Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
2661 Climbers
5050 Climbs
12976 Ascents
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James Pearson
James pearson is an all round climber from the peak district in the UK.
Growing up, James established himself with fast repeats of many hard and scary gritstone routes such as Equilibrium, at the time one of the hardest gritstone routes around, as well as putting up hard routes of his own such as The Promise at Burbage North.
As well as climbing hard trad James also repeated many hard boulder problems. Most notably in 2007 he flashed three problems in the 8A+/B range Ganymede Takeover, The Great Shark Hunt and Schule des Lebens. At the time each of these was considered 8B which would make these ascents some of the hardest flashes in the world at the time though these problems have subsequently been downgraded.
In 2008 James courted controversy when he established The Walk of Life at Dyers Lookout and gave it the unprecedented grade of E12, suggesting it was harder than any other route in the UK at the time. The route is now considered E9, and on reflection James has admitted the route was not in his style which is why it felt as hard as it did for him.
After the controversy around The Walk of Life James moved to Europe and spent a lot of time becoming a more well rounded climber. Around the same time he met his now-wife Caroline Ciavaldini. Putting his training to good use James has now repeated and established a slew of hard sport and trad routes around the world. Notable ascents include many hard onsight and flashes in Pembroke in South Wales, a repeat of Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, Jacopo Larcher's Tribe and the first ascent of Le Voyage.
References
[1] Interview with Tom Randall
[2] Interview with PlanetMountain, 2008 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-climbing-interview.html
James pearson is an all round climber from the peak district in the UK.
Growing up, James established himself with fast repeats of many hard and scary gritstone routes such as Equilibrium, at the time one of the hardest gritstone routes around, as well as putting up hard routes of his own such as The Promise at Burbage North.
As well as climbing hard trad James also repeated many hard boulder problems. Most notably in 2007 he flashed three problems in the 8A+/B range Ganymede Takeover, The Great Shark Hunt and Schule des Lebens. At the time each of these was considered 8B which would make these ascents some of the hardest flashes in the world at the time though these problems have subsequently been downgraded.
In 2008 James courted controversy when he established The Walk of Life at Dyers Lookout and gave it the unprecedented grade of E12, suggesting it was harder than any other route in the UK at the time. The route is now considered E9, and on reflection James has admitted the route was not in his style which is why it felt as hard as it did for him.
After the controversy around The Walk of Life James moved to Europe and spent a lot of time becoming a more well rounded climber. Around the same time he met his now-wife Caroline Ciavaldini. Putting his training to good use James has now repeated and established a slew of hard sport and trad routes around the world. Notable ascents include many hard onsight and flashes in Pembroke in South Wales, a repeat of Dave MacLeod's Rhapsody at Dumbarton Rock, Jacopo Larcher's Tribe and the first ascent of Le Voyage.
References
[1] Interview with Tom Randall
[2] Interview with PlanetMountain, 2008 https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-climbing-interview.html
Pics + Vids
Featuring 6492 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Rollin Grimmett on Dog Eat Dog (8b+)
Nick Dixon on The Master's Edge (E7)
Adam Ondra on La Ligne de Bête (8B+)
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- All sport ascents of 9b or above
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Podcasts
Featuring 3175 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Hazel Findlay on The Struggle Climbing Show, June 2022
- Will Anglin on The Nugget, November 2023
- Zach Galla on The Testpiece Podcast, January 2025
- Luke Mehall on The Nugget, January 2023
Library
Featuring 9268 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- 80's Birth of Extreme: Part Two (1988) Film
- North America, Canada, Canadian Rockies, Summary (2007) Journal
- New Climbs (1969) Guidebook
Recent updates
Named because Dillon McLaughlin was trying the problem a lot before the first ascent, and his distinctive hair is like that of American painter Bob Ross.
References
Interestingly nico decided not to use a fan while trying the boulder.