroft with his jeans rolled up poised on the upper section of Strapadictomy at Froggatt in the Peak District; very much an image representative of the era and memorably featured on the front cover of the classic Recent Develop-ments guidebook of 1977.
I worked with Bernard on many occasions when he was Climber editor, supplying images and words for the magazine earlier in my career and he was always nice and personable, often with time for a chat or discussion. He passed on advice if I asked for it and that was appreciated when I took on the editorship of Climber 99 issues ago. His is a sad loss
to the climbing community and my thoughts go out to his wife, family
and friends.
Recently I had the good fortune of meeting one of the world’s most talented climbers in the shape of Italian, Stefano Ghisofl i (the interviewee in this issue) and his partner Sara Grippo. I’d read plenty about his achieve-ments and before you meet someone of his ability, you never know what you will get in terms of approachability. Of course, my worries were unfound-ed, he was super friendly (as was Sara) and good to be around, with plenty of positive energy. Simply put, he is one of climbing’s nicest guys.

Until next time, be safe.
DavidClimber May/Jun 24