CULTURE


Going solo Jules Lines’s calm head and careful planning has made him


Britain’s most accomplished free solo climber. His fi rst book, Tears of the Dawn, spans more than three decades of extreme climbing


WORDS TIM SIDDONS W


Above: Lines tackles Shere Khan, a route up The Red Tower in Aberdeenshire. Right: Lines in action at the Pass of Ballater.


68 WWW.SCOTTISHFIELD.CO.UK


e were about 300 feet above the Pass of Ballater and Jules Lines was posing for photographs, standing


nonchalantly on the edge of a sheer cliff like a mountain goat. Lines is one of the UK’s best free climbers, or soloists, which means that he climbs without the use of ropes, often on sheer cliffs with just the tiniest of holes for his hands and feet to grip. I readily admit that I was expecting to meet


an adrenaline junkie, a fearless psychopath with a gung-ho attitude and an in-built death- wish. What I found instead was someone for whom fear was crucial to his survival, someone


LEFT - CUBBY IMAGES


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