Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
4738 Climbers
8424 Climbs
22674 Ascents
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The Walk of Life | E9 Trad climb at Dyers Lookout
A stunning coastal slab adventure whose immense proportions are perhaps only exceeded by the size of the grading controversy that accompanied its first ascent.
The route has a somewhat complicated history. An indirect line called Dyer Straits (E8) was originally climbed by Ian Vickers that used a lot of pegs (although the pegs were not placed by him) [2]. James Pearson then removed the pegs and added a direct start, suggesting the unprecedented grade of E12. The route was quickly repeated by Dave MacLeod (who was injured at the time) who suggested a downgrade to E9, commenting:
For James to come to this blank canvas of a wall and have the courage to see past all the uncertainties and unknowns to make a route is a brilliant achievement. But although trad climbs truly deserving of E9 and above are still very few and far between in the world, there are some, and they’ve been around for a while. The Walk of Life stands among these routes, not above them. [1]
The harsh criticism which was levelled at James from the climbing community for overgrading this route (and supposedly others), led to him moving to Innsbruck to get away from the UK climbing scene.
James has since reflected that, having grown up bouldering and climbing short, bold gritstone routes, The Walk of Life lay far outside his comfort zone. Lacking the experience to recognise his own weaknesses on that style of climb, he was led to propose the lofty grade of E12.[2]
In 2023 Tom Randall commented:
My view, having climbed both WOL and Once Upon is that James’s effort was most definitely E10 and the E9 downgrade was one of those things that was not quite right [...]
What I do think (and obvs it’s just my opinion) is that Once Upon has to be E8 if WOL E9 or we accept that maybe things got too compressed. I’d gladly lead one of the lines any day of the week, the other, deffo not 😅😅. My view after quite a bit of time on that wall is top end E8 for OUATITSW and bottom end E10 for WOL.
But…… it gets more complicated 😅. The WOL has gained & lost holds since James did it (easy to spot from the old video footage) and I’d say in current state it IS a solid E9. So I guess that’s the ever changing state of chossy sea cliffs? No ascent is quite the same? [4]
Dave has stated that he doesn’t agree with this assessment, and the route was E9 according to his experience. [5]
References
[1] https://davemacleod.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Walk%20of%20Life
[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/2HAuDaq2kSHM6L7vdDu6uu?
[3] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-interview-after-the-walk-of-life.html
A stunning coastal slab adventure whose immense proportions are perhaps only exceeded by the size of the grading controversy that accompanied its first ascent.
The route has a somewhat complicated history. An indirect line called Dyer Straits (E8) was originally climbed by Ian Vickers that used a lot of pegs (although the pegs were not placed by him) [2]. James Pearson then removed the pegs and added a direct start, suggesting the unprecedented grade of E12. The route was quickly repeated by Dave MacLeod (who was injured at the time) who suggested a downgrade to E9, commenting:
For James to come to this blank canvas of a wall and have the courage to see past all the uncertainties and unknowns to make a route is a brilliant achievement. But although trad climbs truly deserving of E9 and above are still very few and far between in the world, there are some, and they’ve been around for a while. The Walk of Life stands among these routes, not above them. [1]
The harsh criticism which was levelled at James from the climbing community for overgrading this route (and supposedly others), led to him moving to Innsbruck to get away from the UK climbing scene.
James has since reflected that, having grown up bouldering and climbing short, bold gritstone routes, The Walk of Life lay far outside his comfort zone. Lacking the experience to recognise his own weaknesses on that style of climb, he was led to propose the lofty grade of E12.[2]
In 2023 Tom Randall commented:
My view, having climbed both WOL and Once Upon is that James’s effort was most definitely E10 and the E9 downgrade was one of those things that was not quite right [...]
What I do think (and obvs it’s just my opinion) is that Once Upon has to be E8 if WOL E9 or we accept that maybe things got too compressed. I’d gladly lead one of the lines any day of the week, the other, deffo not 😅😅. My view after quite a bit of time on that wall is top end E8 for OUATITSW and bottom end E10 for WOL.
But…… it gets more complicated 😅. The WOL has gained & lost holds since James did it (easy to spot from the old video footage) and I’d say in current state it IS a solid E9. So I guess that’s the ever changing state of chossy sea cliffs? No ascent is quite the same? [4]
Dave has stated that he doesn’t agree with this assessment, and the route was E9 according to his experience. [5]
References
[1] https://davemacleod.blogspot.com/search/label/The%20Walk%20of%20Life
[2] https://open.spotify.com/episode/2HAuDaq2kSHM6L7vdDu6uu?
[3] https://www.planetmountain.com/en/news/climbing/james-pearson-interview-after-the-walk-of-life.html
On this day 5th November
1970 John Syrett flashed Wall of Horrors E3 at Almscliff
Ken Wilson, writing for Mountain magazine:
The second ascent [ed, erroneous. Actually third ascent.] (and the first led on sight) of Almscliff's famous Wall of Horrors, by 20-year-old student John Syrett, enlivened an otherwise dull autumn season in Britain. Syrett, who started climbing less than two years ago, took the Wall in good style after an inspection from abseil.
The Wall of Horrors, which is 45ft high, has gained it's reputation from a combination of extreme difficulty and no protection - a 'chop' route in fact. The first ascent was made in 1960 by Allan Austin after several attempts and one ascent on a rope. Since then the Wall has frightened off some of Britain's best gritstone climbers.
After the initial difficulties Syrett was able to hang on jams for nearly 15 minutes and fix a secure runner before making the crux moves.
John climbed it with ease, making it look like any other climb. He was ten minutes arranging a clog 1 wedge beneath the crux and climbed the whole route unhurriedly (20 mins).
- 1959 Tomo Česen was born
- 1979 Sonnie Trotter was born
- 2003 Ben Heason made the first ascent of Final Destination E8 at The Roaches
- 2019 Anak Verhoeven climbed Joe Mama 9a+ at Oliana
- 2020 Jimmy Webb made the first ascent of Transience 8B+ at Little Cottonwood Canyon
- 2021 Tom Bolger made the first ascent of Hiperkinetico 8c+ at Margalef
Pics + Vids
Featuring 11079 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
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Featuring 4398 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Adrian Ballinger on The Nugget (2025)
- Lily Abriat on BlokCast (2025)
- Arno Ilgner on The Ground Up Podcast (2026)
- Astra Lincoln on The RunOut Podcast (2026)
Library
Featuring 16248 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- First Ascent (1982) Film
- The Mountaineers (1995) Journal
- Pembroke Supplement (2021) Guidebook
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References
[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/DfR0__HRS8q/
[2] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2026/11/matthew_mendes_repeats_realm_of_torment_9a-74228
[3] Interview with Tom Randall shortly after the ascent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=npq8qrpEuzI
With Andy Donson
Adventurous Anglo-American rock climber, formerly Bristol-based now in Colorado.
A superb effort, free climbing the majority of the Longhope Route (A2), tackled ground-up by John Arran and Dave Turnbull, taking in some of the most adventurous climbing in the UK.
After much effort, Dave MacLeod free climbed the headwall crack to create Longhope Route Direct (E9).
Adds an extremely powerful 7 move crimp 8C+ into Midstillery (8B+).
References
Probably a full grade harder than Alphane (9A) [2]
[1] https://open.spotify.com/episode/5EREAaZGQcasxpoY6oDXor
[2] https://www.patreon.com/posts/152135230
[3] Midstillery training lap footage: https://www.patreon.com/posts/156702969
[4] https://www.patreon.com/u70353823/posts/aidan-getting-on-173532038
[5] https://discord.com/channels/1032995878996287620/1032995879461859400/1567768790588985496
6 sessions in total, including 2 spent on the stand start Sleepwalker, completed during a single trip to try the boulder.
References
References
6 sessions in total, including 2 spent on the stand start Sleepwalker, completed during a single trip to try the boulder.
References
4 sessions dedicated to adding the sit