Tony Barley, one of the great hard local climbers of the late 60s and early 70s, died on the weekend in the UK.

The tough Yorkshireman left some legendary and groundbreaking routes in his wake here in the Western Cape including:

Roulette, (Tony Barley, Robin Barley, Don Hartley, Mike Scott) on Table Mountain;
Last Laugh (Tony Barley, Don Hartley) on Table Mountain;
Apollo (Tony Barley, Robin Barley, Mike Scott) on Castle Rocks;

Tony also established many good hard routes in what was then the Transvaal, such as Armageddon on Krantzberg. Back in the UK Tony did much the same as he did here.

If you have any knowledge of Tony's life as a climber please share it.

Charles 'Snorty' Edelstein, Tony Dick, Tienie Versveld, Bruce Daniel, David Davies and the rest of the Table Mountain crew - let's go and hang out on Roulette and Last Laugh on Friday. Snorty can brew up a big billy - bring a cup. Maybe we can get Mike and Don to join us?

Our deepest sympathies Robin,
Hilton Davies

Tony and his brother Robin defined the word "classic" in the Magaliesberg Kloofs. Chances are if you've done 5 good routes in the kloofs, 3 of them would have been opened by the Barley Brothers. Last Rites, The Moke, The Right Stuff, Dexter Direct, Hourglass, Short Circuit, Suicide, High Noon, Red Column Face, the list goes on. In high school, my climbing buddy and I would hunt down their routes, knowing they'd deliver full value. Some of them I've done dozens of times.

Tony, thanks for an increadible trad legacy. Rest in peace.

Tony certainly was the quintessential golden boy of the golden are of trad climbing in SA. Hilton, we can do the valediction tomorrow on Roulette. We need to make tea in a hanging stance at the crux. Bring your hexes. We are going to do the route without cams in the style he did it.

The two routes that most defined my early climbing career were in Upper Tonquani. Old tradders like Snort, and younger ones like Hector will understand when I say that more than 30 years on I can still remember every sequence, every kineasthetic resonance of these routes. The routes were Barley Bros gems: Last Rites and The Moke, as quintessential to the history of Magaliesberg tradding as Deep Purple's " Sweet Child in Time" is to classic rock music.

A magician of tecnique, Tony Barley was also an artist of visualization in his choice of classic lines!

One of the best routes I have done in my short career is "The Moke". It blew my mind! Thank you Tony.

I remember many of his routes, blow by blow, 25 years later. I will be think of Tony and you all on the Ledge. David S.