Andy Pollitt is as close to a Hollywood A-lister as the climbing world will
ever get. He had the looks, and he starred in all the big roles in the 1980s
and 1990s – Tremadog, Pen Trwyn, the big Gogarth climbs, Raven Tor and the
cult Australian adventures. Alongside co-stars like Jerry Moffatt, John
Redhead and Malcolm ‹HB› Matheson, he brought us sexy climbing – gone were the
beards, the woolly socks and the fibre pile. Andy was all skin-tight pink
Lycra, vests and brooding looks. For those watching, Andy Pollitt had it all.
But Punk in the Gym gives us the whole truth. The self-doubt, the depression,
the drinking, the fags, the womanising, the injuries, the loss of a father and
the trouble that brings, and a need for something – for recognition, a release
for the pain, and, for Andy, more drinking, more tears, bigger run-outs.
With nothing held back, Andy tells his roller-coaster story from the UK to
Australia, exactly as it happened. Exposing his fragile ego and leaving us to
laugh, cry, marvel and judge, this is a sports autobiography like no other.
The legendary routes are all here – The Bells, The Bells!, Skinhead Moonstomp,
The Hollow Man, Boot Boys, The Whore of Babylon and Knockin› on Heaven’s Door.
And the route that broke him and robbed the climbing world of its Hollywood
star – Punks in the Gym.
In 1992, after forty-four days of attempts spread over three trips to
Australia across two years, he finally redpointed Wolfgang Gullich’s route
Punks in the Gym (the world’s first F8b+) at Mount Arapiles, and then
immediately gave up climbing – for good. Andy has lived in Melbourne,
Australia, since 1993 where he has enjoyed a successful career in the rope
access industry.
