Second Last Solo

This video shows the top section of Richard Carvath's last successful solo rock-climb in June 2010 (a couple of days before his 45 feet deck-out from the route 'Finale' on Shepherd's Crag). In the video you can see Richard soloing at about 120 feet above the ground, after passing the crux on the route 'Mandrake' (HVS 5a) on Quayfoot Buttress in Borrowdale, Cumbria. Skiddaw is in the distance and the lake is Derwentwater. Richard said: "In hindsight, watching this video of Mandrake, and listening to the laboured breathing, the breathing suggests that I wasn't soloing comfortably at HVS grade. A couple of days after I on-sight soloed Mandrake, I fell off a solo attempt of Finale on Shepherd's, another classic Lakes HVS route. In hindsight I guess I was still drained after the ordeal of the months leading up to the May 2010 General Election - and of course as a thirty-something I am now physically past my peak. Once I'd have been embarrassed to have fallen off any HVS solo, as I used to be a very solid E grades climber, but as it is I'm incredibly lucky to be alive after a 45 feet fall, and immensely grateful to Keswick Mountain Rescue Team for patching me up at the bottom of Shepherd's and getting me on to the North West Air Ambulance, and I'm thankful above all to God who clearly willed that it isn't my time to go just yet. I was a rock-climber for 18 years before the Finale accident and most of my climbs were as a trad adventure climber roped to another - but I would also climb solo on occasion. Solo climbing, on-sight and without any protection equipment - just you and the climb - is the purest form of climbing. Climbers who have never climbed on-sight solo have never climbed at the greatest intensity of climbing experience. My climbing days are now over, but it was a significant part of my life for 18 years and I know that climbing was the crucible in which so much of my character was forged. Climbing was a preparation for the greater challenges in serving God's purposes in my life which lie ahead. Glory to God!"

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Richard Carvath
• rock climbing
• Mandrake
• Quayfoot Buttress
• Borrowdale
• Finale
• Shepherd's Crag
• Skiddaw
• Derwentwater
• Keswick Mountain Rescue Team
• North West Air Ambulance