(c) 2005 OGDEN HUB / Posted: January 22nd, 2006

Andy Kirkpatric Speaks at WSU

On Wednesday January 25, Andy Kirkpatrick will be speaking at Weber State University’s Wildcat Theater. Come listen to Andy who has been praised as “one of Britain’s top climbers, and represents what is best in modern British climbing; boldness, innovation, sense of humor, irreverence, commitment and an appetite for risk.” The Lecture starts at 7:00 and costs $6.00 for WSU students and $9.00 for anyone else who would like to attend. Continue reading for a short bio (taken from Andy’s website).

The following excerpt is taken from a brochure that highlights the lectures of Andy Kirkpatric. The brochure can be found here. This is definitely something you don’t want to miss. Thanks to Weber State’s Wilderness Recreation Center for hosting this event.

Who is Andy Kirkpatrick?

The US magazine “Climbing” once described Andy as a climber with a “strange penchant for the long, the cold and the difficult”, and with a reputation “for seeking out routes where the danger is real, and the return is questionable, pushing himself
on some of the hardest walls and faces in the Alps and beyond, sometimes with partners and sometimes alone.”

Andy is one of the UK’s most accomplished big wall climbers – a skill which involves pitting oneself against a vertical climb of a over 1000 metres - scaling Yosemite’s El Capitan, the hardest wall in America, over ten times. One of these ascents was a 12 day solo of the Reticent Wall, viewed at the time as perhaps the hardest climb of its type in the world. In 2002 Andy made a 15 day ascent, in winter, of the Dru, a 1000 metre pillar considered by many to be the hardest climb of its type in Europe, a climb that pushed him and his partner to their limits, and was featured in the award wining film ‘Cold Haul’.

Andy is also well known for his expeditions to mystical Patagonia, all of which have taken place in its fearsome winter season, a season in which very few have ever ventured. The stories from these expeditions have become some of the classic modern climbing tales, often redefining the words ‘epic’ and ‘cold’! These climbs have allowed Andy to make a career out of climbing, something a little unexpected when you consider his background, growing up in a council flat in the extremely flat city of Hull. It is perhaps this journey, overcoming many hurdles – including a poor education – that are of the most interest to his audiences, as they discover it was his love of climbing that eventually taught him to write and take photographs good enough to earn him a living.

One of Andy’s biggest strengths is his ability to talk about his life and climbs in a style that is totally accessible to the non climber, translating even the most technical of ascents into a form that has even the non climber’s hands sweating. This brochure is a short introduction to Andy, and is aimed at businesses, schools and organisations that wish to book Andy to speak.

The cold is indescribable. I’ve hung from this belay since sunset, exhausted and close to hypothermia after 72 hours on this face. I can smell my body consuming its muscle – making me want to vomit – and I would if I had any food in my belly. Instead, I just shake, physically and mentally, waiting for the rope to come tight and yank me out of this. No more clothes to put on, fat to digest, or imminent danger to distract me from the suffering. All I can do is close my freezing eyes and wait. At minus 25°C, ego, greed and desire become irrelevant, the reason to be on this mountain lost, the only incentive left, to survive. You may well ask “Why?” The very question repeats itself in my mind every second I wait. What are my rewards? Money, fame, success? The only answer I find worthy of the pain is that I suffer all these things in order to gain something I already have – but only by doing so am I able to see its beauty.”