Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3998 Climbers
7776 Climbs
20490 Ascents
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Jerry Moffatt
Jerry Moffatt was at the forefront of British climbing throughout the eighties and nineties. Jerry established many hard firsts in the UK, Germany, France and USA including historic ascents such as The Face, Revelations and Liquid Ambar, all at the cutting edge of difficulty at the time they were established.
In the early eighties Jerry pushed the mental side of climbing to the limit, onsight soloing mountain extremes, making a traumatising ascent of Master's Wall (E7) and soloing pretty much every hard classic on Dinas Cromlech, up to Right Wall (E5), in a single day.
A trip to America in 1983 saw him onsight some of the hardest routes there, including Psycho! (Free) (E6) and Genesis (E6).
Jerry was an early proponent of bouldering in its own right. From early ascents on The Bowderstone he went on to put up a host of hard classics such as The Ace at Stanage and Dominator in Yosemite.
Jerry pioneered training for climbing, initially spending countless hours doing reps in scrappy limestone caves, then building one of the first cellar boards in the world. He went on to open The Foundry, one of the world’s first modern climbing walls.
Jerry was one of the first professional climbers, innovating ways to make a living through sponsorship and media coverage. He starred in several much-loved climbing films, notably The Real Thing (which he co-produced) [1]. His charisma, quotability and brattish charm endeared him to a generation of acolytes who, when faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge would invoke the mantra: “What would Jerry do?”
References
[1] The Real Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbxoKEgsw0
[2] Stone Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguueX9jM78
[3] 80's Birth of Extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkj3Buhfi2k
[4] Statement of Youth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeqI9axxrco
[5] Portrait by Chris Gore https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/3456311291101688
[6] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/2732067140192777
[7] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/876401569092686
[8] One Summer by Ben Pritchard, 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGf69g6Igc
[9] Interview with Wedge Climbing, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmqm3VTrn4
[10] Photoshoot for DMM 1995 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu8uyrStQ6I/
[11] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ixcvxW0xNrX07Hxwxw8fE
[12] https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ITuiLGEgJB8kpavKkNOIK
Jerry Moffatt was at the forefront of British climbing throughout the eighties and nineties. Jerry established many hard firsts in the UK, Germany, France and USA including historic ascents such as The Face, Revelations and Liquid Ambar, all at the cutting edge of difficulty at the time they were established.
In the early eighties Jerry pushed the mental side of climbing to the limit, onsight soloing mountain extremes, making a traumatising ascent of Master's Wall (E7) and soloing pretty much every hard classic on Dinas Cromlech, up to Right Wall (E5), in a single day.
A trip to America in 1983 saw him onsight some of the hardest routes there, including Psycho! (Free) (E6) and Genesis (E6).
Jerry was an early proponent of bouldering in its own right. From early ascents on The Bowderstone he went on to put up a host of hard classics such as The Ace at Stanage and Dominator in Yosemite.
Jerry pioneered training for climbing, initially spending countless hours doing reps in scrappy limestone caves, then building one of the first cellar boards in the world. He went on to open The Foundry, one of the world’s first modern climbing walls.
Jerry was one of the first professional climbers, innovating ways to make a living through sponsorship and media coverage. He starred in several much-loved climbing films, notably The Real Thing (which he co-produced) [1]. His charisma, quotability and brattish charm endeared him to a generation of acolytes who, when faced with a seemingly insurmountable challenge would invoke the mantra: “What would Jerry do?”
References
[1] The Real Thing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brbxoKEgsw0
[2] Stone Love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FguueX9jM78
[3] 80's Birth of Extreme https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jkj3Buhfi2k
[4] Statement of Youth https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeqI9axxrco
[5] Portrait by Chris Gore https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/3456311291101688
[6] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/2732067140192777
[7] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/876401569092686
[8] One Summer by Ben Pritchard, 1994 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RnGf69g6Igc
[9] Interview with Wedge Climbing, 2022 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBmqm3VTrn4
[10] Photoshoot for DMM 1995 https://www.instagram.com/p/Cu8uyrStQ6I/
[11] https://open.spotify.com/episode/0ixcvxW0xNrX07Hxwxw8fE
[12] https://open.spotify.com/episode/6ITuiLGEgJB8kpavKkNOIK
Pics + Vids
Featuring 9915 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
William Moss on Freerider E7
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Explore
Fancy a look around? You can browse by climber or by climbs, or you can check out some lists. For example
- All sport ascents of 9b or above
- British women who have climbed 7C or above
- British men who have climbed 8c or above
Podcasts
Featuring 3890 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Carlo Traversi on The Testpiece Podcast (2024)
- Billy Ridal on Lattice Training (2024)
- Tommy Caldwell on Dirtbag State of Mind (2025)
- Sonnie Trotter on Dirtbag State of Mind (2025)
Library
Featuring 14923 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Upside Down Wales (2008) Film
- Alpine Journal 1928 Vol 40 1-3 Italian Alps (1928) Journal
- Lliwedd (1972) Guidebook
Recent updates
The exact location – and even the grade – are a closely guarded secret.
References
Ron Fawcett was at the top of the UK climbing scene in the mid 70s and early 80s and one of the first professional climbers in the UK. He took up the mantel from climbers such as Pete Livesey and helped cement the E5 and E6 grade in the UK. He also put up some of the early hard sport routes in the UK with lines such as Sardine, Body Machine and The Prow at Raven Tor.
Ron famously climbed 100 extremes (i.e. routes graded E1 or harder on the British Trad grading scale) in a day in 1986 starting at Froggatt then going on to Stanage, Burbage and finishing at Curbar. This feat is even more impressive when you consider that Ron was not just picking the easiest routes available: Downhill Racer (E4), Heartless Hare (E5) and Ulysses or Bust (E5) feature among the hard routes that he climbed. See [3] for a full list.
References
[1] Rock Athlete, by Sid Perou https://youtu.be/tdRfqD125-g?t=1522
[2] Interview with Andy Pollitt https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/andy_pollitt+big_ron_fawcett-9483.
[3] Ticklist of Ron's 100 extremes in a day https://www.ukclimbing.com/logbook/set.php?id=548
[4] https://www.facebook.com/climbing.in.the.80s/photos/a.270388289694020/282305001835682
[5] https://www.ukclimbing.com/articles/features/revisited_ron_fawcett_talks_about_soloing-16330
Location is approximated.
During a BMC international meet. Believed to be a first ascent at the time.