Climbing History
A selected history of climbing and mountaineering through the climbers, climbs and media.
3535 Climbers
6997 Climbs
18124 Ascents
Featured
Aidan Roberts
Aidan Roberts is a climber from the UK. He grew up in the Lake District and was mentored by the prolific developer Dan Varian.
He started out doing competitions but has more recently moved on to establishing and repeating some of the hardest boulder problems both in the UK and overseas. His problem Superpowers in the Lake District is widely considered the UK's first 8C+. As well as being the first Brit to climb 8C+, he was also the first to climb 9A with his repeat of Shawn Raboutou's Alphane in Chironico.
2024 was a particularly good year for Aidan, with him establishing first ascents of his two hardest projects to date - Spots of Time and Arrival of the Birds, both at 9A/V17. Aidan described Arrival as extremely close to his limit while still being in his style. This has led many to speculate that it could sit at the very top end of the grade.
In September 2024, Aidan made the spontaneous decision to set sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He spent multiple months travelling by sea to South America before continuing north by public transport all the way to California. As the winter of 2024/25 arrived, Aidan made his way to Yosemite, and barely left the valley for the entire winter.
In Yosemite, he sent a handful of hard problems such as The Dark Side and Rhythm and Reason. However, Aidan was most motivated by some potentially next-level projects, notably the Six Degrees Project (9A+) and Distillery Project (9A)
Although he had only planned to visit the US for a year, he has since decided to settle in California and pursue his Yosemite projects. Outside of climbing, Aidan co-hosts the Careless Talk Climbing Podcast with Sam Prior.
References
[1] Interview with BMC, 2015 (archive) https://web.archive.org/web/20240915201832/https://services.thebmc.co.uk/aidan-roberts-interview
[2] Interview with Simon Lee for UKBouldering.com, October 2016 https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,27531.msg535750.html#msg535750
[3] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/06/aidan_roberts_on_a_winter_in_yosemite-73991
Aidan Roberts is a climber from the UK. He grew up in the Lake District and was mentored by the prolific developer Dan Varian.
He started out doing competitions but has more recently moved on to establishing and repeating some of the hardest boulder problems both in the UK and overseas. His problem Superpowers in the Lake District is widely considered the UK's first 8C+. As well as being the first Brit to climb 8C+, he was also the first to climb 9A with his repeat of Shawn Raboutou's Alphane in Chironico.
2024 was a particularly good year for Aidan, with him establishing first ascents of his two hardest projects to date - Spots of Time and Arrival of the Birds, both at 9A/V17. Aidan described Arrival as extremely close to his limit while still being in his style. This has led many to speculate that it could sit at the very top end of the grade.
In September 2024, Aidan made the spontaneous decision to set sail across the Atlantic Ocean. He spent multiple months travelling by sea to South America before continuing north by public transport all the way to California. As the winter of 2024/25 arrived, Aidan made his way to Yosemite, and barely left the valley for the entire winter.
In Yosemite, he sent a handful of hard problems such as The Dark Side and Rhythm and Reason. However, Aidan was most motivated by some potentially next-level projects, notably the Six Degrees Project (9A+) and Distillery Project (9A)
Although he had only planned to visit the US for a year, he has since decided to settle in California and pursue his Yosemite projects. Outside of climbing, Aidan co-hosts the Careless Talk Climbing Podcast with Sam Prior.
References
[1] Interview with BMC, 2015 (archive) https://web.archive.org/web/20240915201832/https://services.thebmc.co.uk/aidan-roberts-interview
[2] Interview with Simon Lee for UKBouldering.com, October 2016 https://ukbouldering.com/board/index.php/topic,27531.msg535750.html#msg535750
[3] https://www.ukclimbing.com/news/2025/06/aidan_roberts_on_a_winter_in_yosemite-73991
Pics + Vids
Featuring 8762 pictures and videos. Try searching for a climber, climb or summit to see pics and videos.
Will Bosi on The Navigator (8B)
Adam Ondra on Luftig Kö Till Nålens Öga (8B)
Jesse Grupper on Livin' Astro (8c+)
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You may also be interested in the Mountain Heritage Trust, a charity dedicated to preserving the rich history of climbing and mountaineering. Their collection includes many unique and valuable items, from rare guidebooks through to the boots worn by Doug Scott on the 1977 Ogre expedition.
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 3931 podcasts. Try searching for a climber to see podcasts with them, or check out some of these podcasts:
- Tyler Thompson on The Testpiece Podcast, April 2025
- Nina Williams on Sends and Suffers, December 2020
- Allison Vest on Lattice Training, August 2022
- Chris Sharma on The Struggle Climbing Show, June 2023
Library
Featuring 11021 items in the library. Try a search to see what you can find, or check out these library items:
- Free Hueco Film
- Alpine Journal 1998 211-217 Greenwood Norway (1998) Journal
- The Climbs on Lliwedd (1909) Guidebook