John Arran:
From on-sight soloing 5.11 in Colorado to headpointing E10 on
gritstone, from E7 on-sight new-routes in Pembroke to hard
big-wall free climbing in Venezuela, John is undoubtedly one
of the most accomplished all-round climbers in the world. His
testpiece route 'Doctor Dolittle' at Curbar is ranked as tough
as any in England and remains unrepeated, as do most of his
hard new routes throughout England, Scotland, Wales and around
the world.
In 1997 he teamed up with Dave Turnbull to free-climb 'The
Long Hope Route', Ed Drummond's 27 year-old epic adventure on
the huge and sometimes tottering sea cliffs of Hoy in the
Orkneys, succeeding where many climbers before them had
retreated. Since then John has spent much of his time heading
to far off lands with his wife Anne, finding and freeclimbing
hard and big new routes in places such as Kyrgyzstan, Egypt,
Iran, China and as shown here a 25-pitch E7 in the jungle of
Venezuela.
John is currently working on TradCLIMBING+ book with Adrian
Berry, as a RockFax follow-up to the popular SportCLIMBING+.
Anne Arran:
Former British Climbing Champion Anne Arran, whose best
international performance was coming 5th in a UIAA World Speed
Climbing Championship, is now most motivated by exploring
unclimbed walls in the remotest corners of the planet, as well
as getting to know the local communities.
This lazier, more relaxed lifestyle option of course includes
more time for photography and snorkelling, which are both very
important after any draining expedition. She enjoys most
types of climbing, particularly sea cliffs in Wales, where she
has onsighted up to E6. ‘This year I want to get stronger and
focus more on sport climbing and bouldering. I’m keen to get
up an 8a/8a+ in the Peak or Wales, which will mean less time
in front of the computer!’
She also coaches climbing, and was a national junior team
coach for three years before being President of the UIAA’s
Youth Commission nabbed any spare time.
John and Anne have a number of different entertaining talks,
usually with music and video clips, including -
Angel Falls: Climbing the world's highest free drop
waterfall.
How an international team led by John made the first free
ascent of this spectacular face in 2005 after 19 days of
effort and 31 pitches, 9 of them E7! The wall is 1000m high
and overhangs by over 50m. This third-time-lucky success
realised a dream for John and Anne, who first tried the line
in 2002 after watching an Eric Jones BASE jumping video. The
show features a close look at ledge-life.
Five Go Mad in Madagascar: Lemur life in Gondwanaland.
Amazing country, amazing wildlife, amazing people and amazing
climbing! A brilliant trip with Gaz Parry, Jerry Gore and
Giles Cornah. Not just an 800m granite wall encounter but a
great insight into the idyllic sport-climbing off Madagascar's
north coast. The local people, fadi's (taboos) and the
unedited tales of Diego Suarez night club antics will offer a
night to remember.
Talks by Just John
Esoterica: The ultimate challenge for the
terminally insane!
A short talk coupled with video footage of the making of the
Slackjaw Film ‘Esoterica'. The ‘On Peak Rock' Esoterica list
combines charming classic climbs like the Kinder Downfall and
the Matterhorn Ridge with vegetable-fests like Generously Cut
Trousers and the ultimate nightmare of the tottering Mam Tor
Gully. The challenge finished in the dark after 18 hours, 155
miles of driving, 5˝ hours of approach and 423m of climbing.
‘500 routes in a day’
John relates how he and Shane Ohly succeeded in each climbing
500 routes in one day as a mid-summer challenge. A multimedia
tour around some of the Peak's best climbing, it includes many
humorous interludes throughout this tiring 17-hour day. Many
of the routes raced-up are easy enough for most climbers, but
perhaps not all at once!
