Eric – the quiet one

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

I have a feeling that I have climbed with Eric far more than my images indicate.  My earliest memory is of Eric on Fat Chance, when I took a bunch of images of him. One almost made the cover the new guide book, until it was pointed out that it looked too similar to the cover of the new Perth climbing guide. Eric climbed with Eric, his mate, and they were both quiet unassuming people happy to just go about climbing. One day we met them at Wallcliffe, I was there with Rob and he had a tag along with him.  I asked the Eric’s if they were happy for the tag along to run up their rope on Borrowed Souls, which we had recently established, and they were very happy to do this.  As the tag along neared the top I heard a faint noise and then a loud shout, he had knocked a rock off and it landed squarely onto the big toe joint of Eric bare foot 20m below:

The way Eric dealt with that situation speaks volumes about his character.  There was no carrying on and a few polite words and us offering our sincerely apologies, which he shrugged off saying it was an accident and they happen. It didn’t break his toe but severely damaged it and he wasn’t able to put a climbing shoe on for months and months.  He held no malice and eventually got back out on rock.  The Eric’s were not part of the crew at the time.  I found out only a month back that Eric’s mate Eric had gone to the Middle East, but I kept in touch Eric and we headed out together a few times.  There is no stress with Eric, everything happens at a relaxed pace and he’s happy to take whatever the day allows, as and when it comes:

As long as we got out he was content.  Ram who didn’t make my list, is another occasional outdoor climber and while he has led a few bolted routes it was Eric and I that taught him the ropes with trad.  Eric showed a lot of patience and a natural ability to calm situations down, which was great as leading on trad certainly made Ram very nervous and uncomfortable.  In fact I can only recall Ram leading on trad twice, and each time he hated it. In those days Eric seemed to run up most routes, he is also the only person that I have ever seen climb Hired Gun direct.  Most people traverse in from the left to avoid the long dynamic moves that get you small crimps, which you have to yard up on:

The two Eric’s had a boulder wall and kept themselves strong.  Eric had great finger strength and great body coordination, which isn’t always the case for tall lanky people.  After a few years Eric disappeared from the local climbing scene, but he was still not too far away.  He still got my write-ups and we occasional chatted via email.  Finally a few years back he dusted off the cobwebs and came back out, not quite as strong but just as chilled and open for adventure.  I found out that he had dismantled their boulder wall and was looking to sell the holds off.  Great timing and the 150 odd holds complemented what I had bought for my new wall perfectly:

We managed a few outings, and at Boomer Crag I discovered that he was scared of spiders.  He came across a huntsman tucked away in the crack of Boomer Crack.  Managing to hold it together, he still had that ability to stay composed and finished the route.  A week or so later just before departing on his holiday to the Blue Mountains things changed.  He was unexpectedly offered a job over there and it became a job interview and house hunting trip.  So our planned next trip out just before Christmas never happened. He is however still going strong on the many Blue Mountain crags and keeps asking when I might get the chance to come over.  I’ve not managed it yet, but will one day: