Ron Fawcett - Rock Athlete: The Story of a Climbing Legend
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Review
A frank and engaging portrait of an unassuming yet remarkable climber ... a story shot through with honesty and integrity. --Boardman Tasker Prize, November 2010
Muted in tone, the book is a rich pleasure: utterly real and worthy. --Rock & Ice Magazine, 2010
I don't like this book, I love it. I read it twice in a day, and was still reading bits of it out aloud to myself that night. --UKClimbing.com, 2010
A fitting celebration of a climbing life well spent, of a decent ordinary man who just happened to be an extraordinary climber. --Climber Magazine, 2010
Essential reading. --Climb Magazine, 2010
Muted in tone, the book is a rich pleasure: utterly real and worthy. --Rock & Ice Magazine, 2010
I don't like this book, I love it. I read it twice in a day, and was still reading bits of it out aloud to myself that night. --UKClimbing.com, 2010
A fitting celebration of a climbing life well spent, of a decent ordinary man who just happened to be an extraordinary climber. --Climber Magazine, 2010
Essential reading. --Climb Magazine, 2010
Product Description
Ron Fawcett is a natural-born climber. In 1969, while still at school in his native Yorkshire, he tied into a climbing rope for the first time and was instantly hooked. From that moment on, it seemed nothing else in his life mattered nearly as much as his next vertical fix. Ten years later, Fawcett was the most famous rock climber in Britain and among the best in the world, part of a new wave whose dedication to training transformed the sport, pushing standards further and faster than ever before - or since. His legacy of new climbs ranks him alongside the very best in the history of the sport. He was also the first to style himself a professional rock climber, starring in the landmark television documentary "Rock Athlete", and appearing on the covers of magazines around the world. But far from enjoying the fame, Fawcett found the pressures of the limelight too much to bear, and at the end of the 1980s he faded from view. Now, for the first time, he tells his extraordinary story, of how his love of nature and the outdoors developed into a passion for climbing that took him to the top - and almost consumed him. This title was shortlisted for 2010 Banff Mountain Book Competition. It comes from the publisher of "Jerry Moffatt - Revelations", winner of the Grand Prize at the 2009 Banff Mountain Book Festival. It is written by the leading journalist Ed Douglas. British rock climbing's folk hero Ron Fawcett tells his story for the first time.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
In its punishing honesty this book is courageous, exactly what you'd expect from a down-to-earth, working class Yorkshireman, a man such as Ron Fawcett.
More than anything it is an evocation of a period of flux, when climbing changed irrevocably as talented climbers found they had a chance to make a living from the sport, of an uncomplicated man thrust into the limelight only to find it uncomfortably intense. It was perhaps inevitable that Fawcett, whose childhood was spent almost entirely within a few square miles of tiny Embsay in the Yorkshire Dales, would find the new professionalism both blessing and curse. Growing up surrounded by moors and crags had instilled a love of the peace they conferred, and climbing was a means of enjoying that solitude just as bird watching and trout tickling had been. As Fawcett began to climb the hardest routes of the day and then ground-breaking routes of his own, his relationship with climbing would subtly change, not least because of his friendship with the late, great, Pete Livesey.
Fawcett is cheerfully irreverent about Livesey and his drive to be famous but the fame for which Livesey strove simply happened to Fawcett. He didn't lack for ambition and was determined to climb the hardest routes of the day, but where Livesey was the artisan, Ron Fawcett was the artist, a naturally talented prodigy who simply redefined what was possible.
The recognition that followed, the film and TV appearances and his ubiquity in the climbing press, allowed Fawcett to live the climber's life, to travel the world and climb the hardest routes of the day. In contrast to Jerry Moffatt however, Fawcett was never fully comfortable with that level of exposure. Where Moffatt revelled, Fawcett endured.
This is also a very honest book. Fawcett is hard on himself and admits his flaws where other climbing biographies have glossed over. He pulls no punches with tales of infidelity, drug taking, bolt placing and petty theft which simply made me respect him even more. He is candid about his frailties, his ambivalence about placing a bolt on The Cad, his shyness and, memorably, feeling `like an old fart' at the ripe old age of 28. The pressures of meeting sponsors' expectations do not sit well with a quiet lad from The Dales.
Yet Fawcett never falls out of love with climbing, only with the inherent pressure of being the top dog. The book opens with him setting out to climb 100 extremes in a day, clearly an attempt to remind himself what it is he really loves about climbing. It culminates with a delightful picture of Fawcett as he is now, living a simpler life, delighting in his daughters, fell-running, climbing and joining in the craic at Sheffield's Climbing Works bouldering wall. The impression is of a man who quietly enjoys the affection he inspires, who has found some peace.
The subtlety of Ed Douglas' work behind the scenes is such that the voice is very much Fawcett's, the language straightforward and unembellished and all the better for it. Douglas points out that Fawcett was one of his boyhood heroes, a climbing God Almighty in the eighties and it says much that even now, it is simply enough to refer to Ron, and everyone will know who you're talking about. This book is a fitting celebration of a climbing life well spent, of a decent ordinary man who just happened to be an extraordinary climber.
More than anything it is an evocation of a period of flux, when climbing changed irrevocably as talented climbers found they had a chance to make a living from the sport, of an uncomplicated man thrust into the limelight only to find it uncomfortably intense. It was perhaps inevitable that Fawcett, whose childhood was spent almost entirely within a few square miles of tiny Embsay in the Yorkshire Dales, would find the new professionalism both blessing and curse. Growing up surrounded by moors and crags had instilled a love of the peace they conferred, and climbing was a means of enjoying that solitude just as bird watching and trout tickling had been. As Fawcett began to climb the hardest routes of the day and then ground-breaking routes of his own, his relationship with climbing would subtly change, not least because of his friendship with the late, great, Pete Livesey.
Fawcett is cheerfully irreverent about Livesey and his drive to be famous but the fame for which Livesey strove simply happened to Fawcett. He didn't lack for ambition and was determined to climb the hardest routes of the day, but where Livesey was the artisan, Ron Fawcett was the artist, a naturally talented prodigy who simply redefined what was possible.
The recognition that followed, the film and TV appearances and his ubiquity in the climbing press, allowed Fawcett to live the climber's life, to travel the world and climb the hardest routes of the day. In contrast to Jerry Moffatt however, Fawcett was never fully comfortable with that level of exposure. Where Moffatt revelled, Fawcett endured.
This is also a very honest book. Fawcett is hard on himself and admits his flaws where other climbing biographies have glossed over. He pulls no punches with tales of infidelity, drug taking, bolt placing and petty theft which simply made me respect him even more. He is candid about his frailties, his ambivalence about placing a bolt on The Cad, his shyness and, memorably, feeling `like an old fart' at the ripe old age of 28. The pressures of meeting sponsors' expectations do not sit well with a quiet lad from The Dales.
Yet Fawcett never falls out of love with climbing, only with the inherent pressure of being the top dog. The book opens with him setting out to climb 100 extremes in a day, clearly an attempt to remind himself what it is he really loves about climbing. It culminates with a delightful picture of Fawcett as he is now, living a simpler life, delighting in his daughters, fell-running, climbing and joining in the craic at Sheffield's Climbing Works bouldering wall. The impression is of a man who quietly enjoys the affection he inspires, who has found some peace.
The subtlety of Ed Douglas' work behind the scenes is such that the voice is very much Fawcett's, the language straightforward and unembellished and all the better for it. Douglas points out that Fawcett was one of his boyhood heroes, a climbing God Almighty in the eighties and it says much that even now, it is simply enough to refer to Ron, and everyone will know who you're talking about. This book is a fitting celebration of a climbing life well spent, of a decent ordinary man who just happened to be an extraordinary climber.
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Nicely engaging biography. In many ways there's a curve to the book that follows my own climbing 'career', albeit at an infinitely lower level. The dreams that filled my early life just starting out were one's punctuated by Ron's exploits (a man recognised by first name alone, long before this became a pre-requisite for celebrity). As youths trying to get off the ground on polished limestone VSs, we'd quote back lines from Rock Athlete for inspiration... 'come on arms, do your stuff!' A rich source of banter as well as a steady stream of routes at the very top level.
It's only now from the wrong end of the telescope that you realise quite how brief was the period Ron occupied at the top of the tree. But he owned that tree, and the land around it. And he seems so very young now, whilst he was occupying it. Maybe it was the moustache, that made him seem older.
Later when I got half-good, I'd tread modestly around his big routes. Later still you'd spend time in the Peak and would bump into the man, ready to share a moment. He knew that you knew who he was, that was part of the joke. It was the moustache again. But you were just climbers, climbing. Later still I found myself fell running more as another way of enjoying the big outdoors, and competing with a tired body. He's not bad at that either.
Written in a straightforward and honest way, there's nevertheless some sly humour in there. The understated, modest way he presents his achievements almost belies the scale of those achievements. Ed Douglas should be congratulated for the way he brings the stories out, without getting in the way. It almost helps to have been around in the 80s to have known quite how such a big figure he was, such is the lack of hype. I liked it.
It's only now from the wrong end of the telescope that you realise quite how brief was the period Ron occupied at the top of the tree. But he owned that tree, and the land around it. And he seems so very young now, whilst he was occupying it. Maybe it was the moustache, that made him seem older.
Later when I got half-good, I'd tread modestly around his big routes. Later still you'd spend time in the Peak and would bump into the man, ready to share a moment. He knew that you knew who he was, that was part of the joke. It was the moustache again. But you were just climbers, climbing. Later still I found myself fell running more as another way of enjoying the big outdoors, and competing with a tired body. He's not bad at that either.
Written in a straightforward and honest way, there's nevertheless some sly humour in there. The understated, modest way he presents his achievements almost belies the scale of those achievements. Ed Douglas should be congratulated for the way he brings the stories out, without getting in the way. It almost helps to have been around in the 80s to have known quite how such a big figure he was, such is the lack of hype. I liked it.
6 of 6 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I've always enjoyed Mountaineering literature, but primarily I'm a rock climber. So, I loved this book. It's not especially well written, with gaps and repetition in the narrative and an incoherent feel to the chronology. However this doesn't matter one jot. If one could compare Ron's story to the crime thriller genre, it wouldn't be a John Le Carre novel, it would be a trashy pulp fiction shootem-up and an exciting read for it. The sheer shocks and thrills of what Ron talks about will keep you hooked throughout, and he does capture the zeitgeist of being at the lead of a vastly changing scene in mountaineering. Having said that, this is not a book for the public; Ron doesn't patronise the reader with explanations of what RPs are or the significance of Masters Edge. If you don't understand the significance of this sentence: `Ron warms up at Millstone by soloing up Green Death and down Edge Lane.' - the books not for you. If, on the other hand, you've just got sweaty palms reading that, you will love Rock Athlete.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Great read!
A great read, however a little slower to get going that Jerry Moffatt's Revelations. The calm and collective mannerism of Ron Fawcett really shines through in this book and it... Read more
Published 2 months ago by Dave Bulley
Memory lane for 1980s rock climbers
Easy read with some honest self-appraisal. Fawcett was a hero for my generation (1980s) of rock climbers and his films were some of the first to help popularize the activity to a... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Richard
Master of rock.
When I was a climber Ron was the man to watch. Met him a few times and he always came accross as a really nice guy. This book just confirms that fact. Read more
Published 11 months ago by I. Barker
Fantastic Fawcett
Over the 1970s and 1980s Ron Fawcett was Britain's leading rock-climber as testified by his remarkable record of first ascents, repeats of top climbs and freeing of aid routes. Read more
Published 17 months ago by D. Elliott
Well deserved winner
Rock Athlete is a deserved winner of the Boardman Tasker prize for 2010. A well written, honest and involving autobiography of a highly talented but modest man. Read more
Published 18 months ago by P. H. Lee
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