If You Fall: Darke’s Light Tale at Imperial College

There are some people who take my idea that man goes for the path of least resistance, climb with it to the top of a mountain and drop it off the top. Karen Darke, who was paralysed from the chest down in a climbing accident at the age of 21, is one such person. However, although her biographical talk, If You Fall, delivered at Imperial College as part of a tour to publicise her book of the same name,  taught me that she has more heart and endurance than a dozen average Joes, it left the most interesting questions unanswered.

Karen first discovered the outdoors at 15 when she went cycling round China and, prior to her accident climbed various mountains, using postcards as a guide rather than the more traditional OS map. ‘That tells you quite a lot,’ she said with a laugh.

Then the unthinkable happened and she fell. Fast forward to a hospital’s polystyrene ceiling, a sight that greeted her every day for four months before she was transferred to a spinal cord unit. ‘Most of the people there are young and have sustained sporting injuries,’ said Karen of the place that helped to restore her lust for adventure. ‘It’s amazing how jealous you can be of other disabled people. You’re like “you have one more abdominal muscle working than me!”’

In the following years Karen has, amongst other sporting achievements, cycled the London Marathon using a hand-bike, skied across Greenland and climbed El Capitan in the Yosemite Valley. She delivers the bare bones of these epic acts, cramming in one after the other, paying no lip service to any but the most fantastic, site-specific difficulties.

At one point Karen’s voice, which had been hoarse from the outset, disappeared and her boyfriend, Andy, who had been manning the slides, intercepted the story-telling. This was not a difficult task as he had been present on many of Karen’s trips, generally in the role of her rock. In fact, the most touching element to permeate this two hour adventure story was their relationship. Andy’s devotion, hidden under quick fire wit, to assisting Karen in the realisation of her determined desires is what you need if you are going to go climbing without the use of your legs.

On that: I am all for putting an attractive gloss on life and pretending that you find your deepest traumas mere nothings but biographies must ring true. As likeable and remarkable as Karen clearly is there seemed to be a lot of rose-tinting in her narration. Maybe my taste in stories is morbid and some people can face extreme disability without remorse. Maybe Karen is a private person who wants to keep her deepest feelings away from public scrutiny. Maybe this was just a teaser plate for a book that serves up more meaty fayre.

Whatever the reality, the audience – a handful of which were fellow wheelchair users – derived tremendous enjoyment and appreciation of Karen’s extraordinary tale,  which has enough plot in it to make up for the reserve of the main character.

If You Fall is touring UK theatres during spring 2009

Imperial College London
South Kensington Campus
Kensington
SW7 2AZ

Tel: 020 7589 5111

For details of Karen’s book and to follow her blog visit www.karendarke.com