Footless Crow: Coming Up: Ken Latham goes back to the future

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

Coming Up: Ken Latham goes back to the future

This Friday, North Walian Ken Latham recalls growing up in the shadow of Yr Wyddfa (Snowdon) before moving to Liverpool and well and truly catching the climbing bug ! Ken was one of the principal driving forces behind the development of the legendary Merseyside quarry Pex Hill -responsible for 25 first ascents- he was also active at one of Alan Rouses' local stomping grounds, Helsby in Cheshire before turning his attention to hard climbs in his native hills. Amongst them, the precipitous Castell Cidwm in North Snowdonia.

'Fast Forward' will be published in two parts and in part one Ken describes his discovery of Pex Hill and its development before making an early sortie on Cidwm.

Photo:Ken Latham climbing'The Candle'at Twistleton Scar,Yorkshire,England.Latham Collection

Welcome to footless crow- Croeso i Bran di-droed

Footless Crow aims to provide the best in British outdoor writing in a unique 'blogazine' format. Offering new articles and republishing classic articles from the past which have been cherry picked from UK climbing/outdoor magazines and club journals. In this I am pleased to have received the support of many of the UK's top outdoor writers who see Footless Crow as a perfect medium to air unpublished works and see old works republished in a format which was inconceivable when they were first written!
As a non commercial media,the blogazine acknowledges the contribution that publications like Loose Scree and The Angry Corrie have made in the world of mountain literature. Providing accessible quality writing through a low cost 'zine' format. Footless Crow hopes to emulate these publications by also providing content which is unashamedly traditional and celebrates the finest virtues of British mountaineering!

All published works and photographs have been fully approved by the authors who of course retain copyright. The usual rules and restrictions of copyright apply.Hope you enjoy the content which aims to provide a new extended article each week. If you have any comments or would like to contribute something which fits in with the 'Footless' concept then email me at ......

wildwales@mail.com

Footless Crow counts amongst its supporters, well-wishers and contributors....

Al Alvarez
Steve Ashton
Mike Bailey
Alan Blackshaw
Bill Birkett
Martyn Boysen
Robin Campbell
John Cleare
Michael Combley
Gerry Cordon
David Craig
Jim Curran
Martin Crook
Johnny Dawes
Harold Drasdo
Paul Diffley
Steve Dean
Lindsay Elms
Terry Gifford
Dennis Gray
Frank Grant
Richard Haszko
Tom Hutton
Dennis Gray
Richard Gilbert
Ken Latham
Tony Loxton
Barbara James
Barbara Jones
James McHaffie
Tony Moulam
Andy Newton
Andy Nisbet
Paul Pritchard
John Redhead
Don Roscoe
Paul Ross
Fiona Saunders
Craig Smith
Joe Simpson

Elisabeth Simpson
Jill Sumner
Gordon Stainforth
Ken Smith
Brian Trevelyan
Stephen Venables
Martin Wainwright
Cathy Woodhead

* Click on the 'get notified' button on the side-bar. Fill in your email address and get instant notification when a new feature is published !

Why 'Footless Crow' ?

Footless Crow is a seminal rock climb in the Lake District of Northern England. It was the creation of legendary British climber Pete Livesey-1943-1998. Livesey was one of the new breed of climbers who eschewed the traditional laid back, fags and booze, ethic prevalent at the time and instead pursued a rigid training regime designed to increase his physical and mental attributes to the extent that he could push British climbing to new technical standards. In effect he was one of the first UK rock athletes.
Footless Crow was a breakthrough climb which at the time was the hardest climb in the Lakes at E5-6c (US 5-13a). Currently E6-6c due to a flake peeling off.
First climbed as an aid route by 50's Lakes legend, Paul Ross and then called -The Great Buttress-. Livesey's much rehearsed test piece was finally led on the 19th April,1974 to the wide eyed astonishment of the UK climbing community. One well known climber was said to have hung up his climbing boots after witnessing the ascent !
The name Footless Crow was a brilliant piece of imagination from Livesey who claimed that as there was almost nowhere on the route where he could rest he had to hop about like a footless crow.

So now you know.

In 1976 I saw Ron Fawcett, rock-master since the middle Seventies, on the second ascent of Footless Crow in Borrowdale, then the hardest climb in the Lake District – 190 feet of overhanging rock without a resting-place. When his second called up, ‘What’s it like?’ he answered, ‘An ’orrendous place – Ah’m scared out of me wits,’ as he leaned way back on his fingertips, relaxing as comfortably as a sloth under a branch.

David Craig-Essay