Local businessman and tutor, David Kaye can often be found in the Kip McGrath Education Centre on Hydra Park, just over the fields from Ecclesfield School. Usually wearing a business suit, parents have occasionally seen him wearing bright red climbing trousers and other, lurid, outdoor gear. David has another life…

“It all started as a child,” says David. “An uncle used to take me onto the moors around the Holme Valley and occasionally in the Peak District. I got the outdoor bug age 11 and never looked back.”

David eventually went on to become a proficient rock climber with a number of extreme ascents under his belt. Marriage in 1987 with children shortly after curtailed his climbing as he gave up most activities to support the family. This also meant focussing on his career as a teacher.

“It was the Covid pandemic that really opened things up,” David recalls. “I had been doing some significant UK mountain stuff such as the Aonach Eagach Ridge in Glencoe, Bidean nam Bian in full winter conditions (also in Glencoe) and several summits on the Cuillin Ridge on the Isle of Skye to name just a few. The hills became crowded in the pandemic and I wanted more solitude.”

The answer was to go steeper. The big change came when he attended an introductory rock-climbing day on Stanage Edge in the Peak District. 

“It was as if I’d never been away from the rock. I could remember how to do the moves and still had trust in the ropes. The body (now 40 years older) had other ideas though. I would know what to do and by arms would refuse!” 

The trick for anyone is to work on technique – strength will only get you so far.

Back in the eighties in his heyday, David had no support from his parents and worked extra shifts while studying to buy gear. He found partners and training from the Vibram Mountaineering Club in Brighouse. There weren’t any indoor walls either David remembers.

Gear is still expensive but there is more choice these days. This was illustrated recently when David followed a climbing friend up a route in Stoney Middleton called Mani. It was his first extreme lead in 1985. At the top, David observed, “Good lead Yoof. When I did it, I didn’t have your fancy gear.”  

Facebook was a godsend for finding climbing partners. The only difficulty David finds, is working out who is competent – plenty say they are, but haven’t a clue. 

He also went back to his first love – big mountains and has done some significant classic routes in the UK and abroad. 

Munich Climb on Tryfan in North Wales was one of his hardest recent ascents. He admires the bravery of the people who first did these routes in the thirties as they didn’t have the high-quality gear we have nowadays.

He also turned his attention back to ice climbing. “UK stuff is poor these days,” he observes. “It doesn’t come into condition like it did in the eighties, even in Scotland. It’s just too warm.”

He now goes abroad to get good conditions, especially Norway. “The ice is usually reliable although it can be very dangerous as it is not consistent like rock. As the temperature changes, the ice changes. There is also the risk of large lumps falling off and of avalanche.”

Indeed, earlier this year, he had met some climbers from the forces in Rjukan. The following day, two were involved in an accident at the top of a route when they were avalanched. One died and it took rescue services nearly 24 hours to lower the other climber down. Did this put David off?

“Not really. Risk is a part of the sport. Experience and being prepared to back-off are important. There is no way I would have gone up in those conditions.”

That isn’t to say that David hasn’t experienced hairy moments. The worst was in the Alps when a storm came in much earlier than forecast and he was caught on Cosmiques Arete on the Aguille du Midi. “We were saved by the gendarmes (huge spikes of granite), otherwise we would have been totally exposed.” 

“The reality is that risk can’t be avoided,” muses David, “you just mitigate it.” 

We wonder why he continues but David tells us that being in the mountains is so life-enhancing that he couldn’t be without it. 

His fiancée, Nicola, accepts this. She is a member of a Mountain Rescue team, so knows some of the risks and what drives people to the high places.Finally, we ask David if he has any advice for youngsters starting out. “Good for you,” he says. “Remember though, that being a good climber on an indoor wall is very different from doing it outside. Spend some time learning the ropes with experienced people.”