Denis – the missing man

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

Lou introduced the Frenchies, as she called them, to our climbing community.  Denis and his brother Pierric, were both lovely people and obviously very tolerant from the start, not being upset with Lou’s affectionate name that was used for some time by quite a few.  While Pierric went back to France, Denis has settled down here.  They were self-confessed bolt-clippers and sport climbing was where they were at.  Above Denis is enjoying the delights of the slabs of Moses Rocks during one of the first trips out, and bring trad the top rope was required.  While his preference is bolts he is not assertive about this and is happy to simply get out.  That said I have only ever got him to place a couple of trad pieces on lead, and only because it was required on mixed routes:

Tall and lanky, he is another person with an unnatural reach that allows him to bypass those sections that are more tricky for us shorter climbers.  But his reach isn’t what makes him a good climber, it takes more than that.  He was willing to give most (bolted) things a bash and I would point him to routes.  He, like so many others, would be trusting enough to tie in and give it a go.  He is however probably the person that I have pushed the hardest, relative to his level, and he has taken a fair few falls as a result.  In view that he clips bolts that didn’t worry him so much, and he seemed to actually enjoy the thrill of going until he would peel off:

Denis is a social person, he would enjoy getting together both to climb and not.  He was a regular at our boulder nights at Glen’s and on occasion would bring a friend.  One of them being young Tom.  We all knew Tom and having him turn up at these sessions was potentially dangerous, as he could have changed the fun nights into nights of torture as he inflicted impossible problems on us.  Tom however was and still is mature beyond his years and didn’t do that.  I haven’t got a post on him, as I really didn’t climb outdoors with him much but I just simply had to mention him.  Tom is the strongest climber I have met, insanely talented and powerful.  Denis and he shared a house and of course they built a boulder wall to train:

In-between his sessions outdoors Denis would be training hard with Tom and became very strong.  While he climbed very well and was super safe on single pitch bolted lines where you could get lowered off, it took a bit of time for him to get the hang of setting up belays.  On one such occasion he climbed a small slab at Welly Dam and I followed up, all I can say is that I’m glad I didn’t fall off!  He doesn’t get hung up on rope work, the art of placing protection or the scenery so much.  For Denis it is the climbing, and there have been times that the great outdoors has detracted from his enjoyment.  I can still hear, and start to laugh at, his wailing when he was besieged by March Flies at Well Dam:

Denis climbs for the pure enjoyment of being on rock, it doesn’t need to be a clean ascent it just needs to be technically enjoyable.  I’ve never seen him get upset or frustrated, if he does he has an impressive way of masking it.  I get the feeling that he approach life in that way too, always seeking a positive and enjoying the moment.  It has been a while since Denis and I have been on rock, almost two years, and in this time he has found Kyla.  Hopefully he will resurface and entertain us once more, as I point him to more routes I reckon he’ll enjoy with at least one he will fall off: