As the lights went down Andy Kirkpatrick took to the stage, propless apart from a well travelled cardboard box and a projector screen, with a packed Parr Hall in Warrington braving destructive gales to take a couple of hours respite from the doom and gloom of spending plans and economic cuts. The 350+ souls gathered in the gloom weren't to be disappointed!

There was no sign of the fatigue that must take its toll on a travelling entertainer as Andy launched himself into the program like a dictionary stuck in a pinball machine. It takes the first ten minutes just to adjust to the speed of the man's delivery as words flash past your ears at 100 miles an hour, but once acclimatised you get the impression of a man who captures the spirit of George Leigh Mallory blended with more than a touch of the late great Norman Wisdom. Unlike a Leo Houlding event you don't sit there open mouthed in awe watching the impossible re-enacted before your eyes, with Andy Kirkpatrick you get a fleeting glimpse that maybe, just maybe, it could be you.

Off The Wall is no catalogue of achievements, but a story of inspiration laced with the humour of a man of the people. From an early childhood in Hull to leading the crippled Phil Packer up Yosemite's El Capitan it's a story of a man who climbs not for the records but "because it's there". Sure, the story takes in some of the great names of the climbing world from Royal Robbins to the Huber brothers but you can hardly talk of El Capitan without due reference to these historic figures. The centrepiece of the night, however, is the inspirational Karen Darke - Andy's paraplegic girfriend.

Where Andy differs from the usual circuit of mountaineers and climbers earning a crust in winter from lecture tours is his focus. This is no ego-inflating offer to pay homage to his amazing abilities, but a tale of an ordinary man doing extraordinary things with extraordinary people. No 40 -50 hours weeks of training for Andy Kirkpatrick - he turned up to ski across Greenland having never clipped his boot into a ski binding in his life before. Off The Wall is Andy's way of showing how able bodied or disabled you can still achieve, and in doing so perhaps he can help take some of the darkness out of people's lives. From 4000 pull ups (how to climb El Cap in a wheelchair) to collapsing on the summit with Major Packer, Andy Kirkpatrick gives himself a bumbling role in achieving the almost unachievable but in doing so he reveals an inner self that deserves the respect , and awe, more often associated with a Houlding talk.

Two hours of talking about El Capitan may seen a bit excessive at first glance, it's only a minute less than the Huber brothers took to climb it, and you don't even get the usual procession of mind blowing pictures - but the time really does fly as you get hit by a machine gun stream of irreverant jokes dealing with everything from sanitary habits of the French on a big wall to taking on El Cap with a pair of unknown dope smoking Aussies for the hell of it. Household names like Bear Grylls don't escape the Psychovertical wit but despite the laughs, and there's plenty of them, you leave with an impression that behind it all there's an important message to everyone.

"Entertaining, Funny and a bit Mental" says Zoo Magazine, and every word is spot on when talking about Off The Wall. It's a night to brighten the gloom of winter and lighten the spirits - as the audience battled the gale force winds returning to their cars they were still doubling up in laughter, but above all it's an inspiration. Some people climb for the record books, some climb for the fun of it, but Andy Kirkpatrick climbs in the spirit of Mallory - because it's there and somehow in doing so he makes us all feel better.

Review by Dave Mycroft originally posted on www.myoutdoors.co.uk

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