note chest harness which was briefly in fashion.

This is amazing - Note: All he's wearing is old PA's, no chalk, no cams, no wires, hardly any gear and yes, the REAL first free ascent of the original finish, which now gets E3 6A who is this guy? I've heard a rumour that he and his mate were known as the Geordie Hotshots and were running up all of the hardest routes of the day in the 60's, amazing!!

Could be Steve Wilson. He is often credited with the FFA. He is from Teesside though. Had a bad abseiling accident in late 69 IIRC, never reached his full potential.

Wrong again. Look at other Carnivore photos, Steve did it at Easter 69, and wearing a helmet.

Looks more like the traverse on the first pitch, which was always free.

That is correct Colin.

Yes. The downward traverse on pitch 1, undoubtedly. Just compared it with mine from the 80s. All features and grass caterpillars intact.

to clarify, this is a picture of pitch one on Carnivore the same day as we did the original finish pitch , free. Remember this was in the days when there wasn't much of a description, and we didn't know aid had been used. We probably wouldn't have gone on it if we knew. Our thoughts were, the Whillans finish must be harder so we will not go that way.