Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4151 Climbers
8034 Climbs
21372 Ascents
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Hubble | 9a Sport route at Raven Tor
Hubble is a route at Raven Tor in the UK's Peak District. Ben Moon made the first ascent of the full line in 1990 suggesting a grade of 8c+, making it the hardest route in the world at the time. It is now considered closer to 9a, making it both the first 8c+ and the first 9a!
The route is unusually bouldery and powerful with the meat of the difficulty being a short section on undercuts at the start of the route that is around 8B/+ as a boulder problem. The top of the route is roughly a 7c sport route so shouldn't present any issues for a climber capable of getting through the bottom, though Ben Moon famously fell off the top the first time he managed to climb through the boulder problem.
A kneebar on the crux undercut match move was first discovered around 2014 which apparently makes this move slightly easier. It was first successfully used by Mathew Wright on his ascent in 2020. This method has now been used on several successful ascents. So far, ascentionists using the kneebar method have suggested it doesn't significantly alter the overall difficulty with leg length being a crucial factor.
References
Hubble is a route at Raven Tor in the UK's Peak District. Ben Moon made the first ascent of the full line in 1990 suggesting a grade of 8c+, making it the hardest route in the world at the time. It is now considered closer to 9a, making it both the first 8c+ and the first 9a!
The route is unusually bouldery and powerful with the meat of the difficulty being a short section on undercuts at the start of the route that is around 8B/+ as a boulder problem. The top of the route is roughly a 7c sport route so shouldn't present any issues for a climber capable of getting through the bottom, though Ben Moon famously fell off the top the first time he managed to climb through the boulder problem.
A kneebar on the crux undercut match move was first discovered around 2014 which apparently makes this move slightly easier. It was first successfully used by Mathew Wright on his ascent in 2020. This method has now been used on several successful ascents. So far, ascentionists using the kneebar method have suggested it doesn't significantly alter the overall difficulty with leg length being a crucial factor.
References
Pics + Vids
Featuring 10377 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Daniel Woods on Monkey Wedding 8C
Sam Weir on Pied de Biche 8B+
Simon Young on Ache Ball (pre-break) 7C+
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- All sport ascents of 9b or above
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Podcasts
Featuring 4238 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Kelly Cordes on The Enormocast (2012)
- Tommy Caldwell on The Struggle Climbing Show (2022)
- Tanguy Merard on Allez Podcast (2023)
- Sol Wertkin on The Nugget (2025)
Library
Featuring 15381 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Reel Rock Tour 2010 (2010) Film
- Alpine Journal 1994 323-341 In Memoriam (1994) Journal
- Yar Tor, Corndon Tor, Vag Hill Guidebook
Recent updates
Probably the most iconic route in wales for me, and I think if I were to have ever picked something to head point this would be the one. Dream come true. Never had tears of happiness grabbing jugs before at the end of the crux. I thought I’d shout with joy, but instead I shed some tears and had the biggest smile ever looking down at George. Never had my heart beating out of my chest as much as I could feel it on the foot ledge. [1]
A couple of days before the successful ascent Rachel had a spicy aborted attempt. [3]
References
[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/clogwyn_dur_arddu_cloggy-457/indian_face-2171
Probably the most iconic route in wales for me, and I think if I were to have ever picked something to head point this would be the one. Dream come true. Never had tears of happiness grabbing jugs before at the end of the crux. I thought I’d shout with joy, but instead I shed some tears and had the biggest smile ever looking down at George. Never had my heart beating out of my chest as much as I could feel it on the foot ledge. [1]
A couple of days before the successful ascent Rachel had a spicy aborted attempt.
References
[1] https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/crags/clogwyn_dur_arddu_cloggy-457/indian_face-2171
FFA
Brown’s rule at that time was to use no more than two pegs per pitch, he decided to retreat, leaving the abseil peg marking his highest point. Over the years, this peg on the wall became a constant reminder of Brown's superiority over the rest of the field. He tried to climb back up the wall on several occasions but could not get past the difficult lower section. The wall grew in reputation, just as Cenotaph Corner had years before; the final blank section grew from Brown's original estimate to a figure that sometimes reached 40 feet; the wall became known as the Master's Wall - Brown's own territory, on which no-one else dared to trespass, and it was assumed that sooner or later it would fall to the Master...
On the Sunday it was still blowing hard, but I persuaded Bas to go up to Cloggy, just to "have a look" at the wall. I think he realised that it was going to be more than just a look when I carried both our 300-foot ropes up to the crag... the first half of the climb went quickly and I arrived at Brown's abseil peg feeling fresh and confident. Neither of us was very keen to belay on the minute stance, so I fixed a couple of runners and carried on. The next 40 feet or so seemed easy and then I came to the final crack. As the chocks were in place I had not brought any up with me. I realised what a mistake this was when the first one dropped out. I moved up again to the next chock, a small pebble, fixed a sling in it and stepped into the sling. The chock split in half. By now I was getting desperate as I could not take much weight off my arms and my last decent runner was about 50 feet below, on the ledge. Just above the split chock the crack almost closed, so I spent the next ten minutes working a sling into this constriction using a peg. By this time I was absolutely shattered - I was half-standing in the sling on the split chock and using a layback hold with one hand. I sat in the sling to have a smoke and the mist cleared a bit ... Once I had recovered the rest went easily ...
We had a bit of a problem naming the route. Everyone knew it as the Master's Wall, and if Joe had climbed it, that would have been the perfect name. But it seemed presumptuous so we opted for the Great Wall.
References
[1] Clogwyn Du'r Arddu Climber's Club Guidebook (1989) Page 147 /library/7278/clogwyn-dur-arddu
Given 8C/+ by FA but seems likely to be 8C+ which would make it the first of the grade in the UK. In the words of Jack Palmieri:
If Superpowers isn’t 8C+ then you can remove me from the list as I haven’t climbed 8B yet. To think of that thing as just one grade harder than benchmark stuff like Bewilderness is crazy. Just don’t see how it could get repeated. Woods is busy in the states getting schooled on something Aidan put up in a few hours over 2 very hot sessions [a reference to Railway]. [1]
In 2026 it was reported that a hold had broken and the problem was likely to be much harder and perhaps impossible. [2]
References
[1] https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,26074.msg618619.html#msg618619
References
Video showing Ian working the route when it was a project [1] utilising an interesting hybrid trad/dws style.
References
[1] https://youtube.com/shorts/2193eIXbpL4?is=ZWYutXRmDGntne_8