Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - General Discussion

General Climbing Discussion

Topic Date User

Memorials / Plaques 10-Nov-2006 At 10:32:28 AM IdratherbeclimbingM9

Message

What a morbid topic :(

I don't know that too many climbers think about memorialising their death.
When I croak I don't want any plaque etc. The closest link to climbing that I would want is to have my ashes scattered off a high cliff (on a non-windy day), when no-one else is about.

The 1st time I came across an insitu memorial to a climber, was the cross in memory of Barry Willis on the back of the First Sister in the Blue Mts.
Having just arrived at that point after doing West Wall & Skyline Traverse I found it a bit disconcerting. My partner at the time felt the same way, if not more so.
The guidebook I was using at the time reckons to use the cross as a belay, but I found it would have broken the pitch so I led on through, making light of the moment by using it as a hand/foothold enroute for the top, to defuse the seriousness of the moment.
This action helped my disconcerted partner, but I have always felt kind of guilty about it ever since, as it seems a bit spooky treading on memorials.

Other people don't need these things...
The relatives and freinds can celebrate the dead in their hearts and memories, and by the lives they live; as the experience is truly a personal one.