10th October 2019 – World Sight Day. I didn’t know there was a World Sight Day until I was contacted through my website and asked to be a World Sight Day Champion! But I’m very glad to have found out, because it’s a great cause. My sight is not currently curable, but I can imagine what a life changing experience it would be to have your sight restored and I hope that World Sight Day can raise money to make this a reality for as many people as possible.
The World Sight Day ‘Challenge’ is a great opportunity to raise awareness and transform lives for people around the world. I was asked to do 2 challenges, 1 climbing related and 1 everyday task. The videos of these will be released shortly…so keep your eyes peeled!
Jesse climbing round a circuit board blindfolded.
I can imagine that most people will find the climbing challenge a lot tougher, but strange as it may seem, I find the everyday tasks much harder.
See if you can climb round a circuit blindfolded, with a friend giving you directions. Or maybe try your hand at making breakfast blindfolded…toast with butter and jam. Sounds simple…but have a go!
Making breakfast with my favourite blindfold
Other examples of “World Sight Day Challenges”
• The Challenge of brushing your teeth blindfolded
• The Challenge of making coffee/tea blindfolded
• The Challenge of writing & sending an email blindfolded
• The Challenge of putting on make-up blindfolded
• The Challenge of making a sandwich blindfolded
• The Challenge of getting dressed blindfolded
#WithoutMySight Challenge: complete a safe task while blindfolded recorded by a second person and share the 30 sec clip across social media with #WithoutMySight #WorldSightDay @WestGroupe #EverydayHereos
Join me on today! Tag 3 friends you’ll be passing the challenge on to!
I’m massively looking forward to the Kendal Mountain Festival this year, I’ve never been before and it’s promising to be a great weekend! There’s a Special Film Screening of Climbing Blind on Saturday 16 November 2019 at 16:30 – 18:00 @ The Brewery Arts Centre Theatre. Alastair Lee and I will be up on stage for a special Q&A after the screening, I’m intrigued to see what questions get fired our way! Don’t be shy!
“CLIMBING BLIND – the climbing film set for as big an impact as its story. Part of the 2019 Brit Rock Film Tour. A 60 min documentary directed and produced by Alastair Lee, in association with Montane.”
The Brit Rock Film Tour Premiere has been announced! It’s in Sheffield on 24th October 2019 at the Pennine Lecture Theatre, Sheffield Hallam Uni.
Molly and I will be there to introduce ‘Climbing Blind’. You can buy tickets here.
Other locations and tour dates will follow…
To say I’m excited is an understatement! That’s right…for once, Jesse is actually excited!
Molly and I out in the mountains on another climbing adventure
Molly and I went to see the Brit Rock film tour in Buxton last year. You may think a blind man going to a film tour is a bit odd…but even though I can’t see the films, I can still hear the stories and Molly gives an audio description of what’s on screen. I might not get the full experience, but that is true for almost everything for me and staying at home would solve nothing. Also, you never know who you might meet and what opportunities may arise. It was a great evening and after the Q&A, Molly took me to see the film maker…Alastair Lee. I had a question for him. I was intrigued how he found the subjects and stories for his films…did he approach climbers with ideas, or was it the other way round? Turns out, it was a bit of both. I couldn’t resist asking, “how about filming a blind guy leading trad?” It was just a throw away comment…I’m not sure he knew what to think or what to say. Ha, well I guess you wouldn’t…
To my surprise, a couple of days later I got a friend request on Facebook from Alastair and a message asking if I wanted to meet up! We met at his local wall to see if I really could climb. I’d like to think it was my amazing climbing that convinced him this project had legs, but in my heart of hearts I know it was a close encounter I had with a traffic cone in the car park that sealed the deal!
A cold day at Stanage, my first time in front of the camera.
The project has been incredibly fun throughout and I think the result is going to be amazing…but you will have to judge that for yourself.
Al has been awesome, we’ve had so many laughs, I’ve met some true British climbing legends and made many friends along the way. I’m hugely grateful that Al took a punt on me! I hope you all enjoy what promises to be a brilliant watch / listen with a host of classic routes that many people can relate to!
Climbing with Neil Gresham at The Roaches
Keep your eyes peeled on the Brit Rock Film Tour website for further dates and locations.
I learnt a lot during my first year training and competing with the GB Paraclimbing team in 2018. It was a bit of a shock to the system to be honest! I’m not sure I fully appreciated just how much the top athletes have to go through to be on top form. The effort, dedication and time required is phenomenal. It was a steep learning curve for me and to give it everything, I had to make some tough decisions. It was clear that I had an unbelievable opportunity to give this competition climbing a real crack, my first season on the team had gone ok, but I felt I could do so much more. It was tough giving up Ju Jitsu last year and getting into a routine, having a training plan, managing injury prevention and changing my diet.
However, the more I trained, the more I started to enjoy it and the more I wanted to get better. It took a while before I started to see improvements, but when I started to make measurable gains I became even more determined. Adam Harrison at the Climbing Station has been ace in setting out my training plans. I climb quite differently to sighted climbers and the adaptions he’s made specifically for me have been great. Molly is as dedicated as I am, she is with me for every training session, which is good as I can’t really train on my own, not being able to see is pretty limiting! So it’s a good job she loves climbing as much as I do!
I trained hard over the winter and at the start of 2019, I felt a lot happier and more confident that I’d hopefully be starting to catch the big guns in my category. I’d become leaner and stronger. Molly and I had also streamlined our communication system, a vital part of the teamwork required in competitions.
Training on the Lattice Board at the Climbing Station
When team selection came round in March, I was feeling positive. However, my first qualification route went terribly wrong, it as appalling, I fell really low down and sank into despair thinking I’d ruined my chance of re-selection. I sat in a grump for what seemed like an eternity. Molly was great and a chat from Hannah managed to turn it around. My 2nd qualification route was much better and my final route better again. This was a real lesson in the mental aspects of competition climbing. I was pleased with how I’d managed to just reset and start again. Being in a team and having teammates looking out for you is great for this. Luckily I’d done enough and was picked to represent the GB Paraclimbing Team for the 2019 season.
The new Duco GB kit launch at the Climbing Works in Sheffield
The eating salad continued, the hard training continued and the outdoor climbing didn’t really take a backseat either. Rest days were spent trad climbing. When the weather was nice at weekends it was hard to resist!
Consoling myself with a pie after trashing my hands attempting The Vice at Stanage!
The first competition of the year was the Para Blokfest on the 8th of June. This was the first ever Paraclimbing Blokfest event. Blokfest had teamed up with Para Climbing London & The Castle to put on a routes and bouldering para climbing mega party! And what an event it was! It was absolutely fantastic, I just hope that this now becomes an annual event! I wasn’t in peak condition for the comp having climbed the Old Man of Hoy only 4 days earlier and travelling the length of the country to get down to London, I was feeling pretty knackered. My finals route was so good, the setting was amazing. There was a steep roof section that I had to traverse and cut loose on…a tough one for sight-guides! As my heel slipped, the crowd gasped in the near silence, but I passed this section and came close to topping the route. I took top spot in the B1 category and took home a bag full of goodies!
My finals route at Blokfest
Next up was the World Paraclimbing Masters in Imst, Austria at the end of June. The first international comp of the year and my first opportunity to see how all my training had been paying off. The format of the event was different to the standard IFSC comps, there were 5 routes and no final. The higher you got on each route the more points you got, effectively a point per hold. The scores for all 5 routes were accumulated and climbers are ranked in terms of the highest total score. It was a great competition for me, I topped 2 routes and got as high as I think I could on another, leaving only 2 routes that I felt I could have done better on. I finished in second place, which was my first international podium. It was a great feeling, I’d improved so much since last year. Molly did a great job sight-guiding me. It was good to have her guiding me, it’s really important to have a sight guide that knows you inside out and that you climb with regularly.
Standing on the podium at the World Paraclimbing Masters, Silver medal.
Next up was the World Championships held in Briancon, France in mid July, the big one! I had prepared well and felt ready to give it my all. I was up on the second day, so Molly spent the first evening running over and over the route demonstration videos to get the beta nailed for my qualification routes. My first qualification route was early the next morning, it was on the vertical section, on the side of the main steep competition wall. Molly assured me the holds looked pretty big and was confident I’d top it. I had slight nerves before this route, as I knew I couldn’t afford a slip up. This was accurate as everyone in my category topped the route! A shame in my opinion, it should have been set harder in order to split the competitors. This meant it was all down to the second qualification route, which was on the main wall. I was really happy with my performance on the second route, steep routes don’t favour me. However, I managed to climb through the steepest section (45deg) and on to the head-wall to where the angle eases. Most pleasingly I recovered from a tricky section where it would have been easy to fall, progressing significantly from this point. I found myself in the final by a reasonable margin, I was so happy!
Strangely, in the final I was extremely relaxed, as I achieved my target. It was a great experience preparing to compete in a final, which I hope will help me in future. I performed well, managing not to drop the starting holds, which were horrific! I finished in 4th place which I’m happy with. To improve my ranking I simply need more training…onwards and upwards.
Getting high on my 2nd qualification route on the steep wall in Briancon.
For me, the international comps are over for this year, however the able-bodied World Championships are still to come. I’m extremely disappointed that the paraclimbing and able-bodied World Championships were separated this year. In my opinion the 2 events are complementary and both are diminished without the other. I’m extremely grateful to the French Federation for stepping in to rescue the situation, you so that there could still be a paraclimbing World Championships this year, Briancon was fantastic. But I still think that the separation should never have arisen. I will be wearing my gift from Team USA in August, to cheer on the rest of the GB team in Tokyo…
Team USA and Adidas made 200 caps for all the Para athletes… Brilliant!
I finished the international competitions this year extremely satisfied with the progress I’ve made. I’m looking forward to a summer of outside climbing and prepared to get stuck back into training in the Autumn.
A big thanks to the Para team coaches – Robin, Be and Emma, you all do an amazing job and work tirelessly to ensure we’re all fully prepared.
The first Blind Lead the Old Man of Hoy, off Orkney, Scotland
On the 4th June 2019, I successfully became the first blind person to lead the classic East Face Route (Original Route) E1 5b (6 pitches) up the Old Man of Hoy. I led all 6 pitches clean, placing my own gear as I climbed. To be honest probably most of the trad routes I have led are a blind person first, but this iconic Scottish Sea Stack which figures in Hard Rock seems special.
Pitch 2: The traverse pitch. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
This is the most adventurous hard trad rock route I’ve done, it was truly epic! The climb was only half the story. Wild camping and then an hours walk to the headland. A tricky descent on treacherous grass slopes and scramble across to the base. A late start waiting for the wind to drop, leading to a top out at 10:10pm. Followed by 3 massive abseils back down, it was dark when we hit the deck. Then repeating the tricky and slippery scramble to get back up the cliff relying on step by precarious step instructions from Molly. And lastly the hour long walk back to the tents, reaching my sleeping bag at 2:45am with the sun threatening to rise again. It was such an amazing day, unreal!
The final pitch up the open corner was amazing climbing. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
There has been great media interest and I’ve received hundreds of messages from all round the world congratulating me on the historic ascent! It’s been quite surreal to say the least. It’s appeared in newspapers, the Scottish Parliament and I was also invited to BBC Broadcasting House in London for a live TV interview! If you missed it, here is my first TV appearance:
Molly and I ecstatic to be on top. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
A couple of broadsheets featured me too:
The best bit of all is that Alastair Lee was there filming my ascent which will be shown as part of the 2019 Brit Rock Tour. The premier and tour dates should be announced soon. Watch this space..
Update 2: I didn’t make it through to the final 😦 Sad times..
Update 1: I’m into the Semi Finals!! Thanks everyone.
Exciting news…I’ve applied for the Holman Prize! Created specifically for legally blind individuals with a penchant for exploration of all types, the Prize provides financial backing – up to $25,000 – for three individuals to explore the world and push their limits.
Check out my application video below. Please LIKE the video on youtube and share it with your friends to help me win the $25,000 prize towards my dream project:
Blind on Baffin – a Winter Mountaineering Expedition
The video with the most likes goes through to the final.
Thanks!!
“The Holman Prize is not meant to save the world or congratulate someone for leaving the house. This prize will spark unanticipated accomplishments in the blindness community. You will see blind people doing things that surprise and perhaps even confuse you. These new LightHouse prizes will change perceptions about what blind people are capable of doing.”
— Bryan Bashin, CEO, LightHouse for the Blind and Visually Impaired
So I don’t usually get too excited about anything, but for this I’ll make an exception! My exciting news is…I am now part of Team Boreal! The first paraclimber to join the team, my year keeps on getting better and better! I’m super psyched to join these guys.
Super excited to get my hands on some Boreal shoes.
They’re a super strong team and it’s an honour to be part of it. I never imagined that I’d be on a team with such a group of climbing legends. A massive thanks to Boreal for welcoming me.
A few months back I tried several Boreal climbing shoes and was really impressed by their range and in particular the Synergys. Finding well-fitting climbing shoes is no easy task and I’ve been through a lot of different manufacturers and models over the years. My friends think I’m super picky with shoes! The Synergys are one of Boreal’s performance shoes and are designed for optimum feel. These are the only shoes I’ve worn where I can actually feel the holds with my feet. They’re amazing. As I’m blind, I need to rely much more on feel, I found the Synergys are perfect for this.
Completing the pink circuit in my new shoes.
The first time I tried these shoes, I was amazed by how much more I could feel through them. I was able to adjust my foot placements to optimise the position and purchase on the holds. The cumulative effect of the small improvements in each foot placement throughout a route becomes really quite significant. My first session climbing in them, I finally ticked the project I’d be working on for several weeks.
My new Boreal Synergy shoes feel great!
I’m off to Leonidio in Greece next week and I’m looking forward to testing them out on real rock. I can’t wait to start smashing routes out in these..
It’s been about 6 months since I was selected for the GB paraclimbing team and started to train for competition climbing. A lot has happened since then…
It was clear that I needed to start training seriously. I needed to be stronger, lighter, and able to go for longer. I didn’t really know where to start. With the support of a grant from the Arctic One Foundation, I was able to employ the much needed knowledge of a climbing performance coach.
Training session at Awesome Walls, Sheffield
Adam Harrison (the local beasting guru), based at The Climbing Station in Loughborough has created a personalised training plan for me and I’m making huge gains in my climbing. Coaching a blind guy can’t be easy, but Adam took on the challenge and I’m hugely grateful. I’m unable to train on my own and am very much reliant on others. I’m lucky that Molly loves climbing as much as I do, she trains with me and provides all the support I need. We’re a great team.
Molly and I knackered after a tough training session
It was obvious from the start that while I was really quite good at some strength exercises (press-ups and weights) more climbing specific exercises (fingerboard and endurance) needed lots of work.
The category I am in requires me to wear a blindfold for competitions and it didn’t take too long to get used to this. I train all the time with a blindfold on now and to be honest, it makes little difference! Just a little darker and the fact that I have to have something across my face.
Training with my blindfold, on the circuit board at The Climbing Station
Another key aspect was route reading and streamlining the communication between myself and my sight guide. I spent some time researching the best Comms system and eventually went with a pair of SWAT com radios. The grant I was awarded from the Irwin Mitchell Grants Programme helped towards the purchase of these for which I am extremely grateful. These have proved invaluable.
My new comms system, SWAT com radios..
Let’s not beat around the bush, training is hard and so it should be. I did, and still do, finish my sessions as a sweaty knackered mess. However, the results make it worth it. I notice massive step changes in my climbing and I am still improving fast 6 months on.
Along with my personal training plan, I have attended all the Para team training days. We went over the types of training we should be doing in our personal sessions and importantly for me I got a chance to practice having Robin O’Leary act as my sight guide. This is critical as he will guide me in the competitions. I also began to get to know my team mates, they are a great group and fun is never far away!
Robin describing the first few moves of a route on one of our team training days
However, it was when we went to Briançon for my first international competition that I really got to know everyone. This was a really great experience. I managed to top my first qualification route and ended up coming 4th, which I was really happy with. It showed me where I was relative to my rivals. In short I had some catching up to do, but the gulf between me and the podium wasn’t huge. The main things I needed were more endurance and more competition experience and the composure which accompanies it.
GB team photo after the finals in Briançon
With only a short turn around it was time for the World Championships in Innsbruck. It really was an awesome venue with a great atmosphere. I found it quite strange to be in the company of so many world class climbers, I guess I’d better get used to it. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get the full experience as while the team went to watch the finals of several disciplines, I can’t see anything but my teammates do give a great commentary for me and the atmosphere of the crowd is great to experience.
I had a mixed experience in my competition. Some things went really well and some others need some work. Through a combination of circumstance and lack of experience I fell from my first qualification route earlier than I had hoped for. And my second was a similar affair. It was only when I saw the result that I realised how well I had done. 7th in the world, not bad for a competition that didn’t go to plan. With that realisation and some hindsight it was clear to me just how far I had come. My endurance, and preparedness for overhanging climbing is now an order of magnitude better than 6 months ago. The training that Adam has devised for me has reaped huge rewards and there is plenty more to come.
Qualification route 2 at the World Championships Innsbruck (AUT) 2018
In the weeks since Innsbruck I have continued to improve dramatically, and took first place in the national paraclimbing competition last weekend in Wales. I’m feeling good and getting better fast. Keep it up and I’m sure I can do even better next time around. Molly and I are also working on a quicker way to describe where the holds are, based on the clock face. The quicker I can get the info, the faster I can climb (which is still slow compared with those that can see where they are going!) but every little bit helps.
Team GB Paraclimbing at the World Championships (AUT) Innsbruck 2018
Juggling a full-time job and training is tough, but I still find time for climbing outdoors if the weekend lines up with good weather and I’m not too tired! I am continuing with my quest to lead the classic, iconic gritstone routes in the Peak District. I battled my way up Kelly’s Overhang (E1) and cruised Congo Corner (HVS) at Stanage and also repeated Bond Street (HVS) at Millstone recently.
Leading Congo Corner (HVS) at StanageLeading Bond Street, Millstone. A classic HVS grit jamming route..Just past the crux on Kelly’s Overhang (E1) at High Neb..
What’s next…Round 3 of the nationals is in Newcastle in November, then I’m off to Leonidio in Greece for a week of training in the sun!
For the many of you who don’t believe I was ever little…here is proof! My mum managed to unearth some old photos of me back in the early days of my climbing. Here I am on my first ever rock route, Ordinary Route on Idwal Slabs in North Wales, aged 2!
Jesse aged 2 and his Dad at the base of Ordinary Route, North WalesJesse and his Dad on Ordinary Route, Idwal Slabs, aged 2.
Molly assures me that my parents had very good taste in climbing attire and that the trousers I’m wearing need to come back into fashion. She is searching on the internet for a pair in mens size large. By the description, I’m not so sure…
My Dad was a keen climber and taught me to climb when I was little. I began climbing outside. Indoor walls were not nearly as prevalent as they are today, or as good either. While my sight was extremely poor even back then, it was considerably better than it is now. We’d go away quite regularly on weekend trips, here I am aged 4 climbing in the Gower.
Jesse, aged 4, climbing in the Gower
I learnt all the rope skills required to be safe and also how to climb the rope using prussik loops if I were ever to get stuck. The next pictures shows me practising this technique, aged 6…it isn’t that I have just been abandoned, honest!
Jesse practising his prussiking technique to climb up the rope.
I learned to lead trad routes while I was at school too, aged about 11. My sight back then was just about good enough for me to see the pieces of protection and to be able to get good placements that I was happy with. Lots of practise and experience also helped with the confidence. I was able to lead up to a reasonable level.
Jesse learning to lead in Cornwall
I only really had one incident when I was younger, it was in Fall Bay (ironic crag name!) in the Gower, South Wales. We’d had a BBQ on the beach and I had gone for some bouldering. It was dark, and I can’t see in the dark, I had a headtorch on. I climbed to the top of a short wall. At the top, I turned around to look back down, and as I couldn’t see the edge properly, over balanced and fell head first to the sand below. The metal plate in the headtorch I was wearing sliced my forehead open and I slightly compressed my spine. I was helicoptered to hospital and was very disappointed that I was not allowed up off the spineboard during the flight! I still have a Harry Potter esque scar on my forehead today and clearly no sense was knocked into me.
Jesse bandaged up after the incident
As well as climbing in the UK, we would also have annual trips to Fontainebleu in France, a bouldering Mecca! My dad and his friends were old school and it was possibly before bouldering mats were widely available, so all you had was a bar beer towel to wipe your feet on and hopefully a group of attentive spotters.
Bouldering at Fontainebleu with a beer mat
I remember my dad buying me a basic rack of climbing gear for my 18th birthday, before I went to Bath to begin university.
This is my final planned lecture about my expedition to Greenland last year. It rounds off the series and also my commitments to my very generous sponsors and supporters who made this all possible and to whom I’m eternally grateful.
For anyone interested and able to make it, tickets are available. For more info, click on the image below.
Date and time:
16 May 2018
19:30
Price:
Members – £10 (in advance)
Members – £15 (on door)
Non-members – £15
Pitch 2: The traverse pitch. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
The final pitch up the open corner was amazing climbing. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
Molly and I ecstatic to be on top. (Photo: Alastair Lee)
Jesse Dufton Climbing Blind 