Tuesday 20 October 2015

The Masters...The Talented Filmmakers.

The Talented Filmmakers
Its been a busy few weeks with the UK Paraclimbing Competition Series underway and I joined John as his sight guide to compete in London at the Castle Climbing Centre in the 2nd round of the series. We took first place which was cool, but what was cooler was working with the young film making husband and wife team who wanted to document John and I's story for their BBC sponsored Masters Project.

Defining starting holds at the BMC 2015 Paraclimbing Series, Castle, London       
 I am always a little cautious around film makers when it comes to Paraclimbing projects as I have a very clear view of the environment I am lucky enough to be in within Paraclimbing and I am careful not to add fuel to the fire of portraying diversity under the 'charity model' and sometimes this portays my views a little abrasive as my job is to coach. 

I like to work with film makers, who are younger and less influenced by the past conceptions of the traditional disability models but you always run the risk of being part of another persons creative perception of who you are and what your doing. But these guys felt right. Looking forward to seeing the short film when the masters have finished with it!

Plans have been developing slowly around the shaping of the project to make sure it has the most impact possible to succeed in raising funds. I am feeling fidgety and want to begin learning and training for the kayak journey. Hopefully we will find someone near us to assist in our basic training before we make adaptions for our specific task...

Monday 12 October 2015

No pun intended!


I said yes to myself for more adventures with John if he could look beyond himself.. pardon the pun!

Not that he didn't, but I wanted to be sure that our next adventure together had enough substance for us both to train hard enough, to plan well enough and to motivate others to support what we were doing.

But I think, there is no grand statement here (like the Eiger Paraclimb) more of a slow burning exploration into John and I's friendship and sometimes like mindedness and sometimes our opposing views on why we do the stuff we do as a team.


It's not because of a depency from John on me but maybe a codependency where I get something from him and he gets something back from me Or is it just simply a friendship that works well in more extreme circumstances.

I met John at a difficult time in my life and what I seemed to feel in his company was that my difficulties were not just understood (ish!)  by him but were perhaps in my mind shrunk significantly by working closely with him, wether in competition in front of cameras or high on a mountain sleeping on a small sloping ledge 12000ft up in a storm, his calmness about each challenge just being met by his view that every challenge was just a process that could be dealt with. It's worked so far and although sometimes stressful or tiring, I must enjoy sight guiding with him. And I suppose that's what sums it up, with him and not for him...


One of the things I dislike most in John's company (other than when he is a tight bastard with money) is when some people patronise him and treat him like a child. He calls it 'the blind man thing'. Me, I call it 'people not looking beyond what they think they see'. That's my polite version. I'm trying to keep this clean until we secure some equipment sponsorship to make it happen. Well, it will happen, just like the Eiger 'happened'.

I'm really looking forward to the kayaking element of this with John as it will give us some time to reflect on his life I think as we paddle through calm fjords towards the Troll Wall. He never seems to reflect much openly on his experiences on how it was growing up with double sensory impairment. Blindness and deafness, not the easiest of journeys for a young lad to take in this society. But John just 'gets on with it' ... And more! And that's what you do I suppose, when fate crosses your path with something different then you don't suddenly wake up and think, I'm inspired or choose a path covered in inspirational flower petals for your inspired feet to softly tred with mindfulness etc... You just choose to say yes to another way and try and live by it.

My experience of  getting close to this is a feeling where I felt totally free. And it took me a while to link fear and freedom. When I felt free I also felt fearless and that was it, but not in that order. To feel free I needed to feel fearless. Not macho or 'I can do anything' mentality, just a very calm state of not feeling scared of much at all. John has this (a lot, not always, but a lot) and maybe that's what our partnership gives me?


Tuesday 6 October 2015

I feel like writing you a letter Planet Earth.

Why do this? 

I think the motivations are two fold. One, to continue from the Eiger Paraclimb 2015 with John's world's first on the Eiger and explore what is possible beyond this.

And two, on a personal level, to continue my journey with John unraveling what personal gains I get from such things as sight guiding in such dangerous environments. I also want to understand what it is about all this that makes me happy and more fulfilled as a human being. It is obviously a meaningful thing otherwise I would never have set foot back on the Eiger, or began plans for this adventure for adventures sake.


Jay & John Churcher on the summit of the Eiger in July 2015
John Churcher is one of the most courageous climbers I have partnered with and I have had some extreme life experiences that have demanded a level of mental control and physical determination to endure beyond what most may call the 'norm'.

So beyond our more obvious personal objectives of paddling a tandem kayak together across 500km of Norway's amazing fjords and rivers that will eventually lead us to the Troll Wall, we will then attempt to climb as a Paraclimb, there has to be something more for me.

On my return from the Eiger Paraclimb, I realised I would need to rest from the big project, not physically, that took a week or so, but mentally recover from the 6 months of planning, the life changes that the Eiger Paraclimb induced, the pulling together of a film crew, funding for the Paraclimbers and equipment sponsorship to make the climb as safe as we possibly could with the best contemporary equipment on the planet.

I thought long and hard about what we could do to genuinely influence some other peoples life's for the better with this project because the Eiger Paraclimb was more obvious in the tangible direct influence it had on the individual Paraclimbers' lives and we wanted to go beyond John's personal benefits of accessing more adventure and personal challenge from just exploring new adventurous terrain from his visually impaired perspective.

 I felt it had to be personal for me also. Because when your shoulders have to grow twice the size to deliver on the physical strength and endurance required to paddle the 500km and my mind cope with dangerous situations involving a tandem canoe through Norway and climb the tallest wall in Europe with my blind partner, then all this has to be worth something more. 

The Eiger brought me exactly what I wanted in my life, a clearer definition of who I was and who I wanted to be going forward in my life and most importantly it brought me to Suzi, my exceptional partner and friend. 

Suzi & I at Charity Climbing Competition for
 CAC in Nottingham, in UK
Isolation is possibly one of the worst experiences you can endure and it turns a human being's view and experience of this naturally wonderful planet earth from an awe-inspiring positive human narrative to a very lonely planet...


Planet Earth

 ... And so we will use the project to try and raise awareness for mental health and well being issues especially within the deaf communities through adventure and climbing…

Dates set, now we begin plans, writing our letters and preparing the story board for commissioning the documentary, develop a workable sponsorship strategy, learn new skills on the water and train hard for the 500km paddle and the long Paraclimb, collaborating with equipment manufacturers and fundraising for climbout.co.uk and deafclimbing.co.uk .


#TrollWallVoyage

Friday 25 September 2015

From The Eiger to this...


It felt great to Paraclimb the Eiger with John and it was a huge success with the film due out in November 2015 (Official Trailer). But it feels equally great to have our next adventure firmly underway documenting our awesome objective of us paddling through some of the most beautiful countryside and fjords in Norway for 500km to the base of the Tallest Wall in Europe...


Lots to do, lots of new skills to be learned and adapted to our needs for what seems like our biggest adventure yet...