I was thinking it was over there.
And then it's just come into view there.
And it's standing about... You can probably see half of it from here.
OK, what, so it's higher than us?
Yeah. Oh, my...
This is so adventurous. OK.
Oh, my God.
It looked properly epic. OK.
So, if I close one eye and I put my thumb up against it...
Yeah, yeah. Probably about the size of my thumbnail. Oh, right, OK.
If you put your thumb up there. Imagine your thumbnail.
I can imagine it.
And that's how far it sticks out. Right, OK.
It sticks out quite a lot, then. Yeah, yeah.
Look at that.
The rock looks surprisingly clean.
Cool. Whoa. Oh. Steady here.
We're near the edge. OK. If you just go up to about there.
Wow!
Oh, I can just see the base.
The base of it is just right down there
and it comes all the way up. Wow.
That is nice.
So, is he going to lead it, yeah?
He is going to lead it, yeah.
Really?
That's a different story. Like, you hear quite a lot of publicity
about people doing the Old Man of Hoy, whatever -
old people, young people, blind people.
But they're always seconding.
Like, is that a good idea?
Sounds like my kind of idea.
Sounds like a terrible idea.
For the best part of the last two decades,
I have been making rock climbing films.
I've been doing some other stuff too,
but mainly making climbing films.
I've been lucky enough to film some of the best climbers on routes,
that, in truth, I've got no business being on. Yay!
From mile-high walls in Antarctica
to jungle-infested tepuis in Venezuela,
to little miniature rocks much closer to home.
I suppose you could say I thought I'd seen the seven wonders
of the climbing world.
But when I heard about Jesse Dufton, a blind climber
who was going to attempt the Old Man of Hoy, I just had to know more.
So, there's a rock here that you need to step across. Oh! Yeah.
Yeah, found it.
I have a genetic condition that affects my eyes.
So over time, as more of the back of my eye dies off,
my vision degrades.
Probably the big step change was in about 2012,
something like that.
That's when I lost the ability to read any more.
Doesn't really matter how big you make the text.
I can't read it.
Most of my field of view just doesn't exist.
On a day like today,
if I hold my hand out here, I can't see my hand.
If I wiggle, I can just about tell that there's some movement,
but I certainly can't count my fingers.
I didn't think I would ever give up climbing totally,
but I certainly questioned whether or not
I was going to be able to lead and certainly trad routes.
Before we go any further,
we'd better just explain what trad climbing is
and why this is so significant for a climber without sight.
So, what's really at the heart and origins of rock climbing
is the spirit of adventure.
And this brings a hefty slice of risk and danger.
Traditional climbing or trad is all about this spirit.
It's up to the climber to make the climb as safe as possible
by placing what's known as protection during the climb.
That's not very good.
The basic theory is that in the event of a fall
the protection holds solid in the rock and catches the rope,
which the climber is tied into... Stop! No!
..and stops the climber hitting the ground.
That's the theory.
Once the climber reaches the top of the route or pitch,
something called a belay is made, basically a temporary anchor point
the climber is secured to, in order to safely bring up their partner.
Are you safe? Despite the high level of risk and obvious dangers involved
in traditional climbing, SCREAMING
none of this seems to worry Jesse when he arrives at the crag.
Obviously, route selection is pretty critical, so we'll pick ones
that are blind person friendly,
ones with big obvious holds to move between
and ones with gear, preferably that Molly can see from the ground.
If there's some gear in a big crack, I can place it,
she can see it from the ground,
she can tell me it's good, and then I can move on. Nice.
I'm not really using my eyes, to be honest.
HEAVY BREATHING
They don't really give me any useful information.
All the information will be through what I can feel through my hands
and through my feet as well, erm...
I just won't be using my eyes.
I might be able to tell when I get to the top of a crag.
Oh, there's the sky and I can see, tell the difference
between the dark rock and the light sky and know that I'm about
to go over the top, but in terms of looking for holes...
Argh.
..it's not going to happen.
Yeah, I want to shake your hand, mate.
Jesse, pleased to meet you.
Jesse, I'm Jake. Have you always been blind, or...?
So I was always partially sighted. Yeah.
So I was born with 20% central vision and no peripheral.
Imagine you're, like, looking down a straw. Yeah.
And then over time, that little straw has had successive layers
of clingfilm added over the end. Right, OK.
I dunno where up to now, but a few.
Send us a message if you don't mind,
I'd like to go and get a waterproof on.
Grab a jacket, mate, yeah.
Cool. Cheers, buddy.
So it seems it wasn't just me that was impressed with this blind guy
climbing up rocks.
There was so much to ponder. What was going on?
It just raised so many questions.
In search of answers, I took a trip to Jesse's local.
So Jesse was just a regular customer here at the Climbing Station.
He approached me.
I think it was just as he was selected for the team, for Team GB.
And he kind of just asked me about training
and whether I'd be interested in writing some programmes for him?
And just general chit-chat and advice.
I got on board and we've been working together since then.
OK. OK, remember that?
The amount of time he spends on the climbs
is three or four times more.
So this, where he's locked off and he's searching?
And so the time he actually spends, not just on the route
but on individual holds is much, much longer than the average person.
Just do a little pot to get over it.
Nice.
So we've had to also include little exercises to try
and maximise on that.
When we were first talking, I remember I was impressed
by the fact that he led indoors.
I was, "Ah, right, this guy's pretty tough, pretty serious."
And then when I found he was doing trad outdoors, I don't know,
just, like, mind-blown. Just, erm, "Are you kidding? Like, what?"
And not only that, but I mean, he's climbing HVS consistently,
classic routes that are high on, you know,
your average climber's tick list, and he's doing them.
You missed about three or four holes on that climb. What?
LAUGHTER
Like, if you're climbing at your limit and you can't see,
man, like, yeah, it's... I don't know.
I was definitely on to something here.
Jesse's ability to lead trad routes seemed to have everyone baffled.
Shit.
His climbing life was at complete odds with his fading eyesight.
As the cells in his retinas degraded, the ones
in his forearms were multiplying.
He wasn't just continuing to climb with no vision,
he was actually getting better.
So one of the routes I've had my eye on for a while
is a route called The Sloth, which is over at The Roaches.
It goes through an absolutely huge overhang.
It properly kicks back, pretty much upside down.
So that would be exciting.
I think that I'm more than strong enough now to have a good
crack at that.
And then once that's out of the way, I'd love to head up to Scotland
and climb the Old Man of Hoy.
It's an iconic route and it's not easy. It's E1.
That's, you know, a respectable grade.
I think to get that done would be awesome.
It's definitely the hardest climb I've ever attempted.
That's why you do it.
You don't do these things because they're easy.
You do them because they're hard, you do it for the challenge.
You want the satisfaction.
You don't get the satisfaction unless there's a chance of failure.
The Old Man of Hoy - hands down, Britain's best adventure climb.
It's so good.
It's a 140-metre-tall, tottering pile of chalk.
God knows how it's still standing.
It's always windy and atmospheric up there,
the seas crashing round the bottom.
It's the very edge of the British Isles.
You've got to take two ferries to get to it.
The rock is really sandy. You can scratch into the sandstone.
It's covered in fulmars, giant seagulls that vom on you.
It's just got all the makings of the perfect adventure climb.
2018, went up to the Old Man of Hoy and I've always wanted to set up
this mad rope jump, so we put a two-lead in across from the headland
and then jumped off the top.
Three, two, one...
This is Leo Houlding, a world-class adventure climber.
Argh.
Leo shot to fame at an early age with some amazing ascents
that stunned the climbing world.
Since then, he's firmly established himself, not only as a brilliant
climber, but a dab hand at various other extreme sports.
But all this means he's pulled off a ridiculous list of expeditions
to all corners of the globe.
Very much a 21st century explorer.
Arguably the most remote peak on Planet Earth.
And wouldn't you just know it?
Leo has a rather special relationship
with the Old Man of Hoy.
Ha, ha, ha.
Woo-woo!
Ah-ha, perfect, nice one!
The Old Man of Hoy was pretty influential in my life, really.
I did it for the first time when I'd just turned 11.
At the time, I was the youngest person to free climb it.
And for me, it was kind of the defining factor.
As a little kid, I was like, "This is what I want to do in my life.
"This is amazing."
And it's not so much the pulling on holds and, you know,
using your muscles to climb something,
it's the whole package of adventure which is really, sort of,
personified in this big tower.
You complete the walk and you get this stunning view
from the headland, just absolutely picture perfect.
It's quite intimidating because you see what you're facing.
But imagine if you were blind?
Well, I can't actually imagine
where you'd start if you were blind.
But I know Jesse's very experienced,
so the first major stumbling block is going to be getting
down to the base, because it is like technical terrain.
It's not climbing, it's walking, but it's walking with consequences.
And there's a couple of bits in particular where you might want
to consider putting a short rope on, because if you stumbled, you'd die.
And then you look up at this thing,
it's properly over hanging on every side.
You think, how on Earth am I going to be able to pick my way
up that at what is a relatively amenable grade?
The first pitch is actually quite straightforward -
it's like it's like a staircase, basically, with big ledges.
You've got to watch out for the sand and the loose blocks,
and then the stumbling block on the Old Man of Hoy,
and I've done it half a dozen times and it surprises me every time,
is halfway up the second pitch, The Coffin Slot.
And it's actually pretty hard.
I suppose, if he's a good climber, in a way, because it's such
in-your-face climbing, he might be able to feel his way around it.
But it's hard.
There's another tricky bit a little bit higher,
which is route finding.
As I understand it, Molly helps him a lot and, like,
tells him where to go.
And it goes around the tower quite a lot.
So she's not going to be able to see him for almost half the route.
If he gets lost on that bit and she can't tell him where to go,
it's, yeah, it sounds pretty sketchy...
..to be honest.
And then the top pitch is the best pitch of the whole route.
The rock gets better as you go up, and by the time you get
to the top it's actually really good sandstone.
It's just a perfect open book corner with really good holes
and a triumphant summit.
A key point which must be highlighted, when I did it
and when this young lad did it recently, we were seconding.
And what that effectively means is someone goes up first
and then you come up with a rope above you.
Which means it's totally safe. It's 100% safe.
If you fall, nothing happens.
What is absolutely critical in climbing and what climbing's
really all about is leading.
It's the person who goes up first.
That is a completely different ball game.
It's exponentially more dangerous.
Instead of being totally safe, it's incredibly dangerous
because the rope goes down below you.
You place gear, you've got all our climbers' toys to try and limit
the risk, but particularly on something like the Old Man of Hoy,
where it isn't a gimme - there isn't, like, good gear
all the way right where you want it.
There are places where you can't fall.
Argh!
The difference between leading and seconding is night and day.
So just how on Earth was Jesse going to manage a climb like this?
I wondered if any amount of training or climbing could possibly prepare
Jesse for all the variables he was about to face?
Apart from strong arms and years of experience, Jesse also
had something unquantifiable in his armoury,
kind of a secret weapon...
And someone very special in his life.
OK, Google, is it going to rain today?
There's a good chance of rain in Sheffield today at noon.
Yeah, that's now, great.
It's five past noon, so.
So the critical thing is that I have a sight guide.
There's a rock on your left, Jesse.
So Molly is kind enough to lend me her eyes
while we're climbing.
Bit scrambly and blocky down here.
So she'll spot critical holes from the bottom and she'll help me spot
places that might be good for gear.
See your next good foot is about a metre up from...
Yeah, without Molly, I think I wouldn't be climbing.
OK, I'm ready when you are.
So, about a foot higher, you've got a really good foothold.
That's it, yeah.
I met Jesse at university.
I remember the first time I saw him, it was on a trip.
I think it was his first trip up to North Wales.
He's a few years below me so we'd all had a group of friends already.
And then then this random guy turned up.
We were like... We weren't really sure. He was acting a bit odd.
I was only a few weeks later, I think, that I realised that
he actually couldn't, well, hardly couldn't see anything at all.
And I was like, "Wow, respect to this dude," you know, turning up,
away from home.
We kind of hit it off. Well, not straight away, but, you know,
I'd never met anyone blind before, you know, I didn't know
what it was all about, so...
He's uber smart, he's uber bright.
I guess it soon became apparent that it's only his eyes that don't work.
Well, if you can share your eyes, then he's...
Well, I guess more than capable of doing anything.
Yeah, that's it. That's the best bit on there.
If you get that foot a little bit higher, it widens...
I guess I just need to stay calm. "Your feet are on a good foothold,
"just keep searching around."
You know, "Just try another piece of gear in there."
Just like a calm voice and just, you know, "You're all right.
"You've got a good bit just below you," things like that.
Yeah, that's good.
Have you ever lied to him?
Have I ever lied to him?! Yeah, all the time!
He's like, "How does it look?" "Yeah, great!" And it's shit scary.
All I can hear is the noise of the wind, Molly.
It's only if it looks sketchy, and I just try and make it
that it's, you know, it's all fine.
My hands have just gone completely numb.
Get your foot in the main crack. Yeah.
So, I think it was in 2016, when we decided that
we'd want to go to Greenland. Like, this was Jesse's idea.
He wanted to ski into somewhere because he finds it much easier
than over broken ground.
So, I decided I was going to propose to Molly
months beforehand.
The idea was that we were hopefully going to get some first ascents.
I was going to propose to her on top of a first ascent.
Probably about a nine and a half hour climb.
It was mainly up a snow gully
with a few awkward rock steps that we kind of pitched halfway up,
and then just a big snow gully to the top.
This peak was much more amenable. It had a snow dome on top.
We were there just taking photos on top,
I guess just taking the views in, and then...
Yeah, and then Jesse stood up and turned round.
I got down on one knee. I thought, you know,
I thought he'd fallen over.
Molly was totally caught off guard.
And I pulled out the ring, which was a finger massage ring
for, like, climbing finger injuries.
Well, obviously, I said yes, but...
Er, yeah, that was pretty special.
You've got a good belay?
Nice one. I'll be off in a bit.
I kind of trust him that if he hasn't found something decent,
then he'd kind of let me know.
There's been a few times like that where I've gone up,
like scrambled round the edge,
and he's been stood, like, in front of a massive tree.
And he's like, "I found something."
I guess the trust works both ways.
He trusts me to tell him, you know, where to go,
and if the gear looks good.
I trust him that he's got a good belay,
and it's safe to bring me up after him. Yeah.
Ah! That was a good lead!
That was a pretty good belay.
Was that all right? Yeah, yeah.
There's a photo from when we went to the Alps.
This is stupid - it's just a photo of Molly,
but a pair of sunglasses on,
and that's my mental image of her.
I think back, and I know what Molly used to look like.
So I've got that mental image.
The thing that hurts the most as I've lost my sight
is not being able to see Molly's face any more.
That's the one that...
Yeah, I'd want back.
That's what I'm missing.
So when you organise these trips,
the day of the ascent kind of decides itself,
as it's the one day when all the different members of the crew
happen to be available.
The morning that day arrived,
it wasn't looking too good,
but by midday, the skies cleared,
and the old man himself invited us to give it a go.
The first, and possibly trickiest section,
just getting down to the base of the stack,
got under way shortly after lunch,
which at this time of year, in early summer,
meant we'd still have enough time
for what was an all-day route.
It's probably worth noting the descent would normally take
around 15 minutes.
It's a bit of an along here. If you grab my bag.
Kind of a narrow footpath now. Mm.
We're not quite in by the grass yet, but...
Obviously, if you feel like you're
going to fall, if you lean left. Yup.
Cool. All good? All good.
Keep hanging on on the left.
So this bit's pretty exposed.
OK. You can see the waves crashing on the beach,
and it's pretty much straight below us. OK. That's it.
It doesn't matter if you get a muddy bum.
Tiny little paths with big drops,
when you can't see where you're going, not the optimum,
but I'm used to these kind of things now.
We've done plenty of them.
If Molly thinks that I can do it, I trust her judgment entirely.
Right a bit. My right a bit.
Yeah, there.
There's a little platform and then pretty much the same again,
but this looks a little bit steeper, and a little bit slippier. OK.
Just walking around the corner now.
OK... Just a bit lower for your foot.
Yeah, that's it.
It was pretty sketchy, like really narrow, steep grass slopes.
We've done worse approaches,
and I was reasonably confident that he'd be absolutely fine on it.
I think the worst bit was looking at the drops,
but obviously he doesn't have that, so...!
Yeah, that's good. Good.
There's another good hand, down in there. Right, yep.
Grip that grass. And then it's straight down from there.
Yeah. Match your feet at that level.
That's it. Move across to me. Yep.
Bring your feet round, so you're on the other side of that block.
Perfect.
That's it. Round this block that you've got your hand on.
You grab onto my bag again.
You can put your bag down here, if you want. Cool.
That's the first challenge done.
Probably find that harder than doing the climb!
It probably took about an hour and a
half to get down, I think, in the end.
As I spent more time watching Jesse and Molly go about their business,
it occurred to me how finely tuned they had become,
and how they made the extraordinary seem very matter of fact.
Earlier in the year, during one of Jesse's preparation climbs for Hoy,
I had an idea to try and expose just how efficient
Jesse and Molly's partnership had become.
Morning, buddy.
Hey, how's it going? Hi, not too bad. Jesse.
Really nice to meet you. Nice to meet you both.
Is it the slope we're doing? Hopefully.
Have you done anything indoors with your blindfold on yet,
or is it going to be a totally new experience?
Do you know, I was tempted, because the kind of red pointer in me,
the kind of control freak in me, thought, "I've got to practise it!"
Do you know what? I'm going to go
for the total onsite... It's on fondle!
You'll find that the tricky bit is often getting down,
but once you're at the top, you can take the blindfold off, obviously.
I take it think this is a proper, like, no cheating...
..blindfold. No cheating. Definitely.
That one goes on first. And then... Where are you?
What, I need another one? Yeah. No, no, no, no...
I actually can't see a thing.
Yeah. So let me just put that over.
I've got to have another one! There we are. Yeah. It's really black.
You can't have any cheating.
I think I would trip over and sprain my ankle straight away
if I tried to walk anywhere with it.
All my mates think that my ankles
must be made of adamantium, or something!
Right. Right, so, are we going to try this boulder?
Yeah, I think so.
Where is the boulder? Er...
Molly!
I'm quite conscious of all these boulders around me.
Is that all right? Yeah.
I want to use my knee!
LAUGHTER
I don't massively want to do this.
Go on now.
Nice. Yeah, you're there.
Nice one.
OK, cheers. I'm going to take the blindfold off now. Yeah. Cool.
It's ridiculous.
I mean, if that was just bouldering,
I can't imagine what it'd be like to have to lead.
I'm now sort of imagining having to actually...
Not been able to see the piece of gear that you need
when you're really pumped, and you're worried about falling off,
is...is... Tricky.
Yeah. I'm trying to work out why you do actually.
Why?! Yeah, yeah.
So, like, you'll clock me doing this quite a lot now.
What I'll do is I'll have a bit of a feel at the piece of gear,
and I'll work out what size is.
So, that's like a two, er...
That's a two and a half, I reckon.
No way. And then I'll know, like, what size that is,
and then I'll stick that on a certain place in my harness
so when I need it, because I'll feel the crack and I'll go,
"Oh, yeah, that's a two and a half", I know where I put it.
And then, dunk.
Go on, test me. Go on.
So I'm giving you a crab with three cams on it.
So, what's the smallest one on that crab, do you reckon?
Two and a half.
I reckon that's a three.
Thing is, when I heard about you, I was like,
"Yeah, hats off," but I didn't
really give it any kind of depth of thought.
It's obviously coming here, bouldering, chatting to you,
it's kind of all unfolding to me now,
just how extraordinary it is, really.
One of the things that people always say to me is,
"Does it help that when you look down, you can't see the ground?"
And the answer is, "No, not really."
You know where you are,
and you know what the consequences are of falling off.
So I go right with me hands and then left foot...?
Yes, then back left.
Further right, further right.
Right. Yeah, right there. Down there, that's it.
Good stuff.
Then and high and left now.
A bit higher, bit higher.
You're almost at the top there.
You're so close.
Yeah, right a bit, right a bit. Yes! Nice.
And get your feet in where your hands were.
So where's the crack? At the right.
Just beyond... Right, right, right.
Yeah, in there.
That's it.
Yeah, in there.
Stick that on the right side...
It's always interesting for me to think about the counterfactual.
What would it be like if I didn't have this mutation in my genes,
and I'd just developed normally and I could see?
I mean, it's quite possible that I wouldn't be as good a climber
if I didn't have these challenges - it wouldn't focus me.
Keep going.
That determination is built through my disability.
Whoa!
That's it, you're up, man!
Cheers, everyone.
Cool. Right, now I'm looking forward to seeing how Neil does on this.
Yes...
I would honestly... I would honestly rather be soloing that
than climbing it with a blindfold.
I mean, I know I wouldn't fall off that in a million years
if I was soloing it, but if I'm climbing it blindfolded,
I could fall off it anywhere.
Yeah, I must say, I'm...
Yeah, all right, I'm scared. OK? All right.
There you go. I said it.
It seems like a good enough hold.
Trouble is, you get a good handhold,
but it doesn't mean you've got anything for your feet.
Never know what you're going up for.
I've got no idea where I am.
I don't know if I'm near the roof, or what.
But the worst parts are when you can't find a handhold.
I can tell there's something there, but I just can't obviously see it.
OK.
Talk us into it.
Am I in the roof?
Yep!
Go on, Neil, I've got you.
You just get so pumped
because you're hanging on so much harder than you would.
Over here? Go on, mate, you're almost there.
HE STRAINS
Is there a hold, or is it just a jam?
Just a jam.
Go on, buddy. Is there a jug up there?
Oh, yeah.
You could even fall off this bit.
Nice on, mate. Almost there.
Nice one, buddy.
I'd shake your hand if I could see it! Where's your hand?
I want to shake it! I can't see it!
Oh, there we go!
I'd reached past it! Nice one, buddy.
Well done. Thanks, man.
Mate, honestly,
what a lead.
What a lead!
Welcome back to the world of the living, Neil. Well done.
And then you take it off and it's just normal -
here I am just on a great crag and it's just like yeah.
And it just feels completely normal.
Suddenly it's the flick of a switch.
It's like I'm home.
What happens if, you know, through science we can fix my eyes?
Well, instantly, you know, suddenly I'll be...
Obviously I'd be able to climb harder,
but I don't know how much harder, much harder that'll be.
You know? Um, I think Adam Ondra better watch out!
Ha-ha! I'm not sure about that!
This wasn't the first time I'd heard Jesse make reference
to a future where he could see.
We took a visit to Jesse's eye specialist
to see how realistic this notion was.
And it turned out to be a bit of a family affair.
So what do you think my first route was, Dad?
Oh, that was on Idwal Slabs.
We were in North Wales.
You were two and a half, and we took you up ordinary route.
I was with my climbing partner.
One of us climbed beside you all the time,
and the other belayed,
and, you know, we managed
to get you all the way up.
At this point, we had no idea
there was anything particularly wrong with your eyes.
I know that laugh. Morning! Hiya.
All right? Yup, yup.
Morning. How are you? Good. You've been spotted! Been spotted.
We can go through that way. Yeah.
So, retinitis pigmentosa represents at least 80 different genetic
conditions, and there's a wide spectrum of how it affects people.
Unfortunately, in Jesse's case,
he is on the severe end of the spectrum,
severely affected.
What we really need to do for Jesse is rebuild his retina.
The retina's like a sandwich with sort of four layers of cells.
It's possible to transplant
one layer of cells into the back of the eye
at the moment. We haven't figured out -
nobody's figured out - how to transplant the four layers of cells
that need to sit on top of each other,
and then integrate with the cells that are already there.
Realistically, that's a very long way away.
It may be a solution down the line
to people with, you know, really tough problems, like Jesse.
There are people who've looked at what it's like to lose vision,
and it is the sense people fear losing most.
In some surveys on the quality of life,
it affects people as much as a diagnosis of terminal cancer,
in terms of how they feel about their quality of life.
So it's, you know, as I say, it's devastating.
I'll give you... Yup. Oh, sorry.
That's your stick.
Anyway, awesome. Brilliant. Thank you so much.
Pleasure. Nice to see you again. Yeah. OK.
Do you want me to take you out? Oh, yes, please. Yeah.
Just describe Jesse when he was young.
Very cute.
SHE LAUGHS
Sorry!
You can cut that. Cut that, yeah, yeah!
There was a time when I was a pushy parent and trying to get you to read
before you went to school.
Making little cue cards with Postman Pat and other exciting words on.
And I just didn't react to it...
You just flipped them all out of my hand,
as if to say, "Oh, sod off."
It wasn't really till you went to school
and there was a knock on the door, we went "Ohh!".
Yeah, we didn't really know, did we? No. Was it not obvious
when I couldn't see at night?
Well, I mean... Well, yeah,
but we just thought all kids
couldn't see at night. We didn't know.
Yeah. It's terrible.
You used to bump into things, but then, you know, we just thought,
"Well, he's not looking where he's going." Yeah.
I felt guilty about trying to make him read before he went to school!
After the diagnosis, you kind of...
..all the things, you think, "Ah!" Yeah, that's right.
You always wanted to sit far too close to the television.
Yeah. We said it was bad for you.
Yeah, bad for his eyes!
Bad for your eyes, yeah!
And then afterwards you think,
well, of course he sat close to the television.
He couldn't see it otherwise!
At the hospital, when you were five,
they said, you know, "His reading may never develop.
"He may never be able to write properly."
You know, and he'd just been saying, "What's a university?
"Oh, that sounds good."
And then the next moment, we're sort of told, "May never read or write,"
and you think, "Yikes."
Our attitude was always that, you know,
A, kids have to take risks,
as they're growing up... Yeah.
You don't... You learn by doing things, taking risks, and therefore
you always have to let kids do that.
But apart from that, you know, the fact that he couldn't see,
well, he couldn't see, you know,
doesn't mean to say you stop doing things.
We just sort of continued to do what we wanted to do,
and what he was interested in.
There were a few classic occasions, like when he was playing rugby
and he got given the ball
and he's running towards the wrong tri-line,
and his mates had to say, "No, turn round! Run the other way!"
You know? But, you know, those were just sort of funny incidents.
But, by and large, he just got on with it.
Really cruel parents, you know, making him do all these
horrible, difficult, dangerous things.
Oh, most of our friends thought we were completely nuts.
Like, completely nuts.
I'm pretty excited
because obviously this will be the first time
a blind man's ever, like, led the Old Man of Hoy,
so it'll be nice to be in the history books.
Something pretty special, I think.
It's not the easiest route in the world
to be able to do without the use of your eyes, I think, yeah...
It'll be something worth recording.
Indeed it will.
But wait a minute. How are we going to record this?
I had to ask myself.
So on most cliffs, when you're filming rock climbing,
you would fix a rope to the top of the cliff,
and the cameraman would go down the rope
to then be in position above the climber.
Obviously on a freestanding pinnacle, like the Old Man of Hoy,
a great big sea stack, you can't do that.
The only way to get the top is to climb up.
So I climbed ahead of Jesse and Molly with rig,
and then I'd kind of look over my shoulder at various positions
and try and look for good shots as I was climbing, basically.
OK, Molly. I'm going to start. OK. Let's crack on.
Wow, what a day, dude.
It's incredible.
Everywhere you look, it's just awesome scenery.
Huge big sea cliffs, crashing waves, blue sky.
So, yeah, just be careful of loose and sandy shit.
Over to the left might be better.
The thing to understand when you're filming
is that obviously you don't want to interfere with the climb,
for this to be a genuine ascent.
Where am I going now? Straight up here? Yeah.
So you're on... You're standing on quite a bulge now, so I can't see
up and behind it.
And I think on this occasion,
as we knew there were going to be large parts of the climb
where Molly wasn't going to be able to see Jesse,
this did present a bit of a moral dilemma for me.
What if the situation occurs where I can see a good bit of gear,
I can see some really good holds,
or I can see Jesse's clearly going off route?
Maybe he's climbing himself into danger.
What am I going to do?
Am I going to interject?
So the second pitch is down the traverse,
so I'm climbing down, and I'm traversing across
and I'm very conscious at this point
that I need to put some runners in because I need to protect
Molly for the traverse, so I put a sling in them and clip it.
What I hadn't realised is that there's some ab-tat in situ
to haul yourself across, if you haven't got long enough ropes
to get to the ground from this point,
and rather than clipping my climbing ropes to the runner,
I'd clip the ab-tat to the runner,
so when Molly gets to it, she's not being clipped in at all.
so, despite my best efforts, you know,
I hadn't protected her for that bit.
It's never been a problem before.
Usually, the only rope around is my climbing rope,
so you just reach down, grab a rope and clip it to the runner
and that's it - there's never any other ropes around.
Is that a good hold there? No, that's nothing.
Yeah, on the second pitch traverse,
I had seen that he'd clipped that bit of ab-tat.
I don't know, I think I made the decision as a cameraman,
as a documentary film-maker,
I wasn't there to interject.
I was just there to film the climbing.
Just sandy and shit.
There might be an undercling under there.
Yeah, but it pulls the wrong way.
A little bit further up? A little bit more?
Oh, I could just shuffle across, like that.
Is this as far as I'm going? Am I belaying here?
Yeah, maybe slack off a bit. Yeah, I'm going to.
Well, that went pretty well.
Kind of.
But Jesse still had the crux sections to go
on the hardest route he's ever attempted.
Just a couple of weeks earlier,
Jesse took on a climb of the same technical grade
to try and gauge if he was ready,
and to give things a bit of an edge, we gave him a new sight guide.
Hello. Hi! Hey, mate, how are you? All right. How are you doing?
Yeah, good, good. Are you up for some routes today? Yep.
No, you're up for some routes! Ah, yeah! OK.
Cool.
I'm up for some guiding. OK.
So, you get one of these...
ECHOING HEADSET: Once it turns on...
Sorry, I'm just going to turn you down. Yeah.
Like, even when my sight was at its best,
I could never stand at the bottom of a route
and see the holes and plan my sequence.
It's always been like climbing into the unknown, every single time.
Yeah, with this start, the feet are not great.
It's only going be the hardest route you've ever tried! Yeah.
We should be fine. We'll see how it goes!
The critical thing is to get the information across
as quickly as possible.
To the left, to the left. Yup, there.
Up a bit, up a bit.
Hmm.
I think the thing that screws me over is I can't plan.
I don't suppose you can see any other rests?
Um, rests...
Not obvious ones, no.
And to do well, you have to be able to plan.
Have a feel out to your right as well.
Yeah, your right foothold is waist heigh.
Up, up, up, with your right foot down.
You've just missed it.
Yeah. The good bit is further to the right.
Yeah, there. There, there.
Good.
There's a break a bit higher to place some gear.
HE PANTS
Oh!
HE ROARS
I'm going to pump out, so just watch me.
Yeah, yeah, I'm watching you. I'm really watching you.
Oh.
That was a good fight!
My arms!
Oh, that is hard work.
I think I can see how it would be done.
Just not my day today.
I can't move as quick as a sighted climber would, so...
..you just wind up burning through your reserves that much quicker.
Oh, I've got like pins and needles in my fingers.
If I was to go up there now,
blindfolded, for example,
it would be so much easier for me because I've seen it
from the ground. Yeah.
I mean, I can't imagine - you'd be totally desperate
walking up to a route blindfolded,
and then trying to climb it.
Totally desperate. Yeah.
We're going to try and get back to the car. OK. Right, so...
..I have got you your very own white stick.
Let me just put it... Where's your hand? There you go!
Shall we? Yes.
I think the cars are in that direction!
I don't know! I don't know if they're in that direction!
Let's just go and have a look. Let's have a look, shall we?
All right, nice one. OK.
We're going. Right, that's me. Yeah, yeah, that's you.
Oh, we're onto a winner here. Still behind me? I am, somewhere!
Oh! Are you good? Yeah.
Ow!
LAUGHTER
People often ask me, "Why rock climbing?"
It's not what you immediately think of
as a good activity for a blind person.
Certainly, when I think about the danger,
it's not the most dangerous thing I do.
Crossing the road on the way to work is far more dangerous,
and also it's something where I'm not in control.
Crossing the road, you don't have any control over the risks there.
You do your best to tell when the cars are coming,
but you don't control them.
I think one of the things that's great about climbing,
and one of the main reasons I do it,
I'm doing it - I'm not being taken out,
especially when I'm leading. I'm the one going up first.
I'm the one with responsibility for putting the gear in,
and I'm the one who's responsible for my partner's safety.
Climbing is where I'm in control.
So, at the base of the crux pitch, we had a bit of faff with the ropes.
We got in a bit of a tangle and wasted a bit of time.
Not a problem, but time was ticking on,
and we knew we were on a tight time schedule.
Every now and again, Jesse, it might be a good idea
just to brush your shoes off against your leg, or something.
Just feel the stress building.
The difficulty is here - if I can get past this,
I'm confident I can get to the top.
Oh, God.
You climb up into what they call the coffin,
and the first I knew about it
was I could feel the two rock walls on my shoulders,
and the difficulty is passing the roof,
and getting up into the crack above.
It's hard and it's covered in sand,
and it's really overhanging, and it's insanely awkward.
It's like somebody created the definition
of awkward British rock climbing.
There's no easy way to do it.
Ace. Come on.
Yes! Come on. You've got this.
HE STRAINS
This is when I could really do with being able to see!
Finding a hold would be nice.
Yeah, go on.
Nice.
Go on.
Neil would be proud.
Nice!
Good work, matey.
Are you going to get a piece in before you move on? Should do.
Oh, look! There's a seal down there. Can you see it?
Not the time, Mol.
We'd read beforehand that there were the opportunities for big gear.
So I'd taken this huge size six cam with us.
If we I get the chance to place something like that, it's brilliant.
Really good for me in head game terms
because you can place this cam, and it's so big,
you could put your hand in and you can check each of the lobes
by feel individually.
And when you know you've got that in and it's good,
you know you're not going anywhere, and it puts me at ease.
Have you managed to get any gear into that last piece?
No. No, no, I haven't.
Despite my best efforts and believe me, I tried,
there was nowhere to put that was quite right for this cam.
Ohh.
Nice one, man.
Right... Well done, that man! Awesome!
Oh! How was that? Ohh!
Not too bad.
Yeah, I can hear you. I've clipped into the anchor, I won't be long.
I'm not quite safe yet. Don't take me off belay.
It's all done.
Oh!
Yeah, um...
..I ran out of big cams after I'd gone round the thingy,
so that last bit, I felt a little bit run out.
Apart from that, it was all good. Ohh!
Cool! Dry mouth?
Oh!
Time for a pork pie!
By 8:30 in the evening, I'd been hanging round on these ropes
for over five hours.
Yeah, I'm just trying to find some gear.
There was some relief at getting past the crooks,
but Jesse was still only halfway up the climb,
and we'd used well over half the day's light.
OK, clipped it.
As far as climbing this thing without sight was concerned,
the biggest challenge was yet to come.
The nerves were definitely jangling, but Jesse climbed on.
Getting some gear in, matey? Yeah, I've got it. Nice one.
You don't go the obvious way - you don't follow your nose
up this, like, crack.
You need to go further right, which isn't obvious at all.
It's all green and covered in bird muck, and there's no gear.
Technically speaking, it's easier to climb,
but when you're on the sharp end, you basically can't fall off.
If you fell off that bit, you probably wouldn't die,
but you certainly wouldn't be having a very good day.
You'd be taking like a 100-foot fall into a corner.
I'm amazed I can still hear you if I can't see you!
I can still hear you.
Once you turned that corner, I just... I can't see you at all.
The ropes are just disappearing into the rock.
My radio's beeping. Can you still hear me?
Yeah, I can still hear you. OK, that's good then.
So, on the fourth and fifth pitches, the architecture of the rock is such
that you pull around a corner as soon as you climb
out of the belay,
and that means that you start to lose comms.
Obviously, there's no direct line of sight to Molly.
She can't see me, so she can't help.
He could have been going anywhere.
He could have been doing a new route for all I knew!
Clipped. Nice.
I think you keep just going direct, the line you're heading in now.
There should be some big...
RADIO CRACKLES
Oh, yeah. You're starting to break up now.
I'm totally on my own at that point.
All I'm doing is I'm feeling around for holds,
and just trying to find the best line.
Often you know when you're going off route.
If you find lichen, or if you find that you run out holds.
Being blind forces you to take the line of weakness up the cliff.
If you run out of holds, then you know you've going the wrong way.
I knew that I just had to keep going and get through that section
as quickly as I possibly could.
You're feeling all over the place, trying to search out for holds
and gear, and you're not getting any directions.
It's all on what you can find.
And on that fourth pitch, it was pretty gripping to watch.
And there were places where I could see he was starting to go off route
and I'd be... I just had to keep tight lipped,
just keep filming.
Yeah, I'm just informed of danger...
There was one section where I just couldn't help myself.
First of all, he was trying to get that damn big cam in once again -
unsuccessfully, I might add.
Oh, you joker!
I could see he was about a foot below this massive fulmar,
and I knew he was just going to climb straight up,
so I had to, kind of, like tell him, you know -
"There's a great big seagull here. You might want to climb around it."
I didn't want him to grab the seagull by the beak!
So if I go...traverse along toward it, toward that...?
I'm safe, Mols. I'm safe.
I am absolutely starving.
But I am so glad that the crux is done -
just time to romp on up to the top now, because time is ticking.
There was a real sense of relief when he got up to the base
of the final pitch.
You know, no-one was saying it,
but I think we were all kind of feeling that, you know...
..he's going to do it.
And then the last pitch, I could see the whole corner.
There was loads of gear - I could see the footholds,
the rock was, you know, a perfect rock. It was just quite spectacular.
Nice one.
So the top pitch is just beautiful climbing,
like an open book corner with a crack in the middle,
which is formed by a cleft that splits the stack,
and a series of awesome moves.
You reach up and you find these holds,
and you've got this huge sense of satisfaction of, like,
you know you're almost there.
You can start to relax and enjoy at this point.
Any more cracks up there you can feel?
Just fondling. Hang on.
Found something? Something in there...
Nice.
Yeah.
Is that tat? Yeah, it is.
You can see the light shining through the, er...crack.
I can see the sunset shining through the crack.
Very special.
Good work, matey.
Is that the top of it?
That is flipping awesome.
Nice!
All right.
Have you got some tat there?
OK, Molly, I'm safe.
Are you filming? I am filming.
Well done, that man. Cheers.
There was a time, maybe about three years ago,
where I thought I might have to give up leading as my eyesight got worse
and I thought maybe, well, not give up climbing,
but certainly leading trad - my days were probably numbered.
Look where you're sat now!
Where am I sat now?!
Right. You can take me off belay, Mols!
I really hope that when Molly gets up here, she's going to take
some awesome photos because in 20 years or so,
when they fix my eyes, I want to see that view.
Yes!
Oh!
Oh, my God.
How the hell did you do that on lead?
That coffin...was so hard.
That was awesome.
How do you feel? Yeah. Pretty good!
You raced up that last bit.
Did you cry when you got to the top? No.
I didn't think you would.
I can feel the sand in my eyes.
Are you going to use this to find your way down? Yeah, yeah.
Put your arms up...
Oh, there's a puffin on top! Yes!
A little puffin, right up there!
Whoa!
I think doing the Old Man of Hoy was really great.
It was a route that I always wanted to do,
and a testament, really, to the outlook that I've always had,
which is that I'm not disabled.
I'm blind and able.