WALKING
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P Scafell buttress looms over Terry’s humble abode.
clouds in quite the same way. “You can go to Wasdale and feel in tune with an age of humanity that we came from and we don’t really relate to anymore,” Terry says. “It’s here on our doorstep, here in Britain.” The plaudits for Terry’s work from outdoor websites and blogs have been gushing, with one describing him as “the Wainwright of the 21st century.” The comparison might be apt on more than one level. Terry’s dogged pursuit of an individual vision has echoes of Wainwright, as does his status as something of an ‘outsider’. Like Wainwright, Terry prefers to appeal over the heads of what might be called the ‘outdoor establishment’ to reach the hearts of the public. “I do feel a bit of an outsider because I’m doing something completely different”, he says. “I remember a comment being made to me at Kendal Film Festival, someone said ‘you’ve been noticed by the elite’. I thought ‘I don’t give a fl ying monkey what the elite thinks.’ It’s the public that matters to me. It’s them who support me, it’s them I’m aiming to please and inspire with what I do. “There’s probably an element of the working class chip on my shoulder, admittedly. I’m always seeking pride from somebody. Wainwright said, that at the end of his life he felt he could look anyone in the eye. That resonates with me, and when I see the response from the audience, I think, ‘I did it’.”
Through this conversation Sue, Terry’s wife, has been
sat quietly next to us. “I know people may think I’ve got a dream job, but they seem to forget I do have a wife and family,” Terry says. “If something happens, I’m rarely there to help sort it out…” At this point Sue chimes in with a deadpan observation: “He’s never there.” “Ok,” Terry admits. “I’m never there. But Sue’s been immense in her support. Sometimes I’ll go away and when I open my rucksack lid, I fi nd there’s a little bottle of malt in there that Sue left for me. I’m always trying to make her proud.” If Terry feels a sense of satisfaction at the reaction to ‘Scafell Pike,’ it doesn’t seem to have mellowed his creative urges. Having promised he would spend some time at home fi rst, he claims to be in “no rush” to get started on his next project; a repeat the ‘Life of a Mountain’ formula with the Helvellyn range. But the restless glint in his eye as he looks over Catbells and the Derwentwater fells tell a different story. “My head says I should go on to do Snowdon and Ben Nevis next,” he says. “But my heart wants to stay here in Cumbria. It will be a similar format to the Scafell fi lm, but on a grander, on a bigger scale. I’m looking at bringing in aerial photography. I want a tighter edit, but much more depth at the same time. My long-term goal is to do every single Lake District mountain.” Describing these future ambitions, he lets the mask slip. “Even though I said I’m in no rush… I want to get on with it now.”
“I DO FEEL A BIT OF AN OUTSIDER BECAUSE I’M DOING SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT.”
36 | 70TH ANNIVERSARY YEAR | FOR BRITISH CLIMBING AND WALKING SINCE 1944 BUY:
Life of a Mountain: Scafell Pike £13.49
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Two hours of
beautiful Lake District majesty, through the eyes of the people who climb, work and
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PHOTO: TERRY ABRAHAM.
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