Dylan, 12, hits a new high as he conquers ice climb
HE’S NOT yet a teenager but Dylan Heason is tackling mountaineering tasks that would make grown men shudder.
The 12-year-old has already won prestigious rock-climbing awards and tackled some of the hardest routes in the country.
Taught by his mountain climber father, Matt, 48, Dylan has scaled everything close to his home in Grindleford, Derbyshire.
And now the pair have accomplished a rare ice climb, after Kinder Downfall, near Edale, froze over in the recent stormy weather.
Dylan said: “I liked getting to the top. I’ve not done much before because it doesn’t get that cold here very often.
“I’ve only done ice climbing a
I’ve only done ice climbing a few times before and never like that. Dylan Heason, who climbed Kinder Downfall near Edale after it froze over.
few times before and never like that. When I got down I got hot aches, my hands had got very cold.”
It looks dangerous but father Matt, who runs the Sheffield Adventure film Festival, insists that Dylan was perfectly safe. He said: “On Saturday, I went up early doors with a mate to make sure it was safe, my wife came up with Dylan later in the day and I met up with them.
“I wanted to check it out to make sure it was safe before letting Dylan loose on it – now’s not the time for hospital trips.
“We put a top rope on it so if we fell off we’d fall onto the rope, that’s how Dylan climbed it. “We’re in Grindleford and over the past year everything we’ve done has been 10 to 15km from home – we’re very lucky.”