Sid Perou made this film some time ago about the enigmatic and inexplicably controversial John Dunne that is well worth 40 minutes of your time.

I never did understand why he was such a controversial figure but this short film, in his own words, does explain why.

Just how someone that big can pull on holds so small is quite a wonder.

[video]https://youtu.be/3D0Mp0RrQRA?t=2015[/video]

Great! I have this on vhs in the loft, but haven’t watched it in years.
I met the big man once. I was making a real hash of West Side Story at Burbage and John rocked up and cruised it a few times to show his mate. His technique and footwork was just stunning to watch.

Great film. You just need Jim Jewell’s ‘Total Control’ to add to the mix.

Thanks. I’ll be watching this later for sure!

I climbed with John a few years ago, was quite a buzz to have the big man holding my ropes. He cheered me up a 6b+ which was on my limit at the time. Really top guy, the Sheffield mafia ruled in the early 90s and he trod his own path. But I was always mystified by the antagonism. Will watch that with interest thanks.

There’s an interview/ boulder problem bit in the film that covers the antagonism from John’s side.

The Sheffield lot (Dawes excepted) were all about being thin, ripped, looking for marginal gains in power, and this enormous bloke was basically the opposite of that – vast amounts of power to spare coupled with improbably good technique. You can see why some of his ascents didn’t compute with them in an era before every big climb was filmed.

As he says, there must be an element of jealousy there given they were disputing stuff that had been witnessed by multiple people. Didn’t help that he was nicking prime Peak lines like Parthian.

Love that Divided Years footage. Total control in a situation where he was clearly pumped stupid.

Ta. Bought some gear from his shop in the 90s. He invited me to go out for a day at Malham Cove to get some use from it. I was climbing E1 at the time if I was on top form. 😯

I politely declined

Great film. You just need Jim Jewell’s ‘Total Control’ to add to the mix.

I did not know about the Jim Jewell film. On a side note, the guy I used to climb with back in my uni days (in Sheffield, where else would you go in 1991?) was at Tremadog and saw Jim fell off Poor Man’s Peuterey and die (October 31st 1987, which also happens to be my birthday).

I was making a real hash of West Side Story at Burbage

I don’t think anyone would judge you harshly for that, it is English technical 7a after all.

I climbed with John a few years ago, was quite a buzz

I bet it was! I worked with someone for a short while in London who was part of his climbing circle. He was great Yorkshire lump of a bloke as well and strong as ****!

The Sheffield Mafia is an apt term. As I said, I was at Sheff uni 1991 to 1995 and saw first hand what it was like. I still don’t understand why Dawes didn’t think more highly of Dunne. Yes they were very different in their approach and philosophy but both were complete geniuses and it’s not like Dawes needed to be jealous of anyone. There is no one like Johnny Dawes either then or now (largely because he’s a space alien).

I knew John reasonably well back in the day. He was “controversial” because he wasn’t part of the Sheffield scene.

As above, his footwork was way better than many of his peers. I saw him at a climbing wall once, he was bouldering with another of the top climbers (one many will have heard of): John moved silently across every problem whereas the other guy sounded like a herd of elephants.

Had the great pleasure of joining him for a chip buttie at Nottingham wall when he was doing a boot demo one evening. Down to earth and a joy to chat to about life and climbing at any level. Then he got me into some silly tight shoes that were awesome for the one short problem I could wear them for…

I miss climbing…

Fing shoulder!

Thanks for the link, will watch it later

Quality thread for a quality bloke. I always have a good gawp at New Statesman when I’m up at Cow & Calf.

Nice of him to introduce the world (aka Sheffield) to E10 back in 1995. I’ll bet that was a grumpy day in Nether Edge.

Yeah that foot work is a joy to behold, have watched it alot and trying to reproduce it is very challenging. We went out drinking after the the crag. He can tuck it away too!

Have often heard dawes referred to as a genius but nice to see Dunne get the tag too.

Basically John Dunne was/is to climbing circa 1980s/90s as Don Whillans was to the 1950s/60s. Hard as nails, strong as **** and billiant all at once.

Burbage was my favourite crag while at Uni; I used to thumb out from Hunters Bar roundabout after lectures for a few hours soloing in the evening and would almost always stand underneath Parthian Shot at some point and gawp in amazement.

spacey – Member
the Sheffield mafia ruled in the early 90s and he trod his own path

This. I remember him as a teenager showing me problems in Ilkley quarry and never understood the Sheffield based climbing press doing him down

Blast from the past! I used to work at the wall where the indoor bits were filmed, I remember John being a regular; we used to take the piss that he was waiting round for the Ginsters delivery! Nice guy, I still occasionally bump into him through work.

Well it wasn’t just Dunne; there was the whole Peak vs Yorkshire rivalry that ran pretty deeply. It usually went along the lines of all sport route grades in Yorkshire were over stated and in response, the Yorkshire lot said that all Peak grit route were over graded. Yorkshire grit was always seen as ‘fookin desperate ‘ard’ and in the Peak there is even a route called ‘Yorkshire 8b’ which was, at the time, it might have been upgraded by now and therefore lost its irony, graded 8a (just checked and the loss of holds means it’s now 8a+).

The Sheffield Mafia though really did exist – Moon, Moffat, Zippy, Myles etc. S7 ruled.

For anyone familiar with Burbage and the route ‘Nosferatu’, that was first done by Andy Barker, who was also my karate teacher at Uni. He was strong as **** as well.

Sorry this is turning into a bit of a trip down memory lane as well as a tribute to John Dunne.

Memory lane trip is a good thing. When I climbed the likes of Dunne and Dawes were the climbing gods of the day. What they did inspired us, albeit we were at a far lower level. But still, their achievements inspired me to climb in many tremendous places. Peak and Yorkshire grit, the slate quarries, Buoux (that would have been Moon) etc.

Anyway – all heros then. The politics largely passed us London climbers by.

Bookmarked for later. Thanks.

Love the Stone Monkey film, his line, ethics, and courage on Indian Face are wonderful.

Blimey I miss days out on the edges. What I would give for a day just pottering about even somewhere like Windgather (a favourite spot back when).

My first ever day out at Froggatt I remember a Ron Fawcett bloke soloing some e desperate next to me (being dragged up as a second on something).

Enjoyed that, thanks for sharing op

Blimey I miss days out on the edges. What I would give for a day just pottering about even somewhere like Windgather (a favourite spot back when).

Get out then. It’s still there, it’s still easy and it’s still a grand place for a picnic (unless of course you’re immobilised or in Khartoum).

I knew John reasonably well back in the day. He was “controversial” because he wasn’t part of the Sheffield scene.

Bob, next time we are chatting on the BB200 we should expand our range.

I grew up climbing the Cow and bouldering on the Calf. Sports lessons at Ilkley Grammar were a choice between ‘Ruggers’ with Tipping or a small group chose climbing with Captain Gibson.

How he climbed ‘New Statesman’ is beyond me, it had no holds!! We top roped it, it’s actually not possible

I’m a JD fan. He was the local hero we stumbled upon most in my youth and we always watched in awe. I remember one occasion in late 80’s or early 90’s JD bouldering in Ilkley quarry and it was jaw dropping to watch him moving effortlessly around the quarry. Also sat and watched Steve Rhodes on one occasion which was a pleasure (many years later re-discovered him as a key person in the development of Stainburn mountain bike trails nr Harrogate and a thoroughly nice bloke).

I never did understand why he was such a controversial figure

A friend of mine climbed with him and new him well. He said JD was a bit of a bullshitter in his day to day chat which rubbed folk up the wrong way and lead them to assume the BS extended to his climbing. Although this mate wasn’t there at any of the controversial ascents he sport climbed and trained with him and was 100% convinced of his ability.

Switching from past talent to current talent, you have to be impressed with the current crop of hard grit/trad climbers like James Pearson, Jordan Buys and Pete Whitaker.

And of the latter, is this the hardest move on grit ever (or indeed on any route?) That is an insane rock over!

The direct start to Braile Trail – The Dynamics of Change:

[video]https://youtu.be/Bwu144guQyo?t=3[/video]

Did a bit of climbing with him myself back in the early 90’s and for his size he was amazingly strong. And technically excellent too as others have said. Remember popping up to Ilkley quarry and him soloing Wellington Crack which slightly blew my mind.

He did court controversy too, I remember tipping him off on a project in Norh Yorkshire once which he went up and nabbed in an evening; kind of riled the person who bolted it but was clearly not strong enough to get up at the time. Lost touch but bumped in to him at a close friends funeral (another well known climber from that era who was also a frequent presence on here) and he was as down to earth as ever. I miss the Bradford climbing scene as it was not far off matching Sheffield scene in terms of standards but nowhere near as well known or populated.

That’ll be Ian Vincent i suppose, lived in Saltaire I think (IanV on here). Looks like the whole back catalogue of sid Perou has been put on you tube, his voice is so familiar.

Yep, it was IanV, lived in Saltaire as you say. I climbed a lot more with him than John back in the 90’s, mostly at Malham, but he was also an incredibly good climber, didn’t get the recognition he deserved in my opinion

I remember Ian doing laps on Free and Even Easier: he’d lead it four or five times then top rope it a few more times. As a warm up!

When did this come out? I Remember watching this when I was climbing lots and going out to buy a friend 5 (?) to try Elder crack…. 20 years ago…? God…. I couldn’t get up unclimbed wall at Harrison’s a couple of weeks ago… John Dunne came into the wall at Redhill once and I was in awe of his footwork…nice bloke. Thanks for this….

I remember Ian doing laps on Free and Even Easier: he’d lead it four or five times then top rope it a few more times. As a warm up!

He did that and Consenting Adults pretty much every weekend when we went to Malham. He even did CA in a pair of Reebok’s as couldn’t be bothered to put his ninja’s on!

Braile Trail – The Dynamics of Change

I used that as an abseil venue back in the day.
Having abbed off and tried to stand on those last few moves above the mantel and direct finish, it is absolutely mind boggling….

@turboflad – Yes, whenever we headed over from the Lakes he’d be there doing laps 🙄

I climbed a lot with John in the mid 90’s. At the time he was returning to climbing after his shoulder operations, and having been disillusioned with it all, plus having had a go at running his shop.

He’s a pretty direct and honest guy, and a really nice bloke. Really supportive of fat weak punters like me.

The whole Sheffield v JD / West Yorkshire scene was a bit like Blur v Oasis. The posh kids v the working class kid. As someone said up thread, Sheffield was very much the broccoli warriors, and John was more strength, and just breathtaking footwork and natural balance.

Hence there was a lot of innuendo and rumour about pulling on gear, not admitting to redpointing and general antagonism.

I never heard anything that corroborated the rumours, and I think time has vindicated John, that and the just stunning Divided Years which was a real two fingers to his critics.

Turboflard / B.a nana

Ian was ace – as you say, a really underrated climber. He’d nip up Baildon Bank, (just behind his house) do a few routes and be in the pub before we had got to the second round.

I can’t recall the route (might have been Wellington) but he tried to climb it in his brouges, slipped and broke his legs. Was still back out climbing 5 week later.

Guys – we may have climbed together. I was think in with Leeds Poly and the Braford lads in the early to mid 90’s. Climbed with Howard Owen, Andy the Clam and various YMC types.

Divided Years which was a real two fingers to his critics.

Which is precisely what Parthian Shot was:

A volley of fire made by a retreating army, made famous by the Parthians.
By way of metaphor, “Parthian shot” also is used to describe a barbed insult, delivered as the speaker departs.

The direct start to Braile Trail – The Dynamics of Change

Not seen that film before. Quite remarkable. I remember turning up at Burbage South just after one of the early repeats of Braille Trail, feeling almost glad I hadn’t seen my mate belaying. That’s several notches up in seriousness! Just belaying those big/dangerous like Divided Years routes looks harrowing.