I went to listen to a presentation by Andy Kirkpatrick last week. What an amazing evening! His casual style and self-effacing humour were in contrast to the pictures he showed - vertigo-inducing stills and videos from some of the world's big walls.
The audience were completely spellbound by Andy's description of climbing El Capitan with his girlfriend, Karen Darke. Climbing El Cap is a huge achievement in itself (Andy has climbed it many times before - including a solo ascent of the Reticent Wall). What made this climb so amazing is that Karen lost the use of both her legs in a climbing accident and Andy had to devise a pully system that would allow her to belay him as he led, before jumaring up the rope herself! Andy likened the achievement to doing 4000 pull-ups!
Karen has led a life of adventure, before and after the accident that left her paralysed. Hearing Andy describe their achievement was both inspirational and humbling.
Andy will also be joining Phil Packer's team to lead another ascent of El Cap in June. Former Army Major Phil Packer was injured in an incident following a rocket attack in Basra, Iraq on 19 Feb 08. Sadly, as a result of the accident he lost the use of his legs and is now a paraplegic with what are classed as catastrophic injuries. He was originally told he would never walk again but Phil is on a mission to raise one million pounds to assist Help for Heroes in their crucial work. See www.philpacker.com to make a donation.
Check out www.andy-kirkpatrick.com and http://karendarke.com for more information.
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