:Andy Pollitt

Andy Pollitt was born in Prestatyn, North Wales, on 26 October 1963. His father was an actor who had small parts in Z-Cars, Coronation Street, and Doctor Who before eventually leaving the family. Pollitt attended Prestatyn High School, which had an indoor climbing wall that Pollitt took to with enthusiasm, including school trips to nearby crags organized by his climbing teacher-mentor, Andy Boorman.{{Cite web |date=24 December 2019 |title=Andy Pollitt: the mountaineer who put rock'n'roll into climbing |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/2019/12/24/andy-pollitt-maverick-mountaineer-put-rocknroll-climbing-obituary/ |url-access=subscription |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=The Telegraph | author=Obituary}}

File:Punks Wall (29529972985).jpg

In the mid-1980s, Pollitt rose to prominence in Britain as a leading traditional climber, completing over 350 climbs, with important first ascents such as The Hollow Man (E8 6b, 1986), and Knockin' on Heaven's Door (E9 6c, 1988). Pollitt also repeated some of the most feared routes of the time including onsighting the second ascent of John Redhead's chop route, The Bells The Bells!, Britain's first E7-climb, in 1986.

In the early 1990s, Pollitt spent 44 days, spread over a two-year period,{{cite web | magazine=Rock & Ice | url=https://www.rockandice.com/climbing-news/climbers-we-lost-2019/ | title=Climbers We Lost in 2019: Andy Pollitt | date=20 January 2020 | accessdate=25 March 2023 | first=John | last=Barton}} working on the sport climbing route, Punks in the Gym, the first-ever {{climbing grade|8b+}} graded route, which had been freed by Wolfgang Gullich in 1985. On 5 May 1992, Pollitt eventually succeeded and immediately decided to retire from climbing,

Pollitt was renowned for the boldness of his routes and also for his distinctive fashion; he wore his hair long and sported bright, tight lycra, and often climbed bare-chested, giving him a "rockstar" status in climbing.

Pollitt was part of the mid-1980s wave of semi-professional rock climbers in Britain that followed on from Ron Fawcett – an idol of Pollitt's – who led the transition from traditional climbing to sport climbing in Britain and abroad; others included Jerry Moffatt, and Ben Moon.

In 1993, Pollitt permanently moved to Australia where he worked as a successful and prominent rope access technician in Melbourne. Though Pollitt was considered a notorious ladies-man, he never married.

In the years before his death, Pollitt returned to his climbing past, publishing an autobiography under the title Punk in the Gym in 2016.{{Cite web |last=Greenwood |first=Robert |date=17 May 2016 |title=Punk in the Gym by Andy Pollitt Review |url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/publications/other_publications/punk_in_the_gym_by_andy_pollitt-8391 |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=UK Climbing}} In the book, Pollitt revealed that he suffered from bipolar disorder,{{Cite web |last=Creese |first=Charlie |date=4 March 2020 |title=Remembering Andy Pollitt - Cars, Stars, Bars, Guitars |url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/remembering_andy_pollitt_-_cars_stars_bars_guitars-12649 |access-date=19 March 2023 |website=UK Climbing}} and also talked about his long-standing addiction to alcohol; something which had held him back throughout his climbing career.

In November 2019, Pollitt suffered a cerebral aneurysm in a bar in Melbourne and never regained consciousness; he died on 13 November 2019.

• Punk in the Gym, 2016, Vertebrate Publishing. {{ISBN|978-1910240694}}.

• Documentary on 1980s British sport climbing: {{cite AV media | title=Statement of Youth | asin= | type=Motion picture| date=2019| publisher=UKC | people=Brown, Nick (director) | url=https://www.mntnfilm.com/en/film/statement-of-youth-2019 | accessdate=23 March 2023}}{{cite web | website=PlanetMountain| url=https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/the-birth-of-british-sport-climbing-in-statement-of-youth.html | date=22 May 2019 | accessdate=23 March 2023 | title=The Birth of British Sport Climbing in Statement of Youth}}

• 1984: Skinhead Moonstomp (E6 6b), Gogarth North Stack. First free ascent. One of the classics of Welsh climbing,{{cite web | magazine=Climber | url=https://www.climber.co.uk/news/british-climber-andy-pollitts-autobiography-to-be-published-in-2016/ | title=British Climber Andy Pollitt's Autobiography to be Published in 2016 | date=21 July 2016 | accessdate=23 March 2023}} and Pollitt's favourite FFA.
• 1986: The Bells, The Bells! (E7 6c), Gogarth North Stack. Second ascent, and first onsight ascent, of John Redhead's legendary chop route.{{cite web | website=PlanetMountain | first=Dave | last=Barns | date=14 November 2019 | accessdate=26 March 2023 | url=https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/goodby-to-british-rock-climbing-icon-andy-pollitt.html | title=Goodbye to British rock climbing icon Andy Pollitt}}
• 1986: The Hollow Man (E8 6b), Gogarth North Stack. First free ascent and the first-ever E8 in Wales; seconded by Johnny Dawes.
• 1987: Boot Boys (8a+), Raven Tor, Dovedale. First free ascent of a route that had only been aid climbed just two days earlier.{{Cite web |last=Berry |first=Natalie |date=13 November 2019 |title=Andy Pollitt dies aged 56 |url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2019/11/andy_pollitt_dies_aged_56-72126 |access-date=17 March 2023 |website=UKClimbing}}
• 1988: Knockin' on Heaven's Door (E9 6c), Curbar Edge. First free ascent and the first-ever E9 on gritstone; considered "a last great problem".{{cite web | newspaper=Sydney Morning Herald | url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/maverick-mountaineer-tackled-toughest-climb-20191227-p53n5z.html | title=Maverick mountaineer tackled toughest climb | author=Obituaries | date=27 December 2019 | accessdate=27 March 2023}}{{cite web | website=British Mountaineering Council | url=https://www.thebmc.co.uk/remembering-andy-pollitt | first=Sarah | last=Sterling | date=19 November 2019 | accessdate=23 March 2023 | title=Remembering Andy Pollitt}}
• 1988: Thormen's Moth (8a), Thor's Cave, Peak District. First free ascent of an aid climbing roof route; Pollitt considered it one of his best lines.{{cite web | website=UKClimbing | first=Mark | last=Pretty | url=https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/mark_zippy_pretty_and_andy_pollitt-9762 | title=Mark 'Zippy' Pretty and Andy Pollitt Interview | date=28 September 2017 | accessdate=23 March 2023}}
• 1992 (5 May): Punks in the Gym (8b+), Mount Arapiles. Sixth ascent of the world's first-ever {{climbing grade|8b+}}; Pollitt retired from climbing that day.

• Johnny Dawes
• Ron Fawcett
• Jerry Moffatt

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.ukclimbing.com/videos/categories/trad_climbing/andy_pollitt_at_mount_arapiles-2620 VIDEO: Interview with Andy Pollitt at Mount Arapiles], Nine Network (1992)

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Category:1963 births

Category:2019 deaths

Category:People from Prestatyn

Category:People with bipolar disorder

Category:British rock climbers

Category:British male non-fiction writers

Category:21st-century British male writers

Category:British non-fiction outdoors writers

Category:Climbing and mountaineering writers