Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
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Blog topics cover climbing, climbing tips, gear, techniques, and clothing. Andy Kirkpatrick is a world-famous climber and award-winning writer and filmmaker.
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
1y ago
I had a realisation the other day. I’ve become unemotional. Disconnected. Untouchable. Untouching. I no longer write about people, mainly myself, me once being my number one fascination but about things. I don’t try and craft words around lumps of flesh and bone and blood and mess but of alloy and steel and nylon. I write about them and then illustrate them, not by pen or pencil, or oil or watercolour, but by cold flat vectors. Why? I tell people the reason is that there’s no money in it. There’s no money in anything else to be creative, edgy, open. Moving, emotional. I sit outside the coffee ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
1y ago
One type of expedition member that always creeps me (perhaps unfairly) out is the individual who's gone beyond a basic one-day first aid course, the type of thing the Red Cross or Saint Johns Ambulance run, and instead has invested in a week-long advanced or wilderness first aid course. With the former minimalist training, you learn how to do CPR, cuts and burns, choking etc., and for less than a hundred euros, it is something everyone should do. With the latter, you learn open heart surgery, brain transplants, and limb amputation, or at least that's what you'd imagine when you look through th ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
Thanks XXXXX This might be rambling, so ignore it if you're busy. First off, and being honest, I have a rule that I rarely break (I think I only broke it once), in that I have to stick by what I write, when I wrote it, in that it reflects how I felt in that moment, even if it was wrong or ill-judged (if it was ill-judged, then judge me, as I judge myself). When I write, I tend to just write out how I feel and not write through the reader's eyes, only mine. I try and write by my wits and instinct rather than tax my tiny brain, and think too hard about what I write (which means it's often messy ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
Someone emailed the other day asking what my opinion was on Camp Tri-Cams, having read something I’d published back in 2008, which was probably cut and pasted from a High magazine feature from around 2000. He’d recently read someone one UKC comparing Hex’s and Tri-cams, and how the general view was they’d had their day. This email highlighted a problem with online context, which, unlike the printed word, does not fade. When you’d see an article in a tatty old 1989 copy of Climber and Hillwalker in your local climbing wall, bestowing the virtue of the Boreal Ace or Ninja, you’d know it’s not a ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
I once shared a stage with Robert Twigger, author of 'Angry White Pyjamas'. His book tells the story of moving to Tokyo in order to master aikido at Japan's most famous and elite academy, a year-long education that was brutal, sadistic and painful, where mastery was pretty much beaten into him. One thing that stood out to me in his talk was how pain is a highly effective - if not most effective - learning method. He told the story of how his sensei would not take the time to provide emphatic and holistic or sympathetic instruction and feedback as Robert grabbled (literally) with the art of aik ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
"For want of a nail the shoe was lost. For want of a shoe the horse was lost. For want of a horse the rider was lost. For want of a rider the message was lost. For want of a message the battle was lost. For want of a battle the kingdom was lost. And all for the want of a horseshoe nail." I've always been overly fixated by small things, the stuff that people don't view as that important when set against the big. I suppose I don't see small things as separate from each other, but rather the aggregate, that big things are formed by small things. Sometimes these things are so small we have to imag ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
When people ask me why I never appear at Kendal Mountain Film festival anymore, having been a regular for about 20 years, I tend to joke that it’s because it’s gone all woke now, which I didn’t really believe, believing instead that the real reason was on me, not them. I thought the real reason was that when a festival matures and grows up, goes from an amateur affair, run on nervous energy and shambolic enthusiasm, and beer, to something less dangerous and edgy, safe, corporate, profitable, dependable, spreadsheet-able, well things have to change, and I can’t. Where once it was a couple of gu ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
In all the din of attention grabbing social media shite, marketing and brands piggy backing on the back of climbing, and the outdoor lifestyle thing, it's easy to lose sight that there are really not that many climbers on this planet. For example, 55 million Americans went fishing last year, how many went climbing? When you travel around the world climbing, one thing you discover how every climbers knows each other, or someone who does. Yes there are the drop in climbers, the tourist climbers, the posers and the no-shows, the people who see climbing like badminton or cross-fit, who like the ki ..read more
Andy Kirkpatrick Blog
2y ago
I had a question this morning from someone looking at getting some advice on writing a book about an epic trip. Seeing as I went on for a very long time in this email, I thought I’d try and recoup the investment by sharing it on my Substack. Hi M Hope this isn’t too random a thought dump on writing and books, and please don’t view anything that sounds negative as being anything but actual hard headed practical advice (Oprah style magical thinking can only get you so far, as you I‘ve probably seen on the trial!). 1. Writing is hard, if you’re going to write something worth reading, and add anot ..read more