Obsession!

Back in 2002 when i lived in Sheffield, i met a young lad called Rich Simpson. He was up from Birmingham for the weekend with his climbing buddy Rob Mirfin. Rich was 19 and already getting pretty obsessed about rock climbing. I remember going to Stanage and Rich trying a wet Shine On on top rope, he was so psyched. I failed to predict that this guy would go on to become the second best sport climber in British history with three 9a ascents (this has only been bettered by Steve Mcclure). He was also pretty nifty at bouldering doing the odd Font 8b. Rich did 23 routes 8c and above and in that list was many an old skool classic, Action Directe, Liquid Ambar, Wallstreet, Agincourt etc... For me though it was his dedication and motivation that set him apart. In a quiet suburb of Redditch south of Birmingham he spent hours and hours on a small board in his garage. He had the genetics and the abiltiy to climb hard things but this was matched by a single mindedness that i have never seen the like of. He would unleash himself on his roadtrips and would come back with fairly dismaying ticklists! I climbed with him more and more over the years and the increase in his power levels was scary. He made 1-5-9 look so easy and could knock out about 18 one armers when fresh. To this day in terms of raw power he's probably the strongest i've seen. These days Rich has other things that he likes to do with his life (he still aims to climb one 8c every year though) and i don't blame him. After years in that garage i don't think i could face that regime anymore either. I was in the Frankenjura when Rich did Action and i made a film about it. Its an ok effort i think, it could of been a lot better. I actually missed the ascent of Action because it was about 7 in the morning and i was asleep but Rich kindly did it in sections so i could finish my film. I think it makes for interesting viewing though, i especially like the moves from above sequence. Anyway for those who haven't seen it, enjoy:

Obsession from Chris Doyle on Vimeo.