Martin Kocsis bumped into Rick Gibbon at the Wrinkled Stocking Café in Holmfirth. Rick is BMC Access Rep for the Dark Peak, and he’s got a few things to say on the world of sensible bolting agreements, the pleasures of retirement, and the poetry of Edward Thomas.

So, been climbing long?
Well, I’m 62 now, and I started climbing when I was 14 - do the maths!

How did you start?
By mucking about in the copper mines at Alderley Edge as a means of escaping the council estate I lived on in Manchester. That led onto the Peak District, Hayfield and soloing routes that I’d not even consider today. I got into the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award at school, and then started going out with the YMCA climbing club in Manchester too.

YMCA climbing club? Sounds a bit soft if you ask me?
Don’t believe it, youth. We used to do triple crossings of Kinder Scout as a matter of course, climbing on various edges during the course of the day. This was in any weather, mind you, and at any time of the year. I was there at the same time as the likes of Joe Walmsley who, I believe, did the first ascent of Nuptse. Gordon Clapton was there, as was the legendary Derek Clutterbuck. Later on I joined the Mynydd, and climbed with Pete Boardman, Jo Royle and Marshall Reeves.

Well, that was then, what about now?
I just love adventure of any sort, capital “A” or not. The best thing is onsight climbing, be it on bolts or trad and getting to climb in new places. I boulder a great deal, and have been doing so for decades. It’s nothing new.

What would be your desert island crag?
That’s a difficult one, that is. It would have to be grit, but which one? Gritstone climbing is like a box of jewels really. They all have something wonderful about them. Maybe I’d take with me just the feeling of climbing on grit, and maybe just one of the boulders from West Nab.

You’ve been assimilated into the BMC now. Why not run across the moors and escape its clutches?
I got into it by being the Rep for the Rucksack Club. I believe that climbers today owe a debt to those who have worked for us in the past. We pay into it now by turning up to Area Meetings, ensuring access and maintaining routes and crags. Personally I worry about many of the Peak’s limestone crags, which are slowly sinking beneath a carpet of vegetation. Soon, the environmentalists will be claiming these crags for themselves and banning us from them. Now is the time to start taking a serious look at cleaning and gardening of crags, and the installation of lower-offs for certain routes in certain places. I’m not talking about wholesale bolting, just a sensible and common sense approach to a problem that will get worse unless we, as climbers, actually do something.

I fancy retirement myself. How is it for you?
Great thanks! I paint (landscapes, mainly), boulder, climb, walk and garden. I’m never bored and I need even more days in the week than I currently have.

Read any good books recently?
I like Ian Rankin, but I prefer the poetry of Edward Thomas who wrote about the land, but was killed in the Great War.

What’s your favourite cake?
The one you’ve just paid for. Cheers.

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