Dave is from Hobart, Tasmania, Australia and has been climbing for over 30 years. He regularly writes on social media climbing sites and is currently writing a book with a collection of stories about climbing and the senses. In July 2019 Dave joined Common Climber as an Associate Editor. Check out his welcome letter and extended bio.

Dave can be reached through Facebook at: https://www.facebook.com/dave.barnes.984

Common Climber Writings:
 

• Andrew Penny - A Blue Mountaineer ​(By Dave Barnes) - Andrew Penny is a legend  in the Blue Mountains of Australia. Andrew rode the wave of change in the Blue Mountains ushering in sport climbing But, he also made sure to bolt easy to moderate climbs that are accessible to all climbers. Dave Barnes gives us a tour of this Australian climbing legend. 
  
• A Climber's Hands (By ​David Barnes) - A climber's hands are conductors which earth us as we climb. Our feet back them up.  A climber’s hands are the touch-stone of our climbing lives. If you’re into tender and supple hands, don’t take up climbing.
• Blind Ambition Builds a World Class Climber: The Story of Jesse Dufton (By Dave Barnes) - United Kingdom climber Jesse Dufton has Rod-Cone Dystrophy, a genetic disorder where his eyes do not have the structural support for the light sensitive cells at the back of the eye. This has slowly eroded his vision, taking him into the world of climbing blind. Jesse, who has been climbing since a young age, has adapted - and he still leads trad. ​​
• Demented Dirt Bag (By ​David Barnes) - The scruffy looking peeps who have darkened hands from anodised carabiners, weird looking toes from being cramped in climbing shoes for way too long and blunt everything’s, from ice axes to pocket knives. They have scavenged hands from getting their jam in cracks. These climbers have given up on normal and live for the climb. These demented ones are The Dirtbags. 
• ​HOOKING UP: The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual (Book by Fabio Elli & Peter Zabrok) - Review By Dave Barnes - I have just finished reading Fabio Elli’s and Peter Zabrok’s Hooking Up –The Ultimate Big Wall and Aid Climbing Manual. I am now in need of a stretch and my whiskers need pruning. This is no normal climbing manual; this is a biblical testament to all things big wall climbing.
• ​It Was His Time: Brad Gobright (Interview May 2019) (By David Barnes) - Common Climber Assistant Editor Dave Barnes shares a tribute to and his May 2019 interview with the late Brad Gobright. 
• John Middendorf : A Big Man for a Big Stone (By David Barnes) - Suffering from hypothermia on the side of Half Dome in Yosemite during one of the worst storms of the decade, John Middendorf became life-threateningly aware that there were no storm-proof portaledges available at the time. Middendorf, an engineer and big wall climber, resolved to change that.
• Little Red Riding Hood: The Extraordinary Story of a Climber & Survivor -Sabine Pratt Hunziker (By Dave Barnes) - ​Sabine Pratt-Hunziker is a rock climbing force with a fighting spirit. She fell about 20 meters in a climbing accident and was put in a coma to survive. Her determination has brought her back to climbing. ​
• Snakes and Ladders (By ​David Barnes) - Australia – the land where walking out your front door means you may be bitten, stung, or even killed by any number of critters. Now try it on a climb...
• The Taste of Climbing: The Third Sense (By David Barnes) - A climber describes climbing from a unique perspective - taste. 
• ​Things of Stone and Wood (by Dave Barnes) - A tree is lodged smack-dab in the middle of Dave’s new climb. The author struggles with whether to remove the tree of leave it, taking us on a thoughtful journey of trees and climbing. 
• ​Tim Macartney-Snape: A Legend from Sea to Summit (by Dave Barnes) - Australian climbing legend and Sea to Summit founder Tim Macartney-Snape is known for his first ascent line and sea to summit climbs on Everest, but he is a climber who also embraces moderate lines in his Australian backyard.  ​​