The living rock lives again...

Copies of The living rock (digital) will be available as a FREE DOWNLOAD from the Apple Bookstore (Apple devices) or Google Drive (Android devices) for two months from Boxing Day 2021. Please note these are BIG files, both around 700MB. 

I've decided to offer free copies initially as a thank you to all of you who supported the print version since its launch in 2015. The original print run of 1100 sold out in the second half of 2021with just a few copies still available at places like Binna Burra and Pinnacle Sports. I had decided several years ago that a second edition of the book would be digital, mainly because of the enormous workload involved in organising a second print version, not to mention the uncertainties, inevitable delays and material shortages because of the ongoing pandemic.

So what's new in this edition? Almost double the number of images (now close to 850) including photographs, newspaper and magazine articles, extracts from diaries, sketch pads and letters that contribute to telling the story of rockclimbing in eastern Australia. I've also included 12 videos from a range of contributors -- Rod Bolton and Robert Rankin, in particular -- which include footage of early climbing activites in southeast Queensland in the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s, plus aerials of prominent climbing crags in the region (courtesy of Nicholas P Shera -- who is also my esteemed nephew). 

There are new climbing stories from the 1970s and early 1980s that help to fill a gap in the original publication and I have incorporated feedback and suggested corrections from a number of patient and zealous readers. 

From 1 March 2022, the book will be available ONLY through the Apple Bookstore for AU$8.99 but between Boxing Day and March, it's free. So please pass on these details to all those who you think might enjoy reading it -- and add it to your own library. Any funds generated by sales after 1 March will be donated to an environmentally-responsible organisation, the details of which I will announce at a later date.

It's been another long but rewarding process pulling this one together in a new, portable format which I hope will appeal as much as the hard copy version. Naturally, there will be errors and with an electronic version, they can, at least, be corrected in a reasonable time although it's still not a fast process. So please, let me know what you like -- and what I've got wrong -- and hopefully we will end up with a reasonably accurate story of rockclimbing in Australia (with a Queensland edge).

Michael Meadows, 22 December 2021

Bill Peascod documentary launched online

 At Home in The Steep Places

The feature-length documentary about artist-climber Bill Peascod, At home in steep places,  is now available online at the website of the Mountain Heritage Trust. Co-directed by Steve Wharton and Perrin Walker, it tells the story of pioneering Lake District climber-guide, Bill Peascod's transition from climber to mining engineer to artist and his decision to emigrate to Australia to seek out a new life. 

It was in Australia that he rediscovered his love for climbing, largely due to the influence of a young Queensland climber, Neill Lamb, and other members of the Brisbane Bush Walkers. Bill was invited to Queensland in 1955 to conduct a cliff safety course at Kangaroo Point, organised by BBW president, Julie Henry. While he was in Queensland, he climbed what was the first described climbing route in the state -- Faith, on Tibrogargan -- and introduced advanced rope safety techniques which inspired the next generation of climbers. 

Bill Peascod belaying on the first ascent of Faith on Tibrogargan in 1955 (Photo: Neill Lamb)

Although at the time, many routes had been climbed in Queensland by a cohort of young climbers like Jon Stephenson, John Comino, Geoff Broadbent, Geoff Goadby, Alan Frost and Peter Barnes, before Bill's visit, few of their routes, if any, had ever been formally described in route guides and given a grade using international standards. Bill's visit changed that forever with climbers in Australia adopting the cumbersome British grading scheme (Easy 2, Difficult 3, Very Difficult 4, Severe 5, Very Severe 6). This was later replaced by John Ewbank's open-ended grading system in the late 1960s which we still use today.

Mountain Heritage Trust website link: At Home in The Steep Places

AT HOME IN THE STEEP PLACES: Documentary on pioneering climber, Bill Peascod, to be launched soon on YouTube

In 1955, pioneering Lakeland climber Bill Peascod visited Brisbane's Kangaroo Point and conducted an historic training session. It was the first time that local climbers and bushwalkers had seen carabiners, pitons and rockclimbing safety rope techniques that had been used in the UK and Europe since the late 19th century. 

Bill had emigrated to Australia a few years earlier, taking up a position as a lecturer in mining engineering in Wollongong -- but it was his experience with the Brisbane Bush Walkers that rekindled his love of the outdoors and climbing. BBW president Julie Henry had organised the Brisbane visit following the death of club member, Mickey Miller, on Tibrogargan and a plane crash on Mount Superbus where BBW members were the first on the scene. 

Bill's connection with Australia -- his new home for almost three decades -- and the inspiration to climb again following his friendship with Brisbane-based, Neill Lamb, is documented in a new video to be released soon on YouTube. But the doco offers a deeper insight into Bill Peascod's life, his 'escape' from the 'black depression' of life as a coal miner, and his transition in Australia -- with Japanese influences -- into an acclaimed artist. 

The feature-length documentary -- At Home in the Steep Places: the story of Bill Peascod -- has been produced and directed by musician-climber Steve Wharton. It outlines a climber's life far-removed from the experiences of most Australians and within a context of the emergence of rockclimbing in the UK. It is supported by an original soundtrack that embraces the rich musical heritage of the Lake District with songs written by local performers and climbers, including an Australian vignette. 

A trailer for the film is at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lh9pteudfDk 

The finished film will be available online on Youtube but embedded on the landing page of the Mountain Heritage Trust website with that acting as the main location to send people to. The online launch will be timed for an evening (Australian/Japanese time) in September. 

The links and files for subsequent screenings of the film (mp4 and DCP) will be made available for free to schools, community groups and venues anywhere in the world on the proviso that should any ticket sales exceed the cost of the screening then a donation is made to a cause within the ethos of the film. This could be any causes or charities in the fields of climbing, art, nature conservation, mining heritage or folk/roots music (in a nod to the massive part that the soundtrack has played in the telling of Bill's story).

I was involved in a small way towards the end of the project and am very proud to have been associated with the production. I've seen an early version of the video so don't expect another video like Free Solo, for example. At Home in the Steep Places is a world apart from the modern climbing movie genre that tends to focus on action, adventure and superlative achievement. This is a moving, gentle story, delving deeply into the life and contexts that shaped this influential climber. It reminds us that we are all influenced by the different lives we lead away from climbing but it is this very dimension that is most often absent from the modern climbing video ethos. 

I'll let you know the official launch date and time as soon as I get the word from Steve.

The Living Rock hard copies sold out

Well, it's happened -- the last box of printed copies of The Living Rock has gone out the door and appropriately, to one of my strongest supporters: Emily and AJ at Pinnacle Sports, West End. Apart from copies I gave to each participant in the project, the first sale in 2015 was to Brisbane climber Alex Mougenot. It's been quite a journey during which I have met so many wonderful people making the experience as rewarding as compiling the book itself. Of the 1100 copies I hauled home from the docks in Brisbane -- ably assisted by my great nephew Trystan and a heavily overloaded car and trailer -- I estimate that around two-thirds have been sold to people I have met face-to-face. In our current frenzied online age, that's quite an achievement, I reckon. 

But there have been so many supporters of this project along the way: Greg Nunn and Mountain Designs, who hosted the 2015 launch and on-sold many, many copies for me over several years until the company's sad demise; Teresa Cause from the Boonah-based Far Outdoors -- always an enthusiastic supporter and friend; Glenn Tempest from Open Spaces in Natimuk who has managed to convince Victorian climbers to read about the exploits of their Queensland colleagues; Binna Burra Lodge, with its connections to the high-achieving members of the Groom family, embraced the book from the start and still has copies for sale following the devastating bushfires of 2019; K2-Basecamp in Brisbane has been one of the key Brisbane-based distributors; and there are the many others -- local libraries, small family-run bookshops (like Petrarch's in Launceston and The Hobart Bookshop), tourist information centres at the Glass House Mountain, Canungra, Rathdowney and even one in the northern NSW village of Tyalgum. Thank you one and all!

I've decided not to have another print run of the book, mainly because of the extraordinary effort required and to enable me to include additional digital material. And so the next version will be an Apple Books production and hopefully, I will have completed it before the end of the year. It will include additional photographs (including aerials of southeast Queensland mountain areas), some new climbing stories, corrections (thank you to all those who have contacted me about the inevitable errors and inaccuracies), and some early climbing videos -- silent 8mm film converted to digital format of climbing activities in Queensland from the late 1960s. 

Hopefully you'll find this e-version as engaging as the print copies. I apologise to all of you whom will be unable to access this without an Apple device but at present, alternative online publishing formats do not allow me the project file size I need to present all of the visual material. Here's a preview of the e-book cover...talk to you when I'm closer to going live. 

The living rock hard copies almost gone!

This is your last chance to have a hard copy of the book as I won’t be having another print run. Almost all of the 1100 copies I had printed are now gone and at the time of writing…5 June 2021… I have just 10 copies left. I’m well-advanced on an online edition which will be a corrected, updated version and will include new material and images, along with some historical climbing video. Because of the large file size, it will be available only through the Apple iBookstore so I apologise to Android users in advance. Unfortunately, other online platforms don’t allow for a project of this size.

I’ll announce a publication date soon but I expect it will be within the next two months. 

Thank you to all who have supported this project from the beginning.