An interview with Freesoloist and Award-Winning author Jules Lines
Over the winter I was lucky enough to be commissioned by the Scottish Mountaineering Trust to produce 3 podcast episodes to promote some excellent books.
Tears of the Dawn – Jules lines
The first follows Boardman Tasker Award winner Jules Lines to understand a bit more about this enigmatic man dubbed “Britain’s best free-solo climber”. We learn a bit about Jules and his motivations before taking a dive into a scene from the book, where Jules is about to free-solo a long multipitch rock climb in Coire Laggan on the Isle of Skye. His friend, climbing legend and photographer Dave “Cubby” Cuthbertson, was with him that day to take some photos. What unfolded was a unique experience, coloured by years of climbing experience, friendship and the sense of belonging in the mountains that was absent from other parts of Jules’s life, both as a child and an adult.
Jules Lines, Britain’s most accomplished free solo climber, gives a rare and candid glimpse into the mind of one of climbing’s most audacious and determined legends. To celebrate the launch of the second edition of his award winning book Tears of the Dawn, we have recorded two episodes for our new podcast.
In this second episode, Jules reads a segment from the chapter ‘Vanishing Point’ where he compares soloing a route in the mountains of Arran with free diving in the Gulf of Aqaba.
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The book, Tears of the Dawn, is a journey unlike any other. With artistic eloquence and an unexpected humbleness, Lines recreates the triumphs, tribulations, friendships, romances and perhaps most poignantly of all, his close encounters with death, leaving the reader breathless, on edge, and, as the sunlight breaks, dreaming of mountain tops, oil rigs and a sense of adventure.
Spanning more than three decades of extreme climbing, Lines, fondly known as ‘The International Man of Mystery’, unveils the drive and determination required to push all limits and survive the most ultimate and extreme precipices the world has to offer.
The heartfelt and at times humorous, adrenaline infused account is more than a story of adventure, it is a tale of obsession, addiction, passion, courage and the ability to push boundaries. Beautifully designed and illustrated, for dreamers and realists alike, Tears of the Dawn is an awe inspiring and toe tingling tale to be enjoyed by all.
The Book
For me this was a fascinating pair of interviews to record. Jules has an unusual perspective of the game of risk, even within the climbing world, which you can find out more about in his book Tears of the Dawn. What comes through is a really human quality; the desire for a place in the world. That can mean different things to different people, but it’s an inescapable fact that for all of us our sense of place is guided by our sense of belonging in a culture, a community and a family. Tears of the Dawn is all about Jules discovering where his place lies within this. The passage in Coire Laggan demonstrates some of the motivations that both push and pull him in finding it, and exposes what the real variables were in Jules’s analysis of the situation.
You’ll be able to find new episodes as they come out on my website or by subscribing in any good podcast app.