Life Imitates Rockface In Wasdale
Two members of the Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team have climbed Napes Needle in period dress just like on the telly
Posted: 2 July 2002
by Jon
It was sort of a case of life imitating Rockface on Saturday
when members of Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team successfully scaled
Napes Needle, with one of them wearing period dress.
Fans of the BBC's mildly ridiculous mountain rescue drama will recall
that the team on the programme dressed up in Victorian garb to
re-enact a historical climb for fundraising purposes. The Wasdale
Team pretty much followed their lead with Stephen Walter and Paul
Cook scaling Napes Needle to commemorate the first ascent of the
route - the first ever recorded rock climb - by W P Haskett Smith on
29 June 1886.
The aim was both to commemorate the first ascent on its, erm,
1116th Anniversary and, along the way, to raise funds needed to
replace the team's ageing rescue vehicles. Stephen Walter drew the
short straw and got to climb in tweeds and ancient hobnail leather
boots with fabled tricouni nails for extra grip, though he did get to
use modern protection and ropes, while Cook provided safety
back-up.
Interviewed on Granada TV, Walter commented that the main problem
was the boots which had absolutely no sensitivity or grip compared to
modern climbing rubber, though he did say they were fantastic for
painless foot jams in cracks...
A fine effort we reckon and you can find out more about the team,
the climb and how to make a donation via their web
page. Could this be just the beginning of a real cult of Rockface
among MRTs? How long before every team in the country is rescuing
monks, cutting ropes in slash or die dilemmas and battling armed drug
dealers. Not to mention the endless romantic enmeshments. Or was
Rockface simply based on reality?
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