UKH

She is mentioned on another thread. I have lived and climbed in the uk for 20 years and I don’t recall her name coming up.

Would that be Geraldine Taylor? From a quick search, she comes up.

I am intrigued. 
cheers

Erick

In reply to robert-hutton:

I remember seeing her in the pub in St Govans in the eighties. She had an interesting hairstyle.

In reply to robert-hutton:

So I have never been in her vicinity ! Am I right in assuming she is called Taylor?

Increasingly interesting !!! Tell us more! Is she of this parish?

I was once in a CC hut and someone said they knew that she was around because nobody else would eat half a banana and put the other half in the fridge for later. 

As one of the first women to make an impression on an an almost completely male-dominated climbing scene she would have stood out even if her style had been more 'demure' (it wasn't)

Don't think so. She lives in Kalymnos now.

Arguably couldn’t have been, given the attitudes sometimes on display. 

There is a Geraldine Taylor who last time I met her, 4 years ago, was living in Massouri on Kalymnos.  She was a very good climber back in the 70's/80's when female climbers were few and far between. There is a photo of her climbing Geireagle in one of the Tremadoc guides.  It may even be on the cover, I don't recall.

She had some good stories and wasn't shy about telling them. I enjoyed hearing her chat about climbing. Last saw her at the orange Tree but as people said she is in kalymnos now. 

I knew Geraldine from when she first appeared in the Peak with John Stevenson and Mick Fowler. She was obsessive about weight control and on one ski trip she would weigh all her food on miniature scales and write the calorific value in her little book. On that holiday she made one of her quite famous quotes to me, “my bodies so efficient it doesn’t need food” delivered in her unmistakable accent. She absolutely fitted into the Sheffield scene and was always around. Also, eventually she developed into a very good climber at a time of few top female climbers. She now lives in Kalymnos, but of late her health has suffered. We always have a catch up when I visit and just this week I received a friend request from her on Facebook. A one off character.

I saw Geraldine Taylor at Bosigran probably 30 years ago, climbing Kafoozalem. Probably took more than 2 hours and 15 pieces of gear but ascent never in doubt, so no criticism. We saw her in the pub in the evening writing in a book and I assumed she was logging her ascents but she was actually writing down her calorie intake.

Steve

That’s what make sports so much more interesting, their characters !

I used to share a house in Nether Edge with Jon Stevenson and Joe Simpson, occasionally Phil Thornhill and others. Fowler used to occasionally turn up on his drives from London to Scotland every weekend for winter climbing. I'm still in touch with Geraldine and spent a lot of time climbing her back in the '80s. Probably the strongest climber I ever climbed with, never dogging on the rope, just immobile under overhangs, getting the gear in and pressing on. There might have been some mickey taking, but people like Paul Nunn were fiercely protective of her, even Birtles would stand in her corner. I used to locate her turning up at the St Govans for the easter meet just by closing my eyes and listening for that voice. Really great days spending hours doing laps on Get Some In.

Used to post on UKC, and attended some of the 'picnics'. I remember her romping up hard routes on a Portland picnic. I may even have photos somewhere. 

A very good climber. I remember her weighing out her cucumber in St Govan’s car park.

I think the thread should be titled "Who is Geraldine".

I beg your pardon?

Think I bumped into her in the early 2000's in a climbers hut in Tremadog when I noticed somebody weighing their food. Also remember one of her regular partners complaining about the time she took on routes. Think she might have also done an annual ascent of London Wall just to keep things ticking over.

Correct, I have never changed a thread title. I originally wasn’t sure of when Geraldine had been operating. And she could have been dead. 
‘I’ll what can be done!

Saw her in Kalymnos last year. Not too well, unfortunately…

I was a belayer for a while in the 80's. I was dragged up various climbs that I couldn't ever lead and enjoyed climbing with her. She had incredible stamina and could hang on forever placing gear where I would have gotten pumped in less than a minute.

For relaxation, she would browse through a book with the calorific value of every known food. Food was carefully weighed for each meal.

When I knew her she was a part-time teacher which enabled her to maximize climbing time.

I once walked underneath London Wall when Geraldine was climbing it. She was climbing well and making it look straightforward but you could have probably heard her running commentary of the route from behind the till in Outside in Hathersage.

Contrary to what one would expect from someone who weighed out her meals, Gerry is a real foodie and loves her food. I was once treated to a running commentary of what she was going to cook in the coming week all the way up the Superdirect at Kilnsey at full volume.😂

Crikey - you might want to add the word 'with' to that statement...

Or maybe not.

Bottom line is this: From circa 1980 to circa 1994 Geraldine was the best British female climber by far. She was a top climber, irrespective of gender. Total stamina merchant. She was super-light and could hang on forever (which she did). Very good at reading the rock. Never missed a gear placement. If she'd have been prepared to take falls and work routes, she'd have climbed E7. 

While not everyone's cup of tea, there wasn't a bad bone in her (very slim) body. She had her demons; we all have. Where it matters, she's a lovely person and I'm proud to have known her.

She never got the recognition she deserved and a retrospective on her is long overdue. 

Mick 

Nice one Mick - I didn't know her well, but liked what I knew.  Stamina was impressive - probably still is.  I hope she is happy.

What Mick said.

I hope she sees this thread.

Did you mean up to circa '84, not '94 Mick? As a historical reference point Rachel Farmer did Raindogs in '91, I believe, which was the first British female ascent of an f8a. British female trad standards were also higher by then, courtesy of Felicity Butler et al.

Geraldine was very impressive and her tenacity legendary but this is unfair to other British women of the time. Gill Kent (Indecent Exposure, 1982?), Jill Lawrence (Right Wall, 1984), and Rachel Farmer (Raindogs, 1991?) all climbed harder over this period.

I met Geraldine many years ago on Portland. Myself and a mate were climbing ‘The Price of Silence’ 6a when a lady arrived at the crag, sat down and started crocheting (yep).

When we had almost finished the route, she approached us and said that she was a climber and didn’t have a partner that day (I think Al Evans was stuck in London).

We said we were happy for her to ‘have a go’ but that it was a 6a.

She walked up it, stripped the route, then asked if it was ok to put our rope up a neighbouring climb, ‘Scapa Flow’, 6c+. After she’d climbed it, she thanked us and wandered off. We both failed spectacularly on it (I’ve still not done it).

I met her and Al Evan a few years later at The Cuttings when they asked me to strip a route for them as they were knackered from redpointing 7b’s. Legends!

Years later, we named a new route after her, ‘The Clicking of Her Needles Spelled Doom’.

Reminds me of an incident I witnessed on Kalymnos a few years back.  I don't recall the route but it was some 7a/7b.  A group of young men were redpointing it but not making any progress.  Along comes Angela Soper, who was in her early to mid 70's at that time, asking if she could have a go. There was a lot of sniggering and nudging going on up until the point when Angela cruised the route on sight without any rests or aid. Open mouthed and speechless doesn't come near to describing their reaction.

I used to see her around the Peak frequently in the late 70's early 80's and remember just happening to be in Stoney cafe when she arrived for her after wedding reception for chip butties. I remember her licking tomato ketchup from her new husbands belly button. She was, and I'm sure still is, a real character. Last time I saw her she was climbing Quietus with Al Evans, who was a bit fed up as she was hanging limpet like for some time beneath the roof.

Also karin magog and airlie anderson potentially, that's not to say geraldine doesn't deserve plenty of credit. 

Absolutely right. Any fule no you shouldn’t put bananas or part thereof in the fridge as they go horribly black in no time.

Indeed but I'd argue that all of these examples were relatively isolated events. (By the way, I think your date for Gill is quite a bit out.) 

Jill had moved to the US and come back briefly, having got a lot better, lost some weight and gained a huge amount of self-belief. On that women's meet, the psyche was strong. She broke the E5 barrier only once (I think) in the UK. Geraldine must have done hundreds of E5s, some probably nudging E6. This isn't to do down Gill in the slightest. A couple of days before Right Wall, she led Zukator with three falls. She was so happy and we were happy for her. To succeed on Right Wall, which I believe she'd failed to second Pete on, almost 10 years before, must have been wonderful. 

Rachel Farmer must have been about 20 years younger than Geraldine, with immense potential and her death at such a young age was terrible. Could Geraldine also have done Raindogs?  In my view, yes. No move on it would have stopped her. And she'd have pieced them together. But redpointing wasn't her style. 

Gill broke the E6 (7b+) barrier with Indecent, doing the top pitch too. Nothing on Indecent would have stopped Geraldine. In fact I'd have laid odds on her onsighting it. (She was certainly well capable.) Saw Dalvinder on it once and she hung on for ages, wandering all over the place, only popping off just below the break. Geraldine's ability to read the rock was superb. She wouldn't have made any such mistakes. 

I believe that Gill's hardest onsight was Behemoth. Have never been on it but it has quite a reputation! Yet Geraldine must have onsighted many routes of similar difficulty. 

Perhaps the climber who most resembles Geraldine was Fliss Butler who undoubtedly climbed harder, onsighting E6. But that's probably because she was more open to the notion of falling off (though she never seemed to!) 

Dalvinder obviously climbed much harder (8a+) but by then it really was a different generation, far more knowing about the benefits of bouldering, redpointing, etc. And there were others - Anne Arran, Ruth Jenkins, who climbed 8b with Zeke, Airlie (eek!) with Masters Edge, the first UK female E7. 

If you say - how good is someone as a climber (which is a different question from the one of how hard they've actually climbed) I'd put Geraldine above the ladies before Fliss Butler and roughly level with Fliss. Geraldine was massively held back by her traditional onsight/ground up ethic. But what she managed was still bloody impressive. And it was over many years. And she did it pretty much on her own (well, apart from her long-suffering seconds). If you've got a mutually supportive group, it's easier. If you've got a male partner who's significantly better, it's easier. 

Of course what's really needed is someone to go back, interview everyone they can and do a book about female British climbers in these decades. For instance, Angela Soper was another superb climber. 

Yet for me one of the greatest feats in women's climbing was Sheena Moffat's early 1970s lead of Tabula Rosa, 'Yorkshire HVS'. Almost certainly fewer people have led this route than have stood on the surface of the moon. "Think you're 'ard enough?" Well this is the route to find out!

She did it barefoot and pregnant. 

Mick 

Do you recall the picture of Angela, Faller as she was then, on the cover of an early edition of Rocksport?

Was that the photo of her on the undercling of Kipling Groove?

Mick 

It was. I climbed with her shortly after that then didn't see her again until I ran into her at a CC meet many, many years later. It must have been as much as 40 years.

Hi Mick

I was having a mare on St. Paul Direct (E3 6a) while Gill was cruising Behemoth. I ran into Gerry at the Grindstone in Crookes, and she wanted all the details. There’s no doubt that she was consistently operating at that grade.

The climbing world is full of such encounters. You have great days out with people and sometimes only meet them again decades later - if at all. 

Mick 

Hi Paul, hope St. Paul Direct wasn't graded HVS at the time. The fabled words, "Warm up. Only HVS, youth!" got ever more hollow in WCJ as you grappled with yet another loose, badly protected E3 with leg break potential. 

The first time I went there (which very nearly ended in disaster), as I wandered down the Dale with Andy Parkin, we spied Kim Carrigan on Behemoth. He was just finishing it. He gave a big whoop (then quite uncommon) and hurled his beanie down the crag. Yup. The best climber in OZ was chuffed to onsight it. Shows how good Gill was. 

Mick 

I’m not sure what the grade was at the time, but I vividly remember a corner groove that you could rearrange like a giant Jenna game! Quite spicy for E3. We’d started along on Church?? Buttress and done an old Birtles route called Vicars Vertigo. There were rotten pegs in the roof that you wouldn’t want to clip, but they and all the other assorted tat were filling up the gaps where you might get some gear in. Got up it, but that was supposed to only be E1. A good day out 

Fully in agreement with Mick. Hope Geraldine is well and can read this thread too. If she is" Geraldine catch up with you on my next Kalymnos visit and keep well"

I think Gill may have had somewhat of an advantage over other women at the time as she and Ron were full time climbers and being married to Ron wouldn’t have been too disadvantageous. However she did do some amazing cutting edge female ascents though. Top female climbers were few and far between then and I think Gill Price should also be included in the list. She could lead English 6b. I personally think Behemoth is desperate, the top crack is such an awkward width and sustained. I pumped up and nearly fell off. As her first alpine route, Gill K and myself did the Frendo spur, which was not too shabby for a 17 year old.

A very gracious response from you re Gill. I'm sure you're right about Gill Price. It's odd how English 6b went from the living end to 'almost a rest', in the statement of one particular youth.

Personally I blame Broomgrove and such venues. Luckily, as we totter into senility, it's getting tricky again. So it goes...

mick 

P.S. Agree about the Frendo. Not too shabby at all. Especially at 17. Nor the Eiger North Face for your first Alpine route. 

She does exist, in fact she called in today when we were breakfasting on the terrace. She has had a bit of a tough time of late, a hip replacement after a fall and now waiting for a knee replacement. But she was in good spirits, swims in the sea regularly and has her 15 cats to look after. I pointed her at this thread,

Chris

I would like to add that I am simply intrigued : she appears to be one of those « dark horses » of British climbing and by all accounts an amazing climber. Nothing untoward !

I don't think she was a "Dark Horse" in the 1980's. Just about everyone who lived in the Peak either knew her personally or knew of her reputation. Of course, the barbarians that didn't live in the Peak may not have been aware of her 

I can understand your sense of being intrigued. As you say, you've lived and climbed in the UK for 20 years, followed climbing media and... until now, it's as though she'd never existed. 

She kind of was and wasn't a dark horse. As noted below, most people in the Peak knew/knew of her. And one might well be aware of her presence in the crag or pub. But I'm struggling to recall even one magazine article about her. (There must surely have been one?) 

She inhabited an era where few people promoted themselves. For many, it wasn't the done thing. And women's climbing was taken for granted. Geraldine just got on with it. But I'd love to see a ticklist of her routes. I'm guessing that jaws might drop, even today, 20 to 40 years after she did them. 

Would some lady climber please interview her - and the others mentioned above? It's the hidden story of UK women's climbing. It would make a great article/series of articles on here. And maybe a book too. 

Mick 

P.S. Back in the 1970s I used to climb with a Yorkshire lass called Dorothy Hobson. She married my old mate John Bogg (Boggie) and thus rejoiced in the singularly unromantic name of Dot Bogg. She was fully as good as the rest of us (about E3). She'd learned to climb from an earlier boyfriend, some dude called Ron. And he taught her well. Another dark horse. Went off to France and sadly disappeared from view. Hope you're out there, Dot. We had some great days together. xx

She features here on page 4 of the 50 women rock climbers article.

http://sarahstirling.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/92_Summit_Winter_2018_S...

She features in this film from 2003.  vimeo.com/27442380

Unfortunately it doesn't seem possible to watch this online.

My one memory of her is seeing her climb Quietus at High Neb, at a time when that was one of my aspirational routes. She was not young, but it didn't seem to be causing her a great deal of trouble  

Nice one Mick, I  have the pleasure of climbing with Gerry many times while I have been on Kalymnos and 100% she is a lovely human being and great to spend time with ❤

There was an article in High, written by someone who held her ropes when she led Flaky Wall (E4 6a) on High Tor, but Gerry asked to be identified only as ‘Dene’, that’s her style.

My Geraldine story, such as it is, is that I gave  her a top rope on Chequers Buttress once ..but she had cut her finger quite badly on a kitchen knife! 

An interesting, very well researched article. The only serious omission I can see is Sheena Moffat (though mum Gwen features, as ever). Perhaps the ultimate dark horse. (Why have I got such an enduring fascination with dark horses?)

I remember showing Clare Murphy my (just done) project on the board at the Foundry. About 7c+. She warmed up on it! And I was so happy. Women had come through. They really had! She was obviously light years better (V10/11). Yet the carping next time I went back. "You don't mind being burned off by a bloke. But a woman!" Jeez, guys - get real. 

Remember seeing Lucinda Whittaker get coached in the infamous Portland Shed. (You can look for it but you'll never find it.) Thought, "Bloody hell, she'll go places." And, sure enough she did. 

And there's some lass, Natalie Berry. Never heard of 'er. What did she ever do on The Cobbler?

Mick 

I know Geraldine Taylor. Climbed with her a few times. She was Way better than me

The only time I chatted to Geraldine she was weighing out food. Amused to see so many others have had the same experience. Lovely person.

I dug out the photos, from a Portland meet, 22/03/2003. There are a couple of mine, but some excellent ones of Geraldine taken by FunkyNick (formerly of this parish), illustrating her limpet-like grip.