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General Climbing Discussion

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John Fantini 3-Sep-2017 At 5:37:05 PM IdratherbeclimbingM9

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I haven't seen John for a couple of years now, but he was certainly still going strong when I last saw him.
It was at The Horn at Mt Buffalo. I was up there soloing some stuff and bumped into Fants and Geoff Gledhill, both of whom I know from previous meetings.

After the initial greetings and catch-up stuff, the conversation went something like...

Me: So what are you guys up to?
John: We're having a lay day.
Me: Oh, climbing is a lay-day sport now?
Geoff: Yeah, (laughs)... We've been bicycling.
Me: Yeah? Where have you been doing?
John: Oh, we rode up Buffalo yesterday.
Geoff: After the other hills first... (It turns out that means Falls Ck and Hotham!)... I kept Fants honest for the first few miles here by keeping up with him, then I put the pressure on and pushed ahead for a bit.
It didn't last long though because he saw what I was up to and took me on. The last I saw of him was about a mile later when he was disappearing around a bend well ahead of me, and I think he'd already had his afternoon tea at the top by the time I got there!!

A side note. John would've been 72 or 73 years old at that time, and I guess had maybe 5 years on Geoff?

The other thing I remember from that day is John being interested in my Silent Partner solo belay device, as he hadn't previously seen one in real life.