Andrew – the professional

If you are keen click on this link to find out what Andrew said about me.  While not essential reading to find out about Andrew, there may be some cross referencing in my words about him.

Andrew was one of the people that helped keep the Bunbury PCYC alive.  Having come from the professional world of the State Emergency Services (SES) he was across all the necessary rope work and equipment.  But more importantly he was accustomed to the rigours of industry standard health and safety requirements.  While we pulled a lot of documentation together it was the level of his qualifications, attained from his SES times, that was pivotal in getting our proposal to keep the wall open.  At least for a few more years.

He recalls better than I the first time we hit real rock together, something he had not previously done in a recreational capacity.  He was quick to get hooked, as most were that I write about, and particularly loved the aspect of placing protection.  Like me the mechanical side of how gear works and placing good protection is not only intriguing but an art.  The image above is of his first lead on trad in November 2009.  From that time on he never looked back and pulled out some great leads.  It is impressive to now think that just four months after his first lead he joined us for our South Coast trip and went lead for lead:

It took him some time to be able to differentiate between a belay that was required for recreational climbing as opposed to a cliff rescue.  I do however recall that one time he really wasn’t happy with an anchor that Howsie and I had set up.  This was at mighty sea cliffs of West Cape Howe during our South Coast trip, which the four of us who went still remember fondly eight years on.  He insisted the use of a prussic cord was not good enough for one of the three independent and tensioned anchors we had set up.  Promptly replacing it with a sling while explaining the different ratings between the two.  If truth be told it was a fair call:

As I, in those early days, he had a young family.  So early starts to cram in a morning on rock appealed to him.  There is a need to balance things in your life and he seemed to be of like mind to me in that regard.  During my time climbing with Andrew two things stick to mind.  He liked a good chat and at times I would have to break the conversation off so he could get climbing!  Secondly he was methodical, it was like he had a checklist in his mind.  My guess is that is how they train you in the SES.  You can tell it in the way he climbs, places protection, works the rope and sets up his belays:

As he will confess his attendance in the climbing community has been up and down, and being privy to his personal life that is completely understandable.  Life can play some tough cards.  He knew when he was not in a good place.  He also knew that these are definitely not the times to be out climbing when you need all your attention on you and your climbing partners life.  That said in the last few years he has started to get back into it, and no doubt some of the images I have included will remind him of that: