Johnny Dawes

Johnny Dawes is already a legend in British climbing. In 1986, he was responsible for perhaps the most inspired new route in the sport's recent history, a climb called Indian Face on the Welsh crag Clogwyn d'ur Arddu. A fall from its hardest move would most likely be fatal. But Dawes is much more than a risk-taker; his rich imagination for climbing has left outstanding new routes all over the country, not least on the gritstone edges of Derbyshire where his bold and fluid style pushed the barriers of the possible beyond the imagination of almost all his contemporaries.
Ed Douglas

1978	Started climbing age 14
1982	Jugged Hare E6 6a (eb's), Snivelling Shit E5 6a (o.s)
1983	Heath Robinson E6 6b, Saltation E5 6c, Wall Street Crash E6 6c
1984	Silk E6 6c and Ulysses E6 6b, (on sight 1st and 2nd ascs same day) Braille Trail E7 6c, Weather Report E6 6c, White Water E6 6c (o.s 1st) Charlotte Rampling E6 6b, Teenage Menopause E7 6b (o.s)
1985	Dawes of Perception E7 6c, Windows of Perception E6 7a Sad Amongst Friends E7 7a, White Lines E7 6c
1986	Gaia 1st E8 6c, Kaluza-klein E7 6c, Darmah E7 6c, Monopoly E7 6b End of the Affair E8 6c, Slab and Crack E7 6c, Janus E6 6c Indian Face 1st E9 6c (repeated in 1988), Beau Geste E7 6c (2nd) The Quarryman E8 6c 6b 6c 7a/b Fire Escape E7 6c (unrepeated) Come to Mother E7 6a 6a (o.s 1st) Conan the Librarian E7 6b 6b 5b 5c
1987	The Scoop E7 6b 6a 6b 6a 6b 6a 6b 5b The Untouchable E7 7a Coeur de Lion E7 7a 6c 6b (unrepeated), Bobby's Groove E7 7a Stone Monkey^® Channel 4 Winner of 6 international awards. buy the video
1990	The Very Big and the Very Small (8c) Mauvais Sang 8b (2nd), Uncarved Block E7 7a Hardback Thesaurus E8 6b/c (o.s 1st)
1995	Face Mecca E9 6c (2nd)
1996	The Angel's Share E9 7b (unrepeated), Avoiding the Traitors E7 6c Smoked Salmon E8 7b, Warmlove E7 7b (unrepeated) 'Best Forgotten Art' A nostalgic film dedicated to crack climbing and easy listening buy the video
1997	'Movement on Rock' BBC Radio 4 pick of the week
	Johnny has been experimenting on projects and with climbing existing routes in new ways. This has helped to develop new ways to learn and in the ongoing development of the classes. .Master's Edge E7 6c with right hand only .Obsession Fatale E8 6c without hands .Insurrection Hvs 5a by hopping. In 2001 he extended his UK workshops which have now been experienced by over 3000 climbers. He has recently been asked to animate a sculpture - a 110 tonne boulder of Portland Stone at Compton Verney in Warwickshire.

Indoor Workshop Series

Workshop 1
Centre of Gravity
Workshop 2
Momentary Grip
Workshop 3
Continuous

"Good climbers have come and gone, but the ones who have left an indelible impression on British climbing have done so with charisma and vision as opposed to raw talent. When Johnny Dawes brought this country its first E8 and E9, he did it with that touch of flare and finesse that made the numbers seem irrelevant. It was the stuff that fuelled our wildest climbing fantasies. His routes were more than just climbs, the Indian Face, Quarryman and Gaia are monuments that are etched in climbing folklore. Crucifix moves and wild dynos were compounded with tales of ladybirds, earth gods and planets. To call this man a climber would sell him short. When he's on a roll, Johnny Dawes can walk on air.

No one doubts Johnny Dawes' radical and unorthodox approach to climbing; the problem is that few people understand it! The 'nutty professor' of modern climbing, who thinks in patterns and moves in waves is also renowned for speaking in riddles. Even the most open-minded have been left baffled in the wake of his ranting. So the question I face in this month's edition of Masterclass is firstly: what exactly does Johnny do? and secondly, will it only work for him? I knew that patience, humility and a 'Beginner's mind' would be essential tools in my quest to find out. When we met in a coffee bar in Sheffield, I had no idea about where things would go. If you'd told me I'd end up in the Foundry being trained by him and improving my climbing by a grade within half an hour, I wouldn't have believed you. But then this is the essence of what Dawes teaches in his own Masterclass seminars, people just don't believe enough."

Excerpt from A Masterclass Beyond the Edge by Neil Gresham. 'Climber' Magazine January 2001
Workshop details
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Johnny Dawes

What I'm most proud of is the feeling that sometimes I'm completely in sync with what the rock can do, that it's almost as if it's asking something of you. It's like impersonal music - it's not written as music but some geological quirk has made it into a piece of music which, when you listen to it, makes you dance. And if you really pay attention to the dance, the harder the route gets, the more blank and featureless it is, the better and more complex is the message you get from the rock.
Johnny Dawes

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