For the history buffs this one…
Today is the 40th anniversary of the first, and still existing, sport climb in Scotland. Driller Killer at Legaston Quarry.
An earlier attempt to establish a sport route at Salisbury crags was unsuccessful and the equippers didn’t try again.
However despite considerable opposition to the bolt being placed in DK (and it was removed several times) I pressed ahead with further sport routes there eventually spreading the good word further afield.
I was hoping to go back and make a wee vid of me climbing it again on the actual anniversary but being in Spain today put a hold to that.
Was it the thin end of the wedge as the prophets of doom forecast at the time? I don’t think so but I am probably not qualified to judge however I do think we have managed to tread a fairly thoughtful line between past, present and future.
Forty years of drilling under my harness and still loving it!
