UKH

We went on these mad adventures. We lived off the land. We camped in the most beautiful places I've ever been to. I liked the perceived fear and I've never been more scared and excited as when we went on our mad adventures. Lived the dream in Holyhead, Camped facing the lighthouse and woke up with a beam of light through our tents in the middle of the night. Solo'ed the Tower on the Ben, Got pissed in the pub at the bottom of Scarfell and laughed till my belly was sore.  We lived at the Boulders at the bottom of Dinas Cromlech in Wales for 10 days Kings of the hill . We climbed the gates and the corner and bumped into Honnold . Went to the Chinese in town and drank rum under the stars. I  never felt as FREE, Best 10 days of my life. Going to miss you mate. I wanted to climb the old man and the Cioch with you, but I'm not sure i even  want to anymore. Maybe time will change that feeling I'm not sure. One thing I know, I will never forget is my mate Cliff natural born Leader.

I’m really sorry for your loss. It sounds as though you had some great times together, good adventures.

My condolences to all Cliffs family and friends.

SD.

nice eulogy. Sorry for your loss

I only met Cliff a couple of times when I was first starting out. He gave me some pointers and sold me some nuts at a bargain price to get me going. Cliff, me and my lad climbed 'A Climb' together, which was my lad's first outdoor climb. He was a good bloke and knew what was important and what wasn't.

I didn't know Cliff well at all but he always seemed like a great bloke. He was holding my ropes when I broke my leg at Froggatt and he did a great job of sorting out the Mountain Rescue and keeping us all laughing as we sat waiting in the cold. I also remember some good days mucking about in the Llanberis quarries. Very sad to hear that he's gone.

Sorry to hear this sad news, I only met and climbed with him once in North Wales during a brilliant winter but he seemed like a good bloke and a picture I took of him climbing the curtain in Cwm Idwal ended up in the north Wales developments guide.

Climbed a couple of times  with Cliff in Rossendale quarries  early 1980,‘S with his Climbing partner and mate at the time, a young Mark Leach. Lots of banter and piss taking.

Terribly sad  for his partner and children  

So many People will know Cliff, Without even knowing him. He would help anyone and for a quiet little guy (He would go mad at this comment ) he had a massive heart. Quiet Cliff, till he felt at ease then you couldn't shut him up. Funny and clever and for me I found him very interesting. Had some great story's for round the camp fire. Dry as a bag of flower and some times he could say things that would make me blush. He would just throw something weird into the conversation and you would end up of on some crazy tangent. A massive personality hidden in a little quite guy. Hated being little Cliff ,claimed it as a big handicap on hard climbs and fell out with many a wall setter who didn't consider the little guy ha ha. I've been on climbs where all the leaders where starting to flap cos the weathers turned and that's when Cliff would step up to the plate and talk sense. Never seen that man panic once. Had a natural leading ability and a way of making you feel safe .Should of been a guide. I feel honoured to have called him my climbing partner. Met him through this site on a cold August, years ago at Wilton. We climbed one route and then talk B/S for hours because it was cold. I think the reason we clicked is because we are both odd balls who like adrenalin. He was only ten years older than me but I thought of him like the cool dad I never had. I think all climbers are a little bit odd ball but me and him were more so ha. We stood out at the crag ,even among odd balls. I said id do the swim at The old man of Storr and he'd lead the climb but he had to do Hoy again we me. Do you know what ill miss the top out chats, The camp fire chats. I was looking forward to Hoy for the bothy chat would of been a good one.  I  cant forget the good times got loads of pictures and video of every climb we did. No doubt where ever he is. Cliff will have a plan, a project or some crazy idea on the go. He didn't like to, not be busy. 

He climbed with Franko too, When we met Alex Honnold at cromlech. I was star struck Cliff just took it in his stride.

There's so many ways in which we can all let life pass us by, fail to embrace life to get the most from it, and it really sounds like from this thread that he did a brilliant job of that, that he lived really fully in also having a wife and children as well as climbing adventures.

I'm sorry for your loss and for that of others close to him.

He had a few wife's and 4 kids ,3 lads and a girl. His youngest Cole with the love of his life . Lived it to the full fast and hard with no regrets.

RIP Cliff. Incredibly sad news. We went to the same school and started climbing at the same time. Cliff was a natural climber, incredibly strong and fun to be with. We repeated many local routes and put up our own new routes. We often went bouldering before and after school. We did early repeats of Dry Grasp and Nagasaki Grooves in Borrowdale in the late 70s when we were both 14 / 15 years old. I had a pair of EBs and Cliff climbed in pumps, I would struggle to keep up. Cliff climbed E5 back in the day and climbed Fork Lightening Crack in his pumps with ease. Once Cliff bought a pair of EBs he stopped climbing and much later returned back to climbing. We lost touch after those wonderful early days.

Condolences to his family and friends.

Cliff spoke about you a few times and he always called you my old mate Leachy, Said you was one of the best climbers in Lancashire. He once said " i don't know why they continued with grades after E5 cos if you fall off you probably dead"  He got me climbing E1 from 0  and i always told him i only want to climb up to E2  the rest are to much hard work. We were pleasure climbers. For me it was the whole experience, Taught me how to climb, How to wild camp, where the free wifi and water taps were. We have some great adventures and some brilliant laughs. Its just started snowing and straight away i think of Cliff and where the ice will be.