Dave Elliot

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
I have heard from two different sources that Dave Elliot passed away at the weekend.  Can anyone confirm this?
 

Badlad

Administrator
Staff member
Rest in Peace Dave. 

Funnily enough it is because of Dave that I am named Badlad on this forum.  Back in the early eighties I went on a Whernside Manor trip to the Pyrenees with Dave as a leader.  He nicknamed a group of us from the Airedale 'the Badlads' as a bit of fun.  Shortly after one of the lads had some stickers made of the 'Badlads' and years later one of those stickers reappeared just as I was registering on the forum. Voila
 

shotlighter

Active member
Must be one the the most influential cavers of his generation. Many, myself among them,  must have learnt the basics of SRT from his (some would say controversial) books.
His books on the Castleton caves are still a classic & well worth a look!
What a loss.
 

Jopo

Active member
An original for sure. I am only one of many who was influenced by Dave. I am really saddened by this news.

Jopo
 

bograt

Active member
Back in the '70's me and Dave did our C.L.C. assessment together, a really nice chap, R.I.P. Dave.
 

Mark

Well-known member
Sad news indeed, spent quite a bit of time with him when he was writing his Caves of Castleton Books.
 

Pete K

Well-known member
Ah no. Such a nice chap. Did parts of my CIC assessment with him and he was very relaxed and a real pleasure to work with. Rest in peace Dave.
 

Ian Ball

Well-known member
Sad news just keeps on rolling in.  His SRT book is one of my favourites, for the moody black and white photography mostly.
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
More rotten news; I always got on well with Dave; he was a genuinely helpful person.

In terms of caving techniques, he was a visionary, well ahead of his time (which partly explains the "controversy" alluded to above).

I'll certainly miss him.
 

damian

Active member
Dave Elliot was years ahead of his time with his superb red-bolt routes and the text and photos accompanying the infamous book were inspirational to me. As a teenager I taught myself SRT, mostly using Dave's book and was an avid reader of his phenomenal Equipment Column in Caves & Caving. As a young caver he was undoubtedly my caving hero and the first time I met him my legs turned to jelly - it was like meeting royalty. RIP - an inspiration and a legend!
 

Goydenman

Well-known member
yes he was ahead of his time....as a youth went on several Whernside Manor courses and got to know him quite well then used to catch up with him on caving events. Sad news. RIP Dave
 

Pitlamp

Well-known member
Dave foresaw the need for a standardised system for bolt anchors.

. . . which is exactly what we have now. Definitely a visionary.
 

richardg

Active member
Dave certainly standardised SRT caving techniques and in so doing made caving a lot safer.....
The few times I met up with Dave he was always interested in whatever project I was working on, and for someone of Dave's prestigious status to to say " well done" was approval indeed..... I will always remember our conversations... I was looking forward to more, but sadly that will not be...  But we can grateful for Dave's company while we had it.....
 

blackshiver

Member
Oh No - not another one.

Dave was: as people have already said, "A visionary" in terms of those early red bolts and SRT guide - done around the time when I was badly placing spits in "exploration mode" not thinking of the longer term consequences.

These Whernside Manor day's of Caving now seem a lifetime way.

RIP Dave.
 

Ship-badger

Member
His tee shirt with the slogan "ladders are for lofts" still makes me chuckle.
A generous man, he lent us some information on the caves of Mallorca when we went there many years back. He was planning on writing a guide book to the island, and had compiled a lot of info. All he asked in return was that we let him know of any mistakes that we found.
A good man. RIP.
 

al

Member
Sad to hear that Dave has passed away.

He was such a solid character - very helpful and always willing to discuss anything to do with caving, but, with an abrasive sense of humour, he would delight in winding you up, just when you weren't expecting it, even though you really were.

I remember the "Manor" years well, in particular a rigging course where he took a small group of us to finish off his bolts in the Goblin Shaft of Sell Gill - red rings, of course!

He'll be missed by many of us.
 
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