UKH

I don't suppose anyone knows where I might be able to track down a copy of this account (online, in print, gratis or otherwise)?

Google is failing me so far.

Your google skills need some work...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00796E0QI/

Indeed - I discovered that about ten minutes after I posted. I was hoping to find a copy floating around on the Internet somewhere, but alas...I suppose I'll cough up for the book, wait for it to arrive in the post and enjoy the other essays that I undoubtedly would never have read otherwise

"Nothing changed by it. I doubt if I could ever do it again. Except that there are days when the rhythm builds up, the whole crazy edifice shifts, you cut loose, don't give a f*ck, and you're away"

The Climbing Essays is, in large part, on Google Books.

https://books.google.fr/books?id=VzeZjqn3bqAC&printsec=frontcover&d...

We have a winner, thanks! I was somehow misled into believing he soloed Coronation Street in the midst of an acid trip, but it's quite the read regardless.

I used to genuflect to Perrin quite regularly, he is a wonderful writer and a complex character I think. Someone needs to write his biography, though that would be an enormous challenge.

Can I suggest his obituary of Al Harris as your next read? 

I'd like to see this provided it was written in text speak and, at most, words of two syllables as a reprisal for all the highfalutin articles he's subjected me to! (That said, I loved Street Illegal)

Well that's quite a treasure trove.... 

If you’re not familiar with his writing then On and Off the Rocks and Yes to Dance are good anthologies (though much is repeated in the Climbing Essays).

Plenty more than that too.

It was brought up at the CC annual dinner this year that he did actually do that and then wrote an article for the CC journal. Apparently his views on these things has changed somewhat over the years and he's not so proud of it these days.

Thanks - I think I've only read Don Whillans biography. 

I think it was one of those things that just happened... on cocaine (and speed?), not acid, I believe. Jim was very bold indeed and soloed much harder than Coronation Street. Age tempers us. We look back on youthful follies, knowing that some of our mates paid the ultimate price. Inevitably there are mixed emotions.

Mick

I also enjoyed Menlove (Menlove Edwards biography) though thought parts quite harrowing.

It's a shame he is not as sincerely regretful about some othe actions in his life

https://www.jacssisters.org/notes-for-newcomers/

My thoughts entirely. With the exception of the Whillans and Menlove Edwards biographies which seem thoroughly researched and informative,  I've felt since his early efforts he often came across as pretentious and talking down to his perceived audience. 

I haven't read West so that site feels very out of context to me. Given that abusive relationships pop up in all sorts of weird places it is certainly plausible that the accusations are true, however that level of effort over such a period of time strikes me as being either very unhealthy, or required due to ongoing nasty behaviour. I don't know Jim well enough to say if that would, or would not be in character for him.

There is also this old thread, mentioning him suing the Climbers Club, of which he was a member. 

He won, so obviously he was right! But it feels like poor form to me. 

https://www.ukhillwalking.com/forums/rock_talk/street_illegal-104093

The site is clearly very bitter in tone but would have been brought down by legal action if the very serious  main accusations were untrue. The linked sad tale of how Jim Curran was effectively forced into legal action was also telling  (he was falsely accused of incompetence as a climber, with real risk to his livelihood, and of influencing Boardman Tasker decisions).

Yeah, this was raised at the CC's Annual Dinner this year as the solicitor/ lawyer who represented the CC at the time was mentioned in the obituaries.

PM me and I can send you a photocopy of from the book. Interestingly some of the latin quotes don't translate the same in google translate.

Well, a translation from Latin into English is merely a rendering. Is the sense of the quotes grossly altered?

He is a regular contributor to Country Diary in The Guardian and his pieces are always interesting reads.

Surely the method a writer uses to talk down to his perceived audience is to keep the language nice and simple, lest it all gets too much for their limited comprehension skills - i.e. to dumb-down? Isn't the very fact that Perrin avoids dumbing-down an indication that he regards his perceived audience as his intellectual equal?