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wet November day. Alex knew what routes he wanted and needed to do and
worked his way through them. Some were more painful than others. When abseil-
ing down after an ascent of Cenotaph Corner on Dinas Cromlech, on his way to do
Cemetery Gates , Alex got his hair caught in his figure of 8 abseil device forty feet
off the ground. After cursing and swearing for a bit, there was nothing else he
could do to free himself but pull all the offending hair from his head. He completed
the descent and went on to the next climb. It was a mistake he made only once.
The club had drawn Alex to Leeds. His reasons for choosing geography and eco-
nomics were less obvious. By the end of 1972, he had decided to switch and went to
his tutor to ask if he could change to law. He applied and was accepted, but
wouldn't start until the following year. That gave him the chance to take a few
months off, some of which he spent in Leeds climbing. The rest he spent on the
beaches of North Africa not doing very much of anything, before returning to
Leeds for the autumn term in 1973.
Only Bernard Newman and John Syrett had live-in girlfriends. The rest of us just
got on with climbing. But when Alex returned to Leeds in 1973, he met the first
love of his life - Gwyneth Rule. She had joined the club during freshers' week and
Alex just happened to be manning the club's information point at the time.
Gwyneth was a trim redhead from South Wales and a perfect foil for Alex. His ta-
citurnity was matched by her extrovert manner and sense of fun. If the boys could
do it, she would have a go. They shared a one-room bedsit just off Hyde Park
Corner in Leeds for the next three years. The room was never tidy; the floor, the
broken-down sofa and the few chairs were always strewn with dirty clothes, empty
bottles and dirty mugs. It seemed a challenge between the two of them: who would
crack first and clean up the mess? It rarely happened, but Alex did seem to shave
more often and take more care generally in his appearance. In Gwyneth, Alex had
been lucky to find someone who would draw out his own sense of fun and, to a de-
gree, a greater self-awareness and confidence.
Perhaps he needed a better image in the law department, but he also changed
from grunge to a more glam-rock look, essentially just showering a bit more often,
washing his hair and buying a new leather jacket. His climbing improved enough
for him to gain more deference in the topic. Entries about him changed from Dirty
Alex or just Dirty to D. A. or even just Alex. There was certainly only one Alex in
the club.
I first met him on my return to Leeds to work on an MPhil. Running a climbing
school in New Hampshire was good fun but taking money for something I enjoyed
as a sport was uncomfortable. The school was reasonably successful. In the sum-
mer there were as many as four instructors. On many days, I gave them the work
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