Revelations Lands Grand Prize At Banff

'Revelations' the autobiographical book by top rock climber Jerry Moffatt in conjunction with Niall Grimes has scored a major coup by landing the Grand Prize at this year's Banff Mountain Festival.


Published by Sheffield-based Vertebrate Graphics, the book is the inside story of one of the most charismatic climbers of the 1980s Sheffield scene, Jerry Moffatt. It's a cracking read that vividly brings to life one of the seminal periods in 20th Century British rock climbing when Thatcherism's dole queues inadvertently spawned an explosion in hard climbing based around Sheffield cellar dwellers and, allegedly, broccoli.

Stephen Goodwin, one of the judging panel sums the book up thus:

'Who would have thought there was a readable book to be got out of sport climbing, competitions and bouldering? Well this is it. What impresses is Jerry’s obsessive training regime and his sheer dedication, hauling himself back from injury and performing superbly across a range of rock climbing disciplines. He was the best, and not backward in saying so, yet this story is told with a disarming ordinariness, droll at times.

'There’s none of the familiar ice-gripped “heroics” we’ve become inured to in climbing books, and instead of dark introspection, the diversions from the actual climbing are bikes, dossing, travel, having fun and becoming a businessman (a founder of Sheffield’s The Foundry climbing wall.) Moffatt and Grimes have done climbing history a service in setting down the story of UK climbing in the “dole era” of the 1980s — a story that was quickly becoming forgotten.'

We honestly couldn't put it any better, so we won't try. A great read and a book that should find its way into the Christmas stocking of many mature climbers this year.

Revelations costs £20 and is distributed by Cordeee - www.cordee.co.uk. You can also buy the book online direct from the publishers Vertebrate at www.v-outdoor.co.uk.