Gerald Carradus 1940 - 2007
Those who remember Gerald Carradus (member 1966 to about 1980) will
be sorry to hear that he died in St. Ann's Hospice on Friday 18th
January.
'The Lakeland Ace'
Gerald joined the club in the mid 60's. He moved from Kendal to work
in Manchester. He was already a proficient climber having learnt his
craft with members of Kendal Mountain Rescue Team. The late sixties
and seventies were golden years for many of us. We existed during the
week and lived to the full at weekends. No one had much money, only a
few had cars, nobody cared what your job was. Ged was a major
contributor to the activities of the Club at this time and for the
next twenty years until his marriage to Pat and subsequent family
caused his life to take a new direction.
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He was renowned for knowing the details of routes, hence the title
'The Lakeland Ace'. Even just prior to his death he could still
remember holds and features on climbs we had done together. He was
one of the first to have a double rope, but not a lovely kernmantle
job, this rope was two 120 feet lengths of No. 2 viking hawser laid.
It took longer to untangle it at the end of a route than it ever did
to climb up.
John remembers a week at the CIC hut with Gerald, Kevin Mcdonald and
Vernon Rushton one winter when the weather was good but the snow
conditions powdery. They did many classic routes and were able to
watch the sunset from the summit each day, then launch themselves
over the cornice on No.3 gully and hurtle down to the Hut in about 10
minutes in one glorious arseade. Ged developed Pleurisy at some
stage later and could never tolerate getting cold or wet on winter
climbs after that. Instead Pam and Derek Wilde introduced him to
skiing and he took to it instantly. He introduced other members to
skiing including myself. We carried our skis up to Raise one day, me
carrying his old wooden 2metre skis and leather boots. The tow at the
time was just a rope. The ones in the know (including Gerald) had a
waist belt and hook. Innocents like me had to hold on for dear life
and hope you didn't slip backwards faster than you were being dragged
up.
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Barry Winston also remembers learning to ski with Ged:
Chris Jennings and I approached Ged, subtly, in the pub, leading to
an agreement to teach us to ski. So I borrowed some skis from Bob
Millward, not of course our average standard skis. Bob had decided
that they were too long so he had cut the back ends off and moved the
bindings forward. Ged thought this was heretical but he still agreed
to teach me.
The Friday morning in Glenshee was bright and sunny as was the whole
weekend. Chris and I trudged up through the pylon infested snow, our
skis resting on our shoulders. 'Appropriate for Good Friday,' opined
Chris. The deal proposed by Ged was that he would show us a
technique, then we would practise while he went off and did some real
skiing (i.e. down the Tiger), then come back and see how we were
doing. This worked more or less. We went through the stages of:
- Traverse - Ged disappears - Ged reappears to pick us out of the
snow - explains what we are doing wrong.
- Snowplough - Ged disappears - Ged reappears - to pick us out of the
snow - explains what we are doing wrong.
- Stem turn - Ged disappears etc.
- Etc, etc.
Amazingly it worked. I had a couple of days of misery and created
many snow holes, but halfway through Monday morning, I could ski down
Sunnyside, using something not completely unlike a stem-christie,
without falling over. I could even come to a controlled stop at the
bottom. My style would not have impressed the aficionados, or even
the cognoscenti, but then I wasn't doing for posing, just to have
another skill in the mountains. So fair play to Ged, maybe his true
calling was as a ski instructor.
Most of us regarded Ged first of all as a rock climber. He helped
many club members to improve their climbing skills as Neil Mackenzie
recalls:
I remember Ged well as one of the generous people who taught me to
climb in the mid 1970's. He had a nice, balanced, relaxed way of
climbing, somehow alert and laid back at the same time. It gave the
novice a lot of confidence and something to aspire to. He also had a
nice balanced way of giving just enough advice to help the
inexperienced partner but not so much that you felt like a novice. I
remember his pipe, his Triumph 1300, and some great weekends in the
Lakes and elsewhere. Gimmer Crack, Botteril's Slab and Spartan Slab
in Glen Etive, all bring back memories that I will treasure.
Ged took part in all club activities including the Fell Race. He
introduced me to the wearing of hockey boots for this event before
the days of specialist footwear. He never won the coveted cup but
always put in a good performance. I remember so many incidents.
Walking up to a high camp in Link Cove, he tripped up in the dark.
His monstrous rucksack, with a full set of camping and climbing gear,
pinned him nose and knees to the ground. When I'd finished laughing I
had to haul him to his feet. Usually though, he had to help me. He
had to lend me his pipe after a particularly gripping pitch on
Cleopatra on Buckstone How. Gerald led it; he was a better climber
than me, though we were well suited as partners being the same height
and build. We did many classic routes together such as Eliminate 'C'
on Dow Crag, Eagle Front, Buttermere and F Route on Gimmer Crag.
Jim Gregson writes:
During the 1970's and 1980's Gerald Carradus was one of those KMC
members who hardly ever missed a weekend away and if you went to
walk or climb with him you usually had a good time. He was very good
at motivating other people to make that little extra effort and he
helped quite a lot of folk to push their way through the rock
climbing grades. He had an amazing memory for detail, particularly
on Lake District climbs, so you could get a coaching session in
advance for any number of routes you might fancy trying. Of course,
sometimes this information proved to be rather outdated, as Sandy and
I found out when seeking out the helpful ring peg which supposedly
protected a quite tricky bit of down-climbing to pass an overhang on
Esk Buttresses Great Central Climb. Just how we were supposed to
abseil from a tiny stub of rust took a bit of working out. The good
days and the good routes stick in the memory. Sentinel on Pikes Crag,
Scafell and Falconer's Crack on Eagle Crag (shared also with Alan
Payne), North-west Climb on Pillar Rock all provided good adventure.
As I traversed out to the crux moves on Bow-shaped Slab to make a
delicate and exposed step down he calmly called across "Fall from
there and it's a 5b pitch to get back up that groove you'll swing
into." I crimped my fingers harder than ever.
If it turned cold though, you might have to allow for Gerald's low
tolerance. On a route in White Ghyll we were suddenly caught in a
rapid snowstorm which quickly coated the crag and we climbed brushing
snow off the holds. At the top Gerald rushed off to find his hat,
coat and gloves, leaving me to coil and carry hundreds of feet of wet
rope to where he shivered violently at the base of the crag.
As 'The Lakeland Ace' Gerald took a fair bit of ribbing at times,
usually with very good nature. His own impish sense of humour was
never so far away, and he knew how to use it. In the top pitch of
Gimmer Crack there is an awkward overhang. While trying to overcome
this I fell off and badly banged my elbow as Gerald held me on the
rope. We changed places for him to lead and as he dealt with the
overhang Grinning wickedly, he said, 'Did you miss this massive jug
on the left? I'll just stop here a moment and light me pipe.' Then he
steamed up to the top.
Perhaps Gerald's most notable adventure was the completion of the
Haute Route in the Alps. Alan (Liverpool) Jones also took part and
writes as if it was yesterday:
Our greatest adventure was the Chamonix-Zermatt High Level Route on
skis, which we successfully completed in 1981. The party of 11
included Peter Walker and other skiing friends of mine. We had no
official 'guide', I did the organisation and another member of the
party did the technical leading. On the first day Gerald fell over
and badly bruised his calf. I suspect that he tore muscles too as
his calf had a hollow in it for years after. Nevertheless he carried
on in great pain to the end. I think this is typical of his grit and
determination Our notional leader told me when I was negotiating
arrangements with him that from his previous experience of doing the
route it was unlikely that more than half the party would complete
it. There are nearly always dropouts from fatigue, injury or
equipment failures. I was therefore thrilled that we did all make it.
However, the key thing was that we were very lucky with the weather.
I know Ged was particularly pleased with this achievement as we
gathered he never stopped telling people about it at the time.
Jim and I visited Gerald several times whilst he was in hospital. He
never lost his sense of humour and although shocked to learn he was
terminally ill, he bore it with much stoicism.
Good climbs, good times. He was a good friend. I couldn't agree with
you more Jim.
Virginia Castick
With contributions from:
Jim Gregson
Neil Mackenzie
Alan (Liverpool) Jones
Barry Winston.
March Newsletter Index.
Copyright © 2007 Karabiner Mountaineering Club
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