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Roger Breedlove
climber
Cleveland Heights, Ohio
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These are from the first ascent of Golden Bought, the line on the left side of the Gold Wall. I had been up to the next last pitch with Dave Birchieff but the big corner was a major drainage and full of dirt. Four years later, when I lived across the Pan Handle from Ed, I asked him to go up to the Valley and finish it. I had studied the wall and thought there was a way straight across the face to a straight in crack. Ed ended up the crux lead (5.4).
An early pitch
The lower corner before moving left onto the face
At the base of the large corner leading to the top of the Gold Wall. Ed is standing on the diorite dike where it passes through the corner.
Ed was very uncertain that there was any where to go out on the face. He had not done enough climbing in the Valley to know of the sorts of holds that show up on this sort of intrusion dike.
Hard to see, but once out on the face Ed was ecstatic. Big grin. 5.4 in the middle of nowhere. A crux pitch if there ever was one.
To get off we rapped to the West and were benighted on a moonless night. The forest is atop huge talus blocks with 30 foot drops. We ended up crab walking and scooting on our butts to avoid falling through the darkness. It did not feel safe. But, by looking up into the tops of the trees we could see the abrupt changes in the heights of the tree tops againts the slightly lighter sky, indicating a clifflette. This is the only part of the ascent that Ed seemed to remember when we caught up 30 years later. I remember this but mostly his trepidation melding into a wide grin as he climbed out onto the face.
Goodbye, my friend.
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hamie
Social climber
Thekoots
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Eulogy??
:) H.
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jonnywoodward
climber
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May 11, 2019 - 07:33am PT
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Your dad influenced so many people during his years of impressively diverse accomplishments. It's funny the things that individuals remember about someone, and as a climber I remember him for his unique brand of youthful non-conformism on the rock. When I was starting climbing in Staffordshire, not yet a teenager, Ed was stirring up the scene in the Peak with his ascents on grit and elsewhere - mixtures of genius and mad genius, but the theme was there. Despite its controversy at the time, his route The Linden at Curbar is the one which will always amaze me. When I first saw the wall, the line it took was surely the work of a complete madman? No, Ed's brain simply allowed him to go places most people wouldn't dream, and he had enough talent and drive to make it happen. Thank god for this. Life would otherwise be so ordinary.
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Reilly
Mountain climber
The Other Monrovia- CA
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May 11, 2019 - 08:22am PT
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^^^^ Nicely put, sir.
Mighty, sue over a ‘u’? A pity Elgar never wrote an elegy.
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Marlow
Sport climber
OSLO
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May 11, 2019 - 09:17am PT
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The Long Hope, Orkney islands, first climbed over a period of seven days 40 years ago by Ed Drummond and Oliver Hill, reclimbed and -crawled in free by Dave MacLeod and Andy Turner: [Click to View YouTube Video]
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Rick A
climber
Boulder, Colorado
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May 12, 2019 - 07:32pm PT
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Ed Ward-Drummond was a significant inspiration to me and my circle of friends. I started climbing in 1971, the same year that Wilson, Crew, and Soper’s history of Cloggy, The Black Cliff, was published. Rob Muir somehow got his hands on a copy of the book when we were roommates in college, and we devoured it. The highlight was a black and white photo spread of Ed making the fifth ascent of Great Wall. The half-dozen frames made it seem like it must be the greatest route in the world.
The most dramatic photo was Ed spread-eagled on a move, fully extended, the hammer dangling from a sling, reaching up with his right hand. The caption is:
“After 15 minutes of trying to work out how to do it, Drummond climbs the crux and clips into the peg.”
When I met Ed in the Camp 4 bathroom in the mid-seventies, I was awestruck but managed to engage in a short conversation with him. I chatted with him a few other times, but never got to climb with him.
A few years later, in 1977, Rob and I travelled across the pond and managed a free ascent of Great Wall.
That’s the great thing about climbing, some dreams in fact come true. The source of that particular dream were those shots of Ed, wearing a wool sweater, shorts, and white helmet, working his way up the Great Wall.
My condolences to Ed’s family and friends.
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